“Moke” Belis

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 773, 20 September 1929, Page 6

“Moke ” Belis

RETIREMENT OF GREAT , RUGBY VETERAN RECALLS MEMORIES OF ARMY TEAM AND SPRINGBOKS’ VISIT NOTABLE FOOTBALL CAREER So “Moke” Beilis has hung up his jersey for keeps He is the last of the Old Guard. They were “hard doers,” many of those war veterans, who sandwiched their Rugby in between

strafes in Flanders, short spells in Blighty, and finally hit the homeward trail in 1919, via South Africa. But they were white men. “Moke” Beilis, “Ranji” Wilson. Alfio West, Jim Moffitt, Dick Fogarty, “Jockey” Ford —good fellows all. There was none better than “Moke.”

He had weight, pace and a rugged ferocity on the field which belied his quiet, good-natured disposition off it. He was at his best in 1921-2-3. Had lie not over-trained and gone stale in the All Black trials, he would have been in the Invincibles of 1924. The Springbok test at Dunedin in 1921 and the second test against the New South Welshmen in 1923 were his high tide. There was not a forward in New Zealand to touch him then, barring perhaps Jock Richardson. “Moke” scored the famous disputed try which marked the turning pointy of the gruelliftg lirst test against the Springboks eight years ago. It was a typical Beilis effort. If memory serves aright, it was Ces Badeley who found the vulnerable spot in the dour Springbok defence with one of his lightning stab-kicks. “Moke” swooped down on it like a thunderbolt. Two Springboks, fatally hesitant, made a halfhearted attempt to force down. Beilis was on them in a flash and dived for the try. The Springboks vehemently argued that one of their men had forced the ball. But Ted McKenzie was firm. “Try to Beilis,” he curtly ordered. New Zealand won 13—5, so that the match was placed beyond doubt, even apart from that try. “Moke” was captain of the 1922 New Zealanders who achieved notoriety by losing the “ashes” in Australia. There was never a more genuine worker for the side or a man more loyal to his team than “Moke.” He felt his position keenly at the time. But since then, even such a famous latter-day All Black captain as Cliff Porter has had an even more mortifying experience—the loss of all three tests. Even after missing the 1924 All Black tour, “Moke” couldn’t bring himself to turn the game in. And each year has seen the old warhorse back in the fray, still a foe to be respected, if not to be feared, as he was in his dashing, crashing days of 1921-2-3. By the way, “Moke” and “warhorse” are not synonymous. The old-timer once explained to the writer that he got his famous nom de guerre by a mistake. Years ago he was playing for an up-country team, in which the star player was a Maori called “Moko.” He and Beilis were similar in build, and the veteran laughingly admitted that he stole some of the Maori’s thunder that day. “Anyhow,” he said, “the Maoris were shouting, ‘go it, Moko,’ and it so tickled the fancy of some of the boys that the name stuck to me.”

Veterans of the N.Z.E.F. team scattered throughout New Zealand will read of Beilis’s retirement, and it will bring back to them memories of the war years—of brave days in camp and battlefield, of stirring times in Old England, and of the Army team’s visit to Africa. Last of the Old Guard, one of the greatest of his time, and prince of good fellows—“Moke” Beilis will always be remembered in the history of Maoriland Rugby.