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Football

This contest took place on the Athletic Park on Prince of Wales Birthday in the presence of a fair number of spectator; and under perfect conditions as far as the turf and the weather were concerned. The College was represented by the following players :—backs, Bogle (2), Stuckey, Fell, Sellar and Logan forwards, Wills, Kitching, Matheson, Johnstone, Gawith, Beere, de la Mare, Seddon and Ostler (captain).

Playing with the sun behind them the College invaded the Old Boys territory, but, through lack of combination, they did not score, although Stuckey made two good efforts. The Old Boys played soundly, and gradually shifted the play to the College twenty-five, where Cleland turned a penalty kick to good. account by landing a beautiful goal from a difficult angle. On kicking off the College were again called on to defend, and Thomson obtaining a mark, Cleland raised his side's total to 7 points by kicking another fine goal. Spurred to greater efforts by these reverses the College invaded their opponents' territory, and de la Mare was seen breaking away from a scrum with a dribble. On the ball bouncing he seized it, passed to Seddon, who in turn handed it back to de la Mare; he again passed in the nick of time to Gawith, who scored after a splendid dash. This was the finest piece of play in the game. Fell kicked a good goal. There was no further score in the first spell, though Johnstone made a game effort to place the College ahead, but was effectively downed when looking dangerous. Old Boys, 7 College, 5 was the tally when the second spell opened, but Logan soon made an opening and enabled Fell to notch a try for the College. The attempt at goal was, however, fruitless. College, 8; Old Boys, 7. Soon after the drop out a beautiful forward rush by the Old Boys led to Watkins scoring under the posts, Cleland page 32 again kicking a goal. Old Boys, 12; College, 8. The latter now set to work with determination, and scored three more tries in quick succession. de la Mare broke away from a line out with an irresistible dash, and ran in, Ostler converting. College, 13; Old Boys, 12. Beere, who showed excellent pace, was the next to cross the chalk line, but this time A. H. Bogle failed to add the major points. College, 16; Old Boys, 12. Further passing among the College backs led to Stuckey making a strong .dash for a try, but he just failed to reach the line. A sharp passing bout by the College forwards gave de la Mare another chance, and he gained his second try in fine style; but, though in a good position, no goal was kicked from it, and the game ended in a win for the College by 19 points to 12.

The game throughout was most interesting, being fast and full of incident from start to finish. The winners owe their victory mainly to the pace of their forwards, of whom de la Mare and Matheson were, perhaps, the best. Seddon did good work on the wing of the scrummage. The backs were handicapped through want of combination, but they all did good individual work, Logan, Sellars, Stuckey and G. V. Bogle doing especially well. The losers, though the lighter team, played a sound game, Palethorpe and Watkins in the front rank, and Thomson, Cleland, and Inglis of the rearguard showing up conspicuously. The place kicking of Cleland was of a high order. The form shown by the College team has been favourably commented upon by the local football world, and there should be no delay in forming a football club among the students. There is sufficient material to raise a team that should carry off the Junior Championship easily, and in Wills, Kitching, Matheson, Ostler, de la Mare, Logan, Sellar, Fell, Stuckey and Bogle there is the nucleus of a team that with ordinary luck would perform creditably in senior contests.

Mr. D. D. Weir carried out the duties of referee in a very satisfactory manner.

[We regret that this account has taken up space out of proportion to its importance. It was, however, written by one of the highest authorities on football in Wellington, who happened to be an eye witness of the game; . and since the opinions of such an authority should be weighty, we publish the article in full.—Editor.]