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FOOTBALL.
FOOTBALL GOSSIP.
"BY GOAL POST."
What a crowd turned out to see Carlton
and Fitzroy tumbling each other over, and
what a grand day it was for both players
and onlookers, the latter having a keen con-
test in view, whilst the former had a splen-
did turf on which to make the pace a merry
oae. 1%e.mtwlulo HtMu dl Ult '
. tinUn— iHdl 3MSiwulfcww fdbnd figuriilfl
wiaCneforifaletropobL;
, Both tfxms h»d plenty of fniwi., tmt -when
llMrinme got die first goal it w soon
ittmtttttadtwV cnpportorn wen in
the majority. ,- A fobqf-hndlmlHpfr wnsin-
fioigcdinofij in tbeune.MKenrie being
always ready Ao urge tbe ball on by this
means. Salt pnt another . goal in
fTlinnV IftijfW ' ' mJ' dlibsi IKioMn
. pre£o3 forvarff, and had long Tay
the .ibest.of the game, though Worrau
Tuttemly'we t»U to kick a goat Chi
changing epda' the a nice display of
Utjd.e marking, and Watling cleverly scored.
Then ILbsa pro ved his excellence as a reliable
fongard player It is seldom that a finer
- ran is seen than the one effected by Banks,
«fAtte OMUwsnsbpt dear v«y skUfoUy by
Bappiport' The example set by these players
Improred tbe play all round, and the' display
of good football tree creditable to botu
teems 'till half-time was called. The .even
ness of the game so far caused a lot of dis
camion during t be interval, and the resump
tion of play was eagerly -watched for. An
uaexpectedlyand unusually fine goal-lacking
record was put up by Banks, Williams,
Mfihane and-Roes putting on a coal each
for their respective teams before an-
other behind was ' recorded, all these
being , gained from really fine kicks.
The excitement was intense during the
last quarter, for Fitzrby was 'pushing Carl- ,
tda.ea, all bands, but Another goal obtained
by .Grace iras'fiie only, further register, so
Cariton had the satismctioa of winning a
fine game by. 6 goals 9 behinds toFittrqy'a
4 goads .10 behinds. Though defeated, the
latter amply demonstrated that the high :
opinions entertained of their ability were not 1
by any means exaggerated, for their all-
rpund sneut was self evident, whilst the
individual Jplsy could hardly be improved
upon; -' Babies "carried off the palm as, the
best man on the ground, and his wonderful
zns&iDgr good tempered and indefatigable
play, re. worthy of all praise. Rappipqrt
Las never been seen to greater advantage.
M'Pirerson .proved worthy of a place in
any team, Alelling, Cleary, Ewing, MRaile,
and Wiseman did their work cleverly,
whilst Leydtn led bis old comrades a
tnerry dance. That consistent performer
Bailey, was again to the .fore, and did
wonders for Carlton. Crapp defended in his
t>est style. Strickland came out of his shell
and showed ho lack Of pace Moorhouse fol
lowed grandly, and so did Curric ; but, on
the other hand. White paid more attention to
bis opponents than the ball, and M'Ken tie's
reputation will .soon be a thing of
the past If he continues playing
like last Saturday. Tbccentrnl umpire,
Mr .1- SIlMP. WAR bunt )ma«r_ nt tho nlttfws
on both sides were continually appealing,
ahd,tt was very apparent that little atten
tion .was paid to tlte ruies of the -game by
many of the older players, who ought to set
a better example. Soiric very heavy falls
were' given by pushing players from in
front when standing still waiting for a mark.
It is high time this cowardly play was nut a
atop to, as it -is a distinct infringement of
the rules, and punishable accordingly.
The unwbhted spectacle of a Highland
piper, clad in many hucd tartans and hose,
pacing up and down in front of the Mel
bourne Cricket Club grand stand created
quite ft sensation. Some suggested that
President Gillespie hod provided this means
of sparring his laddies" "forrerd" by the
pibroch, loud and shrill ; while ochers hinted
that YVorrall and hie men wonld become
faint at .the : weird sounds and fall an easy
rrev to their opponents. These surmises,
however, were blown to the wiuds when the
bald fact became apparent that ibe piper
was a huge fraud in the shape of an ad-
vertisomcntforsome well-known usquebaugh.
There isalsd'a big turn out when South
and Port Melbourne meet, the rivalry
existing between these teams being evi
dently keenly shared in by their respective
supporters. Oa this occasion there was
more interest thou ever taken in the
trial of . strength, for South bad re
cently secured two of their oppo
nents' liest men, whoso change of attire
was frcelycriticised in local vernacular — both
humorous and otherwise, mostly the latter.
As if on evil late had ordained that »the
Southerners should be punished for thus
spiriting Morton and Graham away from
their old love, the visitors found all their
ciTct ib> unavailing in trying to forCc the ball
between the Portonian posts. Graham,
33i o\> ii, Barrett and Burns endeavored to do
so, but unsuccessfully, and the mid-way spell
found Port Melbourne leading by 2
goals, got by Fr&ser and Muir, and
great was the joy in the borne camp ;
but thift was of brief duration,
for Brown's dexterous foot broke the ice, and
theu goal after coal was nut on with com-
iarutive esse till the call of time, Brawn
laving four to his credit, Burns, Graham and
Pjirdy one each, whilst the Ports had re
mained at a standstill. For the losing side,
Mule, Mitchell, M'Kuight, Fit2patrick and
Eraser played capitally, but Hannaysce
was'' altogether out of his old form,
owing, it is laid, to an injured
arm. Dunne, O'Meara, M'Murray, Brown,
Wiadley, MKay, Graham, Burns and Tal
bot 'were the most consistent of the
Southerners, who improved wonderfully hi
their play as the came progressed, and at its
close were playing in their befct stylo. Bar
rett was not - particularly conspicuous, but
one of hisshotwfor goal was the best kick
seen for a lonfe time.
.JViiiiamttowa appears to be &U in the
back ground recently, and last week the
Villagers learn was toade up with about
half-a-dozen substitutes, some of whom
could play and one or two could not. Want
of precision in-kicking, however, prevented
1 lie North MtdbOUtfie mininv miv nnnw. '
cinble advantage during the first
half of the game, but later
ou Gibson (2), Abrahams (2), and Todd,
managed to score £ win, for the Townies
only got a couple of goais, kicked by Kelly
and Warren. Fribhs played a fine back
game for the losers, and Warren, Worroll,
(jjbbs, and Griffiiu did their utmost to avert
defeat ; bnt Lording, Houston, Bean, and
Abrahams were iu capital playing form, ike
latter making some natty and useful
runs on behalf' of the Northerners.
The Geelong were in splendid fettle after
their South Australian holiday, mid took their
pUces on the field in high spirits, though it
was noticeable that a siring of new players
were taken ou to fill the gaps caused by
Clarke, Timms, Morrison and O'FarreU
cot putting in an appearance. St.
Hilda were very confident after their
excellent battle with South Melbourne, and
they felt strengthened by the inclusion of
Watson, who came with a good reputation
from the Warru&tnbool club. The play was
cot nearly as fast as had -been anticipated,
though the visitors did :their best to improve
the pace, Rued en, Til 'Donald and Harding
being very conspicuous, vriJflst Reid'e de
fence was admirable. Adams, Ryan and
Fanning wercalso doing fine «orit,in which
Baker joind/bub the local skinper was not
in his usurt kicking trim. IBs followers,
however, dceptrthe game well ua 'their opjpo-
neuis! temtory, and itat one time lookcana
if the taints were going to pieces. Thuoaiy
lasted for a minute or two, and thai they
shot out brilliantly, and made the scores
even at the cud of t&e third quarter, the two
Smiths, Harper, Brooks and Taylor playing
ill rattling arylc, whilst M'Shane, Adams,
bloody, iCeid, Kearney, Parkin and Wheat
land divided the local honors, and materially
assisted in achieving the final victory by 5
coals to 3, the winners giving a rare display
of £o<h1 football as a wind up.
Though the Footecray ground was some
what heavy, the local players and those of
RiL'huifiiid made the pace pretty fast, the
iatKT going off as if they fully intended
to away the spoils, but after
the:/ first goal was got by Griffiths,
the Fooiscray pulled themselves together,
and .by real good play took the
gain-? almost entirely into their own
hnr-K Richmond midc several good spurts
in i !» -oc'-'ud quarter, and then completely
die.! :«y, iea>Hiig tbe home team to. do as
tin- .- pit-oscd — n iiioli -they did — to the tune
of \ > to 1. ' The play was pretty rough
cv-; now and again, but Mr Trait managed
to k-: " the more unruly performers within
reft.-" .liable bounds, by a plentiful adminis
tration td free kicks.
The M elhomnc team which viated Bal-
Jaraf ou tatui-day u-as not by auv means a
str>>ntr ouc, as McLean, Ramsay, Hallcrt and
ope or. two others were .unable to. join in
with tiieir comrades. 3Ioore, the Soutk
!i liailaiwt skipper,, and MTebster were also
Wasga
«y. ; ;
Bavne.Wt the detilncms rrfihe««itraiilni
, were fnidV«ifidse8,
kftw-ljltt A
ShegiuiM was orer. ! -.Mi
. local dissenmoM prevented the Northern
Tftwnt H"1 //flTTiniitiiftii yWiiiif fKcir
In the field to oppose tne Snmtoi-
boys, at Lannoeston, ooBscqaaitiyvthe visi
tors had an Easier task than tfa-antki-1
pated, &ud won comfortably by 8 goals to % "
villi the behinds also all in-itiidc&Vtf. <« t
- Over am the Sooth Anstial»n side. Tort
Adelaide' raju dean ajrrff Irom the Ade-,
laidcs, who were only able to: secure 5.
behinds, while die Porte negotiated It goals :
and a dozen bebinds. South Adelaide and
Norwood also bad easy victories over Mcdin-
dic and Gawler.
It has become quite a common event re
cently for players to trot about from one
club to another in search of " fame;" but
now we have a trainer seeking " fresh . fields
in tbe formof J. Mitchell, u&o lest year and
also tbis season— up till Saturday — acied as
trainer for tbe Fitzroy Football Gub,
and then 'suddenly severed tbe con
nection to accept op engagement, in
a similar capacity, with -the Melbourne
Football Gub at a higher Tate of pay. As
the Fitzroy were tbe first to give Mitchell an
opportunity of displaying hU skill at train
ing footballers, they naturally feel much
aggrieved at hts action In leering them
without a moment's warning. The cxecu-
tive'of tbe club, however, is now in treat
with a well-known- and skilled trainer to
take ibe team in hand, and meanwhile the
players are doing plenty of good work.
Tbe Carlton and Port Melbourne contest
is sure to attract a large' attendance on the
ground of the latter, and tbe Porte arc vorv
hopeful of doing better against the Dark
Blues tb an they did against their South
Melbourne neighbors tost week.
1 The return match between Melbourne and
North Melbourne on the M.C. Ground should
be well worth witnessing, for the Beds have
improved a great deal since they were de
feated by 6 goals to 2 on the Northern Re
creation Reserve. -
South Melbourne and Geelong ought to
hare the cosiest of wins against the Wil-
liamstown and Richmond respectively ; bat
there will be a big tussle for Supremacy
Iwtwecn the St. Hilda and Fitzroy represen
tatives.
E&scndon arc to play a team of Southern
Tasmnmons in Hobart to-day Wednesday)
and the return match against another repre
sentative team takes place on Saturday.
The North Melbourne Club persist in
having their charge of unfair umpiring pre
ferred against Mr J. J. Trait sonic time ago
thrashed but before the Association, and the
matter will, therefore, be investigated tliis
evening at Young and Jackson's Hotel.
A meeting o the Match and Umpire Com-
roittee of the Y.F.A. will be held tomorrow
(Wednesday) cveniug, at Messrs Y moc And
Jackson's Hotel, to investigate. tbe charm nf
unfair umpiring in the recent match North
Melbourne v Carlton, and select umpires for
next Saturday's matches.
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