FOOTBALL.

NZ Truth, Issue 69, 13 October 1906, Page 2

FOOTBALL.

(By "Pakeha.V.)

It is reported : thati - a prominent back of a suburban team made tracks a short time ago for Blenheim, ostensibly on a holiday jaunty but iii rea* . lity to aid the Maryborough reps, m their engagements on the West Coast ■ for possession of the Seddon shield.--For his services on that occasion the Wellington man is alleged to have received a nice little cheque., which may or may nor be true. However, , it is. up to' the N.Z.R.U. to sift the matter to the bottom. . ' Neil Galbraith's sudden resignation of his position as a Vice-President of the Wellington Rugby Union caused' many people to smile m view of the happenings at the Athletic Pairk a Mttle while back. Was it that delegates were likely to pass the new bylaw doing away with the vote exercised by Vice-Presidents at committee meetings, and which privilege, by the way, has been notoriously 'abused m the past, or were the remarks. made by Harry Mclntyre, as to the necessity of affording pressmen every facility for discharging their duties at the Park when the Charity match Was m progress, taken to heart by the penitent treasurer of the N.Z.R.U. ? Anyway, Neil had about come to the end of his tether, as far as the Wellington Rugby Union v was : concerned, and his "gitting out" before the kicking process was administered was perhaps the wisest move. : N6w that the N.Z.R.U; has over £12,000 m, hand, a few of its officials have got too darned big. for tjieir boots, but a rude awakening will doubtless be theirs m the not dis.tant future. A private letter received by me from Sydney intimates that the Sydney Varsity players were very much impressed by the football they saw m New Zealand. They learnt a few things about back play, also a few wrinkles m regard to forward tactics, and it is their intention to put them into practice when next season's toeball comes round. - According to what the Auckland members of the North Island team said ori their return home, the back play of Mitchinson and Fryer impres-, sed them most. They also considered that McDonald, the Otago forward,;, ranked next to Seeling, whose style of play, they allege, he has copied.. Watkins they classed as' a back-num--I)er as a front-ranker, but' admit that' he is still a fine forward m the open. Wedded of course to ■.Cunhin^am, the" Aucklanders asserted that the .North Island, scrum was greatly hampered by'tjhe' absence of a good: "J.6ck. '^'QuF northern friends. will never 1 : get It fiut of^their heads ihati."Cunny M , was the best Idck ift New Zealand ; ; b,ut :,iri *he writer's' • opinion ' 'Berny ! ' ; Fani|in£ ( ' 'the village , blacksmith, ". was .;■•„ more than his master when, m his. prime^. The N.Z\ team's tour of Austrafta'iri' 1903, and , the two intk-'lsrand matches in' l9o2 and 1903 bore out the truth of my contention^ -As, to. Seelin> beirtg a class above McDonafd the performances of the'Jatter m We^; lington this season were , sufficient 'to show that for all-round play, the. ptagah is-" the better man. ' ; a Jpck" McGregor, one of the finest forwards Who ever wore the blue and white jersey is on a. visit .to Auckr land from Rhodesia. He still takes a keen -.interest m football, and was last, season captain of the New Zealand team In Pretoria, though absenfce from the Transvaal capital made it impossible for him to play." The New Zealanders, formerly among the strongest fifteens across the Vaal, has now fallen from its high estate. • The number of .New Zealanders m and around; Pretoria had decreased, and the team has taken m outsiders— four x>£ five Welshmen, 'besides. Australians, and the additions have not all been im^ provements, r „...'. ; ■