THE BRITISH FOOTBALL TEAM.

Evening Post, Volume LXVIII, Issue 134, 3 December 1904, Page 9

THE BRITISH FOOTBALL TEAM.

ITS RETURN TO ENGLAND. OPINIONS OF ITS MEMBERS. (From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON, 21st October. There was no ceremony at Euston Station on Saturday morning when the British Rugby tea-m, who had been touring in Australia and New Zealand, returnbd home. They had disbanded before the metropolis was reached, many travelling westward from Crewe, so that when the Liverpool train reached Euston only four of the members alighted — namely, Messrs. O'Brien, M'Evedy; Saunders, and Sharland, and they all looked the picture of health $ they expressed themselves as delighted with their tour. The Welsh members of the team reached^ tpeir respective homes on Saturday evening, and they are shortly to be formally welcomed home at gatherings of representative footballers. Naturally on their return from the colonies the members of the British team have been interviewed to any extent, and all seem to have expressed their opinions very frankly in regard to the play of the colonists, and the methods pursued in New Zealand' and Australia. BUSH DOES NOT FANCY 1 OUR STYLE. When Mr. Percy Bush was asked what he thought of "the much-vaunted system" adopted by l"ew Zealand football players, he replied that it would not be a success in Wales, as the allotting of practically never-varying positions in' the scrum and on lines-oat killed initiative in the players, and made the issue depend on weight and speed more than on conspicuous skill either by individuals or by a, combination. It was true that the Britishers were beaten in the test match against United New Zealand, but there were rea&ons for that defeat, considered Mr. Bush, quite outside the merits of the far different systems — the Britishers were not able to play nearly so well as in their earlier matches, and afte^ the exhaustion of travelling, accidents in the field, and regal feting, they were not so fit as their opponents, who had been given a special preparation at the seaside, very much after the manner of an English Soccer team before a Cup-tie final. He was loud in hi® admiration of the pluck and speed of the New ZeaJanders, who have, in his opinion, a far better conception of the game as \b is played m this country than is possessed" by Australia, where the hard grounds prejudice the progress of the game. " Then you saw nothing in the play of the New "Zealanders that could be introduced with advantage into our Welsh style';" Mr. Bush was asked, and he replied : " Nothing at all. On the other hand, I saw much that would not be allowed over here that 'down under' is well within the rules, and part of a set s,y&tem. First of all there is the flying f oi ward idea. It is bad from every poinfc of view — players' and spectators* — and under our rules it would not be tolerated by any efficient referee. The way in which the New Zealanders played this winging forward kept down our scoring, but that was only when our forwards were so much outweighted as 1 to be unable to command the ball in scrummage. When our forwards were anything like even in weight, our inside half was able to make the wing foiward look small indeed. Then as to the taking up of special positions in the forwards our quick forming up Mould defeat that in this country, but there the idea was to give every allowance to ennble the scrummagers to get into right order, and then it became an old-fashioned scrum. No, I feel convinced," Mr. Bush. went on to observe, " that there is nothing in their style that can be incorporated into ours with success. Of course, as a sporting set of good fellows one could not help admiring the New Zealanders, and they hare some fine lusty and speedy players who would come to the front in our or any other style of the game. It will be a surprise to me, ' and I should think to all the members of our team, if the New Zealanders win any big club match in Wales, but that' the games will be attractive is certain^ if only from the novelty of their style." GABE IS IMPRESSED WITH THE FORWARDS. Next, Mr. R. T. Gabe was induced to give his impressions of the trip, which he had greatly enjoyed, and which had benefited him "physically. To the queries, "What football lessons did you learn?" and " Can you give us any tips?" Mr Gabe answered : '' Well, so far as back play was/ concerned there was nothing to learn — we can giye them points everywhere. Their passing was reckless. It was a case of getting rid of the ball without realising whether it would fall "to a colleague better placed for attack, or 'who could use it moTe efficiently in defence. There were no brilliant tactics that we could imitate in Wales. In regard to their style of forward play i that is a point which wants, thinking about. It might pay us to adopt a plan they had there of having fixed positions in the scrum. For instance, they have the same thre? men -in the front rank every time ; ,they are called ' hookers,' because they hook .the ball and start the heeling. They practise nothing outside that, and never appear /in the second or third rank. It is quite a- different style of play. The second rank forward* are always in the same position, while in the third rank one man puts his head down, but the other two on the outside stand on the outside and act as wingers.. As soon as the ball is out the other aide they get off *t once." I "But," asked the interviewer, "how can th« same men get into the front rank always? They may be a- long way behind when the scrummage is formed.' "That is (he point that puzzled me before I went out tbeie." replied Mr. Gabo, "but somehow or other th^ front-rankers are always at the scratch." MORGAN WOULD LIKE A FURTHER TEST. The WHsh inlcrnational, Mr. E. T. Morgan, was loud in praifce of their treatment everywhere, and described the voyage Home from New York in the Campania as a. most enjoyable one. A&ked as to the .style of play which prevailed in Now Zealand, he &aid: "It is quite a different style of play from the Aus- ]

tralian. The climate of New Zealand is more adapted for football than that of Australia, and the people are very robust. The game they piay is a very open game with a lot of "parsing in it. It is more like the WcL«h game. But one great peculiarity is the formation of the scrum. They form a scrum in a scientific manner, each man getting to his proper place. In the first row they have two hookers, as they are called, instead of three, and they form a wedge. In tho second row tliev have three, the man, or tho 'lock' man, as he is termed, being very strong, and holding the first two together. Ho keeps Iris feet widely aparb so that the ball can be shot out through, quickly. Then come another two behind, making seven in the scrum, instead of eight as in tho English game. In addition to this they have the wing-forward, who puts the ball in and stops the opposing half from getting off. They think that two can do belter work than three in front, and as the front rank does not pu&h at all they havo not as many pushing as in the English game. They have also a scrum-half and two 'five-eighths' practically corresponding to our outeide lialvea."* Speaking of their play generally, Mr. Morgan said : "They are very good at handling the baJl as a side, but their back half was rather disappointing. Their i kicking, too, was not so good as we expected, but their tackling was very good, and they were sure catchers from high, kicks. They are far better footballers than the 1 Australians, and they are stronger ; their playing in New Zealand really is altogether of superior order and cannot be compared with the ■ Australian." Reverting to their method of operating in th© scrum, the interviewer asked Mr. Morgan whether he considered it in any sense superior to the method prevailing here, and whether it might with any necessary modifications be introduced into the Welsh game, and Mr. Morgan is said to have answered: "In one way it is, better, in that it is a method of placing each man in his place. It brings more method into the game,' and that is au advantage. That is the peculiarity of the Welsh game, and what lias enabled us to win so many j matches. This, however, is carried to a j far greater degree in New Zealand. Ther« every man has his number and his place in the field, and in the scram, arid he lias to keep it. Our forwards were, however,, not strong enough to test their method thoroughly, and ], would like to see them play against a good Welsh team or au, international team before really offering, a decided opinion. Their method of chaos-, ing the men is thoroughly scientific. Each man is picked for his place, and they re- | quire, say, two 'good Lookers' ; these are selected ; again, a good 'lock' man, a good wing, and bo on. A man thus always plays in the same position, and every on© knows exactly what he has to do, both ia the field and in the scrum. Here, as you know, the first on. the ball in the scrun* is down, but in New Zealand tho two hookers must be th© first, and then tho lockman and his colleagues, and then tho last three. I do not quite know how that would work in England, as there im no dead ball, and the hookers would per* haps be some way off the field." Touching another point, Mr. Morgan remarked : "In New Zealand I noticed a tendency to foster foul playing. They, knock one down after he has kicked th* ball to stop him from running on for a re< pass. They deliberately, in such cases,, knock one down, but they do not play tha men so badly as here. No man is knocked l down while waiting for the ball— a player would be heavily penalised if he did so., No one is knocked down until he gets tha ball, which, as you know, is sometimes done here. They are stricter in adhering to the wording, 'You must play tha bail, not the players.' " At the close of the interview, Mr. Morgan reiterated his dolight at the way they were treated in the colony, and *,aid ha looked forward with pleasure to the coming of the New, Zealanders to this country next September. "Wliile- out there," he added, "wo met Dr. E. F. Fookcs, the old Yorkshire whig-three-quarter, playing full-back for Taranaki, and ho was one of th© best players we met there. Many Welshmen will recollect him. for ha played in the English v. Wales International matches. I recollect him myself at Blackheath, a fewyears ago, scoring three tries against Wales. LLEWELLYN THINKS NEW ZEALAND FOOTBALL PRETTY GOOD. . Mr. W. Llewellyn was the next man tackled by the interviewer on reaching Wales, and to the query, "What is the standard of play in New Zealand backs generally?" he replied: "In my opinion it is pretty good. They had more chances to show their prowess thaa we- had in consequence of the superiority; of their forwards, who were able to give them the ball. The passing was good, but not so sharp and clean as is characteristic of the Welsh game. In; point of speed they are veiy much tha same as our backs. They are rather, bigger men than we generally have play-< ing in the back division in Wales, but the backs We played against them wera particularly small, as you know if you have seen Teddy Morgan, Percy Bush, Vile, and myself. Their formation o£ the backs is far different from our system. They play three Three-quarters and three five-eighths — the position known in this country as half-back. One skirts the scrum, the other stands out wide, and! the third player behind him again." In reply to the query as to his opinion of the wing forward, Mr. Llewellyn ob-. served : "He did a lot of damage againsb. us, but I would not like to see a wing forward played in our football. It would not be effective if introduced in oin\A games, and we have foond that eight?' honest scrummageus served the backs better. The wing also spoils the game^ — heti simply makes it into a scramble. It isa policy of one side preventing the other getting the ball, and this is not interesting from a spectacular standpoint. Ore the whole, tho refereedng was good. OS course we got some bad ones, but still' it was very good. We found' during oun tour that, they played very strictly to the rules, whereas we are accustomed to tha interpretation of the rules to the letter, but always played- to tho spirit of tha rules. The New Zealanders played from) book knowledge, and generally their play-i ers know more about the rules thar* Welshmen do. On a few occasions them interpretation militated against out play, and we could not immediately fall into this method." Ip further conversation, Mr. Llewellyn said he did not think tba New Zealanders could teach the players of this country anything except in point of keenness. He thought a. mistake had' been made in not going to New Zealand first. If thia had been done, he thought; the team would have done even better Of the 27 days they had in New Zealand! they travelled 17 whole days, and only had five clear days there. During thUf time they played five matches. THE MANAGER'S OPINION. In the opinion of the manager of tho team (Mr. O'Brien) the tour had been a thorough success athletically and socially. He cbtimated that the best three gates at Sydney totalled 36,890 each, while the New Zealand gates were never under 18,000. One gate produced £2200, a record which beat anything in England, he believed. The Australian and New Zealand Unions had probably made a profit of about a thousand pounds each The Australian play was Hot up t» firstclass form here, but Mr. O'Brien thought the New Zealand play was quite as good. In New Zealand the British team went down the hill progressively. Their first game was best, and the last the worst by a long way. A New Zealand, team would be over here next September for I si throe months' to'ir, and artftngeniqnts for matches were already beiug^Saae by the Eugby" Union, '