FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 74, 18 September 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

RETURN OF THE AUCKLANDERS. VIEWS OF THE MANAGER. Mr. M. J. Sheahan, manager of tlio Auckland touring football team, which returned to Auckland on Friday morning, interviewed, said the tour had been a most enjoyable one, and he thought Auckland had not in any way retrograded; on the contrary, they still held the premier position. The football in the south—'Otago and Canterbury—was not so strenuous, said Mr. Sheahan, as in the northern towns— Auckland, Wellington, and Tarauaki. The backs were good in the south, but they miss a head like Roberts in Wellington and Mynott in Taranaki. Mr. Sheahan considered this was particularly indispensable in Wellington, where the team would be like a ship without a rudder if they didn't have Freddy Roberts.

The grounds in Wellington and Canterbury were very hard,und this was the reason why the team did not pile on more points in the former games. In the first spell they were frightened to get down to it, and this holding back was warranted. Coming to Tamnuki, Ave men were on the casualty list, owing to the hard effects of the grounds, and these were all treated free of cost by Dr. Fookes, the old international player. Referring to the match on Thursday, the manager said it was predicted that it would-be the hardest match, but so far as Auckland was concerned, it was the easiest of the lot, Taranaki only getting the ball twice during the game, with the result that their great backs simply stood idly behind with nothing to do.