FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LI, Issue 179, 20 July 1908, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

_ Half-back writer-sir. in publish-I my the name, of the Taranaki Kuguy I lifleen w inch defeated the famous British team » 1888, y„u | mVo m»Uc two slight errors. Tin* ,i <)W defunct Tikorangi i-ootball Chili was represented on thai historic occasion by T. Hine •(win.' lor ward) and .1. Whitehead (forward! act 11. Iline and I. U'hitehoiisc. Mr. r. Hine is now l-i'-iiiHn-r i„ Waiiganui, and Jlr. J. \\ Jutehead is still living at Tikorangi, and was a keen and intereste.l spectator of Wednesday's match. That try at Taraiiaki is iikelv to form tiic subject of football controversy lor years lo come. i„ ra di„ s far beyond the 10,1100 enthusiasts wlio witnessed the match (says the Manawatu Times). It is a great pitv that in so good a game such an incident, should have occurred, even though Mr. 1. Jones, of the Britishers, considers that the try was a fair one. It recalls an mcideiit in the match between 1 "arbneks Maori tootballcrs. which caused much bitterness at the time. In those days the inherent superiority of British over Colonial football was an article of faith, and much as llanlaii's wills m a wager boat were regarded, the wins of the -Maori team were looked upon by virtuously indignant Britishers as unworthy tricks of the unregenerate heathen, in fact in more 1 than one place the players were assailed not merely with •rough" plav, but with the persuasive half-brick' lrom the 'barracKers.' flirt to our "incident." The Jlaori team were having the better of the international game, .when Stoddart made one of his remarkable corkscrew runs, in tile course, of which ail indispensable garment was sadly ruptured. In disgust tlic famous three-quarter threw the ball on the ground and the Maori players immediately crowded round to shield him according tg the colonial custom—whereupon an Englishman picked up , the ball and ran in. To tile disgust of the Maoris, the try was allowed, and | some oi them resented it so strongly | that they left the liehl and were mm difficulty got back to it—the leaving of the field ieing charged against tiiem, . like their wins, as a lurther evidence of unsportsmanlike behaviour. To the , best of our recollection the relerce , there, as at Taranaki, was secretary rof the controlling union—.Mr Rowland Hill. (Mr. Wylie, the referee, is ex- . secretary of the Union..—Ed ".Sews"). We know that the critics ara alrea.'y i directing attention to the roughness . of our New Zealand football plav as contrasted with , that oi the British team. . . . for our own reputation's sake it would be well to practice a more reasonable degree oi selfrestraint on the Kugby field. It is only a game after all, aud all needless rough handling and kicking, ail mere brutality, should be checked with a st,-. g hand. Accidents there will be and the game that is unattended by some measure of risk is not likely to be a very invigorating exercise, but risks should be reduced to a minimum by a wellconsidered code of rules, inspired by that main purpose, and strictly enforced by impartial referees. -Judging by the number of casualties on the football field already reported this season, there is evidently too great it spue of danger about the game.—Auckland Herald.

Talking of roughness remind.-) the writer of a statement made liy a leading member of the Britishers aftjv the Taranaki match. -He said tlie roughest team they had encountered in X.Z. —and they had met some tough ones—was the Wellington players. Vno, he said, eouiil lay fair claim to being the roughest exponents of the 'Rugbv game in the world. They liad enjoyed the other gauies, the one- they lostt alike with those they won, but in the Wellington games "the tactics of many of the colonials were "too dirty." Another member of the Britishers endorsed his statement, uiiichsaiing the opinion that they did. not consider it u kindness on the part ot the Xew Zealand Union in pitting them agarust the roughest team at the outset. The night before the lirst te„t match at Dunedin some jiutriotie citizen got in and sawed through posts of a fence tliat it might he broken-down bv himself and kindred spirits in tlie'crowd next day. Happily it, was discovered, and a probable panic with possible injury to limb t>r life was averted, but two other patriots circumvented the perfidious union which wanted to lion- j estly meet engagements. One man succeeded in so cutting through a sheet of iron at the back that it was not noiced. and next day Ire was able to wrench It off andr make an aperture through which he put a solid stream of people, collecting £l4 iu sixpences and shillings (he boasting of it afterwards) before lie was discovered. And another indignant demonstrator agaiust the grasping Centra] Union put a ladder against another part of the fence so as to get over the new tar which had been placed there for the benefit of the local alpine club, and collected niaDV shilliugs from other demonstrators who got in by that means before his little jraine was found out. It is a great place, ttiuiediu! Happily, however, the great bulk of the people there don't sympathise with these dodges and preferred to pass honestly through the turnstiles. f

The balance sheet .of the Canterbury v. Anglo-Welsh match showed net receipts £s!>:l, expenditure £74, leaving £-519 profit to the New Zealand Union. It is reported (suvs the Otago Witness) that one of the North Island members of the New Zealand professional team which recently returned from a tour of the Northern Counties, cost his side some aot) to smooth out a few of his little peccaddloes while on the English football circuit. Iu Johnston's opinion the two most valuable backs of the late professional team were Messenger and Turtill. "It is a pity," said Johnston, "that thi former had not liecn brought, up to New Zealand football, where lie could have been schooled by such plavers aRoberts. Hunter, and Wallace. ' As a .place-kick he stands on a pedestal of his own. In an exhibition of goal-klw.-ing at Home, out. of 24 attempts from half-way lie placed 22 goals." Says the Wellington Times iootbari critic:-—Hud the British team beaten I the combination which Taranaki placed in the iield. ii would have been the greatest triumph of the tour, with the exception [wrhaps of the now famous draw in tin; mud on the occasion of the second test. There is no use goin<' in'to the question whether Taranaki reallv won the match or not. The referee mav ha\e made, a mistake or Ik* mav not. Anyway, we must, abide bv his decision And why begrudge Taranaki their winr It i> generally agreed that their victory was a lucky one, and that is ; ,II that need be said, l-'or the lirst time in fifteen games the visitors failed to score, nirauaki are at least entitled to considerable credit for that. Kvcn in the f runaway first test, Britain mummed to I score five points. j

Writing regarding Wednesdays match, the special correspondent of 'the Auckland Herald described the match as one of the finest games seen on the local ground. The features were the and kicking of the ISiitMi backs. and the deadly tackling of the local forwards and rear division. The match bri,tle,l with incidents, though the Taranaki backs never got moving in one concerted passing rush, and the elusive Hunter was playing himself -,'nk to opi'n up the attack. The British forwards followed lip like rat-chorees, and crushed the Taranaki attack badly. The British backs, though playing well, only on rare occasions were able to get the passing machinery in motion, and on I liese roccasions Vassall, Williams, and Duvev were all within au aee of living over. lieco"nising that to let the British backs have the ball was suicidal to Turanaki% chance of rietory, the local rear division always attempted smothering tactic!. The game was clean and free from dirty play.

A Stratford Post correspondent writes:—"Who are the" Taranaki bovs who put II)) such a line fight on the recent memorable occasion t Have ,f hey not for the most part graduated frmii the dairy farm, where they milked their cows night and morning, and otherwise helped their parents in many other ways

consistent with their ages? T'jev went lo school and passed the various standards; but during play-lmurs tliey were eager to take part in seasonable games, and Hie football period found them ready to try conclusions with teams in any part of New Zealand. One Ims only to refer to the recent triumphant tour

for this fact. It luust liavg been it «;roiit sluii-k to tliosu papers and individuals who art? so per.sistent in traducing 'our dairy farmers tu find that tlx* i-liiltlmi ot llh'sc solf-saiuc fantuns i wen* much superior to their owji on (ho : football field, both meiitallv and phv.sic- ! il]l - v - The '>uys who ale uUouiliujc school to-day arc Uk ; future rt»|>io<i'iiiiitiv<>s of larauaki in the football arena, and 1 trust tln'y will prove loyal to the in>tiucis oi lviu» sport, and thus lii'injj cU'dit to UiciUM-lve.-s and the land in which they dwell."