In Tan Shoes

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 449, 3 September 1928, Page 6

In Tan Shoes

Barracker Who Tried His Hand at League NO PARLOUR GAME HE FINDS Many Queer things have been known to happen on a football field. The _ thousands who attended the curtain-raiser at Carlaw Park on Saturday witnessed one of the queerest, and perhaps the most amusing, incidents of years. TOURING the progress of the New-ton-Marist game there was in the stand a certain ardent supporter of North Shore, which team was to play the final match of the championship season with Ellerslie. The suspense of the waiting for the cur-tain-raiser to finish was whiled away by the Shoreite vainly endeavouring to find someone who would take a bet on his favourite team. Just on half-time, however, Gregory, the Marist fullback, was injured, and did not line out after the interval. Marist was short of men, and so someone suggested that the Shore supporter should have a game. Without more ado he clambered down from the stand and donned a green jersey and shorts to match. He could not find a pair of football boots. But that did not matter. Here was the dream of a lifetime come true, and the enthusiast took the field to join the fray. It was the feminine mind, never greatly absorbed in the art and science of the game, that first noticed the incongruity of the situation. Taking up his position as fullback, the newcomer displayed a fine pair of pea sticks clad in silk socks and suspenders to match. He also wore tan shoes. The crowd rippled with mirth at the sight. But a few minutes after it was rocking with laughter when the newcomer promptly packed down in the scrum. The players themselves held their aching sides as he disputed the half-back position with O’Sullivan, and then had a shot on the wing. A fish out of water or a polar bear let loose

in the Sahara would have been more at home.. But the player went on, as if in a dream, oblivious to the attention that was being concentrated on him. Obtaining possession of the ball, he sped for the line with ungainly gait, to be upset, and sprqadeagled on the ground with half a dozen forwards seated on him. He emerged from the mass of arms and legs to be greeted by vociferous cheers. But he had had enough. Football is no parlour game. -To play it men must be fit, and capable of giving and taking hard knocks. So turning his back on the game, the sadder but wiser supporter jogged past the stand and paid his respects to the wondering crowd. He stood for a time looking wistfully at the play in the distance, and then uttering a faint “No good to me,” he left the field, followed by thunderous applause.