FOOTBALL.

Gisborne Times, Volume XXV, Issue 2073, 7 May 1907, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

Tho Australian football committee meeting which was to have been held last night did not take place as the members were attending other fixtures during tho evening and the cimmittco will meet to-night. At a meoting of the Rugby Union on Saturday night a new by-law was framed to deal with unfinancial players. Tile by-law provides that the secretary of each club must send in a list of unfinancial members' every week. Any' member unfinancial on the sth of June will not- be allowed to participate in the matches. The Taranaki Union is adopting this method of making players conform with the rules of their clubs, and all sportsmen will accept tho new by-law in the spirit in which it is meant. Tho Management Committee of tile Wairoa Sub-Union is at present collecting donations for a Challenge Cup

ANOTHER ‘‘ALL BLACK” TOUR. Writing under date March 22nd the London correspondent of the Christchurch Press states : An announcement of the possibility of a second “All Black” team coming to England for the 1907-8 season, to play games with clubs and representatives of the Northern Union under their own rules, lias aroused tho keenest interest in Rugby circles all over England, and especially' in Lancashire and the North. Coming at a time when matters are not, oil the surface, looking ypiite K so gay as they' did a year or so ago, the importance and the possible hearing of the projected tour on the future of the game must not be overlooked. As the whole thing se.ems to have been kept secret, I am sending you the fullest information which has leaked out hero. A leading Manchester journal says that the matter arises out of communications received this week by the New Zealand mail by the secretaries' of the whole of the clubs in tho Northern Union—a sort of feeler which is to prepare the way for the proposed visit. The letter is of a confidential nature, and matters <ire mentioned in which the recipients are asked should not, in view of the position of affairs “down under,’’ be made public- However, a Yorkshire Northern Union 'correspondent says he has been able to see some portions of the letter which, lie understands, comes from a gentlemen at Wellington, who is acting in the capacity of secretary and promoter of the syndicate which is to run the team. This gentleman states that their object is to send a representative team next season (1907-8) and play' clubs or represeutative teams in the Northern Rugby Union, and they are desirous of obtaining opinions as to tho prospects of an “All Black” professional tour. “You must admit,” lie goes on, “that if a team were to visit and •*l>lay you, and be capable of repeating the performance put up by' the original ‘All IjllacKs,’ intense excitenient would be aroused in Northern Union circles. Your game would have a-revival, as the amateur game did.

j! Its supporters would then have the ,-j opportunity of witnessing a series L of contests ' winch’” they wanted the 1905 New Zealand team to take part 0 in, hut which was denied them. Of e course, the uniform of our team [ he all black, and they will natu.l rally bo called ‘All Blacks,’ so that j. they will reap the benefits of the ( , cheap advertisement that their prer decessors gave.” . The letter then ,1 am informed, l_ goes on to say that a representative j team would go to Australia, and that the players in view would be q sounded as to taking the tour Home, t “The team will include,” proceeds j the letter, “men whom you have al- , ready seen playing, if you witnessed 0 some of the ‘All Blacks’ British ~ games in. 1905; others who would have been in the 1905 team-, but for B the fact that they were not of the ‘stand-up collar’ variety of player; , hut some who have since made their

reputations. Taken all round, the team that we have in vipw will be in some respects a better combination than tile original ‘All Blacks’ at your game. It is recognised in the colonies that the recent amendments in your rules have tended to make the Hpgby game more open and attractive; therefore ive intend to select a team that will be specially adapted to play a style that we think will be more successful against you Pace and dexterity or skill will in some instances preferred to weight. If we meet with' marked

; success next seuson, and manage to have something in hand after paying expenses and dividends, it will he devoted to bringing -teams to England in after years. Again, Vir players will be the cream of New j Zealand footballers: some of them may desire to reman in England and play- in your ranks. | “It is not possible that our team ' will lead to a team representative of N.U. clubs coming out with its in their off-season, and playing a series of return matches in New Zealand and Airstralia. I can guarantee that if they did they would have the tour of their lives, and at the same time pay their way. The gate when the'

New Zealand and British teams met here in 1904 was about £3OOO, and if we played exhibition matches in Australia it is probable that an attendance of 40,000 could be drawn. The audacity of the scheme and the way it would be talked of—it would be the talk of the colonies for the time being—would prove'an immense draw, and there would be absolutely no necessity to advertise the games Orally.” The team, provided the scheme is launched, are expected to leave Wellington in July, and to land in England about August IStli. Clubs are

asked what guarantee they would give of gates, and the possibility of support if fixtures were arranged.

Tho approximate outlay would be about £I3OOO.

Though great reticence is observed there is a strong feeling in the North in favor of tho proposal, and it has been intimated that it is not 'improbable that at an early dat' sensational news would be wired from New Zealand directly hearing upon tlie last team sent to England. It was pointed out that the only vial difference in the rules of the two codes was with regard to the halfbacks, and the opinion was put forward that a meeting of the N.U. club should at once he convened with the object of arriving at a mutual arrangement on this point. Press Association. AUCKLAND, yesterday. The football season oponed on Saturday with uncertain weather, but tlie rain, which had fallen earlier in the day, hold off for tho matches. There were good attendances. The sqViior cup matches resulted as follows: Ponsonby beat Parnell by 17 to 3, City' heat Newtown by 17 to 3, and North Shore boat Grafton by 13 to nil. In tlie junior grade, Parnell boat Ponsonby by 9 to 3, and City 'beat Newton by 15 to nil.