FOOTBALL AUCKLAUD'S PROSPECTS. WELLINGTON'S STRENGTH.

Te Aroha News, Volume VII, Issue 391, 7 August 1889, Page 3

FOOTBALL AUCK LAUD'S PROSPECTS. WELLINGTON'S STRENGTH.

Our special correspondent telegraphs the following, which will interest our footballers : — I fancy it is 1 hardly necessary for me to inform Auckland footballers that when they go South their most important fixture, and the match in which most public interest will be centred, will be the match with Wellington. It is, perhaps, premature before any interprovincial matches have taken place to say what kind of teams Otago, Canterbury, Hawke's Bay, and Taranaki can put in the field, but I have heard that the strong team Otago could early in the season have raised has been considerably weakened by the departure of some of their best players from bhe province. Canterbury are said to be far weaker than they were in '87, and the same can be said of Hawke's Bay. As regards Wellington, though their forwards at present may not be quite so strong as last year, their backs, to me, seem stronger ; certainly stronger than those who opposed Auckland in 1886. Their team will be a splendid all-round one, and, as when they meet Auckland they will be in the beet possible condition, it behoves the Selection Committee of the Auckland Union to see that our reps are in the pink of condition. It is not necessary to say they must be the best men procurable. No petty considerations should stand in the way of picking our real reps. lam glad to see that the Committee have already picked forty men to go into training. Remembeiing ' la&t year's experience, I would strongly advise reducing these to 25 at 'once," or oven to twenty, if ' possible. Pick the fifteen and get your travelling train fit. ' The Wellington Committee hare selected the following players from whom to choose their fifteen : — Forwards : Bridson,Coulton, Stewart, Mclntyre, Reich, Johnson (Athletic), Campbell, Malcolm, Sullivan, Moqre, Coctfroff, and Reader. ' Backs: Collins, Fairbrother, Fraser, Moorhous"e, Nicholls, Galloway, Thompson, Gage, and Sim. Stewart is the member of the English team,; Mclntyre, Johnson, Sullivan are old Aucklandere. One of the half-backs, Galloway, leaves the colony next week, and I believe that the two halves chosen will be S. Nicholls, who played forward for Poneke in Auckland, and Moorhouse. Nicholls is captain of the Ponekes, and will ptobably captain the reps, if picked in the match. Moorhouse played half for Poneke and against the Athletics and certainly showed fine form, but against Wellington he was not nearly so good. The three-quarters will probably be Collins, A. Thompson, and Gage. The latter is playing a splendid game, bub needs plenty of feeding, and would be greatly harassed by fast halves and forwards. A. Thompson I have not seen this season, as he has been away', but he is a veteran whose play is too well known in Auckland to need mention Collins is one of the finest drop kicks I have seen, a very cool player, but not a biilliant or aggressive man. Sim may take the place. If he does, there will be a gain to the team in aggressive play, for he is a hard man to stop when in his stride. For his kicking Collins is fib for full-back, bub I doubb if his collaring is good enough for Masefield, Stephenson and Jervis. Sim collars well. The forwards will be a particularly hob crowd, the majority being from the Ponekes. Who they will be it is hard to say, and the Committee have their work cut out to pick the eight men. With the Cup matches the men are already in good form, but the Selection Committee have put them into strict training, and this evening they arc haid at work in the Poneke Gymnasium. They play a practice match on Saturday, and the team will no doubt be picked on Satm-day night, and by bhe time they meet Auckland should play well together. As the following programme will show, they play Wairarapa at Mastorton on the 10th, Hawke's Bay here on the 17th, native team here on 24th, and if possible Nelson at Nelson on 31sb, and Auckland, no doubt, the following week after this. 1 need only say verb. sap. " Auckland Star," August 1.

Teacher in public 3chool in Auckland : "Now, girls, what is the meaning of proud ?" Dead silence. At length one libfcle maid holds up her hand and says, " Please, teacher, it's when a girl wags her bustle." She went up top. The ordinary life of a locomotive is 30 years. Probably it Avould live much longer if it did not smoke so much. A statistician has figured out that a man who has reached the age of fif hy has spon three years of his life in buttoning on his collar. The average young man is never so much disgusted with the opposite sex as when a girl beats him three or four straight games at tennis. Koady-made— The young lady waiting for an oiler.