FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 47, 13 July 1912, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES. June 3—v. Wanganui, won by 16 points to 3. June 12 —v. Wellington, lost by 12 points to 10. June 15 —v. Wanganui, won by G points to nil. MATCHES ARRANGED. e " July 25—v. South Island, at Stratford. August 17—v. Auckland, at Auckland. August 22—v. Southland, at New Plymouth. August 29—v. Wellington, at New Plymouth, n September 4 —v. Otago. at Hawera. September 12 —v. Canterbury, at Stratr- ford. >- TO-DAY'S MATCHES. s Star v. FHzroy, at Recreation grounds; referee, Mr Johnson. Rovers v. Okato, t at Okato. referee. Mr. Coltman. i.l j NEXT WEEK'S FIXTURES. . i Thursday, July IS. I Seniors.—Clifton v. Stratford (play-off ; for premiership. a Juniors.—Clifton v. Eltham, at Eltham at 1 p.m. 1 Second Juniors. —Inglewood v. High School, at Inglewood, 3 p.m.; Stratford I v. Eltham. at Eltham, 3 p.m. J Saturday, July 20. e ■ Star v. Okato, at Okato. SENIOR RESULTS. '., THURSDAY COMPETITION f • The following is the position of the j clubs in the various competitions to r' dilte: - .... 1.

Star will be represented by the following in their match against Fitzroy at 'the Recreation Grounds this afternoon: Okey, Woods, Richard*, Hawkins, Dewar. jPileher, Charters, McAllum, Packard! .Gleeson, Pike, Stannering, Cross, Clarke, land Evans. I The various competitions are rapidly j ; drawing to a close. In the Thursday [senior, Clifton defeated Tukapa, and ,drew level with Stratford, necessitating ja play off between the two, which will take place at Inglewood, on Thursday I next. In the junior competition Clifton jhave not yet been defeated, and must annex that division. In the second .juniors Clifton also look like winning, j so that club has a chance of annexing i the triple crown. In the Saturday competition the ultimate winner is still doubtful. Star defeated Rovers last Saturday and are now leading by a point with 'two games to play. Fitzroy drew with Okato, so that the Okato team i>. now level with Rovers. This afternoon's match should point to the winner, as if Rovers are defeated the issue will be between Star and Okato. whose match next Saturday will thus be invested with great interest. Should Rovers win and Fitzrov draw with Star, a not unlikely event, there is a prospect of the three teams winding up on level terms. j When it was known that Tukana was | to be without the services of J. Stohr in j the match against Clifton is was confidently expected that the men of the river port would prevail, and so it hapI nened, but it was ?. close thing, there . being only a margin of three points beitween the teams. The game was strenuously contested throughout, but'was. j withal, clean. It was also interesting. and there were many samples of good play, which, despite the greasv nature of the ground, was very open. The backs on both sides did their fair share of the : day's work, both in attack and defence. I The Clifton forward's undoubtedly won I the game for their team, their rushes 'gaining much ground. The play-off beUwcen Stratford and Clifton should provide an exciting contest next week, and will undoubtedly attract a bit: crowd. Cain played a'great game for Clifton. Tn fine condition, he is at the top of his form, and play's a keen, clean same. It is unfortunate that pressure of work prevented him from making the journey jto Napier t« take part in the interi island match to-day. Crowlev and Lash. ! on the win?, also played solidlv. as, in I fact, did all the Clifton forwards, j Crowley, at half-back. did. a lot of useful work and got his backs moving- in good style. He had bad luck in securing a nice mark right in front of the goal, which, unfortunately, did not catch the referee's eye. Kupe, at five-eights, played his usual good game. The three-quarter line was a good ohe too. Eggleskm. at centre. ran well and got his passes away nicely. 'Goodwin, though playing against medi|cal advice, was seen to advantage. Berjtrand. on the other wing, played the best ■ back game for his team. He is a coming I rep. man if he keeps up his present vform. He runs strongly, takes the ball beautifully, and finds the line in grand I style. Fuller, at full-back, made no misl takes. The Tukapa team showed the advantage of good generalship. "I knew wo would have a tight go," remarked a Clifton player, "when I saw who was playing." And so it proved. In fact, with the same player all the season Tukapa would have just about annexed the competition. It was difficult to imagine that this was the cx-AH-Blaek's first appearance on the field this season. The Taranaki reps, would be greatly improved if the same player could be induced to take on the game again, as a general is badly needed by the team. Brown, at half, plaved a fine game, going down to the burly Waitara forwards very gamely. The three-quarter line. Whitaker (21 and Webster, proved very and pave their opponents much trouble. Bullot. at full-back, had a lot to do—and did it. All the Tukapa forwards stood un manfully to their heavier opponents and at times not in some good ru-hes. Davidson. Ward. Perry. Jul! and Morshead I being particularly prominent. Okato and Fitzroy played a. drawn game last Saturday and on the play shown it was n true result. Okato forwards seemed to lack their usual dash and it wa,s not until the final few minnites that the country team got moving,

and then it was too late. The Fitzroy team have some nippy plaver= among their backs, and throw the ball about very smartly. Buxton. Carroll. Tito and Skipper combining well and showing a fine turn of .speed. Indeed, all that is lvouired is n little coaching and "ley would prove formidable opponents. Their forwards, too. are a powerful lot.though some of them—possibly through ignor-

anee—are apt to be ton strenuous, and unless care is exercised may come under the referee's ban. A surprise wa» the game put up by the veteran Hook, who lasted right through the piece Anderson made his appearance among the Okato backs and showed good form. He is not so active as of yore, still his> experience will be of great benefit. McKay played a dashing game among the forwards, as also did Drader and Andrews. Turner, at half, played his usual eolid game. L. Carey, who has been incapacited during the past few weeks owing to an injured elbow, hopes to play against Rovers to-day. There will be several vacancies to fill in the Taranaki reps, against the South Island tourists, and opportunity will be given to new blood to distinguish itself. Possibly Loveridge, the) wing threequarter, and McLeod, five-eighths will be unable to play, through injury. Prince, full-back, is leaving Taranaki, and Youn<r (forward) also sustained inijnry in the recent Okaiawa-Waimate match. Jack Stohr and Roberts are taking part in the North-South Island match at Napier to-day. and it is quite certain that the Taranaki lads will well maintain the reputation that the butter country holds in football circles.

The Recreation ground was not prepared for last Saturday's Fitzroy-Okato match. No linps were marked out. Tt is the dutv of the home team to make all preparations. Fitzrov please note. There wa= also some difficulty over the referee. Three o'clock arrived but no referee materalised. After waiting some time Mr J. Sullivan, who had been refereeine in a sehool match, arrived and kindly filled the breach, and very capably too.

There is a scarcity of referees this I year, .and it is not to lie wondered at. when one notices the treatment meted i out to them by a section of the public. ,' At Waitara, on Thursday, there was an instance. The Clifton half srained a clever mark, in a handy position, which ! the referee did not award. At once there rose a howl from some rabid sup- | porters of the home team, and Mine, j who probably do not realise the difficulty that a referee has in seeing all that occurs, commenced to hoot. The fair-minded sports at once checked them. A referee is not infallible. Tie is only human, and liable to err. Tint he does his best, and that section of the public that hoot are not onlv unwilling to show their knowledge of the game by volunteering their services to the referees' association, but would probably be found ignorant of the mere rudiments if thev did

Next Thursday, on the Recreation grounds. Tukapa and Star juniors will plav their annual match for the shield. A former resident of Taranaki who witnessed the Thames-Auckland match in which the latter had a runaway victory, was very pleased with the disnlav of the Auckland backs. The way they took swift passe,*, running at top, and then backed up fast on the other side to receive it a grain was an eve-opener. The forwards did not impress him much, and he considers they will have to improve if they wish to beat Taranaki Star forwards were in fine fettle in their match against Rovers last week. Given four hacks behind them, they will stop at nothing. Star played three men short, but the forwards beat down all opposition. The team has not had a proper set of backs once this season, but the forwards have invariably pulled them out of the hole. Rovers worked hard and valiantly, but they had 'not the weight. On several occasions they had very hard luck, but towards the close of the game the Blacks simply.ran over them. Among the Star ' vanguard Dewar was, as usual, a host in himself, and .initiated- most,of. the rushes. . Hawkins used his powerful strength to the best advantage, and at times literally hurled himself through the opposing pack. Charteris' play was marked with some splendid dribbling work: Richards, a very consistent man, has played well throughout the season, and he was hot found wanting on this occasion. Okey also gave a good account of himself. Of the backs. Stannering had the worst work to do. and he acquitted himself well. It is difficult to imagine how Star would have got through without bis services. MeAlluni' did not have many opportunities oh the attack, but when called upon he . was .never found wanting. His .defensive work'was very solid. Glrcson, at half, shirked nothing, and put in some good, useful work. He still retains, however, his habit of hanging on to the ball too, long. One certain try was missed on this account. Clarke, at full-back, showed distinct improvement on his previous exhibition. Reid, perhaps, did more than anyone else to hold the Rovers' band together. He was a glutton for work. Five-eighths Thompson and Webster wcre-also in the thick of it, and had they •been backed by a heavy pack of forwards several tries would have come their way. Newel] came in for much applause! saving repeatedly. His line-kicking has improved considerably since his first match this season. All he needs is. <i little more weight to stand him in better stead when getting down to rushes. Jennings came out of his shell for the first time this season, with several very hefty runs upfield. The palm among .the forwards must go to Thompson, at wing-forward. In tackling alone he, showed points to the remainder of the Rovers' vanguard). Hore never spared himself, and every mix-up saw him very close to the ball. Pott played a strong game until he retired with a broken collar-bone. A word must be put in for Martin, who for once gave a -passable account of himself.

The following will represent Fitzroy in their match against Star, to he played on the Recreation Grounds at 3 p.m. to-day:—H. Carran, J. SKipper, D. Kopo, 0. Mangu, T. Hook, B. Tanner, T. Carrol, T. Jeffries, A. Francis, 0. Mote, J. Tito, A. Buxton, B. Kuhn, ]£. Bellringer and D. White. ASSOCIATION. On the Tukapa ground this afternoon a match will Ik> played between teams representing Albion and Wanderers. Mr. •T. Clark will referee. The teams will be as follows:—Albion: Kni<;ht. Snowball, Rea, Holmes. Fonton. Wylie, Kayden, Lcgg, Charteris. Vale, and another. Wanderers': Shepherd, Lawrence. Roper, Olson. Langridge. James, MeC'omish. Boswell, Plumb, Sullivan and Smith.

-4-3 / . | /a ' & « J2 At!' 0 a m m '3 p. 1 t> ° S 'o "3 I 1 * , Y &•" i.) Q CI P* O j Stratford' ..«£ V3 1 2 20 11 1 Clifton/.... «/ 4 2 0 15 9 jTukajfe . J. ./B 0 4 2 11 32 s s 2 I /sAJTgRDAY COMPETITIO-N'. 7* 5 2 0 03 25 10 y%*™ 7* 4 2 1 07 45 9 'frRovers .... 8 4 3 1 69 69 ; | Fitzroy .... 8 0 0 2 29 8!) 8 2 i j 'Star forfeited a match to Okato.