The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 11, 1905. OUR FOOTBALLERS.

Gisborne Times, Volume XIX, Issue 1623, 11 December 1905, Page 2

The Gisborne Times PUBLISHED EVERY MORNING. GISBORNE, DEC. 11, 1905. OUR FOOTBALLERS.

The New Zealand footballers continue their succession of triumph?, and on Saturday had another decisive victory, Our cablegrams inform us that a matoh against Groat Britain is being arranged in aid of the unemployed funds, The match nest Saturday will perhaps bo the most interesting of tho tour.. The" all black’’ then meet Wale 3, Baid to bo the invincibles at the Rugby game. By Homo popers we find that as far back as the end of September hundreds'of applications f.r tickets for the grandstand oould net bo enterlainoi owing to the groat rush for t’ckets. The Daily Mail of No“ vcmfcer let, states : “ The only tickets still procurable are those for seats ‘ inside tbo ropes,’ Such a demand is unprecedented, and six weeks before the matoh

tlio New Zoulundors aro n&sured that they will play brl'oro a record fa 1 )". Their boring with the Wolsh Uni m arc JGSOO

guarantee or half the goto, arid the proceeds of tho ran oli mo now officially o;timed oil to reach nearly jGiiOOO.” Piior to tho Ma ! l lowing tho toniu were ontertainod at dinnor by Anglo-Novv Zea'unders in London, tho High Commissioner, Mr W. I?, Hooves, presiding. Tho Chairman said that tho public of England, Scotland, Ireland, and Wales wero vory muoh in-

torostod in tho (cam. Sinoo ho had boon in England, nearly lon yours, ho had nor or soon anything l'ko the interest displayed in anything conr.octcd with a British colony as was tho ottn at tiro presont time with tho Now Zealand visitors. Soruo of tho intorost had boon of an amu-ing nctiro. A oouplo of days ago ho had met an English gontlotnan, a man of great ability, who took great interest in tiro national history. This gontlem.in said,

■' I liavo boon to tho Zoo looking at your Now Zoaland bird—ixtraordiuary birds — tbov bavo no wings. And I was looking at your footbal'ois at Leicester tbo otbor day. But, by hoaven I thoy bavo got wings. (Laughter.) Tho Chairman could not Bay, howovor, that that gentleman was an authority on foatbal 1 , for ho wont on to ask whothor it was Dsrociation or Rugby that they played. (Renewed laughter.) lie (Mr Roevcs) replied, “ Well, betweon you and mo, they as a rule play Rugby.” (Loud Inugbtor.) The team must not think, he wont on, that tliat little friendly gathering et all represented, os far as numbers wout, tho enthusiasm and delight which wero felt by all Now landors in this country. If they had wanted to givo a banquet to oxpress Now Zealand feeling, tho rcorn would not havo bosn largo enough to hold thoso who would have come. But that strict disciplinarian, Mr Dixon, had asked that there should bo no bunquet, Thorofovo, that small and homily assembly had boen for tho team’s benefit. Tho members of it would know baw koenly New Zealanders felt about their triumphs, and the grand exhibition of play they wero giving, and how delighted all wero to seo them going from victory (o victory. But it was not simply tho fact of tho toam winning match after matok that made New Zoalanders so proud of them. It was not simply tkoir skill or thoir victories. But it wps the discipline the team underwent, tho co-operation, combination, and unselfish play they showed, tho manly selfrestraint they exhibited, and tho name thoy had got for being a quiet, pleasant, gentlemanly body of men (Hoar, hear) Able to take victory without Eußoring from attacks of swellod head, it was the gentlemanly, medeet domeaoo'i and the utter abseneo of swagger after this rather unexpected series of triumphs that made New Zealanders prouder of them than any series of vie* tories oould have made them There wes a good deal of luck in football. If luck had been tho other way about, he would say they ought to havo beaten Gloucester by about 2 L points, and Surrey by about 31 points. All know that however skilled and clever a team might be, luck might turn BgainEt them, and before this rernai k - able trip was ovor thoy might have to taste tho bittnerness of defert. He hoped thoy would not. (Gear, hear.) But if, by any set of combinations of bad. fortune, they had to faro defeat, he felt perfectly sure that tho team would show by their manliness and pluck that they wero just as well ab'e to bear the bitterness of defeat as thoy wero able to stand tho intoxication of victory. (Applause.)