LURING OF BACKS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 107, 22 May 1937, Page 17

LURING OF BACKS

BAITS TO AUSTRALIANS ENGLAND SEEKING TALENT TEMPTING OFFERS MADE That Rugby League football remains so buoyant in Australia and maintains its high playing standard in the representative matches, in face of inroads Of Eriglish clubs, is a tribute to its exeellence as a game, the standards aimed at, and, as a rule, attalned, comments, a writer in the Sydney Referee^ Vic. Hey's projected departure for England this month under contract to the Leeds Rugby League Cluub, for four years, at a signing on feev of £1400, means that the Kangaroos, representing the Australian Rugby League, will be minus this great five-eighth in the three Test matches, Australia v. England 'this year. Continual draining of her star players means that the wings of Australia are to be clipped for -all time, and the importance of Tests between the two countries more and more minimised. This must inevltably react against keeping iriternational rivalry at the peak point. Some day, if the Australian supply of the right class of footballer becomes impoverished, it will lead to a decline in the international status of the game. So far the loss of great players has not been felt quite so seriously as might. be expected, though it has been felt. A few of the greatest Australians declined big offers to transfer to English clubs. These included H. H. Messenger, H. Horder, F. Burge, D. H. Thompson, C. H. McKivatt, and Alan Ridley, all distinctive in type and players of magic in their prime. Few of the many. who joln- English clubs remain permanently in England when their contracts finally end, or they flnish their careers. They generally flnd the lure of thelr own country too strong. They return to live in the sunshine and among their own people. Players who did so include Bert Gilbert, Dan Frawley, Dinny Campbell, Frank O'Rourke, L. O'Malley, W. Farnsworth, J. Busch, and C. Fifleld (on the way home now), of New South Wales, and most of the Queenslanders, ' including V. Armbruster and C. Aynsley. It may benefit a player while still in his prime to join an English club when financial arrangements are so good." But in the unfolding of time, if the man happens to be in permanent employment out here, it may be questioned if he does benefit by playing in England. When the Kangaroos visit England and France shortly, backs who show out brilliantly and create overseas reputations, will be angled for with tempting baits. English clubs have more than once approached E. Norman, J. Beaton and Ross McKinnon, the Eastern Suburbs stars, and, ho doubt, V. Thicknesse, too. They have been angling with A. Crippin, and we may be sure that when they see J. Reardon, the Queensland centre, they will take1 notice. The terms given by Leeds to V. Hey are of such a character that they are a powerful lure: £1400 signing on fee (£200 to go to the Australian Board of Control), return fares to England for himself and his wife, £6 a match won, £5 a match drawn, and £4 a match lost, together with a position for him in the electrical trade. ■