FOOTBALL.

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 275, 23 June 1888, Page 3

FOOTBAL L.

Says the Wellington eoi ic-pondent of the ' ilefeuc ':— The icsult ot Aiu-kland s victory ovei England in the .-econd ni.ilcli waree'eh ed here with gie.it delight, On the result being posted up at one of the new-.-, paper offices cheering \\.i-< indulged in by the ciowd for some consumable time Says an Adelaide paper : —Pi obalil) ne\ or betoi'e in the annals of toot ball has a name beenabiuptly terminated by the inability ot the umpire to proceed ; 'nut on Thursday Mr Blackmail was unwell when he began, and by the end of the third quarter had run him-elt to a standstill, then tho spectators witnessed t lie really Huo-hable spectacle of an umpire fainting in the middle of the ground. Mr Blackmail is, evidently inclined to be sensational, for it wa> he who last season got in the load of the ball, and was rendeicd unconscious. The player-, esidently welcomed the opportunity to get away on Thursday, for they lefu^ed to go on when a competent gentleman ofleied to arbitrate. While he lasted Mr Blackman umpired in a fairly .-.atisiaotory manner. Like the other umpire. 0 , howcxer, he found that two eyes Mere not sufliciont to detect every instance in which the numerous rules were tian.sgte^cd The football contributor of the ' Western Star ' hah received a letter from Hairy Lee, one of the selected men in Warbnck's Maori team, which gives the following information : — ' The team, at present counting of IS picked men, are now constantly piacti?ing together. Altogether '20 men have been ! picked and probably t\\ o mo'c will yet be ' included in the team that is to go Home. The men live near Hastings, where they have taken u hou-sC and engaged a cook. They .spend the gi eater pait of their tune in exercises of all kinds, and ha\ c constant exercise with tho boxing-gUnes, dumb-bell^, Indian clubs, heavy hammer, and tmowinsr the heavy ■weight., besides football piaeticc twice a day. The men appear to be on the whole a quiet, sober lot, and they all get on well together. Warbrick intei viewed the Englishmen the other day, and he wtib informed that if the team could hold its own when playing against Wellington, it was quite good enough for any of the counties at Home. The Englishmen aie anxious to meet the team twice m (he old country if possible. On Saturday, .hi no Dth, the team play Uawke's Bay ; then go to Auckland, and probably come lound by Taianaki to play the team there. Wellington comes next, then Nelson (probably), Ohiictehurch, Dunedin, and Invercargill. After tho Jnvei - cargill match tho team will leave the Bluff and proceed to Melbourne and Sydney, where they purpose playing a few matches before proceeding to England. On the whole tho team it a heavy one, averaging 12st 101b a man.' We hear such a lot about the New South Wales win tor being too short and the climate too enervating to allow of the game being pioperly played. That may be, but list to the words of a Sydney sporting journal, the ' Sydney Referee.' The write says : —It is often asked, with a pu/zled look and manner, however it is that oui footballer are so far behind those ot New Zealand. In physique they are fully the equals of their island brethren ; in play they are not to be compared. Not the mo.sfc ardent club barracker will for a moment assert that a toam of New South Welshmen, an now played, could boat a team of New Zeal'inders, or even one from one of the centres — Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, 01 Otago. Well, I propose to show, to a certain extent, how it is, and it can be done in a very few words. In New Zealand they encourage working men to join the clubb, and give them a show in inter-provincial matches. In New South Wales there is not one working man to be found playing in any important fixture. Let me take tho twenty - two splendid young fellows who had the high honour to take part in the variousinterprovincial matches in which 'Auckland was represented last year. I have their photo befoie me as I write, and will con the group from left to right as they sit or stand. The writer thon takes individually a dozen or so of the ' reps,' and shows what their occupation is. He continues : — There you have twelve out of the twenty-two who are actually working men, and there are several 1 have not named who I think come under tho same category, but not being certain, and knowing that if I was wrong

the young men would be ' marked ' I hold off. Now, against this array of developed muscle we can show a lot of * young gentlemen,' bank e'erks, etc. Seven of our players on Saturday were ex-University students, and the whole are young fellows who, for the most partj, have nover done any harder work than that required to propel a billiard cue with sufficient iorce to got an all round cannon. Until the clubs encourage snapping young working men, who in Sydney have no other athletic pursuit but running, and working men's rowing club work, to take an inteiesfc in the king of winter games, wo will never be able to put a team in the Held composed for the most part, of toilhardened citi/ens such as are the English and New Zealand player.s. It is a well known fact that most of the very best Rugboiaus in England, and all the crack Association player.s are working men. In Victoria, too, where they have brought their game under their own rules, to a height of popularity unknown in any part of the world where the population is proportionate, all the pick of the players in the principal clubs are artisans. Says a Sydney exchange : — Jimmy Anderson, the great Queensland threc-qunrbor-back, is about the fastest footballer in Australia. When Church was in his best form in Brisbane, he only defeated Anderson by half a yaid, in a hundred, after a great race, andChurch can nm 100 yards, in ten I seconds. As usual the English football team have been interviewed in New South Wales. Mr R. L. Setldon, captain of the British football team, was very much pleased with the reception he and his comrades met with in Dunedin. As legards the Rugby game j as played in New Zealand, while thinking that the New Zealanders are as good as his own men, he is of opinion that they don't play the line points of the game as well, and the Brifckh passing is superior. The New Zealanders aie ical good workers, splendid taeklers,and proficient kickers. The Britons put kicking aside, and think more of parsing. The Taranaki match was the easiest played. In that match two of the Britons were left out for a rest, so as to. keep them fresh for the Auckland match. Had the visitors kept in good condition they would have beaten Auckland. Although beaten at Auckland, Mr Seddon's men crossed their line seven times, and they only crossed the British once when they got a drop kick at the goal. Tho New Zealand climate wan beneficial. (We rather fancy Mr Seddon was romancing here a trifle.) Says ' Tackle low ' in the ' Sydney Referee,' summarising up the play in the tirst match N. S. W. v. England :-- From first to last the Englishman ran through om players like water through the Nepean .supply pipes. While some of our forwards woiked hard, and did good execution in the open scrummages, otheis loafed terribly, and the whole had no reliable support from their backs. There was not tho slightest show of N. S. W. scoring, but for the injury sustained by Haslam. He was unable co gel quite across to the long pass he got, owing to his lameness. Tie left it to Kent, and that lightning player over- ran it. Hale was following well up, saw his chance, caught her on the hop, and was off like a shot. Kent and Paul both went for the neck of his jersey, but that being a tight fit, they missed time after time, and the Atfoma representative got over the line. This, with tho exception of Camerons iun«. and a bit of dash by Lee and Neill and Belbiidge was the only smart bit of play on our Braddon was fairly good in collaring, and a man who came straight at him rarely got past, but his kicking was lamentably pooi ; indeed, he seems to have lost all skill in this important department of a back's play. Summed up, one can only say that the play of the Sydney men was disappointing. They seemed to lack combination and condition while theydisplayod little knowledge of the game as it should be played. Shortly, they were overmatched in every department.