FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, 3 October 1922, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

THE LEAGUE GAME By Telegraph.—Press Association. Auckland, Oct. 2. The New Zealand tour of the Australian League team is to be curtailed. The team returns home from Wellington by the Moeraki on Wednesday. MATCH AT NAPIER. Napier, Oct. 2. The League match, Kangaroos v. New Zealand, was played here on Saturday and resulted in a victory for the fcVuner by 39 points to 14. The attendance was about 1500. GIANTS OF THE ’EIGHTIES. THE GREAT KEOGH. When the New Zealand native team arrived in England in 1888, British footballers regarded the tour as something out of which they would get a vast amount of fun, and but a moderate amount of recreation. That the New Zealanders could play sterling, dingdong Rugby was a secret known to few. Before two or three matches had beenfplayed (states the Christchurch Star), the news was ail over the United Kingdom, and the names of Tab Wynyard, Pat Keogh, Davy Gage, and Tom Ellison were very soon something to -conjure with. Here were mien who could punt, kick, tackle, pass, and. dribble as well as the best Blue ever turned out by Oxford or Cambridge. Back in New Zealand the record of the tour was awaited with the keenest interest, and pioneers of the Rugby game heard with pride of the crushing defeats inflicted on brilliant and exclusive English fifteens. In a story recalling those old days, Inspector Cassells, of the ■ Christchurch Police Force, a great wing forward himself in his prime, touched briefly on several aspects of the tour that are well worth recording for the benefit of Rugby enthusiasts in 1922. “I had played against many of them before they left, and I had an adequate idea of their ability on the Rugby field, but when the team came back it surprised me. They were the best I have ever seen. Pat Keogh, jin my opinion, is the greatest back who has ever donned a jersey. He was trjeky, elusive, and resourceful, and a iman of superb physique. He ’ electrified the crowds whenever he played, and to see him score a try was the sight of a lifetime; He .had every move planned like a chess champion. Once against Otago, on the Carisbrcok ground, the native team got busy from the jump, scoring seventeen points in seventeen minutes. Keogh played half-back. He was a member of the Club.

"Keogh, of course, was not a Maori, but an Irishman. However, he was very dark, so they roped him in as a quarter-caste. Harry Lee, Tab. Wynyard, Tom Ellison,' and Davy Gage were all Wellington players. The last match I was in was Poneke against Petone. I was for Poneke and Harry Lee was wing-forward for Petone. We bore the marks of that struggle for some time. The record of the native team’s tour through the United Kingdom will stand comparison. It Is: Matches played, 74; won, 49; drawn, 5; lost, 20 ; points for 394 ; points against, 188. "The unfortunate part about it was the season at Home was very miserable, with a lot of rain and sodden grounds everywhere. As a result, many of the men died from consumption on their return. There are not many living now. Dave Stewart, who belonged to the Thames, is dead. So are Harry Lee; T. Rene, killed in a railway accident; Wi Karauria; W. Warbrick, buried In the Urewera Country ; Ihimairi, known as ‘The Smiler’; ,T. Scott, the manager, who came from Gisborne; T. Ayton, the promoter; R. Maynard; C. Goldsmith (Taare) ; Tom Ellison, who scored the greatest number of points; .Toe Warbrick, killed while acting as a guide at Walmangu; W. Anderson; Arthur Warbrick, drowned at Okewa, in Poverty Bay; Dave Gage, who died in Wellington two years ago; C. Madigan, known as ‘Barlow’; and A. Webster.

"Nehua is alive, living in Whangarel. His name, translated from the Maori, means buried. George Williams, an ex-policeman, weighed in the other day at 65. He lived in Otaki. Dick Taiaroa was down in Christchurch the other day. W. Elliott works at the Newmarket Railway Workshops, Auckland. J. Lawlor was engaged as a coach to teach the team the Australian game for matches to be played in Melbourne. E. McCausland went to Australia, and I cannot account for him. Pat Keogh is alive.

‘‘Some time back when I went through to arrest- Rua. the Maori prophet, at a place called Maungapohata, I came on a roadman at Muripara. He told me his name was Warbrick, and I asked him if he belonged to the well-known football family. He said, ‘Yes. I am Alf. Warbrick, the only one of the five brother’s who did not go to England.’ I asked him where Bill was buried; if his grave was in Australia. He replied: ‘No. In the scrub over there.’ I climbed through a fence, and there, in the heart of the Urewera Country, I saw the grave of that great footballer. Bill Warbrick. It was a lonely spot, and the grave had no headstone of any kind. Perhaps it is not too late now to erect a memorial worthy of the deeds of a great athlete.”—[Harry Lee is still alive, and is in the Whikato (flstrict. —Ed. T.D.N.]