FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LV, Issue 89, 31 August 1912, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

REPRESENTATIVE FIXTURES. September 4 —v. Otago, at ITawcra. September 12—v. Canterbury, at Strats ford. September 1!) —v. Manawatu, at Xew v Plymouth. RESULTS TO DATE. June 3—-v. Wanganui, won bv 16 points to 3. Jun« 12—v. Wellington, lost by 12 points s . to 10. June 15—v. Wanganui, won by 0 point* to nil. July 23 —t. South Island country t«am, s won by 31 points to 3. August 17 —v. Auckland, lost by 6 points to 5. August 22—v. Wairarapa, lost by 17 points to 13. August 29—v. Wellington, won by 6 k points to 5.

Following its usual custom, the weather, which for the past fortnight has been all that could be desired, broke on Wednesday, the eve of the WellingtonTaranaki football fixture. The weather is generally unkind to New Plymouth, when it ia particularly wanted to be genial. However, on Thursday afternoon the rain did keep off, save for a slight shower, and the three thousand or so spectators were able to witness the match with some degree of comfort, and on Friday many might have been heard to heave a, sigh of relief that the match was not on that day. Undoubtedly the weather kept away a vast number. On a fine day it is safe to say there would have been a record gate. It speaks volumes for the hold that a good game of Rugby lias on the football public, when such* a crowd could be drawn together on such a day. This , also seems to supply an answer to the query, Is the interest in Rugby waning? The spectators were drawn from down the line and also along the coast, every available motor between New Plymouth and Opunake being in action, bearing its happy freight to the convincing ground. The game itself was a keen, hardfought one, but contested in the friendliest possible spirit. For a greasy ball it was a good exhibition. The fast dashing forward rushes on both sides roused much enthusiasm from the crowd, who followed the many exciting incidents very keenly. The greasy ball, of course, militated against precision in handling the leather. Still, there were some nice passing movements, Wellington showing the better combination. A feature of the game was the dash and vim displayed by the local forwards, although until late in the second spell they were beaten for the ball in the scrum, yet in the loose they more than held their own. Of the bunch Dewar, Young and Cain were the most conspicuous, though Hawkins and Whittington were not far behind. Cain showed some very, pretty foot-work. Smith played'better than on the preceding week, bub his! game shows, that he is not as young as he used to be. • r ; : ' 1 Taylor, at wing-forward, played a'fine dashing, heady game, being always • onJ the ball. He consistently, played, the. leather, and not the man, asj. so in,his position are prone to do.. If really hard luck for him to be cijllec) back 6n one occasion when he had got, the ball well away, for apparent .tjrip-, .ping.. To the writer, who was'in , position to see, there did lirt't jtq,. A be any .contact between Taylor's .(fowt; and, thoSplayer-who. fell ■■■ It'«pps!(jr.cd as though the ground was ,: r<'sponi}ibla : for the fall. Still that was no relation, why a section, of the crowd shduld hooted the referee', an action- 1 WhicU,.sty' vj true sportsmen will deprecate.' ''Wr.Tite; j Ivenzie is impartial one 'who -takes a very keeri ifaWreij| iji,,-, football and who sacrifices mjiflr'-in.fofr lowing ! the'' game., IJe may , have made a mistake—and he would 'not be'.'human if lie (lid *not occasionally en—'tAit one tiling was'certain" lie must Ijji\:<j thbught t.lie Wellington. • man was tripped; els? V the'whistle .would not have gone. The . - enthusiastic reception that he from the members of both j dinner in, the evening, will, ; trust,,-,j efface from .Mr, McKenzie's memory.; uncalled-for- outbursts from tfija few., -on ; the lerrac(;s who, Jike a eared' animal, can make mue!t : sowlil ■' .without conveying any intelligible mw<ui- • .• ing. " . ' . l.lro.wn. at half-back, played, jtis usual; solid defensive game. lie did'hot git the ball .away to his backs with his Uffn- • tomary celerity. Roberts at five-eighths. combined well, ttje'formeh . having hard luck in not scoring, qn one .occasion, when the ball just evaded birii! * over the line by-inches. h'. Ed like a Trojan, stopping, tl»e,i burly Wellington forward rushes again 'and.' ' again. J. Stohr played centre,-t.hrce-(juarter and -proved equally .at,, honle ' there. His line-kicking was'a' strtsii&'' • feature, and his goal-kicking —well, that : was of the best. It won the..match. The two goals were magnificent etforts. and had lie been able to reproduce but one of t-hem in Auckland; Taranaki would now be holders of the Ranfurly Shield. Bertram!, at wing three-quarter, played his initial game in big company 1 . HiS performance impressed favorably. Ho, was nervous at the start of:the 'game, but gained confidence as the : gaihe progressed. With experience he should be one of the best, as he has pace,'and can tackle and kick well. Cameron did not get much to do. The Stratford'threequarter appears to have lost the art of dodging. Had he cut in on one occasion instead of running along the touch line he might have been more successful. lie was not kicking as well as usual. At-full-back S. Cameron -played fairly well. -He is by no means a brilliant full-back. ■ Of the visiting forwards Wilson shiinc • up best; in fact, he was almost the best forward on the ground. McFarlane,' Moflitt and Gilespie also played well, as did Skinner on the wing. E. Roberts, at half, was solid and tricky. McKenzie and Ramsden did not I play the agrrcssive game that they playI ed at ITawera. Probably the dry ground j [ suits them better. Mckenzie did a lot ■ of solid defensive work. Ryan was the best of the three-quar-ters; lie made some nice openings, and time and again outmanoeuvred his vis-a-vis, Cameron. Young, 011 the other wing, also attacked strongly. His try early in the game caught Taranaki napping, as did also ilacky at Auckland. Murray, at centre, -found the line well.! hvenson. at fuM-back. defended soundly. He plays very deliberately and nearly always gets the line. lire next representative match set down for decision is against Otago, at Hawera, on Wednesday next. The Taranaki team will be the same as that which played against Wellington on Thursday, except that Franklin will play five-eighths in place of Roberts, who is not available. The match should hp very interesting, for though Taranaki had a somewhat easy win over Otago at Dunedin last year, the southerners have a fairly strong team on tour, and as they are after the Ranfurly .Shield, expect to. give the Northerners a good fdiaking up. THE LEAGUE GAME One gathered from the New South Wales-Taranaki match that the League game is essentially a dry weather game. In n match properly played by first-class teams, greater opportunities for passte" are afforded than in the Rugby game common to New Zealand. The forwards (six in all) are fewer in number, and the tendency of the League game ii

to make backs of them. The fact that four three-quarters are played tends to cramp the backs somewhat. It ) also makes for short nippy pasing, which must he more effective in the matter of try-getting than long-range passing. The spectators at Thursday's match missed the ''line-outs." These may be —and, indeed, often are —abused in the Union game, but there are many who think that it is rather a too sweeping move to abolish them altogether. Their substitutes —a long monotony of scrums—pall on the eye. If line-outs are to be banned, it seems a pity that something more enlivening than serums, in which more appears to hinge on the knack of bouncing the ball in than hooking. cannot be substituted. This is not an advocacy of the abolition of scrums, but rather a protest against scrums being made the "be all" and "end all" of a game. Undoubtedly the rule ■which reads: "When tackled and brought down to the grqund a player must rise with the bull and drop it, when it may be played wilh the foot by either side," greatly ifwiimises the chance of rough pla3'; but the prevention of rough play is not the only objective of football, however commendable in itself. To a certain extent this restriction does away largely with those stirring forward rushes for which Taranaki has been so long famed. In League football a free kick is a free kick in every sense of the term, and this must commend itself to the majority. It cannot- be charged, and opponents are not permitted to jump in the air or raise their hands above their heads in an attempt to block it. It will be necessary, however, for other League matches to be played at New Plymouth before the local public can definitely form an estimate of its worth compared with the ''amateur" game. Had Thursday's match been a first-class exhibition, this contention might not' hold; but at the best •it was a very mediocre exhibition of the new—new to New Zealand—style of play. Incidentally, the difficulty of the spectators to properly comprehend the game was accentuated by the fact that many of the Taranaki team were themselves at a loss to understand some of its fine points, not that it is very complicated. i