League Rugby.

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1037, 30 July 1930, Page 7

League Rugby.

Notes ond Comment.

vr, Baxter on League . n extract from the reported renJVks of Mr. James Baxter, manager the touring British Rugby Union -«am at the dinner tendered to the Test ’teams on Saturday evening: “I understand that you in Auckland v ftV e been faced with certain difficuliip g There has been opposition, but Ivhat you believe to be a roaring lion may only be a woolly dog. I think that vou in Auckland are wrong to reauire special privileges in regard to rules to comoat this competition, vfter all. Rugby is a game for the 'layers; the. spectators do not really matter. If # oi r game as it was played "t Eden Park today is not a fit and liroper game for men and boys to play, do not worry Let them play some other game if they feel inclined. It is the man who plays the game that counts and if he enjoys playing it there is nothing wrong. What the Manager Knows Of course. Mr. Baxter did not mention the name of the code to which he referred, but that is patent to everybody. It is singularly queer that the British -manager should have made the analogy between a roaring jion and a woolly dog. Further still, the Auckland Rugby Union and the public of At ok land knows what Mr. Baxter apparently docs not know—the strength of the Rugby League code in Auckland. # * What He Does Not Know For instance, it may be news to Mr. Baxter to krow that up till Saturday last the Rugby League code held the record attendance ever registered at a football match of ANY code in any part of New Zealand. In one match at the Domain not more than a decade ago. 37.600 people paid for admission 10 a Rugby League match, and. in addition, thousands of schoolboys were admitted FREE and are not included in that number. Even on top of this a section of the public broke through the fence of the Domain during the match, and nobody knows how many more hundreds were added to the attendarce. And What He Now Knows The Auckland Rugby Union also knows that in immediate post-war years the spectators at Union matches dwindled to a mere handful every Saturday, while the public attended League matches in its thousands. Not more than six years ago. the club championship final of the Auckland Rigby League drew an attendance of 17.000 spectators, and, toming to more recent days, on the day of the Britain - Auckland Rugby Union match, there was an attendance of approximately 3,000 spectators at Rugby League at Carlaw Park. No Use for Spectators! It may be that the Rugby Union’s ] rival code is nearer a roaring lion than ! the woolly dog which Mr. Baxter thinks it D. The British manager also spoke as though spectators did not matter in the Union game. At that rate, he should have had the test played in he Mount Eden gaol, or somewhere where the 45.000 spectators which the Rugby Union says were at the match, could not have attended. Mr. Baxter knows as well as any of his Rugby guests that spectators are necessary, and absolutely imperative to the existence of the Union game on its plane of today. And yet he is reported to have said “the spectators do not really matter.” * * + New Zealand’s £20,000 Profit

If spectators do not really matter, Kates do nor. really matter, and if the A'ew Zealand Rugby Union had been of the same opinion as Mr. Baxter evidently is he and his band of Britishers would never have been invited to come tripping to New Zealand. A former chairman of the management committee of the Auckland R ugby Football League attended both the Auckland matches of the touring British team, and he now freely voices the opinion that only one member of that team—an inside back—would win a place in an English Rugby League team. * * * Another Defeat By being soundly trounced by Queensland in the second match with the team of that State on Saturday, the New Zealand Rugby League All Black team put “finish” to whatever chance it had when it went North from Sydne >' of making the tour a financial success. The side began badly, and apparently is going from bad to worse, it will probably go down in League history as one of New Zealand’s ill-star-ed overseas tours. Australian Record The New Zealand team in Australia has now played seven matches, and it laa lost all but two of them, which it "’° n ‘ Today it was to have met another Queensland country side at Brisbane. On Saturday it is schedto play Newcastle at Newcastle, out when the last. Sydney exchanges arrived there was talk of interchanges that match with, one of the Sydney batches, to allow the New South Wales to visit Brisbane a little earlier in oo season than was previously intended. The Queensland Team The team which was opposed to the -ew Zealanders in their first Bris:f ne match was: Fullback, C. Smith ( tP*^| c b); threequarters, E. Harris fnii t Fred Laws (Toowoomba), / T ln aws (Toowoomba), and J. Upton jAoowoomba); five-eighths. Frank (Ipswich); halfback, A. Edards (Gympie): forwards. M. Madsen ban°r°? mba) * K - McCormack (Brisb ‘V- Ben net (Ipswich), V. Arm(Brisbane), D. Dempsey (lprp.”)' and H. Steinolirt (Toowoomba) avails, cr * tsos classed it as the best roo ,ab e sidc ’ as the famous Kangaami ap ta ,n » Tom Gorman, was unfit. an <l could not play. L, »‘ T eam in Queensland to vi!u' a f New Zealand League team niatpu l Australia. in 1925, lost all the though S ««. ik pla >' f ‘ d in Queensland, alaßainst x” threc of the four S amGS looks 1 ew Wales side. It out t rt aS *"“ ou &b the present team is are tv, eciual that record. Following matr* resulta of the 1925 team’s hes in Queensland: \° Q ue *nsland 19-43 Lost 10 Ipswic b 21-22 !° Queensland 20-29 st to Toowoomba 12-14

The Boys in Australia Australian critics- on New >' players in the second New 'Vales match: Eckhoff as a hooker is a good fulland When he u-ied to play as a , back tlle closest he got to the ball was when his side kicked off. ,A b ° ut ‘‘Steve” Watene, much boosted l.nze<l winger, well say that he's best Cl ‘y leading. Uill Shankland nad the hoodoo’ on him all the way on Saturday, and the dusky chap looked as if he didn’t want that ball at all. Only bright spots in the New Zealand team were the little chaps, Abbott and Brisbane? “Brissy” knows his onions and had our lads looking for the needle in the haystack time after time. Abbott is a nippy sort too. Best of the Enzed forwards was Dobbs and though he had his ank’e injured early lie gave all the others a few on and still hopped better than them all. There were movements by New South Wales which would have penetrated the defence of any team, let alone the depleted and shattered ranks of the New Zealanders. Excuses can be made for them in all directions, but the undeniable fact remains that New Zealand Rugby League football is a long way below the standard of that in Australia. Brogan Suspended W. Brogan, the New South Wales player who was ordered off in the first New Zealand - New South Wales match, and who did not appear at the next meeting of the judiciary committee of the New South Wales Rugby League, appeared later, and was suspended until July 28 for the part he played when referee Lai Deane sent him from the field. Saturdays Matches After a break for one week, on account of the third Rugby Test at Eden Park last Saturday, the Auckland Rugby League will continue its club competitions on Saturday. The draw for the games in the senior grade is: City—Marist, Carlaw Park, No. 1. 3 p.m. Kingsland—Richmond, Carlaw Park, No. 2, 1.45 p.m. Ponsonby—Newton, Carlaw ParkNo. 2. 3 p.m. Devonport—Ellerslie, Ellerslie, 3 p.m. Australian Tour The following table gives the results of the matches played in Australia, to date by the New Zealand touring team: J Late | Opponents. | Result j July s*l N.S.W. (1) ] Lost 5-16 July 9 ! West List. i Won 20-14 i (N.S.W.) | July 12 ; N.S.W. (2) ! Lost 2-29 July 16 N.W. County Won 34-1!) N.S.W. ! i July 19 Queensland (1) j Lost 11-11 Julv 23 ; ipswicb ; Lost 3-10 July 26 j Queensland (2) . Lost 6-32.

A League Personality An interesting football personality among the many met in Australia by the New Zealand League team now on tour there is Arthur llalloway, who went to England in 1908 with the original “Kangaroos,” and again in 1912. He was with the 1912 and 1919 teams in New South Wales. He was a great halfback, and probably the most dangerous near the line that Australia ever produced. He is now coaching Eastern Suburbs, which this season is doing better than for many years. Its inter-State representation includes Nelson Hardy and Busch, the Kangaroo player, and Joe Pearce, son of the famous “Sandy” Pearce, who also played for Australia in England in 1908. He was selected to go abroad with the 1921 team to New Zealand, and was selected in the 1911 side for the English tour, but could not get away. As the result of thel92l tour he was rated the finest half Australia ever had Pearce is a cousin of Bob Pearce, the Australian sculler.

CHANGE OF DATES? TEAM IN AUSTRALIA Finance has to be studied in sport as well as in business. Thus the New South Wales Rugby League has no objection to sending a team to meet Queensland in Brisbane on August 9, instead of August 20, as was previously suggested, says the Sydney “Sun.” Should the date he altered —and it seems highly probable—there will be a change in the itinerary of the New Zealanders in New South Wales. Originally New Zealand was set down to play at Newcastle on August 2 and against New South Wales in Svdney on August 9. The order will be reversed if New South Wales meets Queensland in Brisbane on August 9. The idea of the Queensland League is that there will be more money ar.d people in Brisbane on August 9, as the Queensland Show is to be held from August XI to 16. . If the earlier date is chosen the match will be played £0 Davies Park. The matter of representative games interfering so seriously with club competitions was mentioned by Mr. .1 Quinlan (“Eastern Suburbs), who said that the public lost interest because of the frequent breaks. So did the players. Mr S. G. Ball said that consideration would have to be given in future when New Zealand visited Australia as to whether the Queenslanders should come to Sydney in the same season. With country matches and one touring team it would perhaps be sufficient for big football. OFFER TO PLAY FOR £IOO A letter was received from the Western Suburbs Club, suggesting that instead of New South Wales playing New Zealand. Western Suburbs should be given the game against the visitors. It was pointed out that the cost of staging the New Zealand-New South Wales fixture would be £l5O, .whereas Western Suburbs was prepared to play New Zealand, and take £IOO and a set of “jerseys/’ as the colours of the teams are similar. The letter was merely received.