General Gossip.

NZ Truth, Issue 144, 21 March 1908, Page 3

General Gossip.

The bump of the football is once more beginning to resound throughout the Dominion. Well, we promise to have enough Rugby "this season to, satisfy the greatest glutton for* the game. The London "Sportsman, gives George Dixon the. credit for the English _ team's fixture-making iai the Dominion. " It's rather tough on Gaily and Wylie to be treated as_ such nonehities m an important matter of this kind. And Hey Hvams too, why should he be left out m the cold. . " Mr Palmer's letter to a Petone resident, m which he effectively replies to the caluminous statements circulated by the cable-sender at t'other end of the world, as to the demoralisation of the professional All Blacks, satisfies the Auckland "Star" football writer, who says the manageir's statement is a straightforward, manly one, and was received with pleasure by all footballers, for no one cares to- think liis fellow-citizens, whether amateur or professional, have done anything unseemly. "A cloud no bigger .than a man's hand," etc. The Inglewoodi (Taranaki) Club has decided to pay travelling expenses as far as the committee deem permiss'able. A private letter has been received from R; Wynward, now on his way home with the professional All Blacks, stating that he .was offered a position m a Northern Union team, the terms being £150 cash. 10s for a win and 5s for a draw, with a guarantee of a position at a salary of £2 per week. Wynward declined on account of the climate. The referee m a country football match had sent Giles off the field for an infringement of the rules. Immediately the captain of the opposing side ordered one of his men to leave. When questioned by the official m charge as to why .he had done so, the captain replied. : "If you think you're going 1 to let Giles get into that dressing-room alone, all among our watches and money, you're pretty badly mistaken." The news has been made known that W'igan has captured the Cardiff and Welsh international half-back, R. J. David, for whom. they have paid a big price as prices go m the Rugby rmatket. An English . paper is toUl ; that he was paid £200 (m ten £20 notes), and that he is to receive £2 10s for a win, £2 5s for a draw, and £2 for a loss.' And tins is not all, as he is to be found employment

■worth £2 a week. • I , call these pretty handsome terms, and' as the Northern Union is now making an inroad into Welsh preserves we may soon look for a big migration from the Principality.Not satisfied with getting the English team to play, m its town, the Nelson Rugby Union wants the N..Z; R,U. to allow it one-third of the i gross gate. .The Marlboxouph Rui?cby Union, which is kiielung un a shindy because Blenheim won't see the visitors there, would take on the job gladly without any concessions. Anyhow, the Nelson Union's chance of raking iv the dollars from the Englishmen's visit for" its own little self is "Buckley's." If Nelson's reouest was granted, Marlborough would be entitled to, a "cut m" at the proceeds. The- Nelson Rugby Union is always pleading poverty,^ yet it has tiot the slightest compunction m throwing away £5 towards the expenses of a representative of the Referee's' As=-:o- , ciation to. visit AuoMand, at Easter m connection with the annual "razzlc" q-f Kobb'svpet ms H.tu lion, the New Zealand Referees' Association to wit.' It is J'liffh time that this yearly burlesque conclave was knocked on the head. It hnsn't achieve! a . par.fcicle ofrigoocl for the fame, and seemingly the on-lv ti-ual'fic-.vtions for participating therein are the Rift of p-.ab ami an alMi/ny-inl capacity for cheap jaunts, gorman-Using and loir/.zlinjj. No wond'-jr the^ promoters squeak and. squeal hard"" for keeping the farce going. The back-scratch-, i-ri-g at Wellington and Dunedin m past* years, is to be repeated' on a much more ■extensive scale, so it is said, when the vaudeville entertainers hold their carnival a few weeks .hence. And the Ritgby Unions arc fools enough not" to' squelch the hideous farce m one. act. "Reggie" Cribbs, one of the threequarters coming out with the British team, is said :t6 be a most versatile player, after the s-tvle of Messenger. " : • { The probable full-back of the visiting team will be Jaokctt. A peculiarity about his play is that he ' never" kicks left foot, finding tfce line with a wonderful , sorcw-punt with the right boot. ' Apropos of the professional footballer. Dr. Kent Hughes, the retiring president of the Essendon (Melbourne) Football Clubl lashed out m this mule-like, strain recently: "I would Sooner see a son of mine dead than become a professional football - i er. For ten years of his life a professional footballer was doing ■ almost nothing. He was practically a. loafer, and benefited . neither himself nor the game, as the ' history of the league would prove. It was a cruel wrong to ask a young man to become a loafer m the heydey of his career 'by paying him £3 a week to do nothing. Young fellows went fast enough to the devil as it was. How many professional cricketers m England had tended their days m the workhouse ? In connection with Australian cricket, too, instances could be pointed pu-t where the money earned by professionals had been of little use to them. To ask a man to become a professional footballer was asking him to put "a rope round his neck." It might be interesting to hear the Doctor's opinion on the spurious amateur, and v those football administrators who stick like leeches to office with the sole object of reaping as much pecuniary gain for themselves as possible, and ecettinp: all 1 the pleasures of the sport at somebody else's expense. It is wonderful what ignorance was. and still- is, displayed by football writers m the daily press and their weekly —weakly— contemporaries m regard to the Northern Rugby Union. That one-time official of the W.R.U., Touchy ".Touchline," who airs his ignorance 'on every subject under the sun, it would be thought, should have known, at least, a little of the Great Northern Union, but m the Free G-rab pf September 7, 1907, "Touchline" wrote: "The Sunderland Club, against whose team ; the New professionals will play whilst at Home, etc." The New Zealanderjk have completed their tour, "Touchline," and do not appear to have played against Sunderland, notwithstanding "Touchline's" prophesy. and for "Touchline's" benefit 1 may say that they were scarcely likely to do so, seeing that the Sunderland Club is a "Soccer" organisation. But what did "Touchline" mean by "whilst the New Zealand professionals are at home." Surely "home" m their case is New Zealand. A prominent member of IJ}e Athletic Olub .informs me that the senior team will be very much the same as last year, if anything, a little weaker. No new players of repute have joined its ranks. Victoria College will be stronger than last season The Collegians] have snavellcd TlitcMngs, a Wanganuil College and rep. thr re-quarter. Cur- 1 tayne an ex-Buller rep. forward, and I Brosnahan one of hist season's Wel-

ling-ton Club's players. Ulrich, who formerly played for Ota.go University will also come to light this season. Arrangements have been made to acquire a building at Thorn-don pending the completion of the' College "py-m." Hor#an, who played half for Poneke m 1906, may return to Wellington after Easter. .Patrick has also a notion of coming back to the Dominion al capital. The Tcmuka .Club was anxious for Poneke to pay it a visit during iis Easter trip to Christclnirch, but the red and blacks couldn't see their ' way clear to aefcept the offer. | The Taranaki Referee's Association 'shows a profit of £5 10s on last season's operations. The members are ' anxious that the annual conclave ol j the New Zealand Referee's Mutual. Admiration Society should be held m their town in/1909.. The Canterbury Rugby Union, which started with a credit balance of £2 Is 3d last season, finished up with a credit sum of £284 Bs. of which £.250 y/As transferred to the | special '.ground trust, which now stands at £705. The assets of the Union 'are valued at £274 -7s. Otago Rugby Union started last season with a debit balance of £213 os, and it has now sw.'Ued to £767 3s. The assets amount to £2610. showing a balance over liabilities of £1842 17s. To meet its liability,, the Union lias obtained a loan o£ £500 from the N Z.R.U. Poneke's latest recruits are Mitohinson, a brother of the Wellington and New Zealand three-quarter and Gardner, the- Old Boys' wiiuger of last I- season. MitcMnson is said to be a good' un by Blenheimites and has a bigger turn of foot than his more celebrated brother. The red' and blacks have snavolled. a foiuteen-stone Per- . mancnt Artilleryman, who should shake things up m the scrum. The English-Welsh toeball team to visit JVlaoriland is to sail for the ovals-' beneath the Southern Cross on April 3rd. It is reckoned to be not i too hefty a crowd as other combinations that have left the Old ' Dart. Our New Zealand footballers, however, are likely to find it a fairly tough proposition. St. James' seniors will bepractic-, ally the same team as last year. J. O'Connor, their crack five-eighth ol last season, is now stationed m Palmers-ton, and no doubt will be assisting Manawatu m its 'battles during the coming season. E. Perry, who played for Port Chalmers, just missed a place m the Otago reps, last year. He is m town and has thrown m his lot with St.' James, who has also secured P. McGrath, a promising colt, from the; Orientals. With the exceptionally large number of players joining the different clubs, the W.R.F.U. will have to provide ex-tra playing grounds this season. I understand the Union have already secured about 20 grounds at Miramar, and that does not .include any of last season's slush ponds. Ins-tone (Poneke) and "Pinky" Reid (Petone) will foe assisting the Southerns, who intend having another go m the •senior ranks. Poneke had a boom meeting last week. Billy Wallace was averse to shouldering the burden of club captain on the ground that he had lost interest m the game, -but this plea wouldn't go down with members, wiio unanimously acclaimed him to be the "man for G-alway." Glancing over the lists of vice-pres-idents of the Poneke Club, I came , across the name of J. Dawson, who turns out to be no other than "Cocky" Dawson'e pater. The elder Dawson is one of the whitest sports going, and the red and Blacks made , no mistake when they gave him the , honor. By the way, I see the Poneke Club saw the wisdom of making a substantial reduction this season m the number of its vice-presidents. Anderson and Cleary have made a big gap m the One's ranks by their departure for Australia arid Christchurch respectively since last season's operations were wound up. "Mona" Thompson's enlistment should ihi the circumstances, be very welcome to the club and its supporters. I hear the black and white scrumming brigade will be a powerful one. Petone teams will be m great fet- , tie for the opening matches. The suburbanites have a systematic method of training, which should appeal to town combinations. The removal of the disqualification ; imposed on Baskiville by the Welling- > ton Rugby Union is remarkable from the fact that no opposition was forth- j coming from committeemen when the proposal was brought forward recently. Some of the committee xwould ■ have done their damnedst to keep the sentence going, but having ascertain- , od the pulse of feeling they very j wisely came to the conclusion that tactics of 'this kind would have meant- , ) their extinction as, local administrators of the sport when delegates met • together last night m annual conI clave. I Wellington Club is augmented this season by a considerable infusion of

young blood. "Viney" 'Meredith ought to . lick the sharpest of 'em into shape before the season's happenings aro far on. the way. G : . F. C. Camp'bell unburdens himself every year on the sins and iniquities of travelling footballers, until one gets it embedded into one's brain-box that they are a greater scourge than the . Asiatic plague. G-.F.C., who poses as a paragon of purity arid a pattern of propriety, wails dolefully on the necessity for playing .the game fair and square i both off and on the field, and white we hasten to assure him that these virtues, even m footballers, are ardently desired by the people's popular and widely-read journal, at the same time we would ask him to explain the reason of his remark at) le tactics at- -the last annual meeting of the New. Zealand Rugby Union, -when be, by virtue, of his position as chairman, deliberately set .about to muzzle delogates of a persistently inquisitive frame of mind from acquiring certain information, which, had it been dragged - into broad daylight, would have reflected no very great credit on G-.F.C. and his colleagues. G.F.C. should practice what he preaches"' and not bleat so piteously for footballers acquiring a virtue? which is so lacking m himself. Mr Campbell has told us again and again of the piggish condition of train'cairriages occin-ied by footballers. Will, be go further and enlighten "Truth's" readers as to the state of that Sydney "swankey and pleasure house" after it was visited by the All Blacks during their stay m tho Metropolis last year. If Mr Campbell, m his little homily, would only mention incidents of this kind he would 'indeed be playing the game fair and square. It -is strange that m the matter of the All, Blacks' past deeds off the. field m Australia ouv friend, should be so singularly silent; ■Nobody knows better than himself the nature of those little doings.