FOOTBALL.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 9529, 29 June 1909, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

The following are the positions of the teams in the various competitions :

SENIOR

*Disqaulified. The match between Tinui and Homewood was played on Saturday last, and resulted in a win tor Tinui V by y points to 6. Tries were scored for Tinui by Mick Sharp, Bert Schofield and Clarence Schofieid, whilst Paku and Ellers scored for Homewood. The game was keenly contested throughout. During the match , W. £ol!erton, of the.Tinui team, had 1 three ribs broken. Mr Richardson acted as referee. The match, Mataikona v. Carswells, was won by Carswells by 6 points to nil, Smith scoring two tries. Mr Sid Schofield refereed. The football critic in the "Otago Daily Times" writes as follows: Time was when the Alhambra was the crack team of the Dominion, and the best the Dominion could produce when the Red and Blacks were at the top of their form was not good enough to lower the Alhambra colours. I remember well the redoubtable Masterton team coming down specially to drag in the mud the red and black colours. Masterton was then the acknowledged star team of the North Island. The prowess of the Alhambra had travelled over Cook Strait into the Wairarapa country, and the hefty players from the foot of the ranges who, with few exceptions, were 6ft i i height, and fast withal, felt ! that the Alhambra team, of D'inedin, was the only side worth left to conquer. Masterton arrived with banners flying, and a great fanfare of trumpets, but after the first twenty minutes the issue was not in doubt. Alhambra cracked the defence to its final line, leaving the field victors at ail point* of the game. The forgoing merely to say that this sea3on the Alhambra threatens to come back to its own. When I write this I do not mean that the standard of the Alhambra players of the present day can be compared with the football giants of the past. Truth to tell, the present day player is a big remove from the men of a few seasons ago. One does not require to mention in connection with past football heroes, but those of vivid memory are Alex. Downes, the late "Osey" Crawfcrd, George McLaren, J. MacLeary, W. Johnston, Alf. Esquilant, and J. Baker of the Alhambra Club; Duncan Keogh, the late A. Armit, D.Torrance, A.Millar, Alex Laurenson, and McLaren, of Kaikorai: the Allans and the Gibsons of the old Taieri; R. Martin. I. W. W. Hunter, J. Murray, T. Lynch, and T. Sonntag, of Dunedin, Morrison, J. B. Thomson, W. Cran, and J. R. Montgomery, of High School and Otago University; J. Bee, T. Tattersall, O'Gorrnan, Gordon. Henderson and Beadle, of Union; the late R. Praser, C. Diamond. Arthur Morris, P. Rut-sell, and A. B. Drabble,of Pirates; and a host of other football celebrities who flourished when football was football in Otago. Quite a new generation of footballers has arisen, and.these know not the heroes of the gret Bygone or if they did it is only by fireside tales and ">mokeroom gossip. That these 01.1-timers did play the game 'tis well for the younger generation of players to know. How to get the players of 1909 to emulate the example of some of those wl.osd names are written large in Otago's roll of honour is the question which 5 shaild be perturbing the minds of ? I tlv. j authorities.

=3 TO K .£ '5 o & o m o c & u Q en .5 '3 'o E cs Carterton 2 1 3 40 39 7 Ked Star 2 1 2 43 25 6 Greytown 2 LowerValley 2 Gladstone 1 2 2 3 2 1 2 42 35 17 36 33 44 6 5 4 THIRC > CLASS. Red Star 5 1 0 108 14 10 Masterton 5 Carterton 4 0 t 0 136 0 90 0 18 10 s Dalefield 2 4 0 58 60 4 Hikurar.gi 1 Te Ore Ore 0 5 5 0 0 11 171 5 145 2 *