GREAT FULLBACK BATTLES IN LEAGUE AND RUGBY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 429, 10 August 1928, Page 10

GREAT FULLBACK BATTLES IN LEAGUE AND RUGBY

DUFTY- SULLIVAN DUEL RECALLS MANY FAMOUS RUGBY CUSTODIANS—SINCLAIR WAS THE GREATEST SINCE THE WAR

MEMORIES of many a thrilling long range duel between rival fullbacks down through the history of Maornand Rugby were brought back at Carlaw Park on Saturday, when the English captain, Sullivan, and Aucklander Dufty fought out their memorable duel for what practically amounts to world supremacy in League custodianship. This contest between a man who has been accl aimed as the greatest England has ever produced in the last line position and the bearer of a famous football name in fullback play was a magnificent one from start to finish. The writer has to go back to 1923 to remember one that equalled it. jUs&i

A COMPARISON between the Dufty-Sullivan contest (which will be renewed at Carlaw Park to-morrow), and one that took place five years ago, recalls the second Union Rugby test at Christchurch in 1923 between the All Blacks and New South Wales, in which R. J. L. Sinclair (N.Z.), and Otto Notliling (N.S.W.), fought out a wonderful battle, with the honours to the New Zealander. One has never seen such tremendous kicking as in that game at Christchurch. Curiously enough, when discussing this aspect of the play after that match, the writer was told by “Jock” Richardson that too much air had been put into the ball before the match, with the result that Sinclair kicked goals from all angles, including two from half way, as if he had been used to doing it every day of the week. ,ln neither League nor Rugby since the war, has the writer seen a finer fullback than this same Sinclair, and that includes “Gerry” Morkel, George Nepia, Dufty, Sullivan and many other brilliant exponents of fullback play. Sinclair was a medical student at the Otago University in those days, and was the “biggest moral” for the 1924 All Blacks when he decided to place his medical career before sport, and notified that he was not available. By a coincidence, his old rival, Nothling, is also a “sawbones” in Queensland, his native State, which also produced another great fLillback in Frauenfelder, the Cinquavalli of modern League. In 1923, Frauefelder was unexcelled as a footballer. In Sydney they still talk about his great game for Queensland in the inter-State match of that year.

Another great fullback tussle was staged in the Rugby Tests in 1921, between South Africa and New Zealand when Morkel and Kingston met at long range. Kingston will always be remembered as a great all-round custodian, a better man than is generally realised, because the famous South African so dominated the popular mind by his tremendous sideline punting and his facility for potting a Test-winning goal that Kingston’s fine work in all phases of play was to some extent overshadowed by his veteran rival from the African veldt.

Nepia was typical of the Maori footballer at his best, one of many brilliant native players who have supplied that touch of scintillating genius and inspiration which the average New Zealander lacks. “Yes,” murmurs the sceptic, “but see what happens when they’re up against it.” That may be true to some extent, but the reply is that only once in a lifetime do you get a player of Cooke’s amazing versatility, equally good in all phases of play, and able to combine rock-like defence with superlative brilliance on attack. The man of speed has to sacrifice too much to be a resolute defender, as witness many famous sprinters who turned from the running track to the football field, and were accused as unjustly as Nepia of funking the hard stuff, although the multitude were perfectly willing to laud them to the skies when they went through the opposition in a shattering run, which called as much for those qualities of skill and sheer determination as are evinced by the demon tackier who stands and waits for his foe.

That, however, is by the way. Nepia was a great fullback, and for everyday consistency there are few in the world to-day who could equal his amazing record match after match for the 1924 All Blacks on their all-con-quering tour of Britain. Like a meteor, he shot into the football world of his day, and until he dropped out of the

game, he was still the same brilliant player he always was. The English critics, who are the last to be impressed by the -spurious brilliance of a day ox- a

match, acclaimed him as the greatest of his time, and one of the best of all time. Just before the war, Jack O’Brien was another great custpdian, who car-

ried on the Auckland tradition for producing a long line of fullbacks who could hold their own in any company. Before him came Joe O’Leary, and

further back still was “Scobie” McKenzie, the great Grafton player. Away back in the early years of the present century, Billy Wallace and George Gillett were without a peer in

their respective spheres, both uniting magnificent fullback play with an all round ability which made them the ideal utility men of the Rugby game They could do with two of their stamp in Africa to-day.

Old-timers still talk of the famous fullback battle between Gillett and Wallace in the InterIsland match in 1905, just before the All Blacks sailed for England.

And even in their day, Auckland had a Dufty, the idolised “Give-it-to-Dufty” of happy memory, a far-reach-ing booster of huge punts along the 6kyline, and a constant worry to visiting teams who committed infringements anywhere in their own side of half-way. They even named a hat after that Dufty—the “Dufty Lid” was much cultivated by the “lads of the village” in those far-off days. And that brings us to the presentday bearer of a famous football name, a nephew of the original Dufty. Ask any of his old team-mates about Dufty and how he played in Australia in 1925, and in England the following year, and they will scratch their heads, and say: “Well, he’s just the same old Dufty.” And that’s all there is to be said, really. But some of the Englishmen, to whom he is no stranger, will reply: “Yes, he played well on Saturday, but he played better than that in England.” In the first hectic ten minutes at Carlaw Park on Saturday when Dufty and Sullivan overshadowed everything else in a memorable game, the writer heard the excited comment of an Englishman in the broad Yorkshire dialect:—“Doofty, slow, they say Naw, laad, he’s no thaat slow!” And in their quick appreciation of the man who was proving the fatal stumbling block to an essential feature of their play, these same Englishmen showed the true sportsman’s recognition of a great and worth}' foe. Although onlv in his twentv-fonrth

year, Jim Sullivan, a tall, weighty, wellproportioned chap turning the scale at 13 stone, has had a remarkable football career, and certainly a very meteoric rise into the ranks of real champions. At the age of 16 years he hung up his school colours after many years of prominence in first fifteen football and took the field as a first-class Rugby exponent for Cardiff. That same year, 1920, he represented the county and later in the season was chosen as first reserve for the Welsh representative team which met France. Even in those days he was a great goal kick and rapidly he was going forward into the ranks of England’s greatest footballers. Officials of the Rugby League game had watched young Sullivan closely since his school days, and the following season, 1921, he went over to the thirteen-a-side code to join up with the Wigan Club at the record fee offered to any fullback in England. His first season at League he kicked 105 goals and became an international player. In this code Sullivan rose to his greatest heights and ever since 1921 he has been an international player. He was included in the English team which toured New Zealand and Australia in 1924, and out of 17 games played he managed 84 goals. His record in goal kicking is now right on the 1,100 mark. On this tour Sullivan has captained the English team in two out of the three tests in Australia, while he also led the team out last Saturday in the first test against New Zealand. This season he has the somewhat unique record of scoring 37 tries from the fullback position. Beside football, Jim Sullivan also excels at other branches of sport. He is an international baseball player and a keen golfer. When not on the field his particular line of graft is cattle dealing, in which, by the way, he has made a considerable success.