LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1545, 14 September 1912, Page 12

LEAGUE FOOTBALL.

[Br "FiEETrooT."! THAT WEIRD NAPIER STORY. Re-building the Grandstand ai Midnight. The occasion of the League match nt Napier this week provided nn instance of the extraordinary conditions which can. uriso through over zealous partisanship iu the cause of sport. The local Rugby Union claimed a right over the grandstand"—the rather ambitions title given to an array of broad planks erected recently and just prior to the North Island-South Island Rugby match, lor the nso of this stand they asked the League representatives £Sa and as this oft'ef was rejected they subsequently reduced the amount to .£lO. Tho Lvagiio still considered the terms unjust and not only that, but they questioned the rights of the Rtigbyites to demand any payment at all. '

As it was freely stated that tho League was certain to get the use of the stand once- it got possession of tho grounds, a Rugby official took it upon himself to guard against such contingency and he had the stand removed. The owners ot tho stand (Messrs. Holt and Son) had refused permission for its removal, but ho employed ii firm of carriers (Jlahony and Sons) to take it away. This was done late on Tuesday afternoon. When' the New South Wales team arrived and the position was explained, the manager at once said: "That's all right! We'll , soon put tho stand up again!" So tho League officials got to work. Lato on Tuesday night they hunted for the stand and found it in pieces in Mahony's yard. The -yard fenco was soon scaled and horses yoked to tho waggons. Then they found that the wily Rugby folk had padlocked the wheels. Next they remoted the'timber from the waggons, but had to desist in the middle of this scheme by orders.from Mahony and Sons. There was then nothing left to be done but to get timber for a fresh stand. This was arranged for early next morning, and the stand was re-erected in amplo time for the match. . The affair created quite a sensation in N'apier' and besides giving a. fine advertisement for tho match, it may create material for a piquant case in the Napier Magistrate's Court. A "Gate" to Ponder Over. .No jess a sum than .£7ll was taken at the big match at Auckland last Saturday. . Over 11,000 people paid for admission, but, owing to the open nature of , the ground, about another 6000 "sports" saw the game for nothing. In somo of the New Zealand papers—notably in tins south—this convincing tribute to the popularity of the new fleet game is being kept quite in the background, or suppressed altogether. ■ It rather reminds one of a saying by Abraham Lincoln: "You can fool tho whole of the public somo of the time, and you can fool some of the public the whole of the timo, but you certainly can't'fool the whole of the public nil of the time." Wait till the South Island gets its eyes really opened! The Fabled Gate of 25,000. Leaguers no doubt received a pleasant shock when the "gate" at Christchurch was telegraphed on Monday as 20,000 and repeated on Tuesday at 25,000. It was, of course, suspected of being incorrect from tho first, but still it was pleasant. When we really want to see moonshine, how charmingly solid mere moonshine can look! As a matter of fact, the League "head" threatened to grow so big as to make a nev; hat imperative. It now seems that the old hat will do for some time yet. On Letters by Leaguers. An increasing number of letters re League aif; coming in every week, and the prospect s?ems to be that these will grow. "Fleetfoot" forsees a little trouble over these letters, and wishes to point out one or two things. In the first place, The Dominion sports page is limited, and the League letters received this ,weekalono would (if published) have crowded much other good matter out. Would it bo too much to f.sk League correspondents, i when writing, to make whatever point they wish to make as shortly as they can? ■•■ ' Secondly, would they make their letters SIGNED letters, if possible, There is, no doubt, an old and foolish feeling thai you should never sign your letter unless you are a "big man" in the officialdom of sport. It is a hiLtaken idea. A good idea is never lost, and, when that idea is signed, it always seems (to "Fleetfoot" at least) to carry more conviction than oceans of anonymous correspondence. In this week's column, "Fleetfoot" has only been able to find space for two letters out of a number. The letters which wero given preference were the signed ones.

Those Mighty Messengers.. Says a recent "Bulletin": The Messengers ARE mighty hooters of the , inflated sphere. In. this season's competition Eastern Suburbs (Sydney) has scored 54 goals, of which "Dally" Messenger has booted 39 and his little brother "Wally" 10. The Messengers- were towers ■ of strength to their side.