FOOTBALL

Hokitika Guardian, 11 October 1922, Page 3

FOOTBALL

CHINESE LEAGUE TEAM. DOMINION TOUR TALKED OF. lly TRI.KvMtAPH —i*Bi* PItESH ASSOCIATION AUCKLAND, October 9. There ' s :1 prospect of a team of Chinese Rugby foobdlers from HongKcng touring the Domini :n next season. Efforts are now being made to •r----r.uige for a team to play a series of games in both New Zealand and Australia. The project* is more less “in the air” at present, hut it is stated that an. emlxsa’y from New Zealand is in Sydney negotiating with the New South Wales Rugby League authorities with the object of arranging the tour. As far as can lie ascertained no basis has been established lor carrying out i the tour in New Zealand, but if the | negotiations with the Now South Wales j authorities are satisfactorily concluded no doubt details of the scheme will he 1 submitted to the New Zealand Lea- ! gue for approval or otherwise, j Discussing tike proposal, Mr C. Ah J Choc, who recently returned from a . visit to China, stated that he umler--1 stood arrangements for a tour were now being mode. Hhe team would play under League rules. Asked to express an opinion as to the standard of football ill china, Mr All Cliee said the teams he saw in Hong-TCong played a fast game, very similar he thought to that of the Australian l/.'ague players. The players were most students and young follows engaged in office work who were associated with the Y.M.C.A. The Rugby footballers of Hong-Kong, he added already had demonstrated their prowess on foreign fields. One team had successfully toured California, and another had visited the Straits Settlement, and played a series of matches. Both these teams had been so successful that the football authorities of Hong-Kong were anxious to match their champions against players of the British Dominions who wore recognised as the best exponents of the Rugby code. In the circumstances, he did not think there would be much difficulty in arranging n tore. The Chinese players would, Mr A'i Cnee thought, compare favourably with tlie New Zealand footballers in physique. .Some of tbe backs lie bad seen playing were perhaps a shade oil the light side, but they were fast and tricky, and bad cultivated the passing game to a high standard. Football in I long-Kcng, said Mr Ah Cliee was purely oil an amateur basis, and was played as a recreation not as a business. The young men who played the game were of good standing, and belonged to the advanced .school of Chinese who had assimilated the most progressive ideas of Western civilisation. Tn the event of a football tour Icing arranged lie slid, the visit should prove highly educative to both visitors and the people of the Dominion.