FOOTBALL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXX, Issue 413, 21 July 1908, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

The grievance is expressed by some members of the British team regarding the Taranaki match. It is stated that the game was really a draw, the reason given for this assertion being that one of the Taranaki forwards was injured, and Dr. McEvedy and Smith were attending to him when the ball went out of bounds. The ball was put in play quickly, enabling Dive to race over unopposed. The visitors stale that the incident is quite consistent with the bad luck that was pursued them during their tour in the Dominion, The New Plymouth News, commenting, on the above]says:—The above, as everyone at the match knows, is misleading. Dive did not run over unopposed. He raced neck and neck with Vassal and Dyke, and, much to the surprise of everyone, beat them. It is true two of the Britishers stopped playing just before the ball was whipped out by Column, but even if McKvedy and Smith had been in their right positions, it is improbable that the score would have been averted, so smartly was the ball taken by Hunter and transferred to Dive. The movement was electrical in its suddenness, and Dive been collared. Cameron was lying handy and probably would have got over. L is unfortunate that the Britishers should take the defeat in the spirit they evidently are doing. The referee did not blow his whistle to stop the game, and if two of the visitors stopped playing for the nonce it was their own loss and should not be made an excuse for the Britishers’ inability to win a match in which, all impartial critics agree, the Taranaki men held the advantage. Taranaki won by playing to the whistle ; Britain lost by neglecting it.