A RECORD OF SPORT.

Waikato Times, Volume X, Issue 806, 16 August 1877, Page 2

A RECORD OF SPORT.

(Compiled expressly for -the Waikato : .r% AtTOiiiiND, August 14. Wa arei»U looking j&rward with interest to 'thY Auckland, and'punedin Fjooball Biatoh, .^hich is to come off at Elleralie, ■qjpL Thursday next. :T'ie JEEeoeptiou Com-rjiifctee-have arrapged for drag* tb be in wadiaeat to briag the Otago boys from Unehuriga into towa, ;\and, from what I have heard, they will -have nocking to ooai plain of in .their treatment at oar hands, even, if they get rather knooked by our feet., The team which has been seleoted to play* them is, in my humble opiaion, not so good a 'fifteen M that which played Canterbury last year. Cox and Wood not playing, will make a great difference. * Paiil'and Whe well, two other good men, have also discovered that they oamnot play. Out men will be, probaoly, places as follows :— Forwards : T Henderson, C Dacre, E Burgess, J Nolan, W Gudgeon;. J Micky, Colbeok, Shakeepear and Mowbray. Half-backs : W hobinaon, Mercer, Carter ami Ring. Backs: Kerr and Warbrick. Of the new' men, the -best is, decidedly, Ring .Hw has made more succesafixl "runs' this season than any othar player. Hii great point is, his speed, at which no oni here can touoh him. When he geti away with the ball, it takes the Flyiu£ Dutohmau to catch him. Added to this, he is as slippery as an eel, aad, I hav< seen him get away from half-a dozei tacklers, one after another, in th« mos extraordinary manner. Warbrick, Col beck and Shakes pear have all shown gooc form in local matches. The first-oaoiec ia a splendid drop-kick, them . h not qmt< so good as Kerr, who ia facile princept ii this department. The other twu an active and juiicious players, aad will b very useful in the scrimmages. Merce and Mo bray have only just come into the front raak. Indeed, I believe tha the former was only selected on aoooun of some excellence he ahowel in atria match last Saturday, in which a fifbee-: composed principally of the represeuta tives, successfully coped with a horde c twenty-six " All-comera," of whjm h was one. He has a knack of doublin wben tackled, waioh is very effective i enabling nun to get a good drop-kie when surrounded by foes. Mo vbray hs pieuty of dash, and "dr >ps" *ell. Ou old stagers, Henleraou, Dacre, Gudgeot Carter, Robiusoa aud Nol.au are all i g iod form, aud it will take six good me .to match them in tha tield. E Bargeand J Maoky are, perhaps, the tea; eu titled to placed in the team. They ai both experienced performers, but, tb 1 one lacks stamina, and the 6cn«r looks to much like " ousting it " at titnea. It : to be hoped that the weather will .be moi ' propitious than on the occasion' of tt * Canterbury game. While on tiie aubjei \ of football, let me add a word or tw-j i ' reference to the letter of " Eques," whic 1 appeared a few .days ago in your column He terms football a barbarous gun r which ought to be put down, aud suggea 3 the substicution of Polo aud La Cross 6 By way of defending footoall from tb r stigma, I would remind "Eques" th * there is probably no game wuich so w< * as football iaculcates the virtues of for 8 tude and forbearauce.' Like the Olympii competitors of old, tha lad who wou i excel in it, mu^t have endured ai e sweated much. Calm and r.vpid jud „ met in emergencies is unosher essential 9 a first-class player. Althiiu^h, to t] . iaexperieoced oilooicer, each, couceat like the "Battle of cue Warrior " d '» scribed in Holy Writ, accompanied "wi 6 confused noise and garments rolled 8 olood." Tb the practised eye, t 8 beauties — aye, beauties l^— of tie gai stand out in bold relief. Who can re the story of Tom Brown's Scnool Dij '" without feeling a thrill of aduiir&ci 8 at little Kast's plnoky charge W * there ever a game played in wuich s-*i '" youthful Lancelot mighc not be seen to " Strike down the luaty and long ym f tised knight, ? And let the younger and unskilled go ' To win his honor and to make hii natnt iS e Yes, there are plentiful instances of gji ). rosity and self restraint to be witueis d in football, aad if, ever there wosa ape j which taught its participators to be g injuries patiently this is Liu sun), o have kuown boys and men take ad«/a g ta^e of football to pay off old sc->ros r r.heir opponents, and the ravage k>c* a vicious trip has been administered wi a fieudiah delight ; b'tt fur oue of tueat e have known fifty cases of brave la e hidiog their harts wittt the resolution a the Spartan boy bitcen by the fot a j playing on at good ham mredly as a t o firsc. iS is ;dea these moral lessons whi e I mention that tne ga>ue teaca 18, Cue i, are other characteristic featured th i) reoommend it. I heard a unemosr of c o Pakuranga .Hunt .Cluo tha ooner d e decrying football as an unmeaning git if with no skill in it. I tojk the iibdrcy a telling him that h» aaid s t oimj. e brtoauw he knew nothing about it. 0 football a lot of s<ill and practice a 1 required to m\ke a pe- feet player, an 1 ,t may be aooepted as truth that the hul 0 ing leviathan, who aiuply oulh^a i j, way through a game, but who ac jordi 1 to detractor should be exaatly ih^ m v for the sport, is simply a geuoi i nuisance, aad would be the lasG m a picked iu tne selection of siies. There t no doubt football ia daugerous, but t y number of acjidents this Siasou mmo n a be taken a« any onter.oa of tue exte 3 of paril involved in playia^ it, forever y one knows that the list of misaaps i, this ve»r at lea^t, three ciin s ai loi » aa usual. There ia soanHy ai n thoroughly tiritwh gauae in whioii tt t element of d»n^^r ia not prj^eac. & i- conclusion is that the queitioa wuech ,i football is or is not a game "tj be p i ilowu" is simply t3oj|riiiouloui to i e seriously answered. If a mm argu a that if he is hurt he will lose his em^io ment and perhaps tn»ke ottiers sat! u' besides himself, aad chat therefore ] oonaiders the game too dangeroui to pia t then I can res peot both his opinion an e his resolution to refraia from ib. Bac i. say that football^e se is t io dan Jjroas t a Englishmen to play ij to me so n-schu s like an iasult t-> the national cliarjoti j Like "Eques." I should much lite 1 > see Polo aud La Orosse introduced her and it is probable boih will be atirfce before iong, but there are several rea*oi against their ever becoming generall popular, the principal being, that the both require special aud expanau appsratus. VA.XE3.