FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 149, 15 June 1908, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

I CANTERBURY (13) v. BRITAIN («)• A LUCKY WIN. By Telegraph— Press Association. Christchurch, Saturday Night. The Canterbury team secured a very lucky victory over the Anglo-Welsh team this afternoon, the scores being IT [mints to 8. The weather "as all that could be desired, and the attendan e was about l.">, 000. The visitors won the toss, and elected to plav with the sun at their kicks, Gibbs' -marked, and Deans, who took the ball from the kici. Sent it out near centre. A serum followed the line-out, and a pas-nig rusli which was initiated by Burns a little later, had Britain defending. iurus made a -.ikM run in the next few minutes, but wild passing resulted in the

I kill king kicked across Britain's line, (and I'. Jones forced. A good mark by Morgan and P. Jones centred the game, where (jiblis secured the hall. Fast fol-lowing-up by Dibble from the kick was responsible for Docll, the Canterbury full-back, lieing in trouble, but the danger was averted by a force. I'. .lon?s subsequently foundthe line well in Canterbury's territory, and from a scrum Chapman secured the oval, but Gray upended him, and kicked the ball out to centre. The Canterbury forwards then adopted loose play, which was only stopped by line defensive work on the part of 'Tonty'' Jones and Dibble. Kicking by Doell kept Britain confined to their I own ground for some time, though Mor gan and P. Jones tried their utmost t > shift the scene of operations. Canterbury were looking very dangerous at this period, but Chapman saved, and the game was taken to Canterbury's i").

where the local team were awarded a free kick. A scrum resulted through a man being forward, and P. .Tones oh- ■ tained the kill and kicked out to M.-- ' Evedy, who initiated a fine passing rush. ' Williams, however, failed to take a return from P. Jones, and a chance of I ■ scoring was lost. A series of scrums I followed, and Britain obtained the ball every time, and through Morgan con-

-tantly finding the line. Canterbury we,-.. Ining |>n~lioil steadily hack to their own 23. Another passing rush was slarteu by Morgan, when Canterbury wen- weir on the defence, by Fryer, by collaring Williams, defeated the object of this movement, and Burns sent the ball dov. n the field. Jones returned it with int test, finding the line just about a ya.-l from Canterbury's goal line. C'a 1terhury, however, managed to extnwe themselves from their unenviable position by a forward rush in which XI i- [ honey was prominent. Burns got the liall a little later and kicked it across 1 the field, but it was tarried over. A scrum followed, from which Burns got the ball and passed to Gray, who in turn transferred to Fuller, and he scored. He tried to add the major point-, but the ball went across the field. Canterbury ;) Ijuglaml ' 0

Fuller returned the Imll from the kit kout, and "Ponty" Jones placed Canterbury on the defensive through a tine kick, and later a brilliant passing rush between the English lacks resulted m j "Fonty" Jones scoring. Gibbs' kbit went wide. Canterbury 3 England ' .. .. ..3 The game was of a very even nature for the rest of the <pell. On resuming, Fryer made a splendid kick and centred plav, but through M-'-Phail being off-side, Canterbury wevc penalised. Deans found the line near the centre when he returned the ball, and from a »crum which succeeded th" line-out, Burns got the ball and a good passing rush ensued between Gray, .McDonald, and Fryer, the latter unfortunately spoiling Canterbury's advantage by kk-king too hard, the ball going over tile line. Scrums and passing rushes by the visitors had Canterbury Gray saving on more than one occasion. Doell eventually found the line near the centre, but Britain again returned to the attack, and Morgan was nearly over. A passing riL-h and a long kick by Deans shifted the game to England's 2">, where Canterbury were only stopped by Morgan marking. Burns kicked the na I hack to the visitors' territory, and fast following-up by McPhail resulted in a try Wing scored by him. and Fuller >«;- eeede,! in kicking a very neat goal. Canterbury K F:ngland 3 Canterbury were now more aggressive than ever, and were only stopped from securing another try through 'Ponty'' Jones getting in a timely kick. Tite visitors" were awarded a free kick, afl'l after the line-out a similar award wis made to Canterbury almost immediat - ly, and Fuller had a shot at goal, but he was not successful. Loose play wis then indulged in near the visitors' l't, and Bain, securing the liall, got over '.liline between the goal-posts. Fuller easily placed a goal between the posts. Canterbury 1-1 England 3 Loose play followed, in which the visitors had the upper band, and later the ball was kicked over the line. A great race between Burns, Doell and Arc-hir for it took place, the last-named beating the two Canterbury men easily. Gibbs easily converted. Canterbury 13 England 8 After the kick-out, Archer started a loose rush, which Dibble and Kitson continued till over the Canterbury gOU line. They were both away from the Canterbury men, and had a certain score in front of them, but for some reason they allowed Burns, who wis following-up very fast, to slip in and force. Shortly after play resumed, th: whistle sounded, the store beingCanterbury W England , s

THE BRITISHERS' CONDUCT. REFEREE'S DISSATISFACTION'. ISy Telegraph.—Press Association. Chrietehurcb, Last Night. The gate totalled nearly .CIOOO, Hie attendance l>cing 14,800. In conversation with a reporter aft'i" the game, the referee expressed the opinion that on the piay the better team won, and the points scored were about tbe indication of the game, lie stated be was far from satisfied with tbe ma 1ner in which many of his decisions were accepted by the britisb team during th.! game, and" the statements made by several of the players after the game in the dressing room in his presence we:'-' in !>ad taste, and should not have ben made bv the defeated side. Mr. Laws was of opinion that ihe ball was played in the scrummage unfairly by the British • team en most occasions, and that t'Bc ' manner in which it is screwed by the > front-raukers is totally foreign to tile I manner adopted by New Zealand phw- ■ els. It is thrown in quickly, and ■ bumping against tbe foot or leg of the • 'Britisher in front, is shot out again, - either on the side 01 the pack or

'-tiai-hi Ixhin.l. The Rrili-h team I ili]..n'-h'nit Hi- game took . xi;i'i'l'"ii i" | -.a—t"oi tic ruling-. c-pcially uln-n | tit—ir sitif were pcnali-cd, au=l .Mr. 1-a.v-slated thiit work »a- f=ir from plea-ant. Hi- further -tale.l Unit In- had >'''■>' -inn to take exception to any of .!)■• raulerbiirv player-, and thought th<-v ac< epted lii- ruling- in t lt,- manner tliai ■New Zealand player- nl«.i»> il".

At CKI.ANT) CIT MATCHF.S. I'.v Telegraph.--IV-'- A—icialion. Auckland, La-l Xiglit. The di-tlict chainpion-hip games, were placed here yesterday. In tic -cnior grade Citv beat 'Varsity by it r int- i-e»en Ilie-. three converted! l> nil: l'arnell beat Craft on by Hi points i four trie-, two converted) to nil: Xor'h Shore b'at V.vtmi by 14 point- (four ! tries, oue converted I. to :J (one try).

INDKi; XOIMTIKIiX CXIHX KILLS. MAOKIS IX ALSTUAI.IA. I Received Ulh. -4.1-1 p.m. [ Sydney, .lune 14. j ! \b..llt i">,«H»> -pectator- were prose'lt |,, ,he football match unde,- Northern ! I'nioii rule.-, between the Maori proles- | -ional team and New South Wales. Tie game was fast and open. Mes-enger »'ii, ill great form. He 'kicked six goal- and scored two tries. I'akere plaved a brilliiinl game for the Maoris, wliile Pohana. I'.otoliina J.ml \-lier di-tingiiished them-elves. A ry ~„|, wa- obtained by M"kotuki. -\slu-! and I'ak.-re. and two' were converted by I'apatoa.

i:\llllinKiN' (lAMK AT WKLUXfITOX. FAST -VXD IXTKIiK-TIXC T!v T. h-vraoh. - I're-s Association. Wrlliii'don. Last Xighl. Six thousand or seven (lious.iiiil p ■'' sons allended Athlelie Park yeslcrdiiy afternoon, when the professional liugliv team, which reeeiillv (.Hired Km/land and Anslralia. played an exhihilhn match. The malcli was nrrange.l as a benefit fo Mrs. TJaskerville, the wido'v

cd mother of A. H. Baskerville, the. promoter of the professional tour, who died at Brisbane. Great interest wis taken in the game, it being the first played in New Zealand under Northern Union rules. The "lime was exceedingly fast, and pleasing from a spectacular point of view, as the scores, Blacks 5.", ltcds 20, indicate. This is due to several reasons, First, there are four few T men in Ihe held; then the serums are lighter and briefer, and there is no liu :- I out play, a serum being formed every time the leather goes out of bounds.

~ The ball is not rolled into the sirunu 11 a-, in ordinary Kughy, but liOitneeu in.' ,1 and it shouts out to the back like light- :. ning. In place-kicking, the kicker do v - bis own placing, and takes li over I i the kick, there "being no charge by the . opposing [inwards as in amateur Kugliv. < Whenever a player with the bail is . brought down, lie is released by his eap- • tor, and must re-start the hall.'All these , alterations tend, as of course lliev aiintended to, to make the game fast an.l interesting to watch. The passing or the professionals yesterday was partiolarly clean, and their running and tackling were picturesque, but the intere-t •if footballers and football enthusiasts J was diminished by the fact that the I sides were unevenly matched, and in any ease it was but a "scratch'' game. " •

SOUTHERN DIVISION. (Special to "News") Paten, Saturday Night. Patea juniors beat Kaponga juniors by three points to nil. Patea third A. beat Kaponga thirds by nine points to nil. Wnimate thirds beat Patea third !l by six points to three.

THE TARANAKI TRIAL. Saturday's trial mutch at Hawera provided probably the finest exhibition of football seen in Taranaki this season, and was viewed by close on 1000 peopl ■.' Hunter was unable to take the field, and none of the selected men from the Tukapas turned up, but otherwise all Ue | Selected players donned the jersey. A feature of the game was the splendid work of the forwards, particularly some of the new men of the southern ami western division. The latter, allhou ;!i a trifle raw, displayed any amount ot

dash, Hi,; infusion of which into [he Taranaki representative forwards th-s •season should give a team able to successfully meet any provincial team in the Dominiou. The veteran '•Jimniv" O'Sullivaii stood out hv himself in Saturday's play, and seems to be reproducing his form of two seasons back. Sullivan, an Opimake forward, was i,» most prominent of the now blood, and should go very close to representative honors. Whittington and Crowley w.e always prominent. It was an outstanding feature that the northern division forwards were inferior to the representative!! of that department from oth-r divisions, and the latter in all probability will provide nearly all the forwards for the rep. team. Amongst the hacks Don Cameron was in a class by hiiiise'i' on the day's play, and Dive and' IShealian also played solid but not brilliant "aim- I Buckland got few opportunities. " C„|..J

man played a line game at half, and, u' course, is a 'mora)." The selectors 'enI couraged the players to make the game j U«*, and adopted the suggested iiinovu"- ; tion that the ball must be thrown in )0 yards at least from the lines-out. The result thoroughly justified the innovation, and it is to be hoped will be universally adopted, for there is no doubt that the attractiveness of the »ame is thereby greatly enhanced. " The team to meet YVanganui, we understand, has been provisionally selected, but publication is withheld'pending an explanation from the Tukapa Cluo regarding the absence of their representatives from the trial game. It is a pity that Hooker did not take part in Saturday's game and ,|e m o,„trate his capabilities to the selectors, ~s on his club form this season, he is probably one of the best wing three-quar-ters in the province.

REFEREEIXti. ' To the Editor. Sir,-As one who was present at the Eltli.im-Clifton football match, the onlv lault that I am able to find with vou'r scribe s criticism of the referee was its mil **. for I fully anticipated „ much more scathing comment, which was easilv earned. I have followed foolball in Taranaki for nearlv twentv years, and during Hie whole of that time have n ever seen a worse exhibition of whistle-tootiug. Time and again j penalties were given against (he wrong team, and on two occasions the referee express,.,] ],;„ ~,,«,.,,( to the plavers for the egregious blunder-certainl'v a nice position for a referee to take "up. and so consoling to the players, it is i,„t the first time that such incompetency lias been shown by the same referee, and it will lie remembered thai some two years ago the Clifton Club reported .Mr. Kivell to the Union, the result of which was that they had to eat humble pie; but it may be some meed of satisfaction to them that a newspaper has at. last publicly justified the club's action by its outspokenness. Not only did the referee overrule players, but Iwtu line umpires were subjected to his whims. On one occasion he insisted that the ball had gone out of bounds during a Clifton rush in Eltham's 23's, and this against the better knowledge of Eltham's line umpire, who stat'.'d that it was not within three feet o: the line. At another stage of the game Clifton kicked the hall out with no Elthani player near, Clifton's line umpire rightly giving Eltham the throwout, but tlie referee gave it to Clifton. It is undoubtedly time that .Mr. Kivell retired from the ranks of referees aud gave younger and more vigorous men the opportunity of becoming proficient. Your scribe is deserving of credit for having the courage to voice a public as well as his own opinion.—l am, etc., SPECTATOR.