The Uninvited Guest

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 115, 5 August 1927, Page 10

The Uninvited Guest

O game of Soccer in Auclcland is considered, complete without the presence of a stout elderly gentleman, with a Doric brogue. On the last occasion at Blandford Park, he quarantined himself on the far bank, and flew a glaring yellow standard with a red lion, rampant on it, which may have represented a national emblem, a local secondary school, or a popular brew of malt liquor. Falling rain found, him wet, very wet, but still undaunted, as he sat on the sopping deck , whence all but he had fled for shelter. With the golden standard draped over his burly shoulders, as an imaginary shield against the elements, he urged on the contestants with deep-throated Doric exhortat ions.

On i*'»»**» tny night, the guests of the complimentary f unction to the test match teams, were somewhat taken aback when this familiar figure drifted into the fmiction and proceeded to announce his emphatic opinion that it was only necessary to ■wait until the Men of the Maple Leaf met the “ Thistle ” (“deid, mon , there's a bonny team for ye"), and they would be up against a floral emblem which could not be sat on with impunity. The gallant urger was proceeding to elaborate on his thesis with immense gusto , when it transpired that he had forgotten his invitation card, and as he had not been asked in officially, he was gently but firmly asked out, and disappeared. into the gloom of another wet night.