Personalities In N.Z. Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 719, 19 July 1929, Page 12

Personalities In N.Z. Sport

Ex-N.Z. League Captain to Coach Northland Reps.

IX askin'” M. Wetherill to go North and coach its representative team for a fortnight before its departure for Auckland to play its first big game here, the North Auckland Ru"bv League has paid a high compliment to a player who n-as recognised in his day as one of the finest exponents of the 13-a-side game in the world.

The number of five-eighths or inside backs who have played in New Zealand in recent years under either Rugby or League rules, and to whom the term “great” could be applied, is decidedly few. There are four certainties for that title, however. They are T. Lawton and A. E. Cooke (Rugby), and M. Wetherill and L. Fairclough (League). The subject of this article, “Gig” Wetherill. was playing the Australian rules game along with Bill Davidson sind other keen enthusiasts away back before the war. “Gig” belonged to the Eden Club, but it was not long before he joined up with the League code. In those days, “Gig” was only a fifthgrader, so that some of the youngsters of today who are well down the ladder may take heart from the fact that a player who was afterward to captain his country started away down the grades. Wetherill played his first senior game in 1917. and got his first rep. game for Auckland in 1919, but jr. was not till a couple of years later that lie was assured of a regular place in the Auckland team. In 1924, “Gig” played his first game {for New Zealand against the visiting .English team of that year, and the following season he went across to Australia with the League All Blacks of That year. He would undoubtedly have been a member of the ill-fated

1926-27 team which went to England, but he was not able to make the trip for private reasons. There was some suggestion in 19272$ that Wetherill was sliding down the hill and would soon be a back-number. In the circumstances, his wonderful games for New Zealand against Parkin’s Englishmen were in the nature of a triumphant “come-back.” The best tribute the writer has heard paid to him was by an old New Zealand representative and prominent Auckland League man, who said: •‘For his weight, he is the most aggressive player I’ve seen, and a great tackier.” Right through his long career, “Gig” has always been associated with the City Club. Through good years and bad he has stuck to the old club, and has done his share in bringing it back to something like its old-time place in Auckland League. Apart from football, Wetherill is also a sound cricketer. Last season he captained the United Suburbs’ team in the senior A.C.A. cricket competition, and is recognised as a solid batsman and a good wicketkeeper. Summing up Wetherill’s football career, it can be said that he knows the game from end to end, and if his ability as a player and a skipper is any criterion, the Northland League should find him a man ideally suited to the task of coaching its players.