FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 150, 16 June 1908, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

OTAGO liEl'. ENGAGEMENTS. .. vV By Telegraph.—l'ress Association. , t Duncdin, Last Night/ At a meeting of the (Itago Rug >y e I'nion to-night, the following dates were v lixed for the Otago team's tour: '* Southland, .Sept. 2; Canterbury, Sept. 3; Auckland, .Sept. 12: Tarauaki, Sept. l(i; Wellington, Kent. 11). A Mib-eoinniiuec was set, up to consider the question of curtailing the number of representative matches. | SUGGESTED RULE ALTERATIONS. Dunedin, Last Night. At a meeting of the Otago Rugby Union to-night a communication was received from the secretary of tile Referees' Association stating that at a conference between the (Hugo Kti'diy Football Union representatives and the Keferees' Association it was decided to forward to the governing body the following recommendations:—That win." forward play be abolished; that from kick-out or kick-oil' the bail be kicked : parallel with the touchline; that when a player is tackled and falls to the i ground with the ball lie should be al- | lowed to pass provided it is done im- I mediately; that the referee should put I the ball in tie scrum; that the ball should be thrown not less than live a yards from the touchline; and that <] when a free kick is given "no charge' ( should be allowed. 7 h NORTH v. SOUTH.

Wellington, Last Night. The management committee of the Xew Zealand Rugby Union has decid ii to alter the date of the North v. Soul?i Island match from Saturday next to Wednesday, 24th inst. This will enable the Anglo-Welshmen to witness the mutch. BRITISHERS IN WESTLAND. I Croymoiith, Lust Ni<;tit. The British football team arrived from Christehurch to-night, and were given a public reception. Over 2030 [ people assembled at the station, ,'ind the band played appropriate airs. The team was driven to the Albion Hotel H her" Hon. (iniiiness, the .Mayor, and the pivt'ldent of the Union made speeches of welcome. .Mr. Hartnett replied, and the British footballers gave their war erv. The British team are enthusiastic over the Otjra scenery. The trij. over "as done in hne wen (her. The match takes place on Wednesday.

the northern game. After the match at Wellington on Saturday not a few enthusiasts could lie heard blurting out club secrets (reports the Times). "1 toll you the I'etone Club are after this tape)- almost to a man. Hardlmm went down on his knees to them to stick by the amateur game, but J don't' think they're lakin" much of that if tliev get the' slant; and Melrose are out after it too." "You bet they are," chipped in a prominent -Melrose man, and the chorus of assent that followed the words seemed to show [ that the Northern game, whether played ! by "pros." or amateurs, is threatening to look up in New Zealand with a great and energetic look. Interviewed on this point after the match, the acting-secre-tary of the present professional combination was reticent, but lie made one significant remark: "It is perhaps too late to get things going this season, but, for all that, we don't intend to fall asleep.'' The general tone of the talk about the streets threw a convincing <»ir of reality round the imminence of the new game, and down iSouth —in Christchurch, Duncdin, and Invereargill —a large nnmlier of players are savins •pretty much the same things. So' the intensity of those shadows which precede "coming events'' is pronounced. the "bullocker" and the "rabbiter" liml iki place under Northern rules. As -non as a man is "downed" he is released by his captor and must re-start the Ikill with his feet. Tlii* U the admirable by-law which is known a> "ilic play the liall rule," and n is calculated to turn clumsy men into clever men. Cross, for instance, is now as clever as a good many New Zealand kicks, and if the new game has done that for him it must have its points. Also the backs get elbow room; with thirty players on the field they don't. 11l amateur Riigbv only about one piece of passing m twenty gets through; the rest are bored on to the lee shore of "touch." .Some country hack once hit off this blot on the game when in the course of some alleged poetry to the local paper he wrote:—

"There is too many blokes on this ground. And there uin'l. enough tries to go round." On Saturday, however, there were more than enough, and the hacks that got them seemed to lie I'llieient. E. Wrigley and the Wynyard brothers—just lads turned twenty, anil nephews of "Pie" Wynyard—were the stars. Their manoeuvres were always clever, and it "was interesting to watch how, -whenever the defence spread too mutli to block tliein from running round, they just threaded their way through tlie eentre, as good tacticians should.

Whether the New Zealand game is to remain all amateur or partly amateur and partly "pro.," is a hard question. "For my own part (says the Times' writer) 1 think that the thirteen game, whether amateur or "pro.," is a better 'game (arguing from first principles) than the lifteen game, and in this world of hustle only the fittest things survive. Hut prejudice and custom are hard walls to luitt iigainst, and in provincial Rugby unions the element of blind conservatism is always strong. Anyhow, the coming of the "pros." has made people talk, and the talking is sure to lead (o Uonie hard thinking. For ihis New Zealand has to thank the restlessly-ener-getic promoter (if the tour, now unhi.ppily deceased. It is enrions to recall now that there once existed a resolution to -warn him oil' all grounds, but that merely places him on the same plane as every reformer in the world's records. A man who start a out into the world with a new idea must look for trouble, and the batter the idea is, the uiore solid the trouble that hits him is likely to be. In all history the path ot the reformer has ever been thorny; some have had worse, tilings done to them than being merely warned off a paddoek—thev have been suddenly and painfullv warned oil the face of the planet altogether.

Tin' i-<—lilt- "I Saturday's i-enior games sit Wi'llinjitoii were: Melrose U, Victoria College «: I >rii-ntiil !>. SI. ■lames 3; I'etono 2r>. Old Boys ;i; I'onoko !>. Wellington «; Athletic 2:). Southern 0.