FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 5 July 1907, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

SENIOR GRADE. ELTllAil (14) v. STAR (3). When tlie.se teams met in the first roua<l the New Plymouth men notched a victory by 10 points to U. It was generally conceded to be a lucky win, not only on the day's play, but because the "-Magpies" were without the services of Horse and Dive, its best back players. With Dive again in the field for yesterday's fixture public opinion gave Elthani the balance of possibilities, and the result

of the match bore this out. In the first 1-ound Star played Kivell. His dasli ami ■•go"' were absent yesterday in the fourteen men mustered to do battle for the elub. Elthani played Drown, with three

. puteheJ ribs, unil the veteran Duvr Moir, still nursing his knee. Air Spurdle was . referee. a Tlit game was an uninteresting one to t watch, and anything but a good exhibition of the national game. Eltham got .1 some good combined work at times, and cetainly made a better attempt at football than did the home team, who were, as a spectator put it, "all at sixes ami sevens.'' What few opportunities came their way were generally spoiled " entirely by thoughtless tactics such as passing to it colleague's feet or over his head, or llot infrequently, to a place where I here was no one to receive the ball. From the outset Eltham took up an aggressive attitude, and in the first ten minutes knocked up a score at a rate of nearly a point per minute. Dive got the first try from a good opening made by himself, and L. Moir crossed almost immediately afterwards. His anxiety to ground the ball between the posts, or his under-rating the pace of his opponents, nearly cost his side the score, for he was tackled after he might with ease have touched down. Dive kicked a goal, and at this early stage the score stood: Eltliam 8 Star .0 The Southerners were playing with the wind in their favor, and on resuming had , Stars in trouble again, the close following up of McNab, Potts and MeCracken disconcerting their opponentns some- ( what. l*ike and Black were responsible ] for a change of scene, and Ambury and ] Allen carried oil the attack. Eltham's 1 defence was good. Each Star was deftly collared as he took the ball, and Dive ' booted back to the other goal line. Star ; forcing, Play in front of the posts gave the Stars any amount of work. Then ; the ball went out to the attacking wings, t who kicked short to the line. Black \ speculated, but Oie gamble was this l time disastrous, and fllentworth shot over at the corner. Despite the liTgli c wind Dive but narrowly missed the goal, c Eltham i Resumption of play saw the Blacks t playing more determinedly, but it was r mostly individual effort. Tom Smith , got in a couple of smart runs, and kicked. 0 out. This time the line play gave Stars jj the advantage, but an infringement x>f the knock-oii rule brought a scrum. In <] this department the visitors were superior. 1 lie ball came out to Lewis, and f. it was handled several times before Dive t got it and dashed it upficld. But he passed forward at a critical juncture, and 0 play centred again, continuing indeeis- i ive until half-time. With the change of ends Star got the v wind behind them, and commenced to make things merry. Black made a v fine attempt at goal from a penalty at s half-way. but the wind spoiled the effort. Eltliam forced. The visitors n were now penned in their own territory s for a while, Pike, Smith, Ryan and Allen a showing some good form." But there p was no solidity in the attack to compare ii with the stubbornness of the defence, n The tackling of the visitors was sure, b Men were tackled low, and there was no a escape. An attempt to grab an Eltham ;l man by the neck instead of by the legs s let the Magpies out on the warpath t again, and their forwards came near scoring. My good use of the line the j ball was worked back, and from some loose play Ambury shot over, scoring a well-deserved try." The kick was a good one, but missed the posts. Eltham 14 Star Eltham was a little bit bothered at this stage by the persistency of the op s posing forwards. An opening was snapped by Pike, and lie dropped with the ball over the line. By the time the referee reached the scene he was some feet nearer midfield, as though lie had Wen pulled back. Star allege that this was the case, but as the crowd was encroaching on the field of play it was not possible to get a good view of the in- I cident. .lust afterwards Dive made the run of the day, but Pike grassed him, J and the ball came out over the side line. From this to the end of the game there was little of moment, and a most uninteresting game ended in favor of Eltham by 14 to 3. Dive was probably the best back on the field. With him among the winners Lewis and lloir deserve mention, and McXab. Potts and McCraeken were conspicuous by their rapid following-up. For Stars, Pike played excellent football, ami Richards was good at full back. Black's display was spoiled by reckless passing, and Thomson, at half, was no match for his vis-a-vis. Among the forwards Ryan and Allen were generally the busiest. STRATFOKD (51) v. I.WLEWtiOOD (0) These teams met at Stratford yesterday afternoon, when the local team ran ip the big score of 51 to their opponents' nil. With the exception of the excellent play slm\v> Potier and De Lannay, the Inglewood team displayed very poor form. They were, however, unable to put in a full team, and contested the game with thirteen men. Tries were scored for the winners by Stohr, Young, Cameron, .lames, Boon, and Osborne. Stohr and Cameron were responsible for the goals, and had the wind been less tricky several more goals must have been registered. Sir Geo. Griffiths controlled the game. TI'KAPA (3) v. CLIFTON (0).

These teams met at Waitara yesterday afternoon, the game being witnessed b m v a large number of spectators. The day was an ideal one for a displav of good football, the ground being fast'and dry. The match was, however, disappointing from a spectator's point of view, the play, although fast, being almost devoid of interesting detail. The mak-h ran. perhaps, best be described as a scramble. Tukapa kicked oil, the home team detending the south end, favored by a light breeze. With play at centre, a good deal of line work and kicking was indulged in. Clifton front-rankers broke through and work was very lively on the corner, Mel.ean (Tukapa) easing by a kick. The home full K'iurncd. and Tukapa forced. The home forwards made the play, and invaded the visitors' territory, Atkiin,' who fdayed well at half for lukapa. {letting d«»\yn. ;ind staving the rushes. Line work followed, in which Storey for the vi-itors was conspicuous, his taeti's in breaking through being effective time and again. From a scrum the leather came out to Tlonevfield. I put in his run and transferred to Hardgraves. The pas* came awkward, and a knock on nnllilied a good chance. Clif- ] ton found 1 lie line, and following up the advantage wore right up. where Tukapa a were penalised. Cain took the kick, but tailed. The Nine* began io destir theinselves, ami some vigorous plav ensued in 1 la* home 2.Ts. The pressure was relieved and an interchange of long kicks reversed the scene of pla.V. The home pack rushed right down to within a half dozen yards of Tukapa's line, but the defence of the JHues was solid and a kick relieved to cid field. Clifton re- ( turned to the charge, but Tukapa. Raved ( | by forcing. An interchange followed. ~ On the line the home te;im were- more 7 than holding their own. and in the loose J rushes they eventually took the oval „ through in good form to Tukapa'-* 2.75. € where Storey *eeured. and. coming right ( | though tie- attacking inck, put in a j mo*t serviceable kick. The visitors followed up (piicklv, but. kicking too hard.

spoiled n likely chance. ami ( liflon forced. l-'roni a throw-in a homo team hack secured. and put in a good kipk. Tukapa full was about to take the hall, when Sclioiiflil raced up ami interecpti'd. Ho irn( pn.-spssinti all hut the Impact threw him off his halaupe, and. after taking altoul a dozen strides, ho came down. This Inst n certain spore for Clifton, as had Srhofield kept his frM. hj» had a straight run in without opposition. TV half-time whistle soundpd. without score to cither side. A lot of fit-t loose plav was the principal c-lin rapteri«lie of the second spell. ' tho visitors making the pare very vigorous at times. Three times in rapid succession. Tnkapa wfro fnrretl. They still aggressed, and Onrw had the hnrd luck to knock on slightly after ho had 1 l>eatcn the only man in front of him. Ilw home forward* tallied iu line style,

a*d on two or three occasions Hardgraves' clever serew-kicking saved the situation. A nice piece of passing on tlie part of the Tukapa backs relieved the monotony. Honcylield got possession, and passed out to Ilardgraves, who, in turn passed to Fiewin. Unluckily 3t Fl'ewin's pass to Hooker went forward, 1 a and the chance was lost. Just after, r- Hardgraves got the leather from the y molec, and had a shot at goal. The kick was a good one, hut went wide. From ili a bit of fust play Ttikapa sent up a long li kick, and a race between McLean, and ; 's a home back resulted in the former se- : ie curing and touching down. The kick t failed. , t Tukapa 3 I d Clifton 0 t The scramble waged up and down and e across for some minutes, and then the c . a lilacs once more were at the corner. 1, ■ ( Clifton bioke through ami traversed the ], s whole length of the field, but Hardgraves 0 agin sent the leather to safety. Clifton ) swept down again to the cornar, where s . Jury marked. Loveridge took the kick, s t but missed. The visitors sent the play , to the home 2.Vs. The leather came back a t to lloneyficld, who put too much boot s i , into his kick and Clifton forced. The i Ilcds got on a good rush, and were in , dangerous territory, and Frewin had to [ screw kick to snve. Just after Hooker i took a iii'iik ;i( half-way. Ilardgraves , had a shot a( goal, but the ball did not fv rise. Ihe hitherto brisk pace here eased, |] and the game ended without further if score. , c Mr Proctor rcfcrecd. " to SECOND GRADE. Star 11. and Eltham 11. met at Elthain, lm the home team winning by S points to 3 W after a straggling game. Kock scored lei for Star in the first spell, and Pcarce in f|U the second, Clow converting. Thomson of scored for Eltham. of Stratford 11. beat Inglewood 11. at of Inglewood by 8 to 0. t Wi Clifton 11. forfeited to Tukapa. tin THIRD GRADE. am C'ifton 111. forfeited to Star. 1,11 Stratford 111. beat Tukapa ill. by 17 ho ] to 3 at Western I'ark. t.'illett, Cunningham, Seeling and Francis, Auckland members of the Mew Zea- '' laud team for Australia, arrived by the ' asl llotoiti yesterday. They proceed to a S c Wellington to-day. lin< llynott left by the express train for Wellington yesterday to join the New Zealand team for Australia. An liltluim player of repute got into [active altercation with a spectator on the line yesterday. The referee intervened, and it is probable that more will be heard of the matter. It was a one-sided crowd at the racecourse yesterday. It was, however, once startled out of its selfishness by Dive's fine attempt at a goal. I A Star forward made a deliberate at- wee tempt to trip an Eltham back run- pail ning at top speed. He has not been noted for dirty tactics, but a repitition I of the olfcnce may bring about the publication by his name. j ".van put in some good work yesterday, but somehow seemed tired at times. r JlcNab, a young player in the Eltham V forward division, should catch the selec- v tor's eye one of these days. f: Potts and McCracken, and one or two others of the Eltham players, follow the ball closely. It is a good point. 1 The tackling of the Star seniors is ovei wretchedly weak. Smith played one of his best games I yesterday. His pace stands him in good stead. q We are credibly informed that a j match between the Star and Tukapa r seniors is being arranged to take place 7 at the end of the cup fixtures, the gate i proceeds to be devoted to some local institution. It is suggested that the money thus collected should be shared between the Recreation Sports Ground and Western Park. This seems a laudable object, as both grounds need a considcrable amount of hard cash before tliev are fully complete. fc Tukapa has won the O'Brien Shield] I for the seniors. ( ■=== (