Football WANGANUI V. FEILDING.

Feilding Star, Volume XI, Issue 43, 24 September 1889, Page 2

Football WANGANUI V. FEILDING.

The match between the above clubs, which must be regarded as the match oi the season, was played on: the Oval on Saturday afternoon in the ! presence of a large number of spectators, including a good number of the fair sex. The ground was in very fair order, and the day was fine, but there was a strong wind blowing across the field, which rather interfered with back play. The teams proved evenly matched, and the game, which was without doubt the best that has ever been played on the ground, resulted in a drawy neither side scoring. R. Whisker captained the local team, and Gray acted m a similar capacity for the visitors, and both are deserving of every credit for the pleasant manner in which the game was conducted, talking or wrangling being conspicuous by its absence all through, the contest, greatly to the delight of the onlookers, who are all unanimous that they never witnessed a better game. Messrs Booth and Fowler umpired for Feilding and Wanganui respectively, while Mr Chas. Powell acted as referee and gave every satisfaction. The following are the names of the players and the places they occupied : — Wanganui : Full back, D. Blair; three-quarters, McLean, Mason and Peake ; halves, Leys, Bullock . and Rankiu ; forwards, Gray (captain), Woon, Grogan, Blair, Skeet, McDonald, Fitzgerald and Parkinson. Feilding : Full back, Robinson ; three-quarters, Parr, Dyer and Gregory ; halves, Strachan and Harmer; forwards, R. Whisker (captain), Iveson, Keightly, Lang, Hodges, Saywell, M. Belfit, Bray and J. Whisker. Gray won the toss and decided to play with the wind the first spell. The game soon became very fast and remained so until the finish. The players on both sides tried their best to cross the coveted line but failed. Owing to the strong wind that was blowing the game was confined principally to the forwards, as the backs were unable to pass against the wind. The forwards on both sides especially distinguished themselves by their grand dribbling rushes. A bout twenty minutes after starting the play was within ten yards of Feilding's goal line when the local men made the combined dribbling rush of the day (and it's a question if it has ever been beaten in the football field), they took it from the above point right over their opponents line at the opposite corner when, unfortunately for Feilding, one of the visiting backs, who had ran along with the rush, pounced on the ball immediately it crossed the line and saved what seemed a certain score for the Feilding men. For this piece of brilliant play the local men were highly applauded by the onlookers. It would be hard to single out any forward who was more conspicuous than another in the rush as thej' all took part in it, perhaps little Harmer deserves a little more praise than the rest as he was the most prominent all through. In the second spell Gray had rather hard luck in not scoring, he got the ball from a loose scrum and when he was on the point of falling over the line he was collared by a couple of Feilding men who threw him on his back and carried him back into the field of play, where a scrum was formed from which. o»e o£._tke visitors picked the ball up and fell over the line, for this infringement of the rules the referee ordered a free kick to Feilding. Shortly after this Saywell got the ball and crossed the visitors line and scored what seemed a fair try, but unfortunately the ball was called back, the referee and umpire being of opinion that Saywell was off side when he took the ball, but the3 r evidently did not see the ball touch one of the Wanganui players arm, which at once put Sayweil on side. About ten minutes before time was called Dyer made the run of the day, and passed ail his men in good style, until he came to the full back who grassed him about seven or eight yards from the line. The game ended in a fierce attack on the local men's line, where Gray narrowly escaped scoring. The result of the game caused great rejoicing among the players on both sides, which was, no doubt, owing to both teams being undefeated all through the season. In the first spell Wanganui backs indulged in more passing than the local men, but in the second spell the local men equalised matters in this respect. The very fact of both teams being only forced down on one occasion each during the game proves that they were very evenly matched. Among the visitors, Mason, McLean and Blair (backs), Gray,. Grogan, Skeet and Parkingson (forwards) were the most noticeable, while the others all played a sterling good game. For the local men Robinson a full back played a nice cool and relieved his side from danger on game, several occasions very cleverly. Dyer has never been seen to better advantage, he made several good runs and kicked well, and he also surprised his opponents by his strong fending power. Parr was as brilliant as ever, he played a good defensive game, kicking and tackling well. Gregory filled Henry's place in the back division, but it is quite evident he is more at home in the forward di vision, he mulled the ball badly on several occasions, but he, however, soon made up for his errors, and got his side out of danger on several occasions. Harmer decidedly played the hardest game among the backs, and was always about when there was a rush on. Strachan also acquitted himself fairly well considering his bad knee, he gained ground for his side on many occasions by his neat punts into touch. Among the forwards, R. Whisker, our popular captain, was in his best form on Saturday, besides playing a good game he captained his men in fine style. Harry Keightly, I must say surprised everyone, he invariably took the ball on the line out, and I must credit him with having played the hardest game on the ground. Iveson, Lang and M. Belfit were very fast at following up. Saywell gave us a taste of his old form, he was continually mulling the kicks of the opposing backs. J. Whisker, Hodges aud Bray worked hard in the scrums. The forwards all through the game played capitally to gether, the whole team surprished everyone by the excellent form they displayed, not having played for six weeks and having no practice. It will be a long while before the match between Feilding and Wanganui will be forgotten. The chief topic in football circles the last few days is : " Did you see the match on Saturday ? What a grand game it was I Wasn't that a grand rush of the Feilding men?" The Wanganui boys returned home by the six o'clock train and they seemed thoroughly satisfied with their pleasant day's outing. The following team will represent the Feilding 11. against Bulls, first at Bulls, on Saturday next: — Bellve, Fanfhorpe, H. Bennett, Terry, Fowler, R. Parr, Dixon, Collins, Stuart, J. Belfit, Evans, Bailey, E. Corkery, H. and M. BJderbeck Emergencies, R. Corkery, and Roaehe. The br.ike will leaye the Square at 12 o'clock. Should any of the above player., find they are unable to go they are requested to inform the Secretary at once. The annual m.itjh between Otago and Canterbury, pi tyeel at Cnristchnrch on Saturday, ended in favor of the former by three goals to a try. Between two an ct three thousand persons were present. Auckland defeated Taranaki on Satur day by 6 points to nil. The game wa hotly contested from start to finish. Free Kick.