FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIII, Issue 101, 6 August 1910, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

NOTES BY '• SPECTATOR." With the close of the division cup fixtures interest in football has slackened off a good deal. There is still a mild concern in 'New Plymouth as to who win hold the cup for the coming year, but Stratford and Manaia are the places where the real interest lies. Those who saw the match on Wednesday were of opinion that the Southern winners would prove too good for Stratford, but their confidence was shaken somewhat by the 'Stratford team's display on Thursday. All things considered, the play-off promises a lively and interesting contest, that j will be worth seeing. ■ . There is some comment upon the action of the selectors in choosing Pini for the rep. team without waiting for the result of' the enquiry into the circumstances which led to his being ordered off the ground on Wednesday. Or, is it a foregone conclusion ? In future matches under the Rugby Union's control a little more consideration might fairly be extended to the newspaper men. The provision of a table' and some chairs 'would tc. be expensive, and it would be appreciated both by I the reporters and by tne public whose view of the game is obstructed by the wandering bunch of jressmen along the j line.

Mr. Jack O'Shea had splendid control of Wednesday's game. In junior football at Christchurch on Saturday Christchurch A flayed Sydenham at Sydenham Park, and inflicted a severe ibeating on the suburban team. The score at the end of the first sp-ill was 21 points to nil, and the»Sydenhamites could not be induced to play th,e second: half of the game. Sydenham needs an Otto Boldt to infu&c some sporting spirit into the team. The Marlborough Express reckons that the Marlborough rep. < forwards would take a power of beating anywhere, in New Zealand, and that they a. i "th; hottest proposition that it could be the lot of any provincial team, to bump up| agiaiinst." Whew! j The Sydney Referee that the Ruglby Union game has fallen back to its' position of 25 years ago. Whether this j will be permanent depends largely on the League's management and the Union's inclination to change the laws of Rugby in the future. If the Rugby Union's laws be not still further changed it must sink permanently into number two position, provided the League management be fearless, judicious and in keeping] with Northern Union management in' England. As far as Sydney is concerned, tlic modernised Ilurby, 13 a side, has come to- stay. ! A curious "incident happened in the Marist Brothers-Ohristohurch Junior j game on Saturday. During some loose' play a member of the former team essayed a "speculator," with the result that the ball was kicked over the crossbar. The referee awarded the Greens a goal, but was not sure of the number of points he should award. According to the Rules of Football in the Rugby Annual no points should have been allotted. I G. D. Gray, Canterbury's five-eighth, is thus referred to in a Christchurch paper: "A cleaner and a better player,! and a finer and more genuine sportsman, never stepped on the football field. Add, to these sterling qualities a happy knack of being able to play always his best game, and you have a slight conception of the familiar 'Dochl' 7' Gray has re-, presented both Canterbury and Welling-. ton, and was in last year's South Island team. I

THE SATURDAY COMPETITION. Tlie following is the result of the Saturday Association's competition for the Sole Challenge Cup:—

The following will represent Rovers against the combined team on the Western Park to-day:—Full back, B. Clarke; three-quarters, D. Webster, lan Grant, C. Webster; five-eighths, Hill and Thompson; half, A. Grant; wing forward Ryder; forwards, Turnbull Loveridge, West, Coker, Monk, Mulloy and Bollinger. Emergencies: Rea and Baker.

THE WING FORWARD. Mr. Dan McKenzie, in a paper read before the Wellington Referees' Association regarding the wing forward, said:— Of late years there has been a remarkable agitation against the v wing forward —remarkable because the agitation is directed against a player who is an integral part of the Rugby game as it is' played in New 'Zealand. It is strange, also, that much of this agitation has the' approval of the majority of referees, strange because if the referees had done their duty, the player occupying that position would not have so far fallen from the idea of the originator of the wing-forward, if his tendencies to unfair play had been checked as they should have been in the earlier stages of his degeneracy. The late T. R. Ellison was responsible in the first place for the wingforward being an essential part of the Rugby game. According to this authority, the duties of iwiing-forvvards are apart from the ordinary work of the loose forwards:—

(1) To put bile ball into the serum- J! mage. j; (2) To recede with the ball when'; secured: by his pack, i' (3) To protect his half-back from the •ffside or unfair interference of ad* vancing opponents. I (4) To advance, when the opposing pack secures possession, keeping onside and close to the edge of the scrummage, and to compel the opposing halfback to pass, and to prevent him from running round the scrum. The wing-forward should .be a big, fast, active and strong man. He should >be a good dribbler, good passer, and good tackier, and, above all, he should know how to shield his half-back, 'without being off-side, from the opposing backs and wings. At the scrummage, his duty is to put the ball in, and for this duty a man has to be specially apt. For"instance, some front-rankers hook better •when the iball is rolled in, while others prefer it thrown in, hooking it as it bounces from the ground. A wing-for-ward should, therefore, know the epecial qualifications of his front-rankers, and 'be prepared to alter his style of putting the ball into the scrummage, according to the side from which he is called upon to do this duty. Another of the t forward's special duties is to throw the iball in from touch. He should practise throwing-irt in all 'weathers, and at his club's gymnasium, with the object of perfecting himself into throwing-in with-, out imparting too much spin on the| hall. Tn advancing, receding ,or shielding his half-back, a wing-forward should not use his hands or elbows. The finer points of wing-forward play consist in solid

without laying hands on, or digging elbows into, opponents, and in making gaps for the half-back between him and the scrummage. . . . But. I am fain ! to a*-!ini.t that in nine cases out of ion, ! the main idea of the present-day wingforward is to obstruct his opponent, using his hands if necessary to keep ,he said opponent from getting on to his , half-hack. .Again, the wing forward is not particular whether he is off-side or not when charging round the .scrummage, as long as he is not penalised by. the referee. But eren allowing this, it cannot be denied that this does not de-j tract from the value of the wing forward ' in the Rugby game—it only serves to-' | point out that the present-dav plaver j I has fallen from the standard set by the j I originator of the position.

i^.Si i^ t&i »< in : w $■ s i h 3 "8. £ 3 Q £ $ 6 . Rovers Service Pirates '. . 10 1 ..6 6 ..5 6 ..11' 1 0 1 0 H12 66 114 0 42 46 44 160 21 12 11 2