FOOTBALL

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 289, 3 June 1912, Page 7

FOOTBALL

OKATO 24 v. FITZROY 0. The Fitzroy team braved the elements on Saturday and journeyed by brake to Okato to fulfil the engagement against the coastal fifteen. The rain which had fallen very copiously eased up when the team was within a mile or two of its destination, and held off till within ten minutes of the conclusion of the match. The ground was rather greasy, but was otherwise in fair order. There was, however, a pool of water a foot deep near the goal posts, u:id here one 'try was scored. Neither turn was up to its full strength, though the visitors sufjfered most, and arrived three or four men short. Some of the vacancies were filled on the ground, but they ultimately took the field with fourteen men. The principal defections were Mac Skipper, Bellrmger, Rangi, Abraham, And [Billy Kahu. From the Okato team Ray Julian, A. Thompson, Drader, P. Corbett and O'Sullivan were missing, but their 'places were filled by Harry, J. Carey, H. Gordge, Wero, and Barney. The game itself needs no description. It resulted in an easy win for the country team by 24 points to nil. It was fairly fast and at times very open, the backs on the winning side handling the ball well. The first spell was all in favor of Okato, who were kicking with the wind, though their opponents had won the toss. The first score came after about ten minutes' play, E. Malone 'scoring a try through following up a high kick. His attempt to convert failed. L. Carey next picked up from a forward rush and got over, Malone again failing to convert. Before the spell was through Carey, who was in great form, scored twice more. E. Andrews failed with the first kick, but Mackay made no mistake with the second. The second spell, in which Fitzroy had the advantage of the wind, was much more even. Okato, however, scored two more tries, one by Malone after a fine run, and the other by Mackay, both of which the latter converted. Fitzroy had one or two shots from penalties, but failed to convert. On one or two occasions they 'had hard luck in not scoring. L. Carey and Mackay were the best forwards on the ground, and have never been seen,iin

finer form. Among the backs Turner ] and Rua shone. The latter, however, | ! has a tendency to hang on too long, j Tito and Carroll, among the backs, and 'Skipper and Koupu, among the Fitzroy forwards, did an immense amount, of work. Mr. J. Johnson had charge of the whistle, and ably controlled the game. STAR v. ROVERS. The bad weather was the excuse offered for the postponment of the Star ' v. Rovers fixture on the 1 Grounds on Saturday. By the time,appointed for commencement, 'however, the rain had all cleared off, and later on the sun came out. Quite a number, of the combatants were stripped ready for play, i but a section of the players thought fit not to turn up. Except in a few patches, the ground was in by no means in bad order, and in any case the Racecourse ground, which was quite fit to play on, was available. Under the circumstances, it is to he regretted that 'j the fine weather element of the foot- : bailers was allowed to have its own way. As a result, the Saturday coinpetition, which has already been thrown somewhat out of gear through the postponment, earlier in the season, of jj|ie Star v. Okato match, will be still fufther complicated. , I : THURSDAY'S MATCH. , NORTH TARANAKI v. WANGANUI, The following team has been chosen by the selectors to represent North Taranaki against the chanjpion Southern Division team, Waimate, on the Recreation Grounds, New Plymouth, on Thursday next:—Full-back Kivcl! j.vLratford); three-quarters, Loveridge Stohr (Tukapa), Goodwin (Clifton); five-eighths, Kupe (Clifton),, Dud Cameron (Stratford); half-back, Brown (Tukapa) ; wing forward, McAllum (Star); forwards, front row, Cain and Bernstein (Clifton), Hawkins (Star), Young (Stratford), Fearon (Stratford); back row, Dewar (Star), Ward (Tukapa). Emergencies: Back, I. Grant (Rovers); forwards, Boon (Stratford), Carey (Okato). Tihe Waimate team will in town on Wednesday evening by the ma;l train. On Thursday a special train from Hawera will reach New] , "Plymouth at 2.30 p.m., half an hour before the commencement of the match, arid will leave again at C p.m. for Hawera. This will enable visitors both to witness the football match and attend the Winter Show during the afternoon. NORTHERN UNION. WANGANUI v. TARANAKI. Owing to heavy rain on Saturday tlie Northern Union match, Wanganui v. Taranaki, was postponed until to-day. The Taranaki team was two men short, D. Twohill and C. McLean being the absentees, when the team, arrived at Wanganui on Saturday. RUGBY. Reviewing the position of Saturday football, it is a strange paradox which finds Star at once the strongest and weakest fifteen in the competition. Strongest in combat, as their performances this season conclusively show, they are, on the other hand, the weakest team numerically in the Saturdn - ranks. Saturday after Saturday sees ' hem without a full complement, which, aven if it is eventually made up to its proper number, invariably includes several "eleventhhour" men. The result is that anything approaching good combination is out of the question, besides which it is most disheartening to the small band of enthusiasts whose services can always be relied upon. Having probed the effect, it is none the less interesting to find tihe cause of this unsatisfactory position. It is easily located. The salient factor is that there is not sufficient material offering. Boiled down it simply means this, that in all New Plymouth and suburbs there are only 45 Rugby footballers available on Saturday afternoon, comprising the Star, Rovers, and Fitzroy clubs. In fact, as Star have several times found out to their cost, there are really less than 45 players. This is simply a lamentable position, from a footballing viewpoint, when it is recollected that the numbers of golfing enthusiasts are legion compared with the J Saturday section of the once formidable Rugby following. It is regrettable all the more on account of the painful fact that even the most optimistic cannot see any immediate 'hope of a radical im'•'•ovement. Local followers of the game appear to have succumbed to distinct fatalistic tendencies. Question them about the present sorry state of affairs, and the answer is invariably the same, or to much the same effect. "It is no 1 use," they argue, "to hope for better things until we get the universal halfholiday. The splitting up of the week in this respect 'has killed Rugby here." Granted that the half-holiday business may be a contributing factor, has it not struck footballers that Rugby is not the only pebble on the beach when it comes to deciding the half-holiday question? It is undeniable that football would much benefit by a universal halfholiday, but the trouble is that those who have the say do not look upon the procreation of football as the sole or the

main end of the half-holiday. Unfortunately, or fortunately, as the ease may. be*, they choose to he influenced, in many case 9, by other considerations than those of sport. Until they can be converted into the right way of thinking from the footballers' point of view, it behoves local Rugby enthusiasts to look in other! directions for salvation. T-las it, there-j fore, ever struck deyotees of the leather) that the real trouble lies at the root of another tree; in short, that it is the criminal neglect, in a Rugby sense, of junior football on Saturday afternoons that bids fair to sound the death-knell of "week-end Rugby? Where do our boys get to on Saturdays? Why are t"he rising generation not catered for ? Study these pertinent queries, and one is at once confronted with the undeniable fact that Saturday football has begun from [the -wrong end. It only wants its steadily-advancing rival, Soccer, to comjmence actively organising the boys, as [was done in Wellington and Auckland, to eventually make week-end Rugby a dead-letter in this town. Reverting to Star's unfortunate position, it is an open secret that its moving epiri'ts would go the length of withdrawing from the competition but for the •"howl" that would rbe raised. It is not that they fear defeat—on the contrary, they are fairly I confident of success so far as winning matches is concerned—but the everiast- | ing worry and trouble involved in the [ weekly hunt for substitutes is discouraging in the extreme, even 'to the most enthusiastic natures. Clearly it is for the union to arouse itself, not over Star's predicament in particular, but on ! account of the outlook of Saturday Rugby in general. In this connection j it has been freely suggested that the I supplanting of the one sole controlling body by a series of sub-unions at the principal centres of population, New PlyI mouth, Stratford and Inglewood (each of which would ran its own competition) would do much for the welfare of the game, but there are other less drastic remedies to be at first exhausted. Meanwhile Star will meat likely he faced this afternoon with the prospect of taking the field short-handed.

"Off-Siae Mac, ,; the well-known authority on, Rugby and a picturesque writer, has the following in the Petone Clironiele: —

"Get into it"! Another phase which leads to success. It does not matter j whether it is football or anything in a trade or profession. To "get into it," so far as Rugby is concerned, one must possess the requisite amount of stamina and condition to play a hard game. This effort'on the part of one forward means so much extra horse-power as it were for the benefit of his side. Say that all the forwards exert the effort simultaneously; they are practically irresistible, and for this reason, that it is only few forwards who are prepared to make this effort, whieh en masse at a critical period, approaches the superhuman. It is nearly always successful, whether in football or sr*iy tactics. Philip made a feature of it with his Macedonian Phalanx; the same force was exercised by the English arch-. ers in the days df Crecy and Poictiers and Agincourt; Napoleon used it with deadly effect with his cavalry; the. Japan-' ese won the battle of the Shahs with it; and on many an occasion its system in j Rugby has been the turning point in a game, and set the standard. Turn over the leaves of the great players mentally; go right back to the days of Braddon, George Campbell, the Robertses, the Baylys, the Goods, Baumber, Whiteside, Smith, Ellison, Gage, Milne, the Wynyards, and the Warbricks, the Taiaroas, Watson, Gray, Seeling Pauling, Calnan, "Ranji" Wilson, the pick of the invincible "All-Blacks," and you will find that every one of those champions was a man who believed in "Getting into it," and doing everything with all his might. That is, when he played for sheer love of the game or to establish a reputation. After that he sometimes fell from grace, because it does not always pay to attempt triple-expansion displays—they lead to staleness. Still, even when in a lukewarm frame of mind the work of a "champion in his prime is always characterised by that same thoroughness of "getting into it." Individual examples aire presented to us, when if he is a back he never waits for the ball to bounce, but swoops for it like an eagle; or, if he is stopping a rush, he dives in, if possible keeping his feet; if he is collaring he gets to close quarters near the knees, and in quick time; if he is a forward, he pursues relentlessly, untiringly, at the head of a rush, or by himself, never, malleable, but full of legitimate fight and with muscles stiffened and' mind set 6n always doing his .best. Heroes and nations are made in the same way. Now this disquisition on Rugby football may be taken by the average youngster as a lead not necessarily to football perfection, hut to the fights that he will be constantly meeting in after life, and they .all have to he played the same way. As a matter of fact, football should only play a minor part in our lives. It is somewhat of a misfortune that we are apt to attach rather too much importance to skill in athletics. We make too much of a religion of Rugby. This is natural to a young country sparsely populated and with minds which have not yet got past the 'Primitive. There is the saving grace that Rugby football brings out and develops some fine characteristics, and serves 'aa an introduction to a most generous-hearted population; but no boy need fret if he is not a champion. While he is playing let him do his best, and then when he has taken up the sterner battle let him put into operation the Ten Best Commandments of Rugby. By that means he may console himself at the close of an arduous life, that his trials and tribulations associated with kicking a piece of inflated leather over a field, had not altogether been in vain.