FOOTBALL NOTES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXX, Issue 8468, 19 June 1907, Page 3

FOOTBALL NOTES.

* (By All-Black.) The first round of the Senior and Junior competitions of the Wairarapa Rugby Union were completed on Saturday last. The following are the positions of the teams: — SENIOR.

Dr Louisson, son of the Hon. C. Louisson, informed a Christchurch reporter recently that he played Rugby football for some seasons after he went to London, and has since watched the game with interest. Professional football, he states, is practically confined to the Northern counties. The Northern Union has one rule of its own which seems to him an excellent one. The half-back is not allowed to come round the scrums until the ball is out from the opposing side. This makes the game a much more open one, and play more interesting to watch. .It also makes wing forwards impossible. The English Rugby Union, he thinks, might have been disposed to adopt this rule but for the fact that it never copies anything from the Northern Union. The Auckland Rugby Union has accepted Saturday, August 10th, for the match against the Hawke's Bay representative?, who have challenged for the Ranfurly Shield. The English Association Cup final was witnessed by 84,584 people at the Crystal Palace on April 20th, when Sheffield Wednesday beat Everton by two goals to one. The backs of the Sydney clubs this season, with very few exceptions, are no improvement on the past season. Unless the country week discloses a few likely men from the country, the back display against New Zealand will be mediocre, says an Australian writer. The selectors this season are going afield, and are devoting some time to the Great Public School football. This is as it should be, particularly with the engagements for next season, including the iour of the Old Country. Among the rumours going round about the professional team is that George Stephenson, of erstwhile Otago representative fame, would manage the combination on its English tour, says the Canterbury Times. It is also stated that one of the principals concerned in the movement has offered his services to Stanford University, America, as Rugby coach for a consideration of £SOO a year. Following the example of Otago, the Wellington Rugby Union has decided not to apply for a portion of the £2OO bonus voted by the New Zealand Rugby Union for the management of primary schools Rugby throughout the colony.

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