Football Training.

Taranaki Central Press, Volume IV, Issue 364, 19 February 1937, Page 2

Football Training.

There is nothing new in the suggestion that Rugby footballers' could keep both in condition and improve their game by running on the track in. the summer (says a northern writer), but it is remarkable that so few should think it Worth while With speed so essentially a part of modern Rugby, back and forward, one of the surest ways to acquire it is to spend a summer on the track. Of course, running will not work miracles', but it will improve the speed of even the slowest of men, and there are many players in this country who might be “top-notchers” if they could only put a little, more pep into their Work. Speed off the mark often distinguishes the really great man from the merely good, and if a player, by working out with athletes in the summer, could so improve himself that he captured All Black honours, then the reward w’ould surely be ample recompense for the undeniable fag of training. With the Springbok tour this winter and the special trial games playedin South Africa, it is obvious that physical condition is going to play an important part in the form displayed, and it can be taken for granted that those who have been nominated Will see to it that they are “right up to the knocker’’ when they step on to the field at Cape Town. Several of those in the running are, in fact, engaging in athletics, some for the first time, an indication that they at least appreciate how keen will be the battle for places in the team to tour New Zealand;