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RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
THE "OLD CEOCKS." 
 
 Old Crocks" v. Blackheath A Team : March, 1SP1. Blackheath won by a 
 Try to Nothino.) 
 
 (From a Photograph hy Wayland, BlacMectli.) 
 
FOOTBALL 
 
 THE RUGBY UNION GAME 
 
 EDITED BY . . 
 
 REV. F. MARSHALL 
 
 WITH SPECIAL CHAPTERS BY 
 
 A. G. GUILLEMARD, G. ROWLAND HILL, H. VASSALL, 
 
 ARTHUR BUDD, H. H. ALMOND, LL.D., 
 
 0. J. B. MARRIOTT, and W. CAIL, 
 
 Etc. Etc. 
 
 WITH NUMEROUS ILLUSTRATIONS 
 
 ^ OF THE 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 CASSELL & COMPANY, Limited 
 
 LOXDOX, PAULS $ MELBOURNE 
 
 [all rights reserved] 
 
<d 
 
 N 
 
 9 
 
 ** 
 
 (3 
 
 6"! I5~£> 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In this volume I have endeavoured to give a history of 
 the rise and progress of the Rugby game from the foun- 
 dation of the Union in 1871. 
 
 The inception of the work is due to Mr. H. H. Davies, 
 of Woodford, Essex, who suggested that, as the Rugby 
 Union attained its majority in 1892, the time was appro- 
 priate for placing on record a continuous history of the 
 game, as distinct from the detached notices in annuals 
 and other periodicals. 
 
 The task of editing has been a labour of love, and 
 has been rendered all the more pleasant by the ready 
 and generous help that has been given on every hand. 
 
 Valuable assistance has been rendered by the several 
 contributors, whose names are for the most part attached 
 to the chapters for which they are respectively respon- 
 sible. The names of these writers will be sufficient 
 guarantee of the accuracy of the details in the several 
 sections of the work. 
 
 I would gratefully acknowledge the aid given by 
 many friends, enthusiasts of the game, who have in all 
 cases responded most readily to inquiry, and have 
 promptly obtained the required information for me. 
 
 Want of space has prevented the inclusion of chapters 
 
x PREFACE. 
 
 on such subjects as North v. South, Yorkshire v. Lanca- 
 shire, and the like. I have also been compelled for the 
 same reason to omit carefully prepared statistics relating 
 to the International, University, County, and other 
 matches. I much regret that the necessity of keeping 
 the volume to a convenient size has rendered it im- 
 possible to further extend the work in order to include 
 these subjects within its scope. 
 
 I would thank the respective photographers for their 
 kindness in allowing the reproduction of the illustra- 
 tions. Where possible the name of the photographer 
 will be found appended to the illustration. Any 
 omissions in this respect that may be pointed out 
 shall be rectified in subsequent editions. Especially 
 would I acknowledge my indebtedness to Mr. R. T. 
 Watson, Anlaby Road, Hull, who generously placed 
 at my disposal the whole of his stock of photographs 
 of football teams. 
 
 The instantaneous photographs are, for the most 
 part, the work of Mr. E. Airey, Bradford, and Mr. H. J. 
 Whitlock, junr., of Birmingham. The illustrations to 
 the Winchester game have been supplied by Mr. A. S. 
 Rider, of Winchester. F. M. 
 
 Almondbimj, Sept. 1st, 1892. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Thk Origin of the Game ........ 1 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 A Bigside at Rugby. By Arthur G. Guillemard . . .15 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 Eton Football. By Sydney R. James ..... 23 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Harrow Game. By ax Old Harrovian . . . .37 
 
 CHAPTER Y. 
 The Winchester Game. By an Old Wykehamist ... 44 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 Rugby Football in Scottish Schools. By H. H. Almond, 
 
 M. A., LL.D., Head-master of the Loretto School ... 51 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 The Foundation and Progress of the Rugby Football Union 
 
 from 1870 to 1880. By Arthur G. Guillemard . . 67 
 
xii CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. page 
 
 Progress of the Rugby Football Union from Season 1880-81 
 
 to the Present Time. By G. Rowland Hill, Hon. Sec. . 94 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Past Development in Rugby Football and the Future of the 
 
 Game. By Arthur Budd . 115 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 International Matches and Players, 1871-1880. By Arthur 
 
 G. Guillemard 139 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 
 International Matches and Players, 1881-1892. By A. Budd 167 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 International Football : Scotland. By R. W. Irvine . . 198 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 International Football : Ireland. By J. J. MacCarthy . 222 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 International Football : Wales . . . . . . 249 
 
 The Four Three-Quarter System. By W. H. Gwynn . 259 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 
 Rugby Football at Oxford. By H. Vassall, late Captain of 
 
 the Oxford University Football Club 266 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 
 Rugby Football at Cambridge. By C. J. B. Marriott, late 
 
 Captain of Cambridge University Football Club . . . 300 
 
CONTENTS. xiii 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 Metropolitan Football. By a Londoner 323 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 County Football : The County Championship .... 352 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 County Football: Lancashire. By A. M. Crook . . .373 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 
 County Football : Yorkshire 409 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 County Football: Recollections of Northumberland Foot- 
 ball. By William Cail .447 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 County Football : Cheshire, by J. W. H. Thorp. Cumber- 
 land, by R. Westray. Westmorland, by G. Webster . 464 
 
 CHAPTER XXIII. 
 
 County Football : The Midlands, by E. B. Holmes. Gloucester; 
 
 and Somerset 476 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 Foreign Tour 499 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 
 PAGE 
 
 "Old Crocks" Frontispim 
 
 G. Rowland Hill . 
 
 96 
 
 The Close, Rugby School 
 
 1 
 
 Lord Kingsburgh and Major 
 
 
 A Bigside at Rugby 
 
 17 
 
 Marindin 
 
 101 
 
 Mixed Wall Eleven, 1890 . 
 
 24 
 
 A Free Kick : Placing the Ball 
 
 106 
 
 "A Bully in Bad Calx" 
 
 28 
 
 The Kick-off : Ready for the 
 
 
 St. Andrew's Day, from "Bad 
 
 
 Kick 
 
 112 
 
 Calx" .... 
 
 30 
 
 A Line-Out : Waiting for the 
 
 
 "Six-and-Six" . 
 
 45 
 
 Ball 
 
 118 
 
 A "Hot" . 
 
 46 
 
 A. Rotherham 
 
 123 
 
 " Six-and-Six " . 
 
 48 
 
 Loose Play .... 
 
 125 
 
 Canvas as Arranged to Com- 
 
 
 A Tight Scrummage 
 
 130 
 
 mence Six-and-Six . 
 
 50 
 
 Loose Game : Forwards Fol- 
 
 
 Fettes-Loretto Fifteen . 
 
 62 
 
 lowing up ... 
 
 136 
 
 H. H. Almond . 
 
 55 
 
 English Team c. Scotland : 
 
 
 "A Drop Out" . 
 
 60 
 
 Edinburgh, March, 1871 . 
 
 142 
 
 HTB". Tristram . 
 
 63 
 
 J. F. Green .... 
 
 143 
 
 A. R. Don Wauchope . 
 
 64 
 
 F. Luscombe 
 
 145 
 
 A. G. Grant Asher 
 
 65 
 
 M. W. Marshall . 
 
 147 
 
 E. C. Holmes 
 
 67 
 
 W. E. Collins 
 
 149 
 
 F. Stokes, L. J. Maton, A 
 
 
 Putting the Ball into a 
 
 
 Rutter, C. D. Heatley, A. G. 
 
 
 Scrummage . 
 
 158 
 
 Guillemard 
 
 69 
 
 H. T. Twynam . 
 
 162 
 
 E. H. Ash .... 
 
 71 
 
 Charles Gurdon . 
 
 163 
 
 The Kick-off — After the Kick 
 
 74 
 
 English Team v. Scotland : 
 
 
 E~Rutter .... 
 
 78 
 
 Manchester, Feb. 28, 1880 
 
 164 
 
 C. S. Dakyns 
 
 79 
 
 C. Hutton Coates . 
 
 166 
 
 ^Ball out of Scrummage : 
 
 
 W.N. Bolton 
 
 170 
 
 Passing from one Half- 
 
 
 A Forward Rush . 
 
 173 
 
 back to the Other 
 
 85 
 
 R. S. F. Henderson 
 
 175 
 
 The Calcutta Cup . 
 
 89 
 
 English Team v. Scotland : 
 
 
 A_ Try : The Place Kick at 
 
 
 Blackheath, March 1, 1884 
 
 177 
 
 Goal .... 
 
 91 
 
 A. E. Stoddart . 
 
 183 
 
 F. I. Carrey, L. Stokes, J. 
 
 
 JForming the Scrummage 
 
 185 
 
 Maclaren, A. Budd, E. T. 
 
 
 English Team r. Scotland : 
 
 
 Gurdon .... 
 
 95 
 
 Edinburgh, March 1, 1890 
 
 190 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 xv 
 
 PAOE 
 
 Percy Christopherson . . 195 
 K. W. Irvine . . .199 
 Scottish Team v. England : 
 
 Edinburgh, March 27, 1871 201 
 L. M. Balfour . . .203 
 J. H. S. Grahame . . .206 
 W. E. Maclagan . . .207 
 W. A. Peterkin . . .208 
 R. T. Ainslie . . .210 
 A Free Kick : Taking a Punt 213 
 J. Gordon Mitchell . .214 
 C. Reid . . . .215 
 
 Scottish Team v. England : 
 
 Richmond, March 7, 1891 . 218 
 H. G. Cook and E. McAlister 223 
 R. M. Peter .... 225 
 Irish Team v. England, 1875 228 
 A. P. Cronyn . . .229 
 The Brothers Moore . .231 
 J. H. Taylor . . .237 
 
 Irish Team r, England, 1887 238 
 J. C. Bagot and R. B. 
 
 Walkington . . .242 
 R. G. Warren . . .244 
 R. W. Hughes . .246 
 
 G. Scriven . . . .247 
 R. Mullock andC. H. Newman 250 
 W. D. Phillips and D. 
 
 Gwynn . . . .251 
 
 John Henry Bowen . .252 
 H. S. Lyne and A. J. Gould . 254 
 C. J. Thomas . . . 255 
 David and Evan James. . 256 
 C. B. Nicholl . . . 257 
 W. H. Gwynn . . . 259 
 Welsh Team v. England, 1890 262 
 Oxford University Rugby 
 
 Union Fifteen . . .268 
 A Dribble .... 273 
 H.Vassall .... 278 
 W. M. Tatham . . .280 
 A. M. Evanson . . .281 
 A. R. Patterson . . .284 
 G. C. Wade . . . .285 
 C. S. Wooldridge and R. S. 
 
 Kindersley . . . 288 
 E. J. Moore and A. Court . 289 
 Passing the Ball . . .294 
 
 Cambridge University Rugby 
 
 Team, 1886-7 . . . 302 
 R. T. Finch . .304 
 
 A Line-Out .... 305 
 C. P. Wilson . . .307 
 
 H. G. Fuller, John H. Dew- 
 hurst, Chas. J. B. Marriott, 
 W. R. M. Leake, and G. L. 
 Jeffery . . . .313 
 Middlesex Team t\ Somerset, 
 
 1889 324 
 
 Surrey County Rugby Foot- 
 ball Team v. Yorkshire, 1890 328 
 A. Spurling . . . .332 
 John F. Hammond . . 334 
 W. G. Clibborn . . .339 
 W. W. Hewitt . . .344 
 Yorkshire (Champion County) 
 
 Team v. England, 1889 . 353 
 Yorkshire (Champion County) 
 
 Team v. England, 1890 . 362 
 Lancashire (Champion County) 
 
 Team v. England, 1891 * 368 
 Yorkshire (Champion County) 
 
 Team v. England, 1892 . 370 
 William Bell. . . .374 
 Lancashire Team v. Middle- 
 sex, 1887 . . . .379 
 A Place-Kick . . .385 
 A. N. Hornby, W. H. Hunt, 
 and R. Walker . . .398 
 
 E. Kewley and R. Hunt . 399 
 J. T. Hunt . . . .400 
 C. M. Sawyer . . .401 
 H. C. Rowley . . . 402 
 H. H. Springmann . . 403 
 J. H. Payne . . . .404 
 A. T. Kemble . . .405 
 James Valentine and Tom 
 
 Kent . . . .406 
 
 The Yorkshire Presidents . 410 
 J. B. Ogden and T. Glover . 414 
 J. G. Hudson . . .417 
 Fred Bonsor, J. L. Hickson, 
 
 Gilbert Harrison, E. 
 
 Holmes, W. F. Bromet . 419 
 W. H. H. Hutchinson . . 422 
 
 F. S. Tetley. . . . 424 
 
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 Bradford : Winners of the 
 Yorkshire Challenge Cup, 
 1884. ; 425 
 
 The Brothers Rohertshaw . 427 
 J. J. Hawcridge . . . 429 
 C. W. L. Fernandes . . 431 
 The Brothers Huth . . 432 
 E. Woodhead and J. Dyson . 433 
 Huddersfield : Winners of the 
 Yorkshire Challenge Cup, 
 
 1890 434 
 
 G. T. Thomson and H. 
 
 Wilkinson. . . .438 
 Wakefield Trinity: Winners 
 
 of the Yorkshire Cup, 1879 440 
 A. Newsome . . . 443 
 
 R. E. Lockwood . . .444 
 Donald Jowett . . . 445 
 Northumberland Team v. 
 
 Yorkshire, 1891 . .449 
 
 W. M. Scott, M. T. Scott, 
 T. L. Bell, C. H. Sample, 
 E. B. Brutton . . .454 
 Durham Team v. Yorkshire, 
 
 1891 459 
 
 C. H. Elliot, H. E. Kayll, 
 T. M. Swinburne, F. H. R. 
 Alderson, P. B. Junor, and 
 W. Yiend . . . .461 
 
 Cumberland County v. Lanca- 
 shire, 18S0 . . . 468 
 
 R. Westray . . . .469 
 
 "Kendal Hornets": Win- 
 ners of the " Northern 
 Counties Challenge Cup,*' 
 1888 474 
 
 J. H. Rogers . . .478 
 
 F. Evershed . . .479 
 
 Midland Counties Team v. 
 Yorkshire, 1892 . . 482 
 
 Hiatt C. Baker and J. D. 
 Miller . . . .486 
 
 Gloucester County Team v. 
 Lancashire, 1891 . . 487 
 
 Somerset Team v. Yorkshire, 
 1891 489 
 
 F. H. Fox, H. Fox, S. M. J. 
 Woods, F. E. Hancock, and 
 P. F. Hancock . . .494 
 
 Shaw and Shrewsbury's Aus- 
 tralian Team, 1883 . . 501 
 
 New Zealand Native Foot- 
 ball Team, 1888-9 . . 505 
 
 The Cape Team, 1891 . .509 
 
 England v. Cape Colony, at 
 I Cape Town . . .512 
 j England r. S. Africa, at 
 
 Kimberley . . .515 
 
THK CLOSE 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 
 
 IT is not within the purpose of the present work to give 
 a detailed and exhaustive record of the ancient games 
 of football or to compile a history of the game as played in 
 this country for so many centuries. The ancient records 
 have been so exhaustively searched into by Mr. Montague 
 Shearman, and embodied by him in the Badminton Series, 
 in addition to a work by the same author in conjunction 
 with Mr. James E. Vincent — " Football : its History for 
 Two Centuries" — that to attempt to go over the same 
 ground again would be a work of supererogation. The 
 present work is intended to treat of Rugby Football 
 only, and the present chapter will be devoted to an 
 endeavour to trace the origin of that game, and that 
 game alone. 
 
 Rugby football is the modern scientific development 
 
2 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of an ancient game at ball. It can therefore lay claim to 
 be the most ancient of British sports, and in its present 
 form is the legitimate refinement of the rough and crude 
 games which in their main features are undoubtedly the 
 source from which the Rugby game and the Rugby 
 game alone is the true issue. It is often urged as a 
 charge against the Rugby game that the title " football " 
 is singularly inappropriate, inasmuch as the distinctive 
 features of the game are the handling and carrying of 
 the ball. And this charge has some foundation as 
 regards the nomenclature of the game, which has cer- 
 tainly, as will shortly be shown, been known under other 
 titles than that of football. In the Western Counties it 
 has been designated as " hurling," whilst in Norfolk and 
 the Eastern Counties it has been styled "camp-ball." But 
 under whatever name the game may have been known, 
 it is possible to trace back for many centuries the 
 existence of a game at ball which in its general features 
 has been unmistakably the precursor of the modern 
 Rugby Union game. 
 
 Without going so far back as the days of ancient 
 Greece, there was a game of ball amongst the Romans 
 called harpastvm, which both from its name and 
 the description given of it was clearly a somewhat 
 similar sport to the Rugby football of the present 
 day. Very probably this same Roman game harpastum 
 was introduced from Greece, and, if so, the antiquity 
 of the game can be traced back still further than 
 Roman times. The name harpastum is derived from 
 the Greek apird^co, signifying " to seize," and the game 
 was so called from the efforts of the players to seize 
 or carry the ball from their opponents. The game 
 was therefore a " carrying " rather than a " kicking " 
 game, and in this respect is exactly in accord with 
 the Rugby game. But the similarity is not confined 
 to the act of carrying the ball. The description of 
 the game, as given by an ancient writer, affords 
 reasonable ground for assuming that the ha /past urn 
 may have been the parent source from which sprang 
 those games which afterwards became developed into 
 the Rugby game. From this description it may be 
 gathered that in the Jiarpastum the players were 
 divided into two bands; that the game was started 
 by the ball being thrown up on a line in the middle 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 3 
 
 between the two sets of players, whilst behind the 
 players at the two ends there were marked two other 
 lines (corresponding to our goal lines), and that the 
 players tried to carry the ball beyond these lines, 
 which they were unable to accomplish without pushing 
 one another backwards and forwards. Here are dis- 
 tinctly described the two acts which are most strongly 
 characteristic of the Rugby game, viz., the scrummage, 
 and the carrying of the ball 
 
 The Romans may, or may not, have introduced the 
 harpastum into Britain. There is no historical evidence 
 to show that they actually did so ; but only one 
 conclusion can be. arrived at from the above description 
 of the harpastum, viz., that amongst the Romans there 
 was a game of ball strangely similar in its chief charac- 
 teristics to the game now played under Rugby Union 
 rules. 
 
 But though there is no record of the introduction 
 of the harpastum into' Britain, yet it is possible to infer 
 that the game may have been known in this island 
 during the Roman occupation, for there is evidence 
 that at this period there was some such game in 
 vogue. Needless to remark that we allude to the 
 traditions of the games played at Chester and at 
 Derby. A Chester antiquary mentions a practice 
 which prevailed in that city " time out of mind, for 
 the shoemakers yearly, on Shrove Tuesday, to deliver 
 to the drapers, in the presence of the Mayor of 
 Chester, at the ball of Rodehee, one ball of leather, 
 called a football, of the value of three shillings and 
 fourpence or above, to play at from thence to the 
 common hall of the same cit}^ " ; and it is likewise 
 chronicled that the first ball used was the head of a 
 Dane, who had been captured and slain, and whose 
 head was kicked about for sport. Here, then, at a 
 period little later than the Roman occupation, we 
 have an indication that some game at football was 
 played at Chester, a city which owes its origin and 
 name to the Romans themselves. With respect to the 
 character of the game we can glean nothing further 
 than that it must have been of a somewhat rough nature, 
 for it was "productive of so much inconvenience that 
 the ball was afterwards changed into six glayves of 
 silver of the like value as a reward for the best runner 
 b2 
 
4 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the day upon the Rodehee." Glover, in his " History 
 of Derby," in referring to the celebrated match played 
 annually in that town on Shrove Tuesday, mentions 
 a legend that points unmistakably to the connection 
 of the game with Roman times. He says, " The origin 
 of this violent game is lost in antiquity, but there 
 exists a tradition that a cohort of Roman soldiers, 
 marching through the town to Derwentio, or Little 
 Chester, were thrust out by the armed populace, and 
 this mode of celebrating the occurrence has been con- 
 tinued to the present day." It is even added that this 
 conflict occurred in the year 217, and that the Roman 
 troops at Little Chester were slain by the Britons. 
 Whatever the character of the game played at Derby 
 in ancient times may have been, the game as played 
 at that town in more modern times was certainly more 
 of a " carrying " than a " kicking " game, as will be 
 gathered from an account which is given later. 
 
 So in the two most ancient games to which we have 
 any allusions we are met with two indisputable facts, 
 viz., that at or about the period of the Roman occupa- 
 tion, there are traditions that some game at football was 
 played at the two centres of Derby and Chester, and 
 that such games were of a character to warrant the not 
 unreasonable inference that the harpastum had been 
 played by the Romans in Britain, and had suggested 
 the method of play, if it had not actually been the 
 model itself upon which the game was formed. Shrove 
 Tuesday, in each instance, is the day appointed for 
 the game, and it is not a little singular that this day 
 was also the one set apart for many games at football, 
 which, it is well known, have been in vogue at different 
 times in this island. Thus the great game at the Cross 
 of Scone, in Scotland, was played upon Shrove Tuesday. 
 On Shrove Tuesday there is still played the Corfe 
 Castle game, which can be traced as far back as the year 
 1553. This game is a curious custom of the Company 
 of Marblers at Purbeck, who, to preserve an ancient 
 right-of-way which they claim, kick the ball from Corfe to 
 Owre-quay on Shrove Tuesday. This company is a most 
 ancient body, and in its articles, the earliest extant 
 copy of which bears the date 1553, provision is made 
 for the game as follows : — " That any man in our 
 companie the Shrovtewsdaie after his marriage shall paie 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 5 
 
 unto the Wardings, for the use of and benefit of the 
 companie, twelve pence, and the last married man to 
 brynge a footballe according to the custom of our 
 companie." In the counties of Northumberland and 
 Cumberland the inhabitants have from time im- 
 memorial been accustomed to celebrate the sport 
 annually. Special mention may be made of a game 
 at Alnwick Castle, where, on Shrove Tuesday, the porter 
 of the castle threw out a football to the young men 
 assembled at the castle gate. This was not so much 
 a game at football as a struggle to obtain and keep 
 possession of the ball itself, which became the prize of 
 the person who could carry it off. At Bromfield, in 
 Cumberland, the scholars of the Free School obtained 
 the privilege of a football match in a very peculiar 
 manner, by barring out the master. If the boys succeeded 
 in keeping the master out for three days, they claimed 
 the right of honourable capitulation on certain con- 
 ditions, which were duly written out, and subscribed to 
 by both parties. Amongst these conditions was the 
 privilege of immediately celebrating a football match, 
 and a cock light. The cock fight was indulged in first, 
 and then the football was thrown down, and each side 
 strove to carry the ball to the house of their respective 
 captains, generally some two or three miles distant. In 
 the " Statistical Account of Scotland " it is mentioned 
 "that in a certain parish in Midlothian it was the custom 
 for the married women to play the single yearly, on 
 Shrove Tuesday " ; and it is added that the married 
 women always won. 
 
 So far we have dealt with traditions only, and, as far 
 as can be gathered from those traditions, it is certain 
 that whatever football was played in ancient time, it was 
 more of the carrying and running game than any other, 
 and was very nearly allied to the Rugby game of the 
 present day. We shall now make some reference to 
 written evidence concerning the game, still, as before, 
 with no intention of writing a history of the game and 
 its antiquities, but rather with the view of further 
 strengthening the grounds for the assumption that the 
 Rugby game is the legitimate descendant of the football 
 of former times. The first mention of football in English 
 history is made by FitzStephen, who wrote in the 
 thirteenth century. Speaking of the various games 
 
6 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 played by London schoolboys, he says : — " Annually, 
 upon Shrove Tuesday, they go into the fields im- 
 mediately after dinner and play the celebrated game of 
 ball." The allusion is somewhat vague, and from the 
 passage itself it cannot be absolutely deduced that the 
 game mentioned was football. Indeed, Stowe and other 
 writers explain the game as having been tennis, and 
 Strutt is also of the opinion that it is very doubtful if 
 the reference was to football. But inasmuch as Shrove 
 Tuesday, as we have already shown, was the day 
 specially set aside for games of football, it may reason- 
 ably be inferred that the game played by these London 
 boys was football. 
 
 Strong evidence as to the universality and popularity 
 of the game can be drawn from the various edicts of 
 several monarchs prohibiting it. The earliest prohibition 
 dates as far back as the reign of Edward III., in the year 
 1349. That monarch did not object to the game of foot- 
 ball in itself, but because the playing of the game tended to 
 distract the youth from cultivating skill in archery. At 
 that period of our country's history the military strength 
 of England depended upon the skill of its archers, who 
 pre-eminently were the cause of England's great military 
 achievements in that age. The edict of Edward III. 
 conclusively proves that in his time football was 
 sufficiently popular, and so widely indulged in, as to 
 be a serious hindrance to the practice of archery. In 
 modern times the rulers of both the Rugby and Associa- 
 tion games have found it necessary to forbid the playing 
 of football during the summer months, because it 
 encroached upon the game of cricket, and caused less 
 interest to be taken in that game. The prohibition 
 of Edward III. was followed by similar interdicts in the 
 reigns of Richard II. and Henry IV. In the Tudor 
 period Henry VIII. and Elizabeth also issued pro- 
 hibitions, but there is no absolute proof that the statutes 
 suppressing the game were ever put in force or re- 
 cognised, except where fatal results had occurred, or 
 where a riot had arisen from the game. 
 
 And so, without quoting the many allusions to the 
 game of football by Shakespeare and other writers, we have 
 clear evidence of the^continuance of the game till Eliza- 
 bethan times/ Then we get a description of an actual 
 game played under distinct rules, and those rules 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 7 
 
 bearing a curious resemblance to the Rugby Union laws 
 of the present day. The game mentioned is not called 
 football, but " hurling," and the chronicler is Carew, in 
 his "Survey of Cornwall," published in 1602. Though 
 the game is styled " hurling," the description is clearly 
 that of a game at football with very little kicking, and very 
 much carrying of the ball and running with it. 
 
 Carew describes two games, one of which he calls 
 "hurling to goales," i.e. playing the game within pre- 
 scribed limits of space, and the other, " hurling over 
 country." We will quote his description of the latter 
 first. In this game the goals were three or four miles 
 apart, and were houses or trees or some other con- 
 spicuous landmark. Carew's description of the game is 
 as follows: — "Two or three parishes agreed to hurl 
 against two or three other parishes," and so the number 
 of players was practically unlimited, and in this respect 
 the game would correspond to Bigside at Rugby 
 School. It was essentially a " carrying " game, for " that 
 company which could catch or carry it (the ball) by 
 force or slight (i.e. stratagem) to the place assigned 
 gaineth the victory. Such as see where the ball is 
 played give notice by crying ' Ware East,' ' Ware West/ 
 as the same is carried. The hurlers take their way over 
 hilles, dales, hedges, ditches, yea, and thorow bushes, 
 briars, mires, plashes, and rivers whatsoever, so as you 
 shall sometimes see twenty or thirty lie tugging together 
 in the water, scrambling and scratching for the ball." 
 We can also gather that the players were assigned 
 particular positions in the game, for there were "com- 
 panies laid out before, on the one side, to encounter 
 them that come with the ball, and of the other party to 
 succour them in the manner of a foreward." Is this the 
 origin of the term " forward " in modern football ? If so, 
 the main idea conveyed in the term is that of being 
 in the van to bear the brunt of the first attack. 
 
 Passing over for a moment the game of "hurling 
 to goales," we find that a game very similar to hurling 
 was played in the Eastern Counties. There it was 
 styled as camp-ball. This was also a game at football, 
 and evidently took the name by which it was known 
 from being played in the open country (Latin campus, 
 a plain or open country). To this camp-ball there are 
 many references in documents of the fifteenth century, 
 
8 . RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and in an old comedy of 1649 one of the characters 
 describes himself as " Tom Stroud of Hurling, and I'll 
 play a gole at camp-ball " ; but we get no actual de- 
 scription of the game till a much later date. In the 
 Badminton Series there is quoted a description of this 
 game as given by a writer named Moor in the year 
 1823 : " Each party has two goals, ten or fifteen yards 
 apart. The parties stand in a line, facing each other, 
 about ten yards distance midway between their goals 
 and that of their adversaries. An indifferent (i.e. neutral 
 or impartial) spectator throws up a ball about the size of 
 a cricket ball midway between the confronted players, 
 and makes his escape. The rush is to catch the falling 
 ball. He who can first catch or seize it speeds home, 
 making his way through his opponents and aided by his 
 own sidesmen. If caught and held, or rather in danger 
 of being held — for if caught with the ball in his possession 
 he loses a snotch — he throws the ball (he must in no case 
 give it) to some less beleaguered friend more free and 
 more in breath than himself, who, if it be not arrested in 
 its course or be jostled away by the eager and watchful 
 adversaries, catches it ; and he in like manner hastens 
 homeward, in like manner pursued, annoyed, and aided, 
 winning the notch or snotch if he contrive to carry or 
 throw it within the goals. At a loss or a gain of a 
 snotch a recommencement takes place. When the game 
 is decided by snotches, seven or nine are the game ; and 
 these, if the parties be well matched, take two or three 
 hours to win. Sometimes a large football was used ; 
 the game was then called ' kicking camp ' ; and if 
 played with shoes on, ' savage camp.' " 
 
 From these descriptions we can see that the " hurling 
 over country " was of the same character as the celebrated 
 
 by Carew. Indeed, " camp- ball " might very 
 well be the same game as " hurling to goales," the de- 
 scription of which game as given by Carew we will now 
 quote. " For hurling to goales there are fifteen, twenty, 
 or thirty players, more or less, chosen on each side, who 
 strip themselves to their slightest apparel, and then join 
 hands in ranks one against another ; out of these ranks 
 they match themselves by payres, one embracing another 
 and so passe away, every of which couple are especially 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 9 
 
 to watch one another during the play. After this they 
 pitch two bushes in the ground some eight or ten feet 
 asunder, and directly against them, ten or twelve score 
 paces off, other twain in like distance, which they term 
 goales, where some indifferent (i.e. neutral or impartial) 
 person throweth up a ball, the which whomsoever can 
 catch or carry through the adversaries' goales hath won 
 the game." 
 
 " Camp-ball " and " hurling " were clearly games at 
 football, though not actually so called, and they contained 
 the germs and essential features of modern Rugby foot- 
 ball. For we can recognise the scrummage of the Rugby 
 game, notice that the goals are much the same distance 
 apart, and in the " matching of the players in payres " 
 are at once reminded of the present practice of every 
 player marking his man at the line out. But, from the 
 rest of the description of " hurling to goales," it is evident 
 that not only was the play under definite rules, and with 
 orderly and systematic tactics, but these rules and tactics 
 only emphasise the similarity of the game to modern 
 Rugby football ; thus we find it forbidden to " but or 
 handfast under the girdle," i.e. in modern phraseology, 
 " to charge or collar below the waist." Now, though this 
 is not forbidden in the modern game, the feeling that to 
 " leg " a man is not exactly fair play is exemplified by 
 the chorus of dissent with which such proceeding is 
 greeted from the lungs of the observant spectators. 
 Tripping is absolutely forbidden, and tripping may well 
 be described as " charging below the waist." But, further, 
 there is strong presumption that the rules of onside 
 were already formulated, for it was distinctly prohibited 
 to "deal a foreballe," i.e. "to pass forward." So that 
 Vassall and his famous Oxford team, in perfecting 
 the system of judicious and scientific passing, were but 
 copying the example of the "hurlers" in Cornwall, who, 
 like the modern tacticians, were equally restricted as to 
 the direction in which the ball might be passed. 
 
 We cannot refrain from quoting the description of 
 the game as given by Joseph Struct, Uin rvenl historian 
 of English sports, who, \vr\t\rtffu^\ HOI | \hu& describes 
 the game : — ^L 
 
 " When a match at football is made, an equal number 
 of competitors take the field and stand between two 
 goals placed at a distance of eighty or an hundred yards 
 
10 , RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the one from the other. The goal is usually made with 
 two sticks driven into the ground about two or three 
 feet apart. The ball, which is commonly made of a 
 blown bladder and cased with leather, is delivered in the 
 midst of the ground, and the object of each party is to 
 drive it through the goal of their antagonists, which 
 being achieved the game is won. The abilities of the 
 performers are best displayed in attacking and defending 
 the goals ; and hence the pastime was more frequently 
 called a ' goal at football ' than a ' game at football.' When 
 the exercise becomes exceedingly violent, the players 
 kick each other's shins without the least ceremony, and 
 some of them are overthrown at the hazard of their 
 limbs." 
 
 With the same object still before us, viz., the tracing 
 of resemblance between the ancient games at football 
 and that of the modern Rugby game, we will now quote 
 descriptions of some renewals of the ancient games. One 
 of these took place at Scone, in Perthshire, and is 
 minutely and graphically described by Sir Frederick 
 Morton Eden, in his " Statistical Account of Scotland," 
 which description is as follows : — " At the parish of 
 Scone, county of Perth, Scotland, every year, on Shrove 
 Tuesday, the bachelors and married men drew themselves 
 up at the Cross of Scone on opposite sides. A ball was 
 then thrown up, and they played from two o'clock till 
 sunset. The game was this : He who at any time got 
 the ball in his hands, ran with it till he was overtaken 
 by a player of the opposite party, and then, if he could 
 shake himself loose from those who were holding him, 
 he ran on ; if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it 
 was wrested from him by one of the other party, but no 
 person was allowed to kick it. The object of the married 
 men was to hang it ; that is, to put it three times into a 
 small hole on the moor, which was the ' dool ' or limit 
 of that side ; that of the bachelors was to drown it, or 
 dip it three times into a deep place in the river which 
 was the limit of the other ; the party who could effect 
 either of these objects won the game : if neither won, the 
 ball was cut into equal parts at sunset. In the course 
 of the play there was some violence between the parties ; 
 but it is a proverb in this part of the country ' All is fair 
 at the ball of Scone.' " 
 
 The following is the account of the Derby game given 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 11 
 
 by Glover, in his " History of Derbyshire," published in 
 1829: — "The contest lies between the parishes of St. 
 Peter's and All Saints, and the goals to which the ball is 
 taken are Nun's Mill for the latter, and the Gallows 
 balk, on the Normanton road, for the former. None of 
 the other parishes in the borough take any direct part 
 in the contest; but the inhabitants of all join in the 
 sport, together with persons from all parts of the 
 adjacent country. The players are young men from 
 eighteen to thirty or upwards, married as well as single, 
 and many veterans who retain a relish for the sport are 
 occasionally seen in the very heat of the conflict. The 
 game commences in the market place, where the par- 
 tisans of each parish are drawn up on each side, and 
 about noon a large ball is tossed up m the midst of them. 
 This is seized upon by some of the strongest and most 
 active men of each party. The rest of the players im- 
 mediately close in upon them, and a solid mass is 
 formed. It then becomes the object of each party to 
 impel the course of the crowd towards their particular 
 goal. The struggle to obtain the ball, which is carried 
 in the arms of those who have possessed themselves of 
 it, is then violent, and the motion of the human tide 
 heaving to and Iro without the least regard to con- 
 sequences is tremendous. Broken shins, broken heads 
 torn coats, and lost hats are amongst the minor accidents 
 of this fearful contest, and it frequently happens that 
 persons fall, owing to the intensity of the pressure, faint- 
 ing and bleeding beneath the feet of the surrounding 
 mob. But it would be difficult to give an adequate idea 
 of this ruthless sport. A Frenchman passing through 
 Derby remarked that if Englishmen called this playing, 
 it would be impossible to say what they would call 
 lighting. Still the crowd is encouraged by respectable 
 persons attached to each party, who take a surprising 
 interest in the result of the day's sport, urging on the 
 players with shouts, and even handing to those who are 
 exhausted oranges and other refreshment. The object 
 of the St. Peter's party is to get the ball into the water 
 down the Morledge Brook into the Derwent as soon as 
 they can ; while the All Saints' party endeavour to pre- 
 vent this and urge the ball westward. The St. Peter's 
 players are considered to be equal to the best water 
 spaniels, and it is certainly curious to see two or three 
 
12 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 hundred men up to their chins in the Derwent con- 
 tinually ducking each other. The numbers engaged on 
 both sides exceed a thousand, and the streets are crowded 
 with lookers-on. The shops are closed, and the town 
 presents the aspect of a place suddenly taken by storm." 
 
 This, though an amusing extract, does not throw 
 much light upon the connection between the Rugby 
 game and former games at football, save in the one 
 respect that there could have been little kicking of 
 the ball -in such a struggle as that which took place 
 annually at Derby. But this same game at Derby is 
 the survival of the ancient game which, according to 
 tradition, originated as a memorial of the triumph over 
 a detachment of Roman troops ; and though the thread 
 of connection is long drawn and through many cen- 
 turies, we are met with two undisputed facts, viz., 
 that the harpastum of the Romans was essentially 
 a game of "carrying" the ball, and that in the game 
 at Derby, which is traditionally connected with Roman 
 times, the carrying of the ball is the specific feature 
 of the play. 
 
 Uniting the extracts, references, and descriptions 
 as above, we can summarise the history of football 
 as played in this island as follows, viz. : — That the 
 Romans, who occupied this island during the first 
 four centuries of the Christian era, played at a game 
 of ball called harpastum, which game presented the 
 special features of carrying the ball and the scrum- 
 mage, found in no other modern game of football 
 save in the Rugby game ; that it can be traced back 
 to Roman times that a game of football was played 
 in Britain ; and that, as far as can be gathered from 
 tradition, all games then played were characterised by 
 much carrying and little kicking of the ball. It can 
 also be concluded that a game of ball — passing under 
 various names of " football, " " hurling," " camp-ball," and 
 the like — has always been a popular sport of the lower 
 orders of society ; and though such games have differed 
 somewhat from each other, they nave all concurred 
 in being "carrying" games. Indeed, little or no trace 
 of kicking the ball can be found, and in some cases there 
 has been an actual prohibition of kicking altogether. 
 Further, other distinctive features of the Rugby game 
 can be traced, as, for instance, the forbidding of the 
 
THE ORIGIN OF THE GAME. 13 
 
 passing forward of the ball, which clearly demonstrates 
 that the game as at present played under the Rugby 
 Union Code is the legitimate refinement of the rough 
 and crude games of our ancestors. Nowhere can 
 there be found any trace whatever of a game assimi- 
 lating, however remotely, to the kicking game of the 
 Association Code. In making this assertion we have 
 no intention of indulging in disparagement of the 
 Association game. If the name of football can in 
 the strict meaning of the word be applied to any 
 game, the Association game can legitimately claim an 
 almost exclusive right to be termed football ; but if 
 it be a reproach, as is often so alleged, against the 
 Rugby game, that it contains much handling but 
 little kicking of the ball, it is, on the other hand, the 
 glory and privilege of Rugby Unionists to know 
 that the game which they so dearly love, and which 
 they have spent so much time in developing and 
 perfecting, is in its main features the same game that 
 has been played in this island for centuries. The 
 Rugby game is, in fact, the most ancient of all popular 
 sports of the present day. 
 
 But modern football has been evolved from the 
 schoolboy games of our great English schools. Modern 
 Rugby football, in particular, has been modelled 
 upon the game played at Rugby School. The game 
 will always be known by the name of the school 
 which gave it birth. But the great schools of Eton, 
 Harrow, Winchester, Charterhouse, Marlborough, West- 
 minster, Uppingham, Shrewsbury, and others, nave had 
 a large share in the development of the game of football. 
 From the chief schools the game, in either the dribbling 
 or the handling form, has spread to the smaller schools, 
 and from the schools to the public at large. Our schools 
 have been the fans et origo of modern football. It is 
 well to emphasise this fact in these days when the 
 enthusiastic supporters of the game in the North of 
 England are apt to forget the source from which the 
 game has sprung, and are ready to imagine that all 
 interest in the game and development of the same are 
 the peculiar prerogatives of the sport-loving public of 
 Yorkshire and Lancashire. It should never be forgotten 
 that the schools taught the game, and that old school- 
 boys created football clubs. 
 
14 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 As regards the Rugby game, no record would be 
 complete that did not include some account of the 
 famous school, and the game as played there. But 
 other schools cannot be passed over. They have done 
 good work in developing the game of football. At the 
 present time there are practically only two codes of 
 rules in existence for clubs, viz., the Association and 
 the Rugby Union. Both styles owe their origin to the 
 public schools. At these schools, with few exceptions, 
 any peculiarities in their games have been put aside, and 
 either Association or Rugby football is now played at 
 them ; but Eton, Winchester, and Harrow have still 
 remained constant to old traditions, and at those schools 
 their own time-honoured games are played. 
 
 The next live chapters will, therefore, be devoted 
 to a slight sketch of football as played at the great 
 English and Scotch schools. Eton, Harrow, and 
 Winchester are included (though they have no direct 
 connection with the Rugby game) — first, because the 
 distinctive features of the games played at those schools 
 are interesting in themselves ; and secondly, because it 
 cannot be too strongly insisted that the schools of 
 England have been the founders of modern football. 
 
CHAPTEK IL 
 
 A BIGSIDE AT RUGBY. 
 
 By Arthur G. Guillemard. 
 
 WHAT stirring recollections of bygone days do the 
 words which head this chapter bring to the mind 
 of many an Old Rugbeian ; what visions of hard-won vic- 
 tories, of still more stoutly-contested defeats, of moments 
 when the gaining of a foot of ground seemed worth a 
 kingdom, and the honours of Best House hung on the 
 issue of a long and difficult place-kick, flit fresh and 
 clear before his eyes ! A picture forms itself : a cold, 
 bright November afternoon ; the shadows of the noble 
 old elms lengthening over the Close ; the long line of 
 school buildings standing out in strong relief against 
 the pale blue of the wintry sky ; crowds of boys in the 
 Pontines hard at work at punt-about with innumerable 
 balls ; a solitary " pink " trotting home from D unchurch ; 
 and in the foreground two bodies of " caps " straggling 
 leisurely across Old Bigside to hang up their coats 
 previous to standing up for kick-off. 
 
 The above sentences, written by me five-and-twenty 
 years ago, I venture to reproduce by way of introduction 
 to the few notes which I have been asked to write upon 
 the famous description of the match School-house v. 
 School in " Tom Brown's School Days." 
 
 More than fifty years have gone by since the day 
 when the great match, so graphically described by Mr. 
 Thomas Hughes, was supposed to have taken place. 
 Half a century is a period long enough to work material 
 changes in most things terrestrial, and not only the style 
 of play, but even Old Bigside itself, has undergone con- 
 siderable alteration since Pater Brooke led the School- 
 house forces. The field of play, however, is still of the 
 same dimensions — about 130 yards long by 80 yards in 
 breadth; the aged elms, though more gnarled and 
 
<v 
 
 16 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 rugged, still stand in serried rank behind the lines of 
 touch and goal ; and descendants of the rooks of Tom 
 Brown's days claim the old home in the windy tree-tops. 
 One only of the Three Trees remains standing, and no 
 trace is left of the Roller Tree which trespassed on the 
 field of play on the Barby Road side of the ground. The 
 steep slope between the Three Trees and the Island goal- 
 line was levelled in 1887, but there is still a very slight 
 incline towards the Pon tines. Up to the year 1858 or 
 thereabouts all the school who were not " caps " had to 
 stand in goal during Bigsides ; for the next twenty years 
 goal-keeping was limited to the three great matches, 
 Sixth v. School, Old v. Present, and Two Best Houses v. 
 School ; and in or about 1877 it was abolished altogether. 
 Truth to tell, standing in goal for a couple of hours on 
 three afternoons during the season was no very great 
 hardship ; there was always some grand football to be 
 watched, and in a gathering of four hundred and fifty 
 boys there are enough lively ones to create plenty of 
 fun, the more mischievous of the crowd snatching a 
 fearful joy from attempts to attach lighted crackers to 
 the coat-tails of unpopular praepostors. 
 
 A perusal of the appended extracts from " Tom 
 Brown's School Days " (which we are enabled to include 
 by kind permission of Messrs. Macmillan & Co., the 
 publishers of the work) will show that the game as played 
 in those days did not differ materially from the present 
 style as regards the placing of the players, the three 
 divisions of forwards affected by Old Brooke corresponding 
 with the centre and wing players of modern times, the 
 " dodgers " being our half-backs, and the boys " in 
 quarters " the three-quarter-backs and full-backs. Nor 
 from the account of the struggle do we judge that the 
 leading principles of the game have been in any way 
 altered. The fact that the ball is not now brought out 
 after a try in the manner in which Crab Jones received 
 it from the toe of Old Brooke is of no moment ; fifty 
 changes of such-like minor character have taken place 
 in the fifty years ; but the game still remains the same 
 manly, rough-and-ready, give-and-take struggle, in which 
 science, pluck and endurance, unselfishness and good- 
 temper, all have leading parts. I may add that the 
 school waived all their old idiosyncrasies and adopted 
 the Rugby Union laws in October, 1890. 
 
17 
 
 
18 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 SCHOOL-HOUSE v. SCHOOL. 
 
 M Hold the punt-about ! " " To the goals ! " are the cries, and all stray 
 halls are impounded by the authorities ; and the whole mass of boys 
 moves up towards the two goals, dividing as they go into three bodies. 
 That little band on the left, consisting of from fifteen to twenty boys, 
 Tom amongst them, who are making for the goal under the School- 
 house wall, are the School-house boys who are not to play- up, and have 
 to stay in goal. The larger body moving to the Island goal are the 
 School boys in a like predicament. The great mass in the middle are the 
 players-up, both sides mingled together ; they are hanging their jackets, 
 and, all who mean real work, their hats, waistcoats, neck-handkerchiefs, 
 and braces, on the railings round the small trees; and there they go by 
 twos and threes up to their respective grounds. There is none of the 
 colour and tastiness of get-up, you will perceive, which lends such a life 
 to the present game at Rugby, making the dullest and worst-fought 
 match a pretty, sight. Now each house has its own uniform of cap and 
 jersey, of some lively colour : but at the time we are speaking of plush 
 caps have not yet come in, or uniforms of any sort, except the School- 
 house white trousers, which are abominably cold to-day. Let us get to 
 work, bare-headed, and girded with our plain leather straps — but we 
 mean business, gentlemen. 
 
 And now that the two sides have fairly sundered, and each occupies 
 its own ground, and we get a good look at them, what absurdity is this P 
 You don't (mean to say that those fifty or sixty boys in white trousers, 
 many of them quite small, are going to play that huge mass opposite? 
 Indeed I do, gentlemen ; they're going to try, at any rate, and won't 
 make such a bad fight of it either, mark my word ; for hasn't old Brooke 
 won the toss, with his lucky halfpennj'-, and got choice of goals and kick- 
 off ? The new ball you may see lie there quite by itself, in the middle, 
 pointing towards the School or Island goal ; in another minute it will be 
 well on its way there. Use that minute in remarking how the School- 
 house side is drilled. You will see, in the first place, that the sixth-form 
 boy, who has the charge of goal, has spread his force (the goal-keepers) 
 so as to occupy the whole space behind the goal-posts, at distances of 
 about five yards apart ; a safe and well-kept goal is the foundation of all 
 good play. Otd Brooke is talking to the captain of quarters ; and now 
 he moves away. See how that youngster spreads his men (the light 
 brigade) carefully over the ground, half-way between their own goal and 
 the body of their own players-up (the heavy brigade). These again play 
 in several bodies ; there is young Brooke and the bull-dogs — mark them 
 well — they are-the " fighting brigade," the " die-hards," larking about at 
 leap-frog to keep themselves warm, and playing tricks on one another. 
 And on each side of old Brooke, who is now standing in the middle of 
 the ground and just going to kick-off, you see a separate wing of players- 
 up, each with a boy of acknowledged prowess to look to — here Warner, 
 and there Hodge ; but over all is old Brooke, absolute as he of Russia, but 
 wisely and bravely ruling over willing and worshipping subjects, a true 
 football king. His face is earnest and careful as he glances a last time 
 over his array, but full of pluck and hope, the sort of look I hope to see 
 in my general when I go out to fight. The School side is not organised 
 in the same way. The goal-keepers are all in lumps, anyhow and no- 
 how ; you can't distinguish between the players-up and the boys in 
 quarters, and there is divided leadership ; but with such odds in strength 
 and weight it must take more than that to hinder them from winning ; 
 and. so their leaders seem to think, for they let the players-up manage 
 themselves. 
 
 But now look, there is a slight move forward of the School-house 
 wings: a shout of "Are you ready?" and loud affirmative reply. Old 
 
A BIOS IDE AT RUGBY. 19 
 
 Brooke takes half a dozen quick stops, and away goes the ball spinning 
 towards the School goal — seventy yards before it touches ground, and at 
 no point above twelve or fifteen feet high — a model kick-off; and the 
 School-house cheer and rush on ; the ball is returned, and they meet it 
 and drive it back amongst the masses of the School already in motion. 
 Then the two sides close, and you can see nothing for minutes but a 
 swaying crowd of boys, at one point violently agitated. That is where 
 the ball is, and there are the keen players to be met, and the glory and 
 the hard knocks to be got : you hear the dull thud, thud of the ball, and 
 the shouts of " Off your side," " Down with him," " Put him over," 
 "Bravo." This is what we call "a scrummage," gentlemen, and the 
 first scrummage in a School-house match was no joke in the consulship ot 
 Plancus. 
 
 But see ! it has broken : the ball is driven out on the School -house 
 side, and a rush of the School carries it past the School-house players-up. 
 "Look out in quarters," Brooke's and twenty other voices ring out; no 
 need to call though : the School-house captain of quarters has caught it 
 on the bound, dodges the foremost School boys, who are heading the rush, 
 and sends it back with a good drop-kick well into the enemy's country. 
 And then follows rush upon rush, and scrummage upon scrummage, the 
 ball now driven through into the School-house quarters, and now into 
 the School goal ; for the School-house have not lost the advantage which 
 the kick-off and a slight wind gave them at the outset, and are slightly 
 "penning" their adversaries. You say you don't see much in it all — 
 nothing but a struggling mass of boys, and a leather ball which seems to 
 excite them all to great fury, as a red rag does a bull. My dear sir, a 
 battle would look much the same to you, except that the boys would be 
 men and the balls iron ; but a battle would be worth your looking at for 
 all that, and so is a football match. You oan't be expected to appreciate 
 the delicate strokes of play, the turns by which a game is lost and won — 
 it takes an old player to do that — but the broad philosophy of football 
 you can understand if you will. Come along with me a little nearer, and 
 let us consider it together. 
 
 The ball has just fallen again where the two sides are thickest, and 
 they close rapidly around it in a scrummage : it must be driven through 
 now by force or skill, till it flies out on one side or the other. Look how 
 differently the boys face it ! Here come two of the bull-dogs, bursting 
 through the outsiders ; in they go, straight to the heart of the scrummage, 
 bent on driving that ball out on the opposite side. That is what they 
 mean to do. My sons, my sons ! you are too hot ; you have gone past 
 the ball, and must struggle now right through the scrummage, and get 
 round and back again to your own side before you can be of any further 
 use. Here comes young Brooke ; he goes in as straight as you, but 
 keeps his head, and backs and bends, holding himself still behind the ball, 
 and driving it furiously when he gets the chance. Take a leaf out of 
 his book, you young chargers. 
 
 Then the boys who are bending and watching on the outside, mark 
 them — they are most useful players, the dodgers, who seize on the ball 
 the moment it rolls out from among the chargers, and away with it across 
 to the opposite goal ; they seldom go into the scrummage, but must have 
 more coolness than the chargers : as endless as are boys' characters, so 
 are their ways of facing or not facing a scrummage at football. 
 
 Three-quarters of an hour are gone ; first winds are failing, and weight 
 and numbers beginning to tell. Yard by yard the School-house have 
 been driven back, contesting every inch of ground. The bull-dogs are 
 the colour of mother earth from shoulder to ankle, except young Brooke, 
 who has a marvellous knack of keeping his legs. The School-house are 
 C 2 
 
20 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 being penned in their turn, and now the ball is behind their goal, under 
 the Doctor's wall. The Doctor and some of his family are there looking 
 on, and seem as anxious as any boy for the success of the School-house. 
 We get a minute's breathing-time before old Brooke kicks out, and he 
 gives the word to play strongly for touch, by the Three Trees. Away goes 
 the ball, and the bull-dogs after it, and in another minute there is shout 
 of "In touch!" "Our ball!" 
 
 Now's your time, old Brooke, while your men are still fresh. He 
 stands with the ball in his hand, while the two sides form in deep lines 
 opposite one another : he must strike it straight out between them. The 
 lines are thickest close to him, but young Brooke and two or three of his 
 men are shifting up further, where the opposite line is weak. Old Brooke 
 strikes it out straight and strong, and it falls opposite his brother. 
 Hurra ! that rush has taken it right through the School line, and away 
 past the Three Trees, far into their quarters, and young Brooke and the 
 bull-dogs are close upon it. The School leaders rush back, shouting 
 " Look out in goal," and strain every nerve to catch him, but they are 
 after the fleetest foot in Rugby. There they go straight for the School 
 goal-posts, quarters scattering before them. One after another the bull- 
 dogs go down, but young Brooke holds on. " He is down." No ! a long 
 stagger, but the danger is past ; that was the shock of Crew, the most 
 dangerous of dodgers. And now he is close to the School goal, the ball 
 not three yards before him. There is a hurried rush of the School fags 
 to the spot, but no one throws himself on the ball, the only chance, and 
 young Brooke has touched it right under the School goal-posts. 
 
 The School leaders come up furious, and administer toco to the 
 wretched fags nearest at hand ; they may well be angry, for it is all 
 Lombard-street to a china orange that the School-house kick a goal with 
 the ball touched in such a good place. Old Brooke of course will kick it 
 out, but who shall catch and place it ? Call Crab Jones. Here he comes, 
 sauntering along with a straw in his mouth, the queerest, coolest fish in 
 Rugby : if he were tumbled into the moon this minute he would just pick 
 himself up without taking his hands out of his pockets or turning a hair. 
 But it is a moment when the boldest charger's heart beats quick. Old 
 Brooke stands with the ball under his arm motioning the School back ; 
 he will not kick-out till they are all in goal, behind the posts ; they are 
 all edging forwards, inch by inch, to get nearer for the rush at Crab 
 Jones, who stands there in front of old Brooke to catch the ball. If they 
 can reach and destroy him before he catches, the danger is over ; and with 
 one and the same rush they will carry it right away to the School-house 
 goal. Fond hope ! It is kicked out and caught beautifully. Crab strikes 
 his heel into the ground, to mark the spot where the ball was caught, 
 beyond which the School line may not advance ; but there they stand, 
 five deep, ready to rush the moment the ball touches the ground. Take 
 plenty of room ! Don't give the rush a chance of reaching you ! Place it 
 true and steady ! Trust Crab Jones — he has made a small hole with his 
 heel for the ball to lie on, by which he is resting on one knee, with his 
 eye on old Brooke. "Now!" Crab places the ball at the word, old Brooke 
 kicks, and it rises slowly and truly as the School rush forward. Then a 
 moment's pause, while both sides look up at the spinning ball. There it 
 flies, straight between the two posts, some five feet above the cross-bar, an 
 unquestioned goal ; and a shout of real genuine joy rings out from the 
 School-house players-up, and a faint echo of it comes over the Close from 
 the goal-keepers under the Doctor's wall. A goal in the first hour — such 
 a thing hasn't been done in the School-house match these five years. 
 
 " Over ! " is the cry. The two sides change goals, and the School- 
 house goal-keepers come threading their way across through the masses of 
 the School ; the most openly triumphant of them, amongst whom is Tom, 
 a School-house boy of two hours' standing, getting their ears boxed in the 
 
A BIGSIDE AT RUGBY. 21 
 
 transit. Tom indeed is excited beyond measure, and it is all the sixth- 
 form boy, kindest and safest of goal-keepers, has been able to do to keep 
 him from rushing out whenever the ball has been near their goal. So ho 
 holds him by his side, and instructs him in the science of touching. 
 ****** 
 
 The ball is placed again midway, and the School are going to kick off. 
 Their leaders have sent their lumber into goal, and rated the rest soundly, 
 and one hundred and twenty picked players-up are there, bent on re- 
 trieving the game. They are to keep the ball in front of the School- 
 house goal, and then to drive it in by sheer strength and weight. They 
 mean heavy play, and no mistake, and so old Brooke sees ; and places 
 Crab Jones in quarters just before the goal, with four or five picked 
 players, who are to keep the ball away to the sides, where a try at goal, if 
 obtained, will be less dangerous than in front. He himself, and Warner 
 and Hedge, who have saved themselves till now, will lead the charges. 
 " Are you ready ? " " Yes." And away comes the ball, kicked high in 
 the air, to give the School time to rush on and catch it as it falls. And 
 here they are amongst us. Meet them like Englishmen, you School- 
 house boys, and charge them home. Now is the time to show what mettle 
 is in you — and there shall be a warm seat by the hall fire, and honour, 
 and lots of bottled beer to-night, for him who does his duty in the next 
 half-hour. And they are well met. • Again and again the cloud of their 
 players-up gathers before our goal, and comes threatening on, and 
 Warner or Hodge, with young Brooke and the relics of the bull-dogs, 
 break through and carry the ball back ; and old Brooke ranges the field 
 like Job's war-horse : the thickest scrummage parts asunder before his 
 rush, like the waves before a clipper's bows. His cheery voice rings over 
 the field, and his eye is everywhere. And if these miss the ball, and it 
 rolls dangerously in front of our goal, Crab Jones and his men have seized 
 it and sent it away towards the sides with the unerring drop-kick. This 
 is worth living for ; the whole sum of school -boy existence gathered up 
 into one straining, struggling half-hour, a half-hour worth a year of 
 common life. 
 
 The quarter to five has struck, and the play slackens for a minute 
 before goal ; but there is Crew, the artful dodger, driving the ball in 
 behind our goal, on the Island side, where our quarters are weakest. Is 
 there no one to meet him ? Yes ! look at little East ! The ball is just at 
 equal distances between the two, and they rush together, the young man 
 of seventeen and the boy of twelve, and kick it at the same moment. 
 Crew passes on without a stagger ; East is hurled forward by the shock, 
 and plunges on his shoulder, as if he would bury himself in the ground ; 
 but the ball rises straight into the air, and falls behind Crew's back, while 
 the "bravos" of the School-house attest the pluckiest charge of all that 
 hard-fought day. Warner picks East up lame and half stunned, and he 
 hobbles back into goal, conscious of having played the man. 
 
 And now the last minutes are come, and the School gather for their 
 last rush, every boy of the hundred and twenty who has a run left in him. 
 Reckless of the defence of their own goal, on they come across the level 
 Bigside ground, the ball well down amongst them, straight for our goal, 
 like the column of the Old Guard up the slope at Waterloo. All former 
 charges have been child's play to this. Warner and Hedge have met 
 them, but still on they come. The bull-dogs rush in for the last time ; 
 they are hurled over or carried back, striving hand, foot, and eyelids. 
 Old Brooke comes sweeping round the skirts of the play, and turning 
 short round picks out the very heart of the scrummage, and plunges in. 
 It wavers for a moment — he has the ball ! No, it has passed him, and his 
 voice rings out clear over the advancing tide, " Look out in goal." Crab 
 Jones catches it for a moment, but before he can kick the rush is upon 
 
22 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 him ;md passes over him ; and ho picks himself up "behind them with his 
 straw in his mouth, a little dirtier, hut as cool as ever. 
 
 The hall rolls slowly in behind the School-house goal, not three yards 
 in front of a dozen of the biggest School players-up. There stands the 
 School-house praepostor, safest of goal-keepers, and Tom Brown by his 
 side, who has learned his trade by this time. Now is your time, Tom. 
 The blood of all the Browns is up, and the two rush in together, and 
 throw themselves on the ball, under the very feet of the advancing 
 column ; the praepostor on his hands and knees arching his back, and Tom 
 all along on his face. Over them topple the leaders of the rush, shooting 
 over the back of the praepostor, but falling flat on Tom, and knocking all 
 the wind out of his small carcase. " Our ball," says the praepostor, 
 rising with his prize ; " but get up there, there's a little fellow under 
 you." They are hauled and roll off him, and Tom is discovered a motion- 
 less body. Old Brooke picks him up. "Stand back, give him air," he 
 says; and then, feeling his limbs, adds, " No bones broken. How do you 
 feel, young un ? " " Hah-hah," gasps Tom as his wind comes back, 
 " Pretty well, thank you— all right." " Who is he ? " says Brooke. 
 "Oh, it's Brown; he's a new boy, I know him," says East, coming up. 
 " Well, he's a plucky youngster, and will make a player," says Brooke. 
 And five o'clock strikes. " No side " is called, and the first day of the 
 School- house match is over. 
 

 # 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 ETON FOOTBALL. 
 By Sydney R. James. 
 
 (1) The "Wall" Game. 
 
 EVERYONE knows, or Etonians think everyone ought 
 to know, that there are two games of football played 
 at Eton ; but the average non-Etonian is apt to suppose 
 that the " Wall " game holds the higher place in the 
 affections of the school, whereas the fact is that prac- 
 tically every one of the thousand boys plays at the 
 " Field " game several times a week, while the seventy 
 Collegers, and perhaps thirty Oppidans, are all who ever 
 play at the " Wall." But there is no doubt that the 
 peculiar features of this game give it an interest which 
 its enemies might say is not due to its merits, and it 
 shall therefore have the precedence in this sketch. 
 
 Books about games invariably begin by giving a 
 history of the origin and development of the games of 
 which they treat, and the intelligent reader as invariably 
 " skips that part." But the " Wall " game, like the game 
 of tennis, owes its origin and development entirely to 
 local circumstances : and in order to understand the 
 main features of the game it is necessary to have 
 some idea of the place in which it is played. A road 
 runs from Windsor to Slough through Eton ; when it 
 has cleared the College and School buildings which line 
 it for some way, it is bounded on the left by the palings 
 which enclose the " School Field," known in summer as 
 " Sixpenny " and to the geographer as " the Timbralls " ; 
 and on the right by a wall about eight feet high, though 
 higher on the further side, where the " Wall " game is 
 played. The road trends to the left, and there is a corre- 
 sponding outward bend in the wall, which thus forms to the 
 
24 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 players a slight salient angle. Let us climb the wall by 
 the iron staples let into it for that purpose on the road 
 side, about half-way along it, and descend on the other 
 side by the ladder which is there whenever no game is 
 going on. We shall first notice a line cut out in the 
 ground, roughly parallel to the wall, about six yards from 
 it, technically called the " furrow." It is in the narrow 
 space between this furrow and the wall that the game is 
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 MIXED WALL ELEVEN, 1890. 
 
 either end of the wall, a white perpendicular line painted 
 the whole height of the wall. Either space between these 
 white lines and the ends of the wall is called " calx." 
 As we look towards the wall we next observe that a 
 garden wall runs at right angles to the " Wall " itself at 
 the left-hand end. In this wall, about eighteen yards from 
 the angle, is a door. That door is one of the goals. At 
 the other end there is no corresponding wall. There 
 the goal is a marked part of the trunk of a large elm, 
 rather further off from the wall. It will be perceived, 
 then, that neither goal is within the field of play, a 
 circumstance which gives colour to the well-grounded 
 belief that at one time the game was played on a much 
 larger area than it is to-day, and that the limits were 
 
ETON: THE WALL GAME. 25 
 
 contracted for reasons now unknown. It should be 
 mentioned that the " calx " at the garden end is known 
 as " good," the other as " bad " calx ; the reason for this 
 distinction being that the side playing towards good 
 calx have the advantage of the use of the right shoulder 
 in pushing and the right foot in kicking out. Further, 
 it is easier to score in good calx. So much for the field 
 of play. The players are eleven a side, thus classified : — 
 three " walls," two " seconds," three " outsides," known as 
 " third," " fourth," and " line " ; and three " behinds "— 
 namely, " flying-man," " long behind," and " goals." The 
 " walls " are protected by " sacks," which are padded 
 " sweaters," and by padded caps, which are so constructed 
 as to protect the head and ears ; the " seconds " generally 
 wear similar caps, and the rest of the players are dressed 
 in ordinary football clothes. The ball is of the Eton 
 species, much smaller than an Association ball, but of 
 the same shape, and more stoutly made than the ball 
 used in the " Field " game. It is the only football now 
 in use which is lined with a bladder instead of india- 
 rubber. 
 
 Let us suppose that it is St. Andrew's Day, when 
 Collegers yearly meet Oppidans. This contest one might 
 expect to be ridiculous, for the Collegers are but 70 and 
 their opponents 930 ; but as the 70 Collegers all play the 
 game from the time when they first come to Eton, and 
 hardly any Oppidans ever try it till their last year or two, the 
 odds are not so absurd as they seem. The space for 
 play is kept free from encroachment by a line of posts 
 and ropes, about forty yards from the wall. The parti- 
 sans of College are gathered near good calx ; the larger 
 body who favour the other side are all down the rest of 
 the line ; some enthusiasts are seated on the top of the 
 wall with their legs dangling ; others are on the garden 
 wall in which the goal is ; the space between the furrow 
 and the wall is thickly strewn with sawdust ; all is ready 
 for the fray, and it is nearly half-past twelve. The 
 Collegers have won the toss, and in their colours of 
 violet and white they take up their positions facing bad 
 calx; their opponents, in purple and orange, play towards 
 good calx first. Within the ropes stand the two umpires, 
 the referee, and the " twelfth man " of either side. The 
 " bully " is formed thus : the three " walls," usually big 
 heavy fellows, are next the wall itself; they stand half- 
 
26 • RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 facing the wall, one behind another. Their object is to 
 hustle the ball along the wall, to turn it out from the 
 wall, or to hold it, according to their captain's orders, so 
 far as they can. Next to them, packed in the bully, 
 but away from the wall, come the "seconds," usually 
 short sturdy players, who are either to keep the ball in 
 at the wall, to help to turn it out, or to kneel upon it 
 and struggle on with it when it comes away from the 
 wall, as policy may dictate. These five players make up 
 the bully. Whenever the ball goes out they have to 
 " form down " as at first, but in a certain rotation, " first 
 wall " becoming " third wall," and so on, and the two 
 sides taking it in turns to form " under " and " over " ; 
 the side forming " under " having a certain advantage in 
 leverage. 
 
 Clear of the bully comes the " third " ; his duty is 
 to be on the ball like lightning as soon as it comes out 
 of the bully, to go straight through the opposite " third," 
 to charge the " flying-man " of the enemy before he can 
 get his kick, to protect his own " flying-man *' by stop- 
 ping the opposing " outsides," and to kick the ball out. 
 be it understood that no " outside " can commit a more 
 deadly sin than to kick the ball in, so that it comes 
 " cool " to one of the opponents' behinds. Be it also 
 understood that the ball is put in opposite the place 
 where it stops, or is touched, or crosses the ropes, and 
 not opposite the place where it crosses the furrow, so 
 that much ground is gained by a well-directed kick-out. 
 Occasionally, but rarely, an opportunity occurs for the 
 whole bully, outsides and all, to make a dribbling rush 
 down the wall, keeping the ball in ; but this, though a 
 fine piece of play when it comes off, is very seldom 
 attempted because of the extreme risk and difficulty 
 attending the manoeuvre. The duties of " fourth " and 
 " line " are of the same kind as those of " third " ; but the 
 latter must also run out to touch the ball when kicked 
 out by an opponent. The " behinds " alone remain ; 
 their duty is to kick far and to kick out. " Flying-man," 
 who stands just behind the bully, has often to stop an 
 ugly rush of the opposing bully and outsides ; he must- 
 have the power of kicking in any position and of lifting 
 the ball quickly, and he must be equally good with either 
 foot, for when playing to good calx his right foot usually 
 has the kicking-out to do, and the left when positions 
 
ETON: THE WALL GAME. 27 
 
 are reversed. His is perhaps the most important, as it 
 is the most attractive, place of all. Such are the duties 
 of the various players before the ball gets into either 
 calx. It is very unlikely that any score will be made 
 without its doing so ; but now and then a goal is kicked 
 direct from some way down the wall, though this has 
 never occurred on St. Andrew's Day. In ordinary cases 
 the game proceeds somewhat as follows : — The bully is 
 formed as previously described, and the ball put in by one 
 of the umpires when the clock strikes the half-hour. It 
 must touch the wall then, and on each occasion when 
 it goes out ; it is the policy of the side playing 
 to good calx (in this case the Oppidans) to turn it out 
 and let the outsides have a chance of driving it onwards ; 
 this is done two or three times, but not much ground is 
 gained or lost, the outsides being fairly equal ; next 
 bully, however, a College outside sends a " cool runner " 
 past the Oppidan " flying-man " to " long behind," who 
 makes a fine Kick-out nearly half the length of the wall, 
 and the next bully is formed some eight yards out of 
 good calx. To the spectator the game now becomes 
 dull, for the College " walls " and " seconds " have orders 
 to " hold it," and for a long time the superior weight of 
 the three Oppidans against them fails to overcome their 
 vis inertice, or to turn them out away from the wall. 
 After about seven minutes the Oppidan " goals " is 
 brought up, and slowly but surely the College bully is 
 forced back and outwards, and at last the ball is freed ; 
 but in a moment a College "second" drops with his knees 
 upon it, and, backed up by his colleague and the "walls," 
 maintains a stubborn resistance, and actually gains a 
 yard or two, crawling on his hands and kneeling on the 
 ball. This, however, cannot last for ever ; he is turned 
 on one side and off the ball, and it is hustled in to the 
 wall again by the Oppidans, who try to get it into calx 
 that way. They nearly do so, but are stopped a yard 
 outside ; the ball once more is held, but only for a 
 minute or two ; it comes out to the outsides, and a loud 
 Oppidan cheer proclaims that it has been kicked out well 
 into calx. Now comes the chance for making a score, and 
 now comes the difficulty of writing a description. The object 
 of the attacking side is to gain a " shy " — that is, to get 
 the ball up from the ground on the foot against the 
 wall and to touch it when in that position, facing towards 
 
28 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the goal to which they are playing. The ball must be 
 " up," i.e. not touching the ground, and it must be in 
 contact with the wall at the moment when it is touched. 
 The object of the defending side is, first, to prevent 
 the ball being got up ; secondly, to get it out of calx. 
 For these purposes the bully is now formed in a different 
 way : the attacking side have a " getter," who is to get 
 his foot under the ball and raise it against the wall as 
 soon as it is put in ; a " second," who is to sling his foot 
 in directly the ball comes in, so as to keep it in his own 
 
 
 
 
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 side of the bully and impede the other side ; a " furker, 
 who turns his back to the bully and puts in his le 
 along the wall, knee bent, so as to come down an 
 hook the ball along the wall towards his own goal ; 
 a " toucher," who is to help the " furker " and touch it 
 when the chance comes ; the rest form as directed to help 
 "getter" and "second," or to act " outside" or "behind." 
 The defending side have a " stopper," who is to stand on 
 the ball and prevent it being got up ; a " second " and a 
 "furker," whose functions are similar to those on the 
 attacking side ; a " kicker-out," who stands in the angle 
 of the wall to kick the ball out when his " furker " gives 
 him the chance ; the rest form in the bully and outside 
 as directed. Three lines are roughly drawn at right 
 angles to the wall on the ground, some six inches apart : 
 
ETON: THE WALL GAME. 29 
 
 it is the duty of the umpire to roll the ball in along the 
 centre line, having previously seen that neither " getter/* 
 " stopper," " second," nor " furker " has his foot nearer 
 that line than the six inches indicated by the side lines, 
 and that the " stopper's " knee is not over the middle 
 line. When all are duly arranged, the umpire, having 
 from prudential motives removed his hat, stoops down, 
 and calling " Are you ready ? — Coming ! " rolls the ball 
 in so as to touch trie wall, and extricates himself as best 
 he may. As soon as ever the ball touches the wall the 
 " getter " tries to get it up, the " stopper " tries to stand 
 on it, the " furkers " try to hook it out, each in his own 
 direction, the " seconds " sling in their legs, probably 
 kicking someone in the process, and everybody in the 
 bully pushes with might and main ; the " outsides " butt 
 at each other aimlessly enough, as it would appear, and 
 the excitement is intense. It usually happens that skill 
 and experience are on the side of College, and strength 
 on that of the Oppidans ; the odds in calx are therefore 
 rather on College. In the match which we are de- 
 scribing, however, the Oppidans possess a " furker " of 
 great power and skill, with an invulnerable left ankle. 
 Gradually he works the ball back, and it emerges on his 
 side of the bully : he has time to whip round, get it up 
 on his foot facing the proper way, and touch it, crying 
 as he does so "Got it." The second umpire, who is 
 looking along the wall, gives his decision — " Fair Shy " 
 — the " outsides " run out, one of them rushing to 
 defend the door goal ; the successful " furker " throws 
 the ball from within the furrow at the door, but his shot is 
 not good ; it neither reaches the door nor the hands of 
 any of his own side, who might catch and throw it on. 
 One o'clock strikes and ends are changed, with one shy 
 to the credit of the Oppidans. It now is Oppidan policy 
 to hold it, and the Collegers want to turn it out. Here 
 the weight of the Oppidan "walls" comes in, and for a long 
 time the game is very dull from a spectator's point of 
 view, but at last the ball is extricated ; the College " flying- 
 man" gets a cool runner with his right foot and lands the 
 ball in calx : the same proceedings take place, but the 
 Oppidan " furker's " right ankle is a weak point, and he 
 cannot manage to get the ball out. In a very short 
 time College get two shies, and the game seems in their 
 hands, but by a piece of carelessness or over-confidence 
 
30 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the " getter " allows the ball to slip from him, and some- 
 how it crawls out on the Oppidan side of the bully, and is 
 passed to the " kicker-out," who lands it safely a long way 
 down the wall. Nor is this all. Next bully the Oppidan 
 " outsides " make a grand rush down the wall, run 
 right through the College " behinds," and appear to have 
 a " shy " in bad calx at their mercy, but through ignor- 
 ance or eagerness they kick the ball too far: it goes 
 behind and is touched by College " goals," who runs up 
 just in the nick of time. Result : a kick-off to College. 
 
 ST. ANDREW'S DAY, FROM ' ' BAD CALX. 
 
 But here a fatal error is made. Instead of kicking it out 
 the " goals " kicks it in along the wall ; the Oppidan 
 " goals " makes a line return, and the ball is landed in 
 bad calx. The bully is formed as in good calx ; the 
 Oppidans at once get a " shy." The next bully the ball 
 is lurked out by College, taken behind, and touched. 
 Time is now all but up. The kick-off on this occasion 
 is a fine one ; the last bully is formed not far from the 
 middle, and the clock strikes as it comes out, and so 
 the Wall match of 189- is over, with two shies to each 
 side. 
 
 • It is impossible to convey any idea of the minutiae of 
 the game on paper ; but the foregoing account may give 
 some notion of the general features of a match at the 
 Wall. It will be seen that the game affords opportunities 
 
ETON: THE FIELD GAME. 31 
 
 to the strong as well as to the skilful, to the small as 
 well as to the big. " Outsides " and " behinds " do not 
 get much exercise (except at times " third " and " flying- 
 man "), but " walls " and " seconds " have plenty. A 
 loose bully is a lively sight, when the ball comes away 
 from the wall, and everyone is kicking at it at once ; but 
 little damage is usually done to shins ; the worst injuries 
 inflicted are as a rule either strains or scrapes, and the 
 writer does not call to mind any case of serious or per- 
 manent harm done. In a word, it is a line game, and full 
 of interest, though the peculiar circumstances in which 
 it is played make it impossible, even if it were desirable, 
 to establish it elsewhere. The weak points are : 1. That, 
 owing to the great advantage possessed by the side 
 attacking good calx, it is nearly always to the interest 
 of the other side to hold the ball, and it is easier to hold 
 it than to force it away from the holders ; consequently 
 the play in the great match of the year is usually very 
 dull for spectators. 2. The existence of the goals, such 
 as they are, introduces an element of chance into the 
 game which might easily make the weaker side win, for 
 one goal outweighs any number of shies. 
 
 It may possibly be of interest to place on record the 
 fact that of the 47 matches played since 1845, the 
 Collegers have won 15 times, the Oppidans 16 times, 
 and the match has been left drawn on no fewer than 
 16 occasions. 
 
 No goal has been kicked; one was "bossed," i.e. 
 thrown, by W. Marcon for College in the early " forties," 
 and one by H. Jete ; by H. J. Mordaunt for College 
 in 1885 ; in 1858 H. Hollingworth is believed to have 
 done the same, but the claim was not allowed. 
 
 (2) The "Field" Game. 
 
 If the " Wall " game can never become popular away 
 from Eton, for reasons stated in the previous article, the 
 " Field " game is not likely to be practised elsewhere 
 (save at Oxford and Cambridge) because of the complete 
 hold now obtained by the Rugby Union and Association 
 games throughout the country. Were it not so, the 
 present writer, who has had a practical acquaintance 
 with both of these games for over twenty years, is 
 of opinion that the Eton " Field " game is on the whole 
 
32 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the best game of football yet invented. This assertion 
 may be difficult to justify, and the following sketchy 
 account of the game will probably convince as little as 
 most special pleading does, but the attempt must be 
 made. 
 
 The game may be played in any field of reasonable 
 size. It happens that the " School field " at Eton is 
 of large dimensions as compared with most Rugby 
 Union or Association grounds, being no less than 
 150 yards long and 100 yards broad : but it is an open 
 question whether grounds of a smaller size do not 
 conduce to closer dribbling and better play. The goals 
 are both low and narrow, being only seven feet high and 
 eleven feet broad, with a cross-bar, under which the ball 
 must pass. Consequently there is no need of a regular 
 goal-keeper, though the third behind is called " goals." 
 The ball is round, made like an Association ball, but 
 very much smaller and lighter. The proper number of 
 players is eleven a-side, but this number in ordinary games 
 is often largely increased without spoiling the fun. There 
 are eight forwards and only three behinds. The for- 
 wards are thus divided : — Four form the " bully " ; 
 " post " in the centre, " back-up post " to support him, 
 and a " side-post " on either side. Behind the " bully " 
 is " flying-man," usually the best player on his side, 
 most important both in attack and in defence; level 
 with the bully, though not in it, are three " corners," one 
 on one side, two on the other. The bully is formed at 
 the beginning of the game, at half-time, and, whenever 
 the ball goes out at the side, opposite the place where 
 it crossed the side-line and half-way to the middle 
 of the ground; in certain cases a "bully" is the 
 penalty for the infringement of a rule. The " behinds " 
 are known as " short - behind," " long -behind," and 
 "goals." They stand one behind the other, near 
 enough to support each other easily. The great 
 principle of the game is to keep the forwards together, 
 backing-up, and on the ball. Consequently no player 
 is allowed to touch the ball or to charge the behinds, 
 or in any way to assist his own side or obstruct his 
 adversaries, if he is either " sneaking " or " cornering." 
 He is " sneaking " if he is behind the main body of his 
 adversaries, and the ball is kicked to him or in front of 
 him from behind him ; he is " cornering " when he is 
 
ETON: THE FIELD GAME. 33 
 
 away from the ball, and at the side of and apart from 
 the rest of the players. The penalty for sneaking is 
 a free kick ; for cornering, a "bully." " Sneaking," it 
 will be seen, roughly corresponds to "off-side" under 
 Kugby Union rules, but with this exception, that the 
 whole body of the forwards are not put out of action by 
 the fact that the ball is kicked to them by one of their 
 own behinds, but may charge under his kick. " Corner- 
 ing" is forbidden because, if it were allowed, the 
 forwards would soon become scattered over the field, 
 passing sideways to each other as in the Association 
 game, and the three behinds would be quite unable to 
 do their work. No player is allowed to handle the ball 
 wilfully ; the penalty is a " bully." 
 
 Such are the main provisions of the rules for the 
 general conduct of the game ; they are fairly simple in 
 practice, but there are occasions when the umpire has 
 a difficulty in deciding questions of " sneaking " and 
 "cornering." The really fine points occur when we 
 come to the scoring. 
 
 We will suppose that it is the great day of the 
 " Field " game — the final tie for the House Cup — an 
 event which has furnished more matter for conversation 
 than any other of the whole Football Half. It is a fine 
 sunny morning ; the field, in spite of a damp autumn, is 
 in good condition ; there is a thick line of spectators 
 down either side-line, except some thirty yards at each 
 end. Nearly all of the thousand boys are present ; the 
 " swells " with their " Pop " canes to keep the line ; 
 members of the School " Field " Eleven with their caps 
 of scarlet and light-blue in quarters ; members of the 
 " mixed " (or School) Wall Eleven, with their caps of 
 darker red and blue in hoops; boys who have their 
 " house-colours " of every hue and pattern ; boys who 
 as yet boast no such athletic distinction and can only 
 don the " scug-cap " of dull-blue or violet and black ; 
 old Etonians in large numbers, most of the masters, not 
 a few ladies — even a reporter or two. Most of the two 
 elevens are keeping themselves warm by kicking-about 
 while they await the arrival of the one or two who 
 always make a point of turning up late. Such is the 
 scene ; but now the laggards have come ; the umpires 
 take up their positions at either end ; the two elevens 
 hang up coats and scarves, and take up their positions 
 D 
 
34 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 in the field ; one eleven wear scarlet shirts, the other 
 black and green. The bully is formed, the ball is put 
 in by one of the " corners," and the game begins. The 
 two bullies seem equally matched, and neither " post " 
 can force his way through with the ball, so eventually it 
 comes out at the side, and is pounced upon by one of 
 the red corners — well backed-up by the rest of the 
 forwards. He makes some ground, but is stopped by 
 long-behind, and the ball goes out. Another bully is 
 formed, but this time the ball goes out on the other side 
 of the bully, and a black and green corner is off with it. 
 He is one who trusts to his pace, and goes diagonally 
 across the field ; but kicking the ball too far in front of 
 him he loses it to the red short behind, whose kick is 
 too violent to be of real service to his side, for it goes 
 " cool " to the " goals " of the other party ; he returns it 
 high and hard, so that his forwards charge under it and 
 carry it on in an irresistible rush to the reds' goal-line, 
 backing each other up well. They reach the line near 
 the corner, and now comes in the peculiar feature of the 
 game. Instead of running it along quickly and taking 
 a shot at goal, they form a sort of phalanx and dribble 
 it very slowly and cautiously along the line. Should 
 the reds charge them and the ball go behind from the 
 charge and be touched by one of the attacking side, a 
 " rouge " will be scored. Now three rouges make a goal, 
 and moreover a rouge may perhaps be turned into a goal, 
 so that it resembles in some measure a " try " in the 
 Rugby game. Well, they work slowly and cautiously 
 along, till they are near the reds' goal, when a charge of 
 the reds sAveeps the ball away and the danger is averted. 
 A second time it is brought down to the line ; this time 
 it goes behind and a rouge is claimed, but not allowed — 
 one of the defenders has touched it first. The ball is 
 kicked off, and carried past the centre ; but yet a third 
 time the reds' behinds fail them, and down come the 
 black and green forwards ; but as they take the ball 
 along within a yard of the line it is allowed to stop, and 
 a kick-off is given. 
 
 At last, however, a rash charge of the red " flying- 
 man," unsupported, some thirty yards from the line, 
 gives an unmistakable opportunity, for the ball goes 
 diagonally out and behind from the charge, and the 
 swiftest runner in Eton is after it and touches it before 
 
ETON: THE FIELD GAME. 35 
 
 the red "goals" can get there — an indubitable rouge. 
 Loud cheers greet the score, and a general rush is made 
 by the spectators towards the goal to see the rouge 
 played out. The ball is placed a yard from the line in 
 tront of the centre of the goal ; the defending side " form 
 down " so as to prevent its being forced through. Some 
 of the attacking side " form down " at either side of the 
 bully, leaving a lane clear between them, and three or 
 four of the same party run into this gap, one behind the 
 other, to try and drive the ball through the opposing 
 phalanx. The black and green are the lighter side ; 
 they do not succeed in forcing it past their opponents, 
 and slowly but surely the bully is worked away from 
 the goal. At last the ball gets free and the reds rush 
 it away some two- thirds of the length of the field, when 
 it goes out, and " change " is called. It should be stated 
 that the game lasts an hour. The reds have now the 
 advantage of the wind, and begin to force the game. 
 Their policy when they get near the line is different 
 from that of their opponents, and they try to score by 
 taking the ball rapidly along and either kicking it 
 against an opponent, so that it may bound behind off 
 him and be touched, thus obtaining a rouge, or, if they 
 can, taking a shot at goal. Three or four attempts are 
 thus made, without success, and twice appeals for 
 " sneaking " are given against the reds, so that the game 
 is carried back past the middle from the kick-off. But 
 they are not to be denied, and charging under a fine 
 volley of their long-behind, one of the forwards succeeds 
 in baffling the opposing "goals" and shoots the ball 
 cleverly between the posts, amid deafening cheers. Nor 
 is this all ; a stronger puff of wind than usual happens 
 to arise just as the black and green "goals," already 
 nervous from his recent failure, gets a critical kick, and 
 the ball is caught by the wind and carried right off to the 
 left and behind the goal-line, where one of the reds gets up 
 and touches it almost before the other side have realised 
 what is happening. A rouge is a matter of course ; and 
 the jubilant reds proceed to their easy task of forcing it 
 through goal. This they do, and victory is well within 
 their grasp, for even if their rivals get a goal they will 
 still be two points ahead, and there are only ten 
 minutes left for play. No such catastrophe occurs, 
 however, and the custody of the House Cup passes 
 D 2 
 
36 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 into the hands of the wearers of the red for the next 
 year. 
 
 In the above account most of the ways in which a 
 rouge may be obtained are described. They are denned 
 at length in the rules of the game, but it is probably 
 easier to comprehend them from a description than 
 from a mere statement of the rule. 
 
 The finest points in the game are undoubtedly — 
 (1) The behind play. With the small Eton ball the 
 most extraordinary volleys and half-volleys may be 
 made, and as a consequence of the rule against 
 " cornering " a behind has not to cover the whole field 
 at once. (2) The backing-up together of the whole 
 of the forwards. It is a treat to see a well-balanced 
 pack of players charging down the field together, back- 
 ing each other up, yet not getting in each other's 
 way. Again, the Eton ball is beautifully adapted for 
 dribbling, and probably there is a far greater proportion 
 of clever dribblers at Eton than at schools which employ 
 the larger ball. 
 
 On the other hand, the slow play which is ordinarily 
 seen along the line is a blot upon the game, and more 
 shooting at goal would be a great improvement. If the 
 goal were enlarged there would probably soon be a goal- 
 keeper allowed to use his hands, which would be a pity ; 
 but without enlarging the goal it seems likely that the 
 present plan will continue, to the detriment of enter- 
 prising play. 
 
 An advantage may fairly be claimed for the Eton 
 game in the fact that it may well be played by more 
 than eleven a-side. It is therefore peculiarly well 
 adapted for House games, where three or four houses 
 combine forces, and there may be three games going on 
 with perhaps fifteen or sixteen a-side, well-assorted 
 players, whereas the Association game is utterly spoilt if 
 more than eleven a-side take part in it. 
 
 In conclusion, the writer's experience leads him to 
 place the Eton game first as a game for boys, though 
 only a little way above the Rugby Union form of foot- 
 ball; both, in his opinion, as games for boys, are far 
 superior to the Association game. But this is not the 
 place for an elaborate discussion, and he will be 
 satisfied if attention is called to the prominent features 
 of an undoubtedly noble form of the national pastime. 
 
CHAPTER TV. 
 
 THE HARROW GAME. 
 By an Old Harrovian. 
 
 THE origin of the Harrow game has not been re- 
 corded by any historian. All that need be said here 
 is that the game is probably coeval with the school, and 
 that it belongs to neither of the great football families, 
 Rugby or Association. It is distinguished from the former 
 by the fact that the ball, as a rule, may not be handled, 
 that no player may be held, and that tries, drops, and 
 place-kicks are unknown ; and from the latter by possess- 
 ing an absolute off-side rule, and the right, under certain 
 circumstances, to catch the ball, if kicked from below 
 the knee, before it has touched the ground and then 
 claim a free kick. The Harrow game is, except in two 
 respects, the simplest possible form of a game the object 
 of which is to kick a ball between two posts. Its first 
 peculiarity is that the ball is not round as in the Associa- 
 tion, or oval as in the Rugby game, but more like a church 
 hassock than anything else, flattened at the sides, and 
 irregularly circular elsewhere. Whatever may have been 
 the original reason for choosing such a shape, it is certain 
 that the heavy uneven ball is admirably suited to the 
 absolute sloughs in which, even in these days of im- 
 proved drainage, the game has sometimes to be played. 
 The other peculiarity is the right to catch the ball, as 
 above-mentioned, if the player so catching it is not off- 
 side. 
 
 The best way to give a general idea of the game 
 will be to record the experiences ot a Harrow boy in his 
 first house game, and his first house match. After 
 dinner on a whole school day, he will at once change 
 into football attire, consisting of his house cap and shirt, 
 
38 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 white duck knickerbockers (it used to be trousers for all 
 not in the House Eleven), and long stockings. When 
 the ground is reached the poles are erected as nearly as 
 possible 150 yards apart, each base being 18 feet wide ; a 
 small trench cut each year marks the limits within which 
 the ball is in play, the width of the ground not being 
 allowed to exceed 100 yards. Then the players divide, 
 the ball is kicked off by a punt from the middle of the 
 ground, and the game begins. The main rules are quite 
 simple : the ball may be kicked, headed, or breasted, but 
 not touched with hand or arm, unless these are close to 
 the side. A base can be obtained by sending the ball 
 anywhere between the poles, which have no cross-bar, 
 but extend in theory usque ad ccelum. If the ball 
 touches the pole and then goes through it counts a 
 base, but not so if it passes over the pole. It is the 
 duty of every forward to be behind the ball, never in 
 front of it, as in that case he is technically " behind," or 
 off-side, as it is now called. Good play consists in keep- 
 ing the ball close to the feet, and dribbling it through 
 the enemy, long kicks being left to the backs. We will 
 suppose our new boy following after the ball which is 
 being taken along by one of his own side, when suddenly 
 a hostile back swoops down upon it and kicks it far away. 
 Our hero turns to pursue, but in a moment his own back 
 returns it, and it falls near his feet. Knowing the off- 
 side rule, he stands waiting for one of his opponents to 
 touch the ball, not perceiving that this has happened 
 already, a rash player having vainly tried to catch it and 
 so put the enemy between him and his goal on-side. 
 " All on ! " is the cry, and the ball is rushed into a 
 corner of the field. " Give yards ! " shouts the captain 
 from behind, where he is playing back ; " Here, yards !" 
 shriek the players on the outside of the scrummage. 
 Suddenly the player in possession of the ball turns 
 round and lifts it daintily with his foot into the hands 
 or arms of one of his own side, who is at the moment 
 further from the enemy's base. " Yards ! " shouts the 
 catcher (it used to be " three yards "), and the play 
 ceases for a moment. If "yards" were not called the 
 ball might be dashed out of the player's hands and the 
 fray would begin again. As it is the catcher may run 
 unhindered for three yards in any direction and then 
 either punt the ball, or drop it and dribble. If the catch 
 
THE HARROW GAME. 39 
 
 was given near the base, the game is to punt ; if far oft' 
 to dribble, except in the case of a back whose duty, as a 
 rule, is to kick from a catch. In the present case, how- 
 ever, the catch has been given in a corner, almost on the 
 back line, whence it is impossible to kick a base. The 
 catcher's duty is clear : he should at once kick the ball 
 in front of the enemy's base, where anyone on his side, 
 who was not off-side at the time of the kick, may catch 
 it in turn and so have a clear shot. It is a good test of 
 an unselfish player to see whether he will " middle " or 
 try an impossible kick. If a player sends the ball out to 
 the side it is thrown in again by one of his opponents in 
 any direction, but not less than six yards. According 
 to Mr. Thornton, the historian of Harrow, this is a 
 return to the earlier practice, but in the writer's time 
 the ball, if sent " straight in," as it is still called, was 
 always kicked back, as the words imply, down a lane 
 formed by the players, and might not be touched until 
 it had reached the ground. If driven behind by an 
 enemy it was kicked out by the back, and this is so still ; 
 if by a friend, it was kicked out gently by one of the 
 other side, where now it is thrown straight out to any 
 distance, but neither kick nor throw may be caught. 
 
 All these rules the new boy learns in time. His 
 first day's play leaves him probably with three distinct 
 ideas. One, that it is his duty to charge and be 
 charged, however unequal the weight; secondly, that 
 if he has the ball near the enemy's base he must " give 
 yards;" and thirdly and chiefly that he must always 
 u follow up." The history of these words bears striking 
 testimony to the power of poetry. Some twenty odd 
 years ago they were the shout of the driver to the 
 slave ; then Mr. E. E. Bowen, quern honoris causa 
 nominamus, made them part of the chorus of the 
 familiar "Forty Years On," and to-day they are a 
 rallying cry wherever Harrovians meet. 
 
 Let us suppose now that our new boy is no longer 
 " new," but in his third year, and a " choice " for his 
 House Eleven. On the day of the match the players 
 will move down the hill in a body. First the 
 " fezzes," so called from the tasseled caps worn by 
 actual members of the eleven, then the " choices," 
 and then the rest of the house armed with lemons 
 for the refreshment of their champions. On the 
 
40 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 ground the captains toss for ends, an important matter 
 as there is a decided slope from the Harrow end of the 
 school ground, and this, if assisted by a strong wind, 
 often decides the fate of a match. The rule is to change 
 ends after every base, or, if none has been obtained, at 
 half-time. At 2.30 p.m. precisely the captain who has 
 lost the toss kicks off from the middle of the ground, 
 and the match begins. 
 
 The reader will perhaps have noticed that nothing 
 has been said as to the number of players engaged in 
 the Harrow game. As a matter of fact the number is 
 indefinite, as it can be played with a hundred a-side or, 
 as actually is done in a special competition, with only 
 one ! In matches, however, the players are always 
 eleven a-side, and arranged nowadays as follows: — There 
 are two backs, who divide the field between them longi- 
 tudinally, each being responsible for his own side ; two 
 players on either wing, known as "top-side" and 
 " bottom-side," and five others who play in the centre. 
 In earlier days there was one half-back and one goal- 
 keeper, but this is not so now. Consequently, if a player 
 can get past the backs he has a clear opening to run a 
 base. Personally the writer is inclined to think that 
 this has led at once to larger scores and the giving of 
 fewer catches. Many a kick which a goal-keeper could 
 save has now a chance of rolling through, and the 
 consciousness of this fact is apt to lead to playing for 
 one's own hand, or more accurately, shooting for one's 
 own foot, instead of giving " yards." Now to return to 
 our match. The ball once started is being rushed from 
 one end of the ground to the other by a series of " runs- 
 up," but each time only to be returned by the watchful 
 backs. Every now and again it goes " straight in," and 
 as it is hurled out again towards the enemy's base, a 
 devoted champion will occasionally head it, Association- 
 wise, at the imminent risk, experto crede, of dislocating 
 his neck. Then, again, the ball will lie exactly between 
 two players, and a charge becomes inevitable. No 
 handling, as before said, or tripping, is allowed, but 
 charging with the shoulder is fair, in whatever direction 
 the enemy may be going. Consequently, in a house match, 
 with the blood at fever heat, it is not to be wondered at 
 if charges are fierce and frequent. At least they were so 
 in the old unregenerate days, when every boy in either 
 
TEE HARROW GAME. 41 
 
 house, not actually playing, was standing by and cheering 
 in a state of wild excitement hard to explain to those 
 who have not experienced it. " Played, well played ! " 
 shouted one house, as a quick runner took the ball 
 down the side, closely followed by the other forwards. 
 " Pick him up ! " yelled the other savagely, as their back, 
 distrusting his power to stop the ball, hurled himself 
 upon the dribbler, and sent him crashing to the ground. 
 Thus it was when Plancus was consul; but, to quote 
 from a letter just received, "Pick him up and other 
 ancient cries are rare indeed now. So cultured are we ! 
 Personal chaff is considered beneath the dignity of a 
 Harrow boy. Contrast this with your recollection of the 
 match between Butler's and Middlemist's in" — never 
 mind the year. Well, well, let us hope that it is a more 
 faithful study of the ingenious arts that, as Colonel 
 Newcome would say, emollunt the manners of the 
 present generation. Sooner or later, however, one side 
 will work the ball down into a corner, and then begins 
 the familiar " Yards ! Give yards ! Here ! " till the shrill 
 cry proclaims that a catch has been held. The forwards 
 hurry in front of the base, for the ball will be middled, 
 and as it comes dropping down, they shoulder and 
 thrust one another away, and leap with uplifted arms to 
 make or prevent a catch. Well then for the tall player 
 whose hands can reach above the crowd and hold the 
 ball fast, no easy task at any time, and doubly hard 
 when, as is so often the case, the ball is slippery with 
 mud. It used to be, and perhaps is still, customary in 
 matches to wear rough white gloves to give a surer 
 grip. If a catch is obtained quite close to the base, 
 the player, after marking the spot, may retire for a run, 
 and try to carry the ball through the poles with a hop, 
 step, and jump. If he fails, he may return to the mark 
 and try a kick, when the other side may come as far as 
 the spot to which he jumped, but no nearer. If when 
 the ball is middled no one succeeds in holding it, a 
 desperate scrummage ensues in front of base, the assail- 
 ants trying for another catch, the defenders seeking to 
 work the ball away down the side; and so the fight 
 rages for "a long hour by Harrow clock," until the 
 sound of the school bell ends the fray. If a house match 
 results in a tie, it is played again with the distance 
 between the poles doubled ; if, on the other hand, one 
 
42 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 side scores five bases to none, the match is over at 
 once. 
 
 The above description applies to the game as it has 
 been played for many years past, but there are signs of 
 approaching changes to be perceived. In 1883 there 
 was some considerable correspondence in Harrow Notes 
 on the advisability of altering the ball and the rules so 
 as to bring Harrow football into closer conformity with 
 the Association game. On that occasion the conserva- 
 tives appear to have triumphed, and the proposed 
 changes were not adopted. The question has, how- 
 ever, been raised again in The Harrovian (December 
 19th, 1891), where it is stated that there is a growing 
 tendency to rely more upon passing and heading than 
 on following up en rnasse. Those who deplore this 
 suggest that heading should be discouraged, and that 
 some steps should be taken to enforce the strict off-side 
 rule. Their opponents would, as before, modify the 
 rule and alter the shape of the ball. 
 
 As at present played, the Harrow game teaches 
 chiefly how to dribble and how to charge, and its main 
 requirement is that a player shall always be on the ball. 
 The weight of this last makes it easier to keep it close 
 to the feet, and though the irregular shape is at first 
 very puzzling, a good player soon acquires a wonderful 
 command over the ball, and takes it along with a speed 
 and certainty that are marvellous to behold. The skill 
 thus gained may be nearly as useful afterwards to the 
 Rugby as to the Association player. In the latter game 
 it can rarely be right to dribble for any distance instead 
 of passing, whereas in the former, a running and tack- 
 ling team may be considerably disconcerted by judicious 
 play with the feet. In an England v. Ireland match 
 some years ago, the defeat of the latter was largely due 
 to the adoption by the former of these tactics in the 
 middle of a hard-fought game. The off-side rule, and 
 the consequent necessity of being behind the ball, calls 
 for great endurance and long wind, and discourages 
 lying-in-wait near the enemy's base, on the chance of 
 getting a pass. There is no absolute rule against doing 
 this, and, as has already been explained, a chance touch 
 may put such a player on- side ; but as a matter of fact, 
 it is not the way in which the Harrow game is played, and 
 any attempt in that direction would be promptly sup- 
 
THE HARROW GAME. 43 
 
 pressed by the offender's captain with a sharp order to 
 get behind the ball. On the whole, it may be claimed 
 that such a game gives the best moral and physical 
 training. If it be argued that Association passing 
 promotes unselfishness, the answer is that it promotes 
 selfishness still more on the part of the player who 
 keeps forward, and that the surrender of personal 
 interests is amply inculcated by the duty of giving 
 catches and middling. 
 
 Finally, it may be asked, How long can a player hope 
 to keep up the Harrow game ? At Association, owing 
 to the possibility of passing, a fair share of work can 
 be done long after school has been left ; but this is 
 hardly so in the Harrow game, and on the whole it must 
 be admitted that this last is not well adapted to the 
 needs of the veteran. Brilliant instances might be cited 
 of players deserving the praise of Cleopatra, of whom it 
 is true that — 
 
 " Age cannot withor them, nor custom stale 
 Their infinite agility." 
 
 The name, for instance, of Mr. Bowen, will suggest 
 itself to every Harrovian. But, as a rule, it is not 
 possible to remain in the first rank for many years. 
 Those who have left the school lose the old command 
 over the ball, and the necessity of following up tells 
 heavily on men who are 
 
 " growing older and older, 
 Shorter in wind as in memory long." 
 
 All the same, we hold that the present game is the best 
 for the school, which is, after all, the chief thing ; and if 
 we ourselves can no longer follow up as of old, we can 
 yet wish that younger generations should do so in our 
 place, and learn the same lessons of daring, endurance, 
 and unselfishness, as their predecessors did, when they 
 formerly " drank delight of battle with their peers " on 
 the fields beneath Harrow Hill. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE WINCHESTER GAME. 
 By an Old Wykehamist. 
 
 WINCHESTER football, like so many other details 
 which belong to the ancient foundation of William 
 of Wykeham, is a form of football peculiar to Winchester. 
 Its origin is veiled in the mists of obscurity, and al- 
 though some enthusiastic Wykehamists have been known 
 to play it at the university, it has never obtained a 
 footnold in any other place. 
 
 The first feature which strikes any visitor to either 
 "Meads" or "New Field" is the curious method by which 
 the football grounds are marked out, and which more 
 resembles the wall of an aviary or a wild beast show 
 than the boundary of a football arena. Two parallel 
 walls of network, tarred for its better preservation and 
 hung upon a framework formed of gas-piping screwed 
 together, extend for 80 yards at a distance of 25 yards 
 from one another. These walls are about 10 feet high, 
 and possess meshes just so small as to prevent the 
 passage of a full-sized football ; but being by nature too 
 weak to resist the rush of an impetuous player, a further 
 barrier is erected inside them. About a yard from 
 " canvas," as the network wall is technically called, is a 
 line of stakes connected by a stout rope. These posts, 
 eleven in number, are equidistant and form convenient 
 landmarks during the game, while the rope is sufficiently 
 stout to keep the players from pressing against " canvas." 
 To complete the ground, the boundary at either end is 
 indicated by a furrow cut in the ground, to which in 
 Winchester parlance the name of " Worms " is given. 
 Goals are scored whenever the ball crosses this line at any 
 height fairly between and not over the terminal posts and 
 untouched by the defending side, subject of course to the 
 other rules of the game, which make this a feat far less 
 easy to accomplish than might at first sight appear. 
 
 The present method of enclosing the ground is of 
 comparatively recent adoption, and took the place of 
 
THE WINCHESTER GAME. 45 
 
 hurdles, while in earlier times the posts and ropes were 
 considered sufficient to mark the limit of play, and a 
 row of juniors outside the ropes formed the wall from 
 which the ball rebounded into play. From this .custom 
 came the application of the term " kicking in," which 
 denotes the duty of a number of small boys. who stand 
 beyond the canvas walls to throw the ball back into play 
 when it has been kicked out, not that they ever dared 
 to kick it, as such a proceeding would have ensured 
 instant castigation. 
 
 SIX-AND-SIX. 
 
 The number of players on either side varies between 
 twenty-two and six, and gradually diminishes towards 
 the end of November, when preparation is being made 
 for the Six-and-six matches, of which more hereafter. 
 The rules are somewhat puzzling to the uninitiated, but 
 a summary of the leading points may not prove uninter- 
 esting to the student of comparative football. 
 
 The game invariably commences with a " hot." This 
 somewhat resembles a Kugby Union packed scrummage, 
 but is conducted upon strictly scientific principles, and 
 the players take their places in a prearranged order. 
 At a given signal they lower their heads and endeavour 
 
46 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 to butt through the phalanx of their opponents. In 
 games where a large number take part this is a matter 
 of considerable time and difficulty, a hot frequently 
 lasting .as much as ten minutes. A hot takes place not 
 only at the commencement of the game, but on every 
 occasion when the ball goes out of canvas anywhere 
 except across the goal line ; and it also follows any 
 infringement of the rules. 
 
 The off-side rule is here extremely stringent, and 
 divided into two parts, each with a separate name. 
 
 Passing is illegal, and is called " tagging," and to pass on is 
 probably the greatest offence against the rules. Lurking 
 off-side is dealt with in another way. Theoretically, 
 every player is supposed to be on the ball, following it 
 as accurately as in Rugby Union, and when in advance 
 of it is not permitted in any way to incommode an 
 opposing player. In this he is said to be" behind his 
 side." 
 
 The walls within which this game is confined must 
 appear inadequate to keep in the ball, and it must seem 
 ridiculously easy to kick a ball over a line 23 yards 
 wide until the next rule is considered. By this it is 
 
THE WINCHESTER GAME. 47 
 
 illegal to kick a ball more than 5 feet high unless it 
 comes to the player as a "flier" — i.e., is bounding or 
 rolling rapidly towards him ; and if it touched one or his 
 own side last, not even in this case, it being then what 
 is termed a " made flier." Dribbling is strictly prohibited, 
 the instructions being that the ball shall be kicked as 
 hard as possible. 
 
 Owing to the variation in numbers, the game presents 
 two entirely different aspects, and this will be best seen 
 by an explanation of the school matches. In the early 
 days of Winchester, up to 1868, the majority of the 
 boys not on* the foundation resided in Commoners, a few 
 living in Tutors' houses outside. The school, originally 
 divided into College and Commoners, was then divided into 
 College, Commoners, and Houses, the name Commoners 
 being applied to those boys who resided in the four 
 new houses provided for their accommodation when 
 Commoners ceased to exist. In the earlier days two 
 matches only were played, one on the 5th of November 
 called "Twenty- two," and the other "Six-and-six" in the first 
 week of December. Later on, the twenty- two was reduced 
 to fifteen a-side, and in consequence of the sub-division 
 of Commoners six matches a year became necessary. 
 The Fifteens were played on Tuesday, Thursday, and 
 Saturday nearest to November 5th, and the Sixes were 
 played in the corresponding week in December. College 
 wore blue and white hoops, Commoners red and white, 
 and Houses, who at first tried a sickly arrangement in 
 green, wore blue and red. . , 
 
 The games were played from 12.15 to 1.15, lasting 
 exactly an hour, half time each way, time being kept 
 and all disputes decided by the two umpires, usually 
 two of the masters, stationed at diagonally opposite 
 corners of the ground. The ball, which is round and a 
 trifle smaller than the present Association ball, was 
 formerly made heavier and harder by treatment of the 
 leather, but this custom is now fallen into disuse. 
 During the whole hour the network walls were lined 
 with the enthusiastic partisans of the players, who, 
 except for the brief interval of " time to change," kept 
 up a continuous yell of the name of their side. 
 
 Fifteens were apt to be a trifle slow and dull ; hots 
 lasted a very long time with ten ups in the hot, and 
 very little opportunity was afforded to the two hot- 
 
48 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 watchers, who, like Rugby half-backs, stood ready to 
 pounce on the ball when once clear of the hot. In 
 addition to the necessary hot at the commencement of 
 each half-hour, there was certain to be a large amount 
 of under-ropes play when the ball escaped into the space 
 between the ropes and stakes and the network. Here 
 weight told ; and if a maul in ropes was close down to 
 a goal line, it was obviously to the interest of the defend- 
 ing party to prevent the ball from emerging towards 
 their goal. Similarly, in a closely contested game, 
 
 SIX-AXD-SIX. 
 
 the side who happened to have got a goal in front 
 were at times tempted to kick out — thereby causing a 
 hot, or to prolong unnecessarily mauls in ropes. From 
 this account it may be readily understood that goals in 
 a Fifteen match were not numerous, and averaged about 
 two to three. Practice for Fifteens consists in playing 
 daily practices of about fifteen a side, varied at the 
 last by playing the first six against the next sixteen. 
 In addition to the fifteen chosen to play, five or six 
 names were added as reserves, or " dress," and in the 
 event of a player becoming disabled during the course 
 of the match, one of the " dress " men was permitted 
 to take his place — a custom which is peculiar to this 
 form of football. 
 
THE WINCHESTER GAM W. 49 
 
 After Fifteens, every energy was devoted to the pre- 
 paration for Sixes. Practice-sides of not more than six, 
 or at most eight a-side, are the rule ; the trial contest 
 being the first six against the next nine. The possession 
 of a place on Six roll is the one coveted position in 
 Winchester football, and carries with it the right to 
 wear a cap, and also the privilege of arraying one's 
 limbs in knickerbockers instead of trousers. A propos 
 of costume, it is odd, in the present modern fashion of 
 almost universal wearing of leg-guards by Association 
 players, to recall an effort made to introduce such things at 
 Winchester, when a powerful, but decidedly rough, college 
 " behind " appeared in canvas, in leathern gaiters, and was 
 greeted with a roar of derision and hisses which lasted a con- 
 siderable period, and gifted with the sobriquet of "Gaiters," 
 which stuck to him for the remainder of his school life. 
 
 It is, naturally, in Sixes that the crowning pitch of 
 football excellence is reached. In Fifteens, mere weight 
 and brute strength not unfrequently were successful 
 against the greater skill and equal pluck of lighter 
 teams ; but in a contest confined to four " ups " and two 
 " behinds," speed and dash, combined with skill, were the 
 essential qualities to victory. As a well-known Wyke- 
 hamist has remarked, " If anyone wishes to learn how 
 powerful, active, and enduring the human frame may 
 be in the prime of its youthful vigour, he should look on 
 at a game of Six-and-six." 
 
 In reviewing the essential features of the game, it 
 cannot be denied that the prohibition of dribbling and 
 passing resulted, rather more than a critic of Association 
 football would approve, in an exhibition of kick-and-run 
 football. However that may be, it has produced a race 
 of forwards well worthy to maintain the reputation of 
 Winchester in the Association football field. With the 
 later development of Association, however, fewer Win- 
 chester names are associated, and those more in the 
 back division or as goal-keepers. Unlike most Associa- 
 tion backs, the Winchester behind is bound to kick in 
 one direction. It is absolutely essential that (if the ex- 
 pression be permitted) he should be ambidextrous on 
 his feet and should kick equally straight with both of 
 them. He must also possess a power, which many 
 backs of to-day would find useful when playing against 
 the wind, of keeping the ball low as well as straight. It 
 
50 RUGBY FOOTBALL, 
 
 has already been remarked that no drop-kicking is per- 
 mitted ; but punting is an essential qualification. This 
 becomes necessary either after a goal when the ball is 
 punted out from the first post, or after a catch, when it 
 is permitted to the ups to charge down the ball if 
 possible, or at least to touch it, thereby saving a goal. 
 
 The work of Six-and-six is extremely heavy, and 
 needs a perfect condition of wind and stamina. The 
 comparatively small size of the ground is quite made up 
 by the exacting nature of the olf-side rule and the lack 
 of passing ; and it was calculated that in addition to the 
 labour of the game the actual distance travelled by an 
 up during the hour's game was more than, eight miles. 
 Among those who hoped to be included in the roll for either 
 Fifteen or Six, training of a more or less strict character 
 was observed : and there can be little doubt that the 
 character of the work req uired in Fifteens was an admir- 
 able preparation for the different work required in Sixes. 
 
 Wykehamists have seldom been conspicuous in the 
 carrying game, and the rare exception has been when 
 the boy's home was a centre of Rugby Union football, 
 such as Blackheath or Richmond, or one of the great 
 provincial football centres. At the same time there is 
 nothing to prevent a good Wykehamist at football from 
 being a useful adjunct to any carrying team, more 
 especially if he possesses a fair weight. 
 
 "Canvas." — 80 Yards. — 
 
 "Canvas." 
 Canvas as arranged to Commence Six-and-Six. 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS 
 
 By H. H. Almond, M.A., LL.D., Headmaster of 
 Loretto School. 
 
 C1COTCH public school cricket could hardly claim a 
 O chapter in a book on cricket. Even for the size of 
 the schools it is seldom good except in respect of fielding, 
 which is usually excellent. But Scotch school football is 
 a very different thing. The only two schools which send 
 up a fair proportion of their sixth form to the uni- 
 versities have within the last twelve years obtained 
 between them thirty-five football " blues/' * whilst the 
 two English schools which have been most successful 
 in this respect have only obtained twenty-nine. And 
 yet these two Scotch schools between them number 
 only about 330. f Rugby football has, in fact, fitted in 
 with the national genius, though it was utterly un- 
 known in Scotland forty years ago. Not that there 
 was no footbalL At school we used to play a game 
 which we enjoyed very much; two walls, the whole 
 breadth of them, were the " hails." It was said that the 
 ball had once been kicked right across. Two good drop- 
 kicks might have amused themselves by clearing both 
 walls from the outside. At Glasgow College we had 
 wider scope. The " hails " were about 400 yards apart. 
 It was not a bad game we had there ; the great beauty of 
 it was that there were no rules. 
 
 So far as I know, Rugby football was introduced into 
 Scotland in 1855 by a small knot of men connected with 
 the Edinburgh Academy. Mr. Alexander Crombie, of 
 Thornton Castle, may fairly be said to be the father 
 
 * Loretto 20, and Fettes 15. 
 t Fettes being nearly double Loretto in number. 
 E 2 
 
52 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the game in Scotland, for he was the chairman and 
 organiser of the club. The hon. secretary was Mr. 
 "William Blackwood, the well-known publisher. Neither 
 of them had had any knowledge of the game as boys. 
 
 Yery slowly the game spread. There was a kind 
 of mongrel " Rugby " at Merchiston in 1858. Some of 
 the rules were very funny. " Off-side " was voted " rot ; " 
 but if a player lay on the ground with the ball, no one 
 might touch him till he chose to move. A closer con- 
 
ItUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 53 
 
 forniity to the game was, however, enforced by an 
 approaching match with the Edinburgh Academy ; but 
 so little did any of us r masters or boys, then know about 
 it, that I remember how, when Lyall ran with the ball 
 behind the Merchiston goal, the resulting try was 
 appealed against on the ground that no player might 
 cross the line whilst holding the ball. The previous 
 rule at Merchiston had been that he must let go of 
 the ball and kick it over before he touched down. 
 It must be said in excuse for this and other 
 similar sins of ignorance, that the only available rules 
 were those printed for the use of Rugby School. They 
 were very incomplete, and presupposed a practical know- 
 ledge of the game. 
 
 Gradually, however, the game approached, with local 
 variations and resulting disputes, to that then played 
 at Rugby. Clubs were formed in the West of Scot- 
 land, at the Scotch universities, and at various schools, 
 but for a long time, in fact until well on in the 
 " 'seventies," the only schools able to play each other 
 on even terms were the Edinburgh Academy and 
 Merchiston, and occasionally the Royal High School. 
 
 So far as I am aware, the first attempt anywhere 
 made at concerted action was the meeting of a com- 
 mittee of three schools in Edinburgh to codify the rules. 
 The " Green Book," which was the result of our delibera- 
 tions, was assented to by the other then existing Scotch 
 clubs. A committee on a somewhat similar basis chal- 
 lenged England in 1870, and, to our utter astonishment, 
 the first national match was won by Scotland at Raeburn 
 Place in 1870. And here let me make a personal con- 
 fession. I was umpire, and I do not know to this day 
 whether the decision which gave Scotland the try from 
 which the winning goal was kicked was correct in fact. 
 The ball had certainly been scrummaged over the line 
 by Scotland, and touched down first by a Scotchman. 
 The try was, however, vociferously disputed by the 
 English team, but upon what ground I was then unable 
 to discover. Had the good rule of the " Green Book " 
 been kept, viz., that no one except the captains should 
 speak in any dispute unless appealed to, 1 should have 
 understood that the point raised was that the ball had 
 never been fairly grounded in the scrummage, but had 
 got mixed up among Scottish feet or legs. This I only 
 
54 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 learned afterwards, and my fellow umpire was at a 
 distance from the scene of action. Indeed, when the 
 game was played twenty a-side, the ball, at the beginning 
 of a scrummage, was quite invisible to anyone outside, 
 nor do I know how I could have decided the point had 
 I known what it was. I must say, however, that when 
 an umpire is in doubt, I think he is justified in deciding 
 against the side which makes most noise. They are 
 probably in the wrong. 
 
 At the end of the same year the English Rugby 
 Union was formed ; and soon after this the committee 
 which had hitherto done all the work was hurriedly and 
 unceremoniously displaced by the formation of the 
 Scottish Rugby Union. This step was doubtless due 
 to a misunderstanding as to the intentions of the com- 
 mittee, which was supposed to be too exclusive, although 
 it was only taking time for the consideration of a rule 
 about the admission of new clubs and the formation of 
 a working executive. It was unfortunate, however, that 
 the committee was superseded at that particular time, 
 because it had arranged for a conference with England 
 about the rules of the two countries, which differed in 
 several respects — notably, about the important question 
 of picking up. The new Union adopted the English 
 rules and any changes in them subsequently made by 
 England in bulk, and hence afforded a precedent for 
 the claim on the part of England of a sole right to 
 legislate, which caused such a stir some years afterwards. 
 But a still greater evil was the exclusion of the schools 
 from all share in legislation. The schools are the 
 nurseries of the game ; it began with them : it is 
 perhaps, under all modern circumstances, their best 
 instrument of " education," in the true and wide sense 
 of that word ; for I cannot conceive of any school 
 making a good stand-up fight against the soft and 
 self-indulgent ways of living in which town boys, at 
 all events of the richer classes, are usually brought up, 
 in which football is not a flourishing institution ; nor is 
 the Association game a possible refuge for Scotch 
 schools. We are all Rugby, and Rugby, I hope, we 
 shall remain ; for the defect of the Association game 
 is that it gives no exercise for the upper limbs, 
 and thereby does not tend to the strengthening of 
 the lungs, and the equal development of both sides 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 55 
 
 of the person, as the Rugby game does, so that we are 
 at the mercy of the club. And I am afraid that 
 in their legislation they have not sufficiently in 
 view what is really the great end of the game — viz., 
 to produce a race of robust men, with active habits, 
 brisk circulations, manly sympathies, and exuberant 
 spirits. I don't think I am overstating my charge 
 when I say that they regard it far too much as a 
 means of attracting spectators. This is in itself an 
 evil. When a man is past playing football, which is 
 ten years sooner by the modern game than by the old 
 one, he ought, as a rule, to 
 be taking hard exercise in 
 some form himself whenever 
 he gets the chance, and 
 not spending his Saturday 
 afternoons as a stationary 
 and shivering spectator. But 
 putting aside this aspect of the 
 question, I have no doubt 
 that the tendency of recent 
 legislation has injured foot- 
 ball as a school game. By 
 increasing the pace it has also 
 increased its most serious 
 danger, which is not to the H . h. almond. 
 
 limbs, but to the heart. Boys 
 with even slightly weak hearts ought not to play the 
 modern game, though they might safely play the old 
 game. And all who know anything about schools are 
 aware what a serious evil it is that many boys should be 
 excluded from the chief school games. Further, the old 
 game could be advantageously played at least four days 
 weekly. I am convinced that the modern game should 
 never be played, at least by big side, two days in succes- 
 sion, and certainly not within three days of a " big 
 match." And, lastly, the discouragement of dropping 
 would have been impossible had the voice of the schools 
 been heard in the Unions. Dropping is one of our very 
 best outdoor occupations for odd times, and it is quite 
 impossible to get boys to practise with the same keenness 
 when a dropped goal, by an infatuation which I cannot 
 understand, has been made to count less than a goal 
 from a try. Let me hope that at least this monstrous 
 
56 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 innovation on the essential spirit of Rugby football may 
 soon be repealed, not only in the interest of schools, but 
 in that of the beauty and science of the game. My own 
 belief is that some day legislation will retrace its steps 
 still further. There is great danger in the practice of drop- 
 ping on the ball to save, and already many serious acci- 
 dents have happened from a player being kicked when 
 falling on the ball. Schools will not be able to resist the 
 outcry which will be caused by one boy killing another 
 in this way, by mere accident or from momentary loss of 
 temper. My own belief is, and always has been, that the 
 worst change ever made in the game was the abolition 
 by the English Union in 1872 (endorsed with all other 
 English legislation by the then infant Scottish Union) of 
 the old rule that the ball might not be taken into the 
 hands except in the case of a free catch or when fairly 
 bounding. 
 
 Holding, however, as I do, that recent legislation has 
 both injured the game and made its position precarious, 
 I believe that Rugby football, even as it is, is the best 
 instrument which we possess for the development of 
 manly character. In one point at least it is superior to 
 the old game. The development of passing and of 
 combined play generally has fostered unselfishness. A 
 player used to play chiefly for his own hand ; now, if he 
 is worth playing, he plays for his side. Passing was, 
 however, quite as consistent with the old rules as with 
 the present. I tried to introduce long passing for years 
 without much effect. I was told that it would " look 
 like funking," etc. To the best of my belief its efficacy 
 was first proved in the Fettes and Loretto match in 
 November, 1880, and its introduction at Oxford by the 
 old boys of the two schools was the chief cause of the 
 football supremacy of Oxford a few years afterwards. 
 But a still more important point even than passing 
 appears to me to be combined play among forwards. In 
 that art, one school — viz.,Merchiston — has usually enjoyed 
 an unquestioned pre-eminence. I have no hesitation in 
 saying that in recent years I believe the best football in 
 the world has been played at Merchiston. Few of its 
 boys go to English universities, and they commonly 
 leave school younger than is the case at Loretto and 
 Fettes. Still, with only about one hundred and thirty 
 boys in all, it has held its own in Scotch School cham- 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 57 
 
 pionships against the far superior numbers and greater age 
 of Fettes, and has completely distanced Loretto. Since 
 1880, when the three schools first began to play each 
 other regularly, Merchiston has won the championship 
 six times, Fettes thrice, and Loretto twice, the remaining 
 year being a tie between Merchiston and Fettes. 
 
 It is a pity that the Scotch schools have no oppor- 
 tunity of measuring their strength against the great 
 English schools. Rugby once invited Loretto to play 
 them at Manchester at the beginning of the Christmas 
 holidays, but there was an epidemic at Loretto which 
 made it impossible. And I may add that I think 
 all matches between schools ought to be played in 
 term time and on the school grounds. Such inter- 
 course between schools, to a limited extent, is well 
 worth the time and money. The headmasters of 
 the great English schools have, however, generally 
 a great aversion to football matches between schools. 
 I believe they are afraid of rough play. If so, 
 their fears are groundless. No keener matches can 
 possibly be played than those for the Scotch School 
 championship. And they are usually played with the 
 utmost fairness, and in a good-humoured, sportsmanlike 
 spirit. In fact, I believe that house matches at schools 
 are, often played in far worse temper than any matches 
 between well-disciplined schools are likely to be. I 
 have seen the Fettes and Loretto teams standing by 
 in silence, while some point was being discussed between 
 captains and umpires about a disputed goal on which 
 a match depended. 
 
 The facts as to " blues," however, given at the begin- 
 ning of this chapter, when coupled with the fact that 
 Merchiston scarcely enters into this competition, prove 
 indirectly the great excellence of Scotch School football. 
 This arises from several causes. 
 
 1. I think that North-countrymen in general are 
 bigger-boned and more muscular than Southerners are. 
 Also possibly, children are more hardily brought up in 
 Scotland before they come to school than they are in 
 England, though the extent to which modern softness 
 of living vitiates family and nursery life everywhere is 
 lamentable. 
 
 2. Our constantly playing against each other creates 
 a great enthusiasm for the game. Besides the matches 
 
58 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 mentioned above, an Edinburgh Day School champion- 
 ship and an entirely Day School match between Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow are merely samples of what is going 
 on in secondary schools in Scotland generally. There 
 are also matches for 2nd and 3rd fifteens, played on the 
 same days, twice each season, as the Fifteen matches. 
 To get into one of the teams at once gives a boy a 
 certain degree of school position. There are also 
 matches for boys "under fifteen," which are as keenly 
 fought as those for their seniors. 
 
 3. It has come to be understood, even by the 
 smallest boys, that a place in any of the teams cannot 
 usually be gained without a good deal of trouble and 
 self-denial. Small schools also become aware that they 
 cannot hope for football eminence unless they bring not 
 only a select few but the whole mass of their boys into 
 the fittest possible condition. The desire to do this 
 therefore gives rise to sanitary rules of various kinds. 
 Regular exercise in all weathers is insisted upon ; boys 
 are encouraged to sleep with open windows, and school- 
 rooms are kept fresh and airy. And perhaps above all, 
 the importance of a proper dietary becomes evident ; and 
 the detestable and loathsome habit of " grubbing " all 
 sorts of unwholesomes, even between meals, becomes 
 warred against not only by masters, but by prefects and 
 by public opinion. Why so many public schoolmasters 
 permit unlimited "grubbing," and yet regard the less 
 injurious vice of smoking as one of the gravest of school 
 offences, is more than I can comprehend. I think also 
 that it is becoming evident to the more far-sighted men 
 in my own profession, that attention to matters of this 
 kind produces benefits of a higher order than any foot- 
 ball excellence. And this very fact serves to strengthen 
 and perpetuate the foundations on which really good 
 school football rests. On the indirect bearing of all this 
 upon school morality I need scarcely enlarge to all who 
 know anything about schools. 
 
 I subjoin the special system of training carried out 
 at Merchiston during the football season. The particulars 
 have been kindly supplied to me by Mr. Burgess, to 
 whom Merchiston football has been so largely indebted 
 for its vigour and excellence. 
 
 Boys are called at 7, when they turn out in flannels, 
 and have a run or smart walk of about three-quarters of 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 59 
 
 a mile, then a cold bath and rub down. Breakfast 
 at 8 ; school from 9 to 12. 
 
 Monday, 12.30 to 1.30. — Big side (as often as pos- 
 sible a team of masters and old boys play the Fifteen 
 on Monday). 
 
 Tuesday, 12.30 to 1. — The Fifteen look after the lower 
 teams and make them play up. From 1 to 1.30 they 
 practise drop and place kicking, and the halves and 
 quarters practise passing. 
 
 Wednesday, 2.30 to 5. — Football match, or if before 
 a school match, a cross-country run of from seven to ten 
 miles, usually over the Pen tl and Hills. 
 
 Thursday, 12.30 to 1.30.— Big side. 
 
 Friday, 12 to 1. — Cadet corps drill ; 1 to 1.30, kicking 
 in field as on Tuesday. 
 
 From 3 to 6. — There are four periods, three of work 
 and one of gymnastics, so that every boy gets about 
 forty minutes gymnastics every day. 
 
 On Friday night they have in addition fencing and 
 boxing. The Fifteen have also half an hour of this 
 every night after preparation. 
 
 Every boy in the school must play football, unless 
 exempted by the school medical officer. 
 
 All boys are accurately weighed and measured twice 
 a term. 
 
 The bearing of the last particulars on football may 
 not be obvious. But nothing makes a boy believe in 
 a good physical system so soon as the increase of his 
 measurements. They are the tangible outcome of the 
 system under which he is being trained. And when 
 you have once got his belief and will on your side, 
 he is on the high road to becoming both a more 
 vigorous football player and a better man. The 
 system pursued at other leading Scotch schools does 
 not differ materially from that of Merchiston. We, 
 at Loretto, have rather less g} T mnastics. But " fives " 
 are more prominent with us, and "shinty," or 
 "hockey," as well as, occasionally, Association sides, 
 are both a pleasing variety, and also, I think, an 
 excellent and not too violent training. All training, 
 however, should be carefully watched and studied. 
 There is a great deal still to learn about general 
 principles, and these ought to be applied with dis- 
 crimination to particular cases by any schoolmaster 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 who knows his business. Training which would be 
 too severe for the rapidly-grown or anaemic boy is 
 the best possible discipline for the flabby, lazy, greedy 
 boy, or for the boy who prefers sitting over the fire with 
 a book to the free air of heaven. But by training I do 
 not mean special rules of life adopted for a short season 
 and then suddenly dropped. The greatest obligations I 
 
 Of TH£ 
 
 " A DKOP OUT. 
 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 owe to any instructor are due to a certain Mr. Harrison, 
 who was a medical student when I was a master at 
 Merchiston. He fully persuaded me that training, in 
 its true sense, was that wholesome and vigorous con- 
 dition in which we ought to try to live always, and 
 that boys or men who habitually, in this sense, live 
 in " training," are not only on the right road towards 
 usefulness and happiness in life, but that they need 
 no change, or, at most, a very slight change, in diet 
 or exercise, to make them most fit for athletic games 
 of any kind. 
 
 A word or two ought to be said as to the organisation 
 of football in a school. As it is obvious that the avail- 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 61 
 
 able players are not likely to be an exact multiple of 
 thirty, there ought to be considerable elasticity, on the 
 lower sides at least, as to the number playing on a side. 
 The best practical plan for ordinary sides, as distinct 
 from school matches, is to divide the number of available 
 players into a number of nearly equal sides, " big side " 
 being the smallest and having about thirty-four on its 
 list. Two boys should be made heads of each side, and 
 great care should be taken in their selection — knowledge 
 of the game, and power of enforcing order and obedience 
 being the most necessary qualities. They should have 
 printed school lists, with the boys on their sides ticked 
 off, and either the medical officer or some competent 
 master should look through these lists to see that no 
 boy is placed on a side for which he is too small or too 
 delicate. It is easy for the captains to arrange exchanges, 
 or to let boys who can be spared off to play fives or take 
 some other exercise. The head boy of the school, or of 
 the house, should of course be bound to see that those 
 who for any cause are off football or other school games 
 do not " slack," but have other sufficient exercise. A 
 certain number of " crocks " or " slackers " are a necessary 
 evil; but if not looked after they constitute a great 
 source of danger. They are far more liable than football 
 players to take any epidemic, and they are apt to get 
 into lounging, lethargic habits, which are also a most 
 infectious malady, if the " crock " or " loafer " is unfor- 
 tunately a boy of any influence. 
 
 Great care should be taken that no favouritism is 
 shown in choosing the school teams. My experience is 
 that it is easy to show boys what a dishonest thing it is 
 to use any public office, such as that of captain of a 
 team, for private purposes ; and surely any headmaster 
 or school chaplain who gives his boys anything worth 
 calling religious teaching, will speak often and strongly 
 about the right use of responsibility of any kind. Cer- 
 tainly, to take the lowest ground, the excellence of school 
 football greatly hinges on the certainty felt by every boy 
 that he will get absolutely fair play, and that any mistake 
 made about him will be one of judgment. One cannot 
 aim at too high a standard of school morality in such 
 matters. Another very important point is that of 
 referees at sides. Masters who know the game will 
 of course help in this way, and where the cricket 
 
62 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 professional resides refereeing should be part of his duties. 
 Members of the Fifteen also, who are temporarily 
 " crocked," should, if capable, be sent to referee, and at 
 the same time to coach lower sides. 
 
 Much more, however, may be done to prevent 
 " crocking " than is usually supposed. The most 
 common cause of it is that a boy gets a slight sprain or 
 twist about the knee or ankle, hobbles home with it, and 
 thinks little more about it till the next morning, when 
 the joint has swollen and water probably set in. 
 He should have been carried home, and then imme- 
 diately had the place fomented with water rather 
 hotter than he can bear ; he should then lay up 
 until seen by the medical officer. About two- thirds of 
 the ordinary sprains will be arrested at once if treated 
 in this way. Boys should, of course, be frequently 
 spoken to about these and kindred matters. They are 
 a most important, but too often neglected, part of their 
 education. 
 
 Lastly, no idle spectators should be allowed to stand 
 looking on at school sides. The very sight of loungers 
 takes the spirit out of players, and the loungers should 
 be doing something else if they are too feeble for foot- 
 ball. " Spectating " generally is, in fact, the greatest of 
 all football dangers. When boys are allowed to look on 
 at a big match they should all be sent a run of a couple 
 of miles afterwards to quicken their circulations and to 
 prevent that deadliest of dangers, " a chill." 
 
 The Fettesian-Lorettonian Club. 
 
 The history of Rugby football in Scotland, dating from 
 1871, when the first international match between Scotland 
 and England was played, is very closely associated with 
 the history of the teams of old boys of one or other of 
 the great Scottish schools. In the Scottish team of 
 1871 a very large proportion of the players were drawn 
 from the Edinburgh and Glasgow Academical clubs, and 
 throughout the 'seventies in a very marked degree, and 
 during the 'eighties up to the present decade in a lesser 
 degree, these clubs have been represented in the Scottish 
 national matches. Scotland has owed much of her 
 success in the field to such men as Hon. F. I. Moncrieff 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 63 
 
 (the captain of the first Scottish team), R. W. Irvine, 
 N. J. Finlay, J. H. S. Grahame, W. E. Maclagan, 
 Charles Reid, and H. J. Stevenson, of the Edinburgh 
 Academicals ; and T. Chalmers, Malcolm Cross, D. Y. 
 Cassels, W. A. Walls, and J. B. Brown, of the Glasgow- 
 Academicals. Merchiston Castle School was the training 
 ground of at least three of those whose names are given 
 — selected from giants of football. 
 
 About the year 1881 the prominence of old Loretto- 
 nians and old Fettesians in the International teams be- 
 came noticeable, and up to 
 the present time it is clear 
 that players from Loretto 
 School and Fettes College 
 have assumed the lead over 
 the other schools in the num- 
 ber of representatives in the 
 Scottish teams. Many have 
 also found places in the chosen 
 teams of England. But not 
 only in the national teams, 
 but, in more pronounced 
 fashion, in the University 
 fifteens of Oxford and Cam- 
 bridge have they been very 
 prominent. During the un- 
 broken record for three years 
 held by Oxford, Loretto 
 had always several "blues," while at Cambridge Fettes 
 has always had a noteworthy representation. The 
 two schools have had eleven captains of Oxford and 
 Cambridge in the last eleven years, but a record was 
 reached in 1889-90, when exactly one- third of the two 
 University teams were Fettesian-Lorettonians. The 
 origin of the club was, however, on this wise. In the 
 summers of 1880 and 1881, cricket teams of 0. L.'s and 
 0. F.'s went tours in Yorkshire and were very successful; 
 and as a result the idea of the formation of a club took 
 definite shape at an informal meeting at Lasswade in 
 the autumn of the latter year. The original circular, 
 signed by A. R. Paterson, a well-known Lorettonian and 
 Oxonian, and by A. R. Don Wauchope, an equally well- 
 known Fettesian and Cantab, called a meeting at which 
 the club was duly formed ; at first, chiefly as a football 
 
 TRISTRAM. 
 (From a Photograph by J. Weston & Son, 
 Folkestone.) 
 
64 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 club, but during the eleven years of its existence it has 
 developed several other branches of athletics. 
 
 The performances of the club in football are perhaps 
 worthy of a brief sketch. During the season of 1881-2 
 five matches were played ; the first three against the 
 strongest clubs in Scotland, viz., West of Scotland, Edin- 
 burgh Wanderers, and University, and each match was 
 
 lost by narrow majorities. 
 But the visit to the North of 
 England to play Manchester 
 and Huddersfield can only 
 be described as having 
 created a sensation in the 
 football world. Both matches 
 were won easily, the first by 
 three goals to a try, and the 
 second by one goal and three 
 tries to nil. The team in 
 England comprised six Ox- 
 ford and two Cambridge 
 "Blues," as well as four 
 Scottish and one English 
 International players. The 
 current issue of tne Athletic 
 News remarked : u Those 
 persons who saw the doings of the Fettes-Loretto boys 
 in Huddersfield and Manchester are willing to swear 
 that a better team never existed, and a general wish 
 has been expressed that Don Wauchope should bring 
 his grand team into the North of England once more." 
 
 These successes set the club on its legs, although 
 they were nothing to what was to follow, for from that 
 time, December, 1881, until January, 1888, the club won 
 every match except three, which were drawn, viz., those 
 against the Edinburgh Academicals in 1884, and Brad- 
 ford in 1886 and 1888. The last three successive seasons 
 have each seen the club narrowly defeated by the 
 Bradford Club ; in 1889-90 by a dropped goal to nil ; in 
 1890-1 by a try to nil ; in 1891-2 by a goal to nil, each 
 match being productive of a splendid struggle. 
 
 Perhaps the most strikingly successful season of the 
 club was during 1883-4, when eight matches were played, 
 seven being won and the other drawn. The team that 
 year was as follows — 
 
 A. E. DON WAUCHOPE. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Hills tfc Saunders, 
 
 Cambridge.) 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL IN SCOTTISH SCHOOLS. 65 
 
 H. B. Tristram (Oxford University and England) (back) ; D. J. Mao 
 Farlan (London Scottish and Scotland), U. C. Lindsay (Oxford University 
 and Scotland), E. Storey (Cambridge University) (three-quarter backs) ; 
 A. R. Don Wauchope (Cambridge University and Scotland), A. G-. G. 
 Asher (Oxford University and Scotland) (half-backs) ; A. Walker (West 
 of Scotland, and Scotland), J. G. Walker (Oxford University, and Scot- 
 land), A. R. Paterson (Oxford University), C. J. B. Milne (Cambridge 
 University), R. S. F. Henderson (Blackheath and England), W. M. 
 Macleod (Cambridge University and Scotland), H. F. Caldwell (Edinburgh 
 Wanderers), F. J. C. Mackenzie (Oxford University), C. W. Berry 
 (Oxford University and Scotland). 
 
 E. Storey was the only player behind who did not 
 secure his national cap. He would probably have gained it 
 but for an accident which stopped his football altogether. 
 
 Of all the first-class men who have played for the 
 F.-L.'s there is no one who stands out so prominently as 
 A. R. Don Wauchope. His brilliant and consistent form 
 through all those years, from 1881 to 1888, for his 
 country, university, and club, dwarfs the performances of 
 almost any other player one could name. Can any 
 person forget the overwhelming excitement and even 
 delight of the Yorkshire 
 and Lancashire crowds when 
 their favourite, " the great 
 Don," got the ball : the 
 shouts and cries from thou- 
 sands of throats resounding 
 round and round the en- 
 closure as each opponent 
 tried to tackle him and was 
 left lying on the ground, 
 until at last the ball was 
 safely carried over the line ? 
 One of A. R. Don Wauchope's 
 greatest triumphs happened 
 in 1885 at Bradford, when he 
 
 A. G. GRANT ASHER. 
 
 (From a Photograph by W. H. Wheeler, 
 
 Oxford.) 
 
 ran m behind twice — the 
 only scoring in the game. 
 In 1883 at Huddersfield his 
 play was quite phenomenal; he ran and re-ran the whole 
 of the opposing side time after time, to what might be 
 called " a dead standstill." to the infinite delight of a huge 
 crowd of genuine Tykes, who yelled in desperation, " Why, 
 'e's like a bloomin' eel ; they can't 'old 'im nohow ! " The 
 great feature of his play was, of course, his running and 
 dodging powers, but there was not a single point in half- 
 
 F 
 
66 BUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 back play in which he did not excel. Dropping at goal 
 was perhaps a weak point — he always preferred to run — 
 and it was in this particular that A. G. G. Asher, his 
 companion half-back in many a struggle, was so strikingly 
 good. H. B. Tristram in his best days has hardly been 
 equalled as a full-back. He seemed to be able to get the 
 ball away to a greater distance than any other back, and 
 when he got the chance he did " down " his man. At 
 three-quarters one must refer to such distinguished 
 players as I). J. MacFarlan, G. C. Lindsay, M. 1. Reid, 
 P. H. Morrison, and P. R Clauss. The first-named was 
 the most consistent player of the lot, but Lindsay, 
 Morrison, and Clauss were all brilliant at times, while 
 Reid, if an unreliable player, used to drop a goal in the 
 most unexpected way, just when badly wanted. He 
 is one of the few who obtained his national cap 
 when a schoolboy. In later days C. E. Orr and W . 
 Wotherspoon have been among the most noticeable 
 players in the club. It is difficult to discuss the form of 
 all the better known forwards who have played for the 
 F.-L.'s, but it can be safely asserted that, speaking widely, 
 the forward teams of the last few years have not been of 
 the same class as formerly. The preponderance of light 
 men amongst them has enabled opponents to " shove 
 them" in the scrummages; this has been specially marked 
 in the late matches and defeats at Bradford. After all, 
 however, the club will always hold, under existing cir- 
 cumstances, the same high position among Rugby 
 football clubs of the United Kingdom. The members 
 have all undergone the same vigorous training, at schools 
 remarkable throughout the land by means of their 
 intellectual and physical success. The best reason one 
 can give for the uninterrupted prosperity of the 
 Fettesian-Lorettonian club, is that teams who are chosen 
 to represent it have considered it good enough to train 
 for the tours and keep in good condition when away ; in 
 fact, there is a rule of the club which prevents the accept- 
 ance of invitations to football dinners. It is unnecessary 
 to add more to this sketch, except perhaps to express 
 the hope that the club, unique in many ways, may con- 
 tinue in the future as it has done in the past to play an 
 honourable part in Rugby football, and be as often on 
 the winning side. 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FOUNDATION AND PROGRESS OF THE RUGBY 
 FOOTBALL UNION FROM 1871 TO 1880. 
 
 By Arthur G. Gtiilletnard. 
 
 IT was on the evening of the 26th January, 1871, that a 
 party of thirty- two members of London and suburban 
 football clubs following the Rugby School laws, assembled 
 in solemn conclave at the Pall Mall Restaurant in Regent 
 Street, London, under the 
 presidency of E. C. Holmes, 
 captain of the Richmond 
 Club, resolved unanimously 
 that the formation of a 
 Rugby Football Society was 
 desirable, and thereupon 
 proceeded with all due de- 
 liberation to found the 
 Rugby Football Union. The 
 society was christened, a set 
 of bye-laws drafted, and a 
 president, a secretary and 
 treasurer, with a committee 
 of thirteen, elected, to whom 
 was entrusted the drawing- 
 up of the laws of the game 
 upon the basis of the code 
 
 in use at Rugby School. Everyone present was of one 
 heart and of one mind that eventful evening, so that 
 the labour was not protracted, and in the course of a 
 couple of hours the bantling had been brought forth, 
 a fund provided for maintenance, and the custody 
 of the person assigned to Edwin H. Ash, the secretary 
 of the Richmond Club, who, very proud of his charge 
 F 2 
 
 E. C. HOLMES. 
 
 {From a Photoqraph bi/ T. Fall, 
 
 Baker Street, W.) 
 
68 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and modestly conscious of his abilities as a dry-nurse, 
 marched off home with " the person," in the shape of 
 the minutes of the proceedings, safe in his great- coat 
 pocket. 
 
 It will be well here to give the names of the clubs 
 which were represented on this important occasion : — 
 Blackheath, Richmond, Civil Service, Marlborough No- 
 mads, West Kent, Wimbledon Hornets, Gipsies, Clapham 
 Rovers, Law, Wellington College, Guy's Hospital, Fla- 
 mingoes, Harlequins, Queen's House, King's College, 
 St. Paul's School, Lausanne, Addison, Mohicans, and 
 Belsize Park. These were all enrolled that evening as 
 original members of the Rugby Football Union, and 
 paid their entrance fees and first year's subscriptions on 
 the spot, thus saving the treasurer the trouble of writing- 
 dunning letters, and setting an example which, unfor- 
 tunately for his successors in office, has not been too 
 generally followed. The main points of difference be- 
 tween the original bye-laws and those now in force were 
 the following : — The entrance fee and annual subscrip- 
 tion were 5s. each : the officers comprised a president, 
 honorary secretary and treasurer, and a committee of 
 thirteen ; there was but one general meeting in each 
 year — in October ; and each club was permitted to send 
 two representatives to a general meeting. The greater 
 part of the credit for the bye-laws and the businesslike 
 manner in which the Union was founded attached to 
 K H. Ash, than whom it would be very difficult to find 
 a man better qualified to set going a society in connec- 
 tion with any of our national games ; he was the 
 principal mover in getting up the meeting under notice, 
 and its success was mainly due to his efforts. 
 
 The following are the names of the Union officers for 
 1871, to whom was entrusted the drafting of the laws 
 of the game : — President, Algernon Rutter ( Richmond) ; 
 hon. secretary and treasurer, Edwin H. Ash (Richmond). 
 Committee: R. H. Birkett (Clapham Rovers), F. I. 
 Currey (Marlborough Nomads), W. F. Eaton (Ravens- 
 court Park), A. J. English (Wellington College), J. H. 
 Ewart (Guy's Hospital), A. G. Guillemard (West Kent), 
 F. Hartley (Flamingoes), E. C. Holmes (Richmond), R. 
 Leigh (Law), F. Luscombe (Gipsies), L. J. Maton (Wim- 
 bledon Hornets), E. Rutter (Richmond) , and F. Stokes 
 (Blackheath). Leaving these gentlemen busily engaged 
 
F. STOKES. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Debenham and Gould, 
 
 Bournemouth.) 
 
 President, 1874-75. 
 
 L. J. MATON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Debenham & Co., 
 
 South sea.) 
 
 President, 1875-76. 
 
 A. BUTTER. 
 (From a Photograph by H. J.',Godbold, Eastings.) 
 President, 1871-74. 
 
 C. D. HEATLEY. 
 
 [From a Photograph by Mr. Oictn, 
 
 Salisbury.) 
 
 President, 1S7G-7S. 
 
 A. G. GTJILLEMARP. 
 (From a Photograph by Jolt. v. i 
 Bergen. ) 
 President, 1878-82. 
 
70 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 with the Rugby School laws, let us glance at the posi- 
 tion occupied by Rugby football amongst English games 
 at this time, and the causes which operated towards the 
 amalgamation of its interests in a parent body. 
 
 To commence with, it may be stated at once that as 
 the rise, growth, and present status of the leading Rugby 
 clubs round London and in the North of England are 
 dealt with in other parts of this volume, the notes in 
 this chapter must be of a general character and treat of 
 the management of the Union and its laws rather than 
 of the features of the play and the prowess of players. 
 But, nevertheless, it is necessary here to devote a little 
 space to a slight sketch of Rugby football as it was 
 played between twenty and thirty years ago. When the 
 writer left Rugby School in 1864 there were certainly 
 not more than twenty clubs round London playing 
 Rugby rules, including the R.M.A., Woolwich, and 
 several "cramming" establishments, of which latter High 
 House, Charlton, furnished the strongest team. Black- 
 heath was the oldest club in point of foundation, and I 
 can well remember watching the matches played by the 
 Blackheath School Old Boys in 1857 and 1858, when 
 they used short flag-posts for goals and had a goal- 
 keeper in rear of the full-backs — a big, fleshy man, who 
 always played in a felt hat, like Tom Hayward at cricket. 
 His surname I never heard, but he was well-known by 
 the sobriquet of "Soup-plates," probably derived from 
 the shape of his hat. E. H. Ash was practically the 
 founder of the Richmond Club early in " the 'sixties," 
 and, enlisting the services of a large number of Old 
 Rugbeians, they at once proved very formidable rivals to 
 Blackheath. Indeed, during one season — 1865, I think 
 — when thirteen Old Rugbeians and two Old Marlburians 
 formed the Richmond team week after week, and again 
 in 1867 and 1869, the club did not suffer a single defeat. 
 In those days the Blackheath v. Richmond matches were 
 veritable battles of giants, and the largest crowds of the 
 season attended on Blackheath and Richmond Green — 
 where the club grounds then were — for the form shown 
 was always of the best class, feeling ran high, and the 
 British public — and particularly the unwashed portion 
 of it — enjoyed the sight of a little hacking, which was 
 then not forbidden. The two winters of 1866-67 and 
 1867-68 found these two clubs more evenly matched 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 71 
 
 than ever ; in the former season the two first matches 
 were drawn, and Richmond won the rubber by a goal 
 dropped by C. S. Dakyns, of whom more anon ; in the 
 latter the first match was drawn, and the return won 
 for Richmond by E. Rutter, whose long left-foot drops 
 were as useful to his club for many seasons as was his 
 left-hand bowling to the Middlesex County Eleven. It 
 is noteworthy that of the twenty-three players who 
 represented the winners in the match last mentioned, as 
 many as seventeen were Old Rugbeians, Blackheath 
 mustering six from the 
 same school. 
 
 The crowds on these un- 
 enclosed grounds were a 
 great nuisance, for they in- 
 variably declined — the ladies, 
 especially at Blackheath, 
 always excepted — to keep in 
 touch, and the clear field of 
 play was often not more 
 than some thirty yards 
 broad. Then did the wily 
 half-back see his opportunity, 
 and dive into the thick of the 
 shouting throng so soon as 
 the ball was in his hands. 
 No woodcock flushed in 
 cover is more wary to keep a 
 
 tree between itself and the gun than was the said half- 
 back to dodge amongst the flying spectators in such a 
 way as to have one or more of them between himself 
 ana his would-be tacklers. The post of a full-back who 
 could see nothing but the occasional flash of a coloured 
 jersey nearing him at hundred yards' speed was no envi- 
 able one, and so persistently did some of the least civilised 
 of the crowd stand between the full-backs and the ball 
 that on one occasion at Blackheath my colleague, whose 
 zeal sometimes outran his discretion, after vainly expos- 
 tulating with a burly blacksmith, " dashed out his left " 
 and knocked him several yards in the direction of the 
 touch-line, behind which the injured one was careful to 
 remain for the rest of the afternoon, nursing his jaw and 
 venting threats of slaughter. In the matter of keeping 
 the field of play clear things have improved wonderfully 
 
 E. H. ASH. 
 
 {From a Photograph by J. Middlebrooke, 
 Kimberley.) 
 
72 . RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 during the past twenty years, as nearly all clubs play in 
 enclosed grounds where ropes and stakes can be utilised, 
 but in old days the Metropolitan Board of Works forbade 
 the use of them on the heaths and commons under their 
 management. 
 
 In the provinces in " the 'sixties " there was very little 
 Rugby football, except, of course, at Rugby, and also at 
 the two universities, and at Marlborough, Tonbridge, 
 Haileybury, Clifton, and Wellington ; but in the North 
 of England, and especially in Lancashire and Yorkshire, 
 there were signs that the game was developing popu- 
 larity, and by the end of the decade there Avere strong 
 clubs at Manchester and Liverpool, which furnished a 
 powerful contingent on the occasion of the first Inter- 
 national match in 1871. 
 
 The earliest established clubs in nearly all cases 
 laboured under no slight difficulties, for the majority 
 of their members had not acquired a practical knowledge 
 of the principles of the game in early years, and had no 
 mentor to explain to them this rule and that. Black- 
 heath and Richmond, thanks to their large drafts of 
 old public-school boys, were specially favoured in this 
 respect, and their colours shone pre-eminent, for their 
 members not only knew the Rugby School rules 
 thoroughly but had been trained to play a scientific 
 game. It was not one of these, by-the-bye, who, penned 
 within his own lines, and too proud to touch down, took 
 a drop at the back of his own goal, and was surprised to 
 see the ball descend into the hands of an opponent, who 
 quietly grounded it between the posts. 
 
 This want of a practical knowledge of the rudiments 
 of the game led to numerous divergences from the 
 original code, the chief of which may be here briefly 
 alluded to. The majority of the clubs round London, 
 including Blackheatn, Woolwich, and Sandhurst, allowed 
 picking up the ball in the open so long as it was in 
 motion, but Richmond and a few others adhered to 
 the Rugby School law, which ran : — " It is not lawful to 
 take up the ball when rolling as distinguished from 
 bounding." The majority prevailed in the end, it being 
 evident that this course would conduce to a material 
 diminution in the number of disputes, there being no 
 umpires in those days. 
 
 With regard to the return of the ball into play from 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 73 
 
 touch, previous to 1864 the law at Rugbv was that it 
 should be thrown in from a point on a level with the 
 spot where it was touched down. But on one notable 
 occasion, when the play was wavering round the Three 
 Trees, a half-back dropped a tearing shooter when close 
 to the touch-line, fifty yards from his opponents' goal, the 
 result of which was that the ball rolled all that distance 
 out of play till it went into touch-in-goal before any one 
 could stop it. The absurdity of this led to a prompt 
 alteration, and thenceforward the ball had to be thrown 
 in from a point in a straight line from the spot where it 
 first hit the ground in touch. Thus it was permitted to 
 a good arrow-like drop to gain a considerable distance. 
 Most of the London clubs, however, early adopted the 
 plan of throwing the ball in from the spot where it 
 crossed the line. Again, many clubs declined to allow a 
 player having the ball in touch to bound it in the field 
 of play and then play it himself. 
 
 The Rugby method of bringing the ball out for a try 
 at goal after a run-in was considered too intricate, and 
 failed to find favour outside the limits of the School 
 Close. It need not, therefore, be described, but I may 
 remark that it was really simple enough to anyone who 
 had seen it once put into practice, and as it was a piece 
 of play requiring a little skill, and as also it gave the 
 defending side a chance of retrieving their position, it 
 was not a little prized by Rugbeians. The method 
 generally adopted was to bring the ball out in a straight 
 line from where it was touched down, but if it had been 
 touched down between the posts, then in a straight line 
 from either of the posts. In dropping out it was allow- 
 able to drop into touch, and thus gain a considerable 
 distance before the ball could be played by the opposite 
 side. 
 
 As to the off-side laws, they were either not under- 
 stood or flagrantly contravened by a large majority of 
 the minor clubs in " the 'sixties." The Blackheath School 
 boys were terrible offenders in this respect, and it was 
 quite common to see the forwards charging down the 
 ground as an advance guard to ward off opponents from 
 the back who was in full run with the ball behind them. 
 Law 18 of the Rugby code, obliging a player to have 
 the ball down immediately when tackled outside the 
 twenty-five yards' line at either end, was also similarly 
 
74 1WGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 disregarded, and one often saw as vigorous a maul in mid- 
 iield as if the ball were in goal. On one memorable occa- 
 sion a maul of this kind was timed as lasting for ten 
 minutes, the only object of the struggle being the privilege 
 of putting the ball on the ground in the centre of the 
 scrummage. Many spectators of the rougher class con- 
 sidered, judging from their excited shouting, that this 
 
 THE KICK-OFF — AFTER THE KICK. 
 {From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 feature of the game was more attractive than the most 
 brilliant of runs, the cleverest dribbling, or the prettiest 
 drop at goal. 
 
 From the above notes it will be gathered, as was the 
 case, that before the commencement of any match it was 
 absolutely necessary for the captains of the two sides to 
 meet and exchange views on various points, it being 
 usual to recognise the idiosyncrasies of the club upon 
 whose ground the meeting was to take place. And as 
 season followed season and clubs grew and multiplied, 
 the want of a code revised under the authority of a 
 parent body and accepted by all players became more 
 and more urgent. Yet, great as was the urgency, the 
 existence of this want was not the originating cause of 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 75 
 
 the foundation of the Rugby Football Union. The real 
 cause was twofold — firstly, an inaccurate and intemperate 
 letter written by " A Surgeon " to the Twnes ; and 
 secondly, the fact that the Football Association arranged 
 a match at the Oval under a title which was a misnomer. 
 " A Surgeon " cited some half-a-dozen accidents at Rugby 
 School, and alleged that they were one and all to be 
 traced to the practice of hacking. He was silenced very 
 promptly by direct contradictions from several members 
 of the school and the medical officer ; but the corre- 
 spondence furnished matter for criticism in the daily 
 papers, and a number of articles were published stigma- 
 tising the game as brutal and unmanly, and one calling 
 for instant reformation, if not total abolition. Punch 
 was very severe, but inasmuch as he stated that it was 
 allowable to hack a player when lying on the ground, his 
 arguments failed to carry conviction. In another journal 
 the game was styled " a mixture of hacking, scragging, 
 gouging, and biting," and regret was expressed that, 
 however humanised, it could never " take rank as a 
 drawing-room pastime." Scragging being tabooed and 
 gouging and biting unheard of in connection with the 
 Rugby game, it appeared evident that this correspondent 
 had never witnessed a match which could be said to be 
 played under that code ; but, nevertheless, some of the 
 mud which was so plentifully thrown was bound to stick, 
 and though the leading clubs were not seriously alarmed 
 by one writer's threat that Parliament should be moved 
 to abolish the game, it was felt incumbent on them to 
 place it on a recognised footing and under authoritative 
 control. 
 
 The second cause leading to this end was the playing 
 of a so-called " England v. Scotland " match, under the 
 auspices of the Football Association, at the Oval on the 
 19th November, 1870. Only one of the side representing 
 Scotland hailed from a Scottish club, and the connection 
 of several of the others with the far North was said to be 
 very problematical. It was stated, however, that one 
 had been across the Border to shoot grouse, and this was 
 considered a sufficient qualification ; but it was seriously 
 debated whether another, who was said to base his claim 
 upon a liking for Scotch whiskey, should have been 
 allowed to play. However, be that as it may, Scottish 
 football players very promptly disclaimed recognition of 
 
76 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the match as an international meeting, pointing out that 
 the Association code had barely taken root north of the 
 Tweed, and that nearly all Scottish clubs played the 
 Rugby game. They followed this up by issuing a 
 challenge for a bond fide international match between 
 the Rugby players of the two countries, and this being 
 accepted forthwith, the need of a governing body in 
 England became the more imperative. 
 
 Before proceeding to comment on the revised laws of 
 the game, a somewhat too prominent feature of the play 
 in " the 'sixties," namely, hacking, which formed the chief 
 count in the indictment in the daily papers, calls for 
 passing notice. Hacking in the scrummage doubtless 
 came into vogue at Rugb}^ School from the large number 
 of players — from 60 to 150 — taking part in Bigside 
 matches. Without energetic foot-work the ball could 
 never be extricated from the forest of legs, for in those 
 days a scrummage was a compact mass, the two sets 
 of forwards forming up into a solid circle, with the 
 players in the centre standing bolt upright instead of 
 crouching down, as is generally the case now, much 
 in the attitude of a bicyclist. And, as the ball could 
 not be seen and only occasionally felt, it was necessary 
 for a forward to kick where he considered it to be, and 
 if it was not there but an opponent's shin instead, a 
 hack was the result. "Hacking over," i.e., hacking a 
 player when running, probably grew out of tripping: 
 lady spectators used to say that hacking over " looked 
 terrible," but, judging from my experience as a player, 
 which extended over fourteen seasons at Rugby and 
 round London, its results belied its looks, for I cannot 
 remember having seen any accident worse than a cut 
 knee, and this was caused by the player hacked over 
 falling across the touch-line on to a gravel path. It was 
 in the scrummage that the worst hacks were received, 
 and I am quite ready to admit that sometimes in Big- 
 side, and still more often in house matches, there was 
 very vicious play with the "navvies," as football boots 
 were termed at Rugby. Tradition points to a notable 
 match for the honours of Cock House some thirty years 
 ago, when the losing twenty were so severely punished 
 forward that their house master actually sat down 
 on the grass in touch and cried like a child. The 
 hacking was certainly very severe on that occasion, but 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 77 
 
 the extent of it is not to be gauged from the tears, for I 
 frequently saw the same master similarly affected when 
 construing for his form's benefit a touching passage from 
 some Greek play. The present Bishop of London, when 
 head-master, set his face sternly against vicious hacking, 
 and on one occasion, noticing a much-dreaded " hack " 
 hewing his way through a Bigside scrummage with 
 unnecessary violence, threatened to make him take off 
 his navvies and play in slippers for the rest of the after- 
 noon. Round London the Woolwich Academy team 
 were considered to boast the fiercest set of forwards, and 
 I well remember seeing the crack " hack " of one season, 
 after coming through the scrummage, finish off his 
 triumphal march by place-kicking the half-back in front 
 of me clean off' his legs. For six or seven years previous 
 to the foundation of the Union the " Shop always 
 turned out a team very difficult to beat, for, added 
 to their vigour forward, they had a splendid set of men 
 behind the scrummage, of whom W. H. Sykes, H. T. S. 
 Yates, H. S. Ferguson, H. B. Rich, H. W. Renny 
 Tailyour, P. C. Walker, R. P. Maitland, F. Campbell, and 
 E. M. T. Boddam were some of the most conspicuous. 
 Amongst the minor clubs mauling and hacking were 
 for a long time cherished as the principal features of the 
 game, and it was unfortunately not uncommon to see a 
 couple of players vigorously engaged in kicking each 
 other's shins long after the scrummage had broken up. 
 This it was that prompted the Richmond Club to issue a 
 circular recommending the suppression of all unnecessary 
 hacking, and, this view meeting with very general 
 support, it was left to the newly-formed Union to go a 
 step farther and declare all hacking and tripping 
 illegal. 
 
 The principal features of the play of the leading 
 clubs both round London and in the North during the 
 years to which my remarks have been directed were 
 the following : — Long and sure dropping by the backs, 
 brilliant running by the half-backs, and dogged hard 
 shoving, hacking, and following-up by the forwards. It 
 was not until after hacking had been abolished that 
 the scrummages degenerated into shoving matches, for, 
 as soon as the ball had been put down, the solid mass of 
 forwards was loosened by the play of the feet in the 
 centre, and the ball quickly emerged. Indeed, in all 
 
78 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 matches where the players observed the Rugby School 
 laws and discouraged mauling, the scrummages were 
 never tedious, though, owing partly to the solidity of 
 the formation of a scrummage in those days, and partly 
 to the number of heavy weights, the forwards did not 
 free themselves very quickly. A half-back, therefore, if 
 the ball were kicked fairly to him, and he were a quick 
 starter, had a grand chance, as frequently he had only 
 the two half-backs and three full-backs of the opposite 
 
 side to account with, and very 
 exciting was the running 
 in consequence. The tack- 
 ling, however, was surer then 
 than it is now, and there was 
 the chance of a hack over as 
 well. Passing in those days 
 was mainly confined to the 
 forwards, and a half-back 
 who had got well under way 
 kept his eye on his oppon- 
 ents and did his level best to 
 run-in or get within dropping 
 range of goal by his own 
 unaided exertions, for his 
 start as a rule precluded the 
 possibility of anyone but his 
 colleague getting sufficiently 
 near to relieve him of the ball if tackled. As to the 
 backs, of whom the centre player during the latter 
 part of the period alluded to was generally brought 
 forward as three-quarter-back, their duties were mainly 
 dropping and tackling. Punting was practically un- 
 known, and, when practised, generally elicited a howl 
 from the crowd in touch. 
 
 It must not be thought that because a heavy forward 
 was considered good value in those days, the forward 
 play was generally slow, though the abolition of hacking 
 certainly did much to render it so after 1871. There 
 were many very fast forwards, even in the heavy division, 
 adepts at piloting the ball through the opposing ranks, 
 keeping it just in front of them, regardless of hacks, 
 and dribbling it past the half-backs by a well-combined 
 rush, travelling at top speed the while. Amongst the best 
 of these were 0. A. Crompton and C. W. Sherrard, of the 
 
 E. BUTTER. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Barrmul &• Jerrard, 
 Gloucester Place, W.) 
 
TEE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 79 
 
 R.M.A.; F. Stokes, A. B. Colville, and H. Rawson, of 
 Blackheath ; R. Oliver, of West Kent ; F. Luscombe and 
 J. A. Body, of the Gipsies ; and M. Davies, G. Hamilton, 
 and E. C. Holmes, of Richmond. The last-named trio 
 were specially good at passing from one to another ; so 
 that if one of them got a chance of a run, the other 
 two generally managed to transact some important 
 business with the ball before it was brought to rest. As 
 a rule, perhaps, of all the forwards round London, the 
 wearers of the red and black 
 jerseys of Blackheath fol- 
 lowed-up the hardest. 
 
 First and foremost of all 
 half-backs, whether of this 
 or any other period, was 
 C. S. Dakyns, who, from 1861 
 to 1868, accomplished such 
 marvellous achievements on 
 Old Bigside at Rugby and 
 in the ranks of the Rich- 
 mond Club, as could hardly 
 be credited by those who 
 never saw him at his prime. 
 About five feet eight inches 
 in height, and squarely 
 built, he appeared to be 
 a mass of sinew ; his dodg- 
 ing powers were wonderful, and he could run as fast, 
 twisting and turning amongst a crowd of oppos- 
 ing forwards, as most players could when progress- 
 ing in a bee-line over a clear expanse of turf. He 
 caught and fielded a ball unerringly, and his science 
 and knowledge of the intricacies of the game were as 
 unequalled as the skill with which he turned them to 
 the best advantage in a difficulty. His dropping powers 
 with either foot were admirable, and many a time have 
 I seen him drop a goal from a distance of fifty or sixty- 
 yards when an opponent has had firm hold of one of his 
 arms but failed to get possession of the ball, which, held 
 by the string, Dakyns would let fall from his unen- 
 cumbered hand in front of an unerring foot. In the 
 three principal matches of one Rugby season, Dakyns 
 dropped two goals for the Sixth v. the School, one for 
 Old Rugbeians v. Present, and a poster for the School v. 
 
 C. S. DAKYNS. 
 
 {From a Photograph by H. Webster, 
 Baysu-ater.) 
 
80 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the two Cock Houses ; when it is remembered that not 
 less than 120 players were engaged in each match, some 
 idea may be formed of the magnitude of this series of 
 feats. His tackling was as deadly as his dropping at 
 goal, and general was the regret when an accident to his 
 knee obliged him to give up playing. I have no hesita- 
 tion in stating my opinion — which, I should add, is 
 shared by many players who have watched the Rugby 
 game carefully for two or three decades — that the 
 famous " Pup " Dakyns was the best all-round football 
 player who ever donned a jersey. 
 
 Of the other half-backs of that period, C. S. Fryer, 
 well-known as one of the best sprinters of the London 
 Athletic Club, was very useful to Blackheath by reason 
 of his pace and the trickiness of his spurts; as was 
 R. Philpotts, who got over the ground by a series of 
 jumps, and was very difficult to tackle. H. M. Hamilton, 
 of the Marlborough Nomads, and J. A. Bentley, of the 
 Gipsies, were both very fast, and the latter was much 
 helped by his weight and strength, which on one 
 occasion at Chislehurst enabled him to run-in, carrying 
 two of his opponents on his back as easily as if they 
 were mere rag dolls. Of the R.M.A. cadets, P. C. Walker 
 played a rough, hard game, and R. P, Maitland a pretty 
 one, with much effect ; and F. Campbell was invaluable 
 on a wet ground, and, being built on a small scale, was 
 said occasionally to make a long run between the legs 
 of his opponents, a feat which, I believe, was rivalled by 
 R. T. Finch in later years. Walter Slade, the champion 
 mile runner, had a happy knack of dropping goals, and 
 was very useful to West Kent ; whilst Richmond had an 
 excellent trio in R. Murray, a very neat dodging runner ; 
 E. C. Holmes, one of the most hard-working of men, and 
 equally good ' in or behind the scrummage ; and J. A. 
 Boyle. The last-named, an old Marlburian, was one of 
 the surest of place-kicks, and also an admirable drop. 
 Curiously enough, when about to drop, he did not hold 
 the ball in the usual way, but allowed it to rest on the 
 extended palm of one hand, in precisely the same 
 manner as the late Mr. T. C. Goodrich, the famous Free 
 Foresters' slow underhand bowler, treated a cricket-ball 
 before delivering it. 
 
 This review of the game at the time when the Rugby 
 Football Union was founded, may give to players of more 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 81 
 
 recent times some idea of the position ; but the fact that 
 the rise and progress of the leading clubs is dealt with in 
 another chapter has necessitated my confining myself in 
 the main to general remarks, and leaving the details to 
 other contributors. 
 
 We will now return to the doings of the committee 
 of 1871, whom we left hard at work drawing up the laws 
 of the game. E. C. Holmes, captain of Richmond, kindly 
 placed nis chambers in Bedford Row at the disposal of 
 the committee, and there amongst piles of papers and 
 books relating to laws of a very different kind many a 
 long evening between February and June, 1871, was 
 spent in earnest deliberation. After three meetings, 
 however, at which general principles were very fully 
 discussed and many points of difficulty settled, the 
 actual drafting of the code was entrusted to A. Rutter 
 (the president), E. C. Holmes, and L. J. Maton, three old 
 Rugbeians, who had all the intricacies of the school laws, 
 as well as the variations affected by London clubs, at 
 their fingers' ends, and were famous players to boot. 
 Even then the work progressed very slowly, and it 
 appeared doubtful whether the code would be got into 
 shape for approval by the full committee, and subse- 
 quently by a general meeting, before the opening of the 
 next season, until, most fortunately for the Union, though 
 not for himself, Maton, the elected draftsman of the trio, 
 broke a leg. Anxious for some employment whilst thus 
 laid on the shelf, and accepting his colleagues' offer of a 
 large supply of tobacco if he completed the work before 
 he left his sofa — his just claim for this has, I hear, never 
 been met, but is probably now statute-barred — the sturdy 
 captain of the Wimbledon Hornets performed his arduous 
 task so satisfactorily that by the 22nd June the new code 
 had been approved by the committee, and on the 24th 
 July was accepted in its entirety by a special general 
 meeting. Inasmuch as in his carefully- written "Athletics 
 and Football " (Badminton Library, 1889) Mr. Montague 
 Shearman has been good enough to give expression to 
 the view that E. H. Ash and I had the chief hand in 
 drafting the code, I think it right on our joint behalf 
 here to state our disclaimer. Maton and his two colleagues 
 did the whole of the work. 
 
 A few words now on the original Union code. The 
 
82 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Rugby School laws consisted in 1871 of six definitions, 
 followed by a lengthy introduction, which was practically 
 a treatise on the game interlarded with numerous laws, 
 and winding up with thirty-four rules, nine of which 
 were merely of local import. Out of these three parts 
 the Union legislators formed a set of fifty -nine laws, the 
 chief points of difference from the School code being the \ 
 following : Hacking, hacking over, and tripping up were * 
 abolished ; a player being off-side was placed on-side by 
 one of his own side having run in front of him either 
 Avith the ball or having kicked it when behind him, and 
 the off-side laws generally were more fully explained ; in 
 the case of a knock-on or throw-forward, if no fair catch 
 had been made, a scrummage on the spot might be 
 claimed ; the ball was to be returned into play from the 
 spot where it crossed the line of touch ; the elaborate 
 method of bringing the ball out for a try at goal was 
 abandoned in favour of its being brought straight out 
 from a mark made on the goal-line opposite to the spot 
 where it was touched down ; and the captains of the 
 sides were to be the sole arbiters of all disputes. In 
 other respects the Rugby School game was preserved in 
 all its leading features, and except that pun ting-out has 
 been abolished, the main principles which characterised 
 the original Union code remain practically unchanged to 
 the present day. The style of play has of course very 
 materially altered, numerous penalties have been pre- 
 scribed to meet cases of violation of certain laws, and a 
 system of scoring by points introduced, but the old 
 principles are still retained. 
 
 A. Rutter as president, E. H. Ash as hon. secretary 
 and treasurer, and the original committee were re-elected 
 for the season 1871-72, and no alteration was made in 
 either the bye-laws or the laws of the game. The enrolled 
 clubs numbered thirty- one, and it is worth remarking 
 that, though Edinburgh University, the Glasgow Aca- 
 demicals, and the West of Scotland had joined, the clubs 
 in the North of England stood aloof. This season saw 
 the decision of the first international match that was 
 played in England, and the gallant victory achieved by 
 the English Twenty, who were on this occasion under 
 Union auspices for the first time, increased not a little 
 the public interest in the game. 
 
 The following season's general meeting passed off 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1830. 83 
 
 without any alteration in the laws of the game, but Bye- 
 law 2 was amended, two vice-presidents being created, 
 and two members added to the committee, which thus 
 numbered fifteen. A. Rutterwas again re-elected president, 
 and F. Stokes, then captain of the English Twenty and 
 of the Blackheath Club, and E. C. Holmes, formerly 
 captain of Richmond, filled the vice-chairs. The writer 
 succeeded E. H. Ash as hon. secretary and treasurer ; 
 the retirement of the latter, owing to pressure of busi- 
 ness, was a great loss, for he had done more than anyone 
 else to establish the Union on a sound foundation and 
 bring it up to the satisfactory position it occupied at that 
 time. During this season the number of clubs belonging 
 to the Union was nearly doubled, there being an addition 
 of twenty-eight new members. The North of England 
 sent a first instalment with Hull, Liverpool, Manchester, 
 Rochdale, and Wigan ; the Scottish contingent was 
 swelled by the joining of the Edinburgh Academicals, 
 Edinburgh Wanderers, and Royal High School ; Trinity 
 College, Dublin, posed as the first representative from 
 Ireland ; Oxford University threw in their lot, and 
 Dulwich College, St. Paul's School, and Tonbridge School 
 followed the excellent example set by Wellington College. 
 The fact that the six leading Scottish clubs were mem- 
 bers, although in the course of this season they formed 
 a Union of their own, was a welcome proof of their 
 appreciation of the work of the parent society. Indeed, 
 this appreciation was expressed at a meeting of five of the 
 English and five of the Scottish Committee held in Glas- 
 gow on the morning of the international match, when the 
 Rugby Union game was discussed, the object of both 
 parties being that the two Unions should go hand in 
 hand. 
 
 The season of 1873-74 saw the addition to Bye-law 5, 
 at the instance of F. I. Currey (Marlborough Nomads), 
 of a second annual general meeting to be held in March 
 for the consideration of the bye-laws and laws of the 
 game. The fact that a goal had been claimed on the 
 occasion of a ball bounding from the ground over the 
 cross-bar led to a slight alteration in the laws, and it 
 was also laid down that a player could not be off-side in 
 his own goal. Attempts were made by F. Luscombe 
 and E. C. Hill respectively, to allow the bringing out of 
 the ball in a straight line from where it had been 
 G 2 
 
84 : RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 touched down, even if between the posts, and to provide 
 the penalty of a free kick for off-side play ; but the 
 proposers failed to carry their points, though, as will be 
 seen hereafter, this was simply because they anticipated 
 events a little too much. A. Rutter was elected president 
 for yet another year, and the two vice-presidents were 
 also retained in office ; but the writer, being about to 
 make a tour round the world, was replaced as hon. 
 secretary and treasurer by F. I. Currey, one of the 
 winning English Twenty of the previous season, who, 
 from the foundation of the Union to the present time, 
 has proved himself one of the most hard-working, 
 conscientious, and enthusiastic members of the Union 
 Committee. A challenge was received from Ireland for 
 an international match, but it was felt necessary to 
 intimate that it could not be accepted until the follow- 
 ing season. The winter under notice, however, was 
 productive of a step in advance in the shape of the 
 first meeting of teams representing the North and South 
 of England. The match, which was played at Rugby on 
 January 29th, 1874, between two Twenties, was drawn ; 
 it was not actually managed by the Union, as they then 
 had so few northern adherents that it was felt that the 
 northern clubs had better select their representatives ; 
 F. I. Currey, got up the southern team. In the course 
 of this Union year the number of affiliated clubs rose to 
 eighty-one, Cambridge University being the most con- 
 spicuous of the new members ; whilst the northern 
 contingent was swelled by the joining of four more 
 clubs. Football was much increasing in popularity in 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire, and four northern forwards 
 won places in the English Twenty. 
 
 The following season saw the promotion of F. Stokes 
 to the post of president ; A. Rutter, who had done 
 excellent work throughout the opening three and a 
 half years of the Union, retiring to a seat amongst the 
 committee. C. D. Heatley, captain of Richmond, and 
 L. J. Maton were elected vice-presidents, and the writer 
 of these pages returned to the office of hon. secretary 
 and treasurer, the duties of which F. I. Currey, at con- 
 siderable personal inconvenience and with signal success, 
 had performed during his absence. It may be noted 
 that all the four officers this season were Old Rugbeians. 
 The accession of northern clubs led to the election of 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 85 
 
 E. Kewley (Liverpool), and James MacLarcn (Manchester), 
 as members of the committee. The North v. South 
 match was placed on a permanent footing this season, 
 to be playea alternately in London and the North* under j 
 Union control, the proposal being made by Roger Walker, 
 of the Manchester Club. The first of the series of Eng- 
 land v. Ireland matches was brought off successfully in 
 London. The amount of the entrance fee and subscrip- 
 tion was this year raised to £1 Is. in each case ; the 
 
 BALL OUT OF SCRUMMAGE I PASSING FROM ONE HALF-BACK TO THE OTHER. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 auditing of the accounts and publication of a balance 
 sheet were provided for ; and Law 59 was amended so as 
 to allow of the appointment of umpires, if desired. A 
 system of scoring by points was mooted, but rejected, 
 the proposal that three touches down should equal a 
 try not meeting with approval. Forward play during 
 this season was very unsatisfactory as a rule, shoving 
 being apparently considered the main object, and good 
 foot-work at a discount. The heavy-weights seemed 
 afraid to use their feet in a scrummage, and ignorant 
 how to do so when the ball was in the open. One 
 hundred and thirteen — including twenty-one northern 
 — clubs were on the Union list, in spite of the retirement 
 
86 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of most of the Scottish and Irish subscribers, owing to 
 their now having Unions of their own ; the Calcutta 
 Club and Marlborough College were perhaps the most 
 notable accessions. 
 
 The season of 1875-76 saw the following officers at 
 the head of Union affairs : — L. J. Maton, president ; C. D. 
 Heatley and Hon. H. A. Lawrence, who had captained 
 the English Twenty the previous season, vice-presidents ; 
 A. G. Guillemard, hon. secretary ; and W. Slade, trea- 
 surer. The outcome of a circular addressed to the 
 Scottish and Irish Unions and the English clubs, was 
 an amendment to Law 7, to the effect that a match 
 should be decided by a majority of goals ; but if no 
 goal or an equal number of goals should be kicked, then 
 by a majority of tries. This amendment, which was 
 brought forward by A. Rutter and F. Stokes, became 
 law at a special general meeting held in November, 
 1875. Other alterations made in the code at the March 
 meeting provided for the change of goals at half-time, 
 and forbade kicking the ball so as to pitch in touch 
 after a kick-off. A proposal emanated from the Scottish 
 Lmion that the numbers in the international matches 
 should be reduced to fifteen a side, but the season was 
 then too far advanced for the change to be accepted 
 so as to apply to the forthcoming match. In the course 
 of this season the staff and gentlemen cadets of the 
 Royal Military Academy, Woolwich, generously offered a 
 challenge cup of the value of £150 to be competed for 
 by Union clubs. Although such competitions had never 
 found favour with the Union, the offer was gratefully 
 accepted, and a sub-committee drafted a set of rules 
 to govern the tournament ; eventually, however, it was 
 found that the proposal did not commend itself to 
 the Governor of the Royal Military Academy, and 
 the offer was accordingly withdrawn. The deteriora- 
 tion in forward play may be gathered from the 
 following extract from an article in Bell's Life : — 
 " How much longer are w T e to see forwards chosen 
 simply for weight and solidity, and not for know- 
 ledge of the game or skill in its practice ? How 
 much longer are we to be wearied by monotonous 
 shoving matches instead of spirited scrummages, and dis- 
 gusted at seeing a 14st. Hercules straining every muscle 
 to move an opposing mountain of flesh a } r ard or two 
 
THE BUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 87 
 
 further from his goal-line, whilst he is all the time 
 blissfully oblivious of the fact that the ball is lying 
 undisturbed at his feet ? We do not for an instant fail to 
 recognise the worth of a heavy forward if he knows 
 the game and can use his feet, but if he can only 
 shove — and not unfrequently off his side — and, when he 
 finds the ball before him after the scrummage has broken 
 up, must needs pick it up and sling it under his arm, 
 imagining himself a half-back, instead of taking it on 
 goalwards by dribbling it in the fore-front of a well- 
 concerted rush of his fellow-forwards, we would sooner 
 that he donned his ulster and hid his massive frame 
 amongst the crowd of spectators in touch." The Union 
 Committee drew special attention to the very indifferent 
 form shown by forwards in a report issued at the close 
 of the season. 
 
 The fact that there is no special feature to chronicle 
 in connection with the winter of 1876 : 77 affords con- 
 clusive evidence that Union affairs proceeded smoothly. 
 The officers were C D. Heatley, president ; Hon. H. A. 
 Lawrence and A. G. Guillemard, vice-presidents ; and 
 H. J. Graham (Wimbledon), hon. sec. and treasurer. 
 There was no alteration in the laws calling for remark, 
 but the number of players in all matches under Union 
 auspices was reduced to fifteen a-side ; Ireland proposed 
 a twenty a-side match, but did not press the point, 
 as the English Committee held strongly to the view that 
 forward play would be improved by the lesser number. 
 And this view seemed to be fairly borne out, for the 
 heavy forwards in the leading matches were much quicker 
 on their feet than they had been for several seasons. 
 There was also some improvement in the play of the 
 backs, who practised dropping rather more instead of run- 
 ning until they were tackled. Doubtless, not a few players 
 took a leaf out of the book of L. Stokes, whose superb 
 dropping in England v. Ireland at the Oval was the 
 leading feature of the match. The Union finances were 
 in a sufficiently satisfactory state this season to allow of 
 the investment of £150 in Consols, forming the nucleus 
 of a fund which by the time that the Union attained 
 its majority in January, 1892, had swelled to very 
 considerable proportions. The Southern Rugby Union 
 of New South Wales, comprising sixteen clubs, had 
 by this time adopted the Rugby Union laws, and there 
 
88 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 were also many adherents in New Zealand. This year 
 the North had their first captain of the English team 
 in E. Kewley (Liverpool), an excellent forward and 
 very popular representative. 
 
 C. D. Heatley was again elected president for the 
 season 1877-78, and his colleagues were A. G. Guille- 
 mard and F. Luscombe (Gipsies), the latter superseding 
 Lawrence, whom pressure of business prevented from 
 again accepting office ; H. J. Graham remained at his 
 post as hon. secretary and treasurer. Amendments were 
 made in the bye-laws making past presidents ex-officio 
 members of the committee, and providing for the 
 striking off the Union roll of all clubs whose subscrip- 
 tions, due in October, had not been paid by the 
 following March. In the laws of the game a salutary 
 amendment was made, providing that, on a player 
 being tackled, the ball, if firmly held, must be put 
 down at once. The object of this was to make the 
 game faster ; previously it had been the custom to 
 hold the ball till the forwards had all come up. Some 
 players, indeed, if on the ground with the ball under 
 them, would rise with it ; others would leave it on 
 the ground but deny the right of anyone to kick it 
 so long as the tackled player kept his fingers on it. 
 Rugby L T nion football had by this time made great 
 strides in the North, and the energetic administration 
 and vigorous play of E. Kewley, A. N. Hornby, J. 
 MacLaren, R Walker, H. W. T. Garnett, G. Harrison 
 and others had led to a considerable increase in the 
 number of clubs, twenty-six of whom were members 
 of the Union. Complaints, however, came from them 
 that the off-side laws were in many cases persistently 
 disregarded, and it was suggested that a penalty should 
 be imposed to counteract the evil. Such a measure, 
 however, failed to commend itself to the general 
 meeting, and a sub-committee was appointed to con- 
 sider the question during the recess. This was done 
 very thoroughly, and a minute was presented to the 
 October meeting, 1878, which was subsequently printed 
 and sent to all Union clubs, thoroughly explaining the 
 off-side laws and calling upon all players to observe 
 them and play the game in the proper spirit, in which 
 case the imposition of penalties — which were then con- 
 sidered undesirable — would be unnecessary. A very 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 
 
 handsome silver cup of Indian workmanship was this 
 season presented to the Rugby Union by the Calcutta 
 Club to be played for annually by England and Scot- 
 land; G. A. J. Rothney, the hon. secretary, who, it is 
 believed, was the prime mover in the matter, subse- 
 quently received the Union's thanks in person at an 
 international match dinner at Manchester. With re- 
 gard to the merits of players of this period it deserves 
 mention that L. 
 Stokes, captain of 
 Blackheath, and one 
 of the three-quarter- 
 backs of the English 
 team, ran in no fewer 
 than thirty- two times 
 in his club's matches 
 during this and the 
 preceding season ; 
 from this it will be 
 judged how much 
 Blackheath, then the 
 premier club, OAved 
 to his efforts. 
 
 The season of 
 1878-79 was a fairly 
 eventful one so far 
 as the work of the 
 Union was con- 
 cerned, but a very 
 severe winter ma- 
 terially reduced the 
 
 number of matches played, some of the grounds 
 in the North being under a thick covering of snow 
 for ten or twelve consecutive weeks, and both North 
 v. South and England v. Ireland had to be postponed. 
 The officers for the year were : A. G. Guillemard, 
 president ; E. Kewley and F. I. Currey, vice-presidents ; 
 and W. Wallace (Richmond), hon. secretary and 
 treasurer. It is noteworthy that the first five presi- 
 dents were all Old Rugbeians. The spread of football 
 in the North led to the election of six representatives 
 to the committee. County matches had now become 
 very popular, especially in the North, where a represen- 
 tative fifteen could more easily be commanded than in 
 
 THE CALCU1TA. CUP. 
 (From a Photograph by J. Moffat, Edinburgh. 
 
90 • RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the South. The Union Committee took a step in the 
 right direction when they issued a note defining the 
 qualification for a county player, and County Committees 
 were formed for the management of matches. No altera- 
 tions of sufficient importance to call for comment in 
 these pages were made in the laws, except that in the 
 law regulating charging . it was provided that no player 
 should obstruct an opponent unless the latter were 
 holding the ball or the player were himself running at 
 the ball. But a revised code of laws, drafted by A. K. 
 Butterworth, captain of the Marlborough Nomads, was 
 submitted to the committee, and subsequently at the 
 March general meeting proposed by A. Budd and G. R. 
 Hill for general adoption ; it failed, however, to obtain 
 sufficient support. This code was cleverly drafted, the 
 author, himself a capital half-back, being well-versed in 
 the game ; but he appeared to have somewhat sacrificed 
 clearness of explanation to an absorbing desire to be 
 terse. However, the promoters by a single vote carried 
 a motion for a sub-committee to revise the laws, and 
 F. R. Adams, J. V. Brewer, A. K. Butterworth, G. R. Hill, 
 J. MacLaren, and L. Stokes, with the president, were 
 accordingly appointed. The entire Union Code was care- 
 fully considered in the course of a series of meetings 
 during the ensuing summer, and the result of the 
 deliberations reported at the opening general meeting 
 of the following season. There was some talk during 
 this winter of a visit of a team of Rugby Union players 
 to the Australasian Colonies ; but the colonists were not 
 prepared to guarantee expenses, and, as it was also 
 considered that Rugby football had hardly made 
 sufficient headway in the sunny south to ensure good 
 matches, the project fell through. 
 
 The following winter, though a severe one, was fairly 
 dry, and the Union enjoyed a most satisfactory season. 
 The outgoing officers were all re-elected, except E. 
 Kewley, who found it difficult to spare sufficient time 
 for the post of a vice-president, and so retired in favour 
 of J. MacLaren (Manchester), a very energetic and 
 efficient administrator. The alterations in the code 
 which were proposed by the Special Committee were 
 considered at the opening general meeting, and passed 
 en bloc. They were few in number, and the main points 
 were the limiting of the size of the field of play; the 
 
THE HUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 91 
 
 option given to the opposite side to have the ball kicked 
 off or dropped out (as the case might be) again, if it 
 should pitch in touch ; the preventing of any obstruction 
 to a player within twenty-five yards of his own goal-line 
 when about to drop out ; and the providing for the ball 
 being put down in a scrummage at the place where any 
 breach of law not otherwise dealt with occurred, upon a 
 claim to that effect being made by the opposite side. 
 No change of any importance was made at the March 
 meeting. The forward play during this season was fast 
 and full of spirit, and showed decided improvement. 
 
 EBB33L-' * ~£~ — -* ■ ■ l$„-r 
 
 A TRY : THE PLACE KICK AT GOAL. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford. ) 
 
 This was mainly due to the law that the ball, on its 
 being held, must be put down immediately, for a high 
 premium was consequently set upon pace and good 
 dribbling and foot- work. Both players and spectators 
 profited by the change, for the monotonous long-drawn- 
 out scrummages disappeared as if by magic. This was 
 the first season in which the travelling expenses of 
 players in Union matches were defrayed out of the Union 
 funds, a resolution to that effect having been carried 
 nem. con. at a special general meeting held in January. 
 The Union matches drew very large attendances this 
 season, and the profits* of that against Scotland at Man- 
 chester, after a liberal gift to local charities, exceeded 
 £250, so that the Consols held by the trustees were 
 increased to £600. A proposal was received from a 
 
92 RUGBY FOOTBALL. ■ 
 
 gentleman in Sydney, New South Wales, to bring an 
 Australian team to play a series of matches in England 
 during the ensuing season, provided their expenses were 
 guaranteed, but this being reported impracticable, the 
 proposal was withdrawn. 
 
 The above notes will serve to show the administrative 
 work of the Union during its first ten seasons, and I leave 
 the record to be carried on by another pen in the follow- 
 ing chapter. Wonderful indeed had been the spread of 
 the Rugby game during the twenty 3^ears following the 
 foundation of the Blackheath Club in 1860, and especially 
 in the North, as may be judged from the fact that on 
 one Saturday in March, 1880, no fewer than one hundred 
 and six matches were fixed for decision in the counties 
 of Lancashire, Yorkshire, and Cheshire alone. This large 
 increase in the number of clubs resulted in the drafting 
 into their fifteens of a large proportion of tyros, very 
 keen and full of pluck, but ignorant not only of the laws, 
 but of the leading principles of the game. And as, in 
 addition to this, partisanship ran high, umpires had by 
 no means a pleasant time of it, their decisions being 
 freely disputed, and the Union Committee had plenty of 
 work on their hands. However, as time went on and 
 the laws became better understood by the players, matters 
 improved in this respect. Match reports, too, as sent up 
 to the sporting papers, grew more intelligible, and one 
 read less frequently of " touch in Q " instead of touch-in- 
 goal — Q was the reference letter in the plan of the field : 
 of " rouges " and " dead balls " instead of touches down ; 
 of" packs " and " bullies " where scrummages were meant ; 
 of " collaring " instead of tackling, and the like. Indeed, 
 football, the literature of which began with Mr. C. W. 
 Alcock's carefully-edited "Football Annual" in 1868, 
 developed various journals specially devoted to its 
 interests before a dozen years were past. A great con- 
 trast this to the state of affairs fifteen or twenty years 
 previously, when it was an unusual circumstance if 
 Bell's Life, then the leading sporting paper, contained a 
 column of match reports emanating from the public 
 schools. 
 
 Players of the present day may well ask how the young 
 men of thirty years ago passed their Saturday after- 
 noons in the winter. The answer is not easy to find, but 
 it must be remembered that in those days a half-holiday 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1871-1880. 
 
 93 
 
 on Saturday was by no means the general custom, and a 
 very large number of offices were not closed until four 
 o'clock, so that outdoor exercise by daylight was possible 
 to but a few. Hockey was but little played, and I am 
 by way of thinking that, if there was no ice available for 
 skating, most men adjourned to billiard-rooms or went 
 straight home and smoked or slept until dinner-time. 
 We live a more vigorous and healthy life now. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 PROGRESS OF THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION FROM 
 SEASON 1880-81 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 By G. Rowland Hill, Hon. Sec. 
 
 DURING the season 1880-81 A. G. Guillemard was 
 again president, and Messrs. F. I. Curre}^ and 
 J. MacLaren remained vice-presidents, and W. Wallace 
 was again secretary. For the first time a challenge was 
 accepted from Wales to play England. Welsh football 
 was then, comparatively speaking, in its infancy, and the 
 Welshmen proved to be no match for their opponents. 
 Since that time Wales have made wonderful strides. It 
 was mainly through the energy and perseverance of 
 R. Mullock, who was hon. sec. of the Welsh Union 
 then, and who has retained the post up to the present 
 time, that England consented to play Wales, and by 
 doing so set a good example to the other nationalities, 
 and the credit is largely due to him for the present 
 satisfactory position of Welsh football. At the March 
 meeting an alteration in the laws emanating from a 
 well-known Yorkshireman, B. Schofield, was proposed, 
 giving a penalty of a " fair catch " for an infringement 
 of the " off-side " laws ; this proposition was not passed, 
 but, considering the novelty of its character, it received 
 considerable support. At that time penalties practically 
 did not exist in the laws, and it is easy to understand 
 that those who had not had the practical experience of 
 the necessity for them should be opponents of the in- 
 novation. The opposition was led by such able 
 authorities as Messrs. A. JBudd and E. T. Gurdon, and 
 it will be admitted that times have indeed changed 
 when they, in common with all their colleagues, admit 
 that a thorough system of penalties is needed if the 
 
F. I. CURREY. 
 
 (From a Photograph bit Herman Ernst, 
 
 St. John's Wood, N. W.) 
 
 President, 1884-86. 
 
 L. STOKES. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Lock & Whitfield 
 
 Regent Street, W.) 
 
 President, 1886-S8 
 
 J. MAC LAREN 
 
 (From a Photograph by the London and County Photographic Co.) 
 
 President, 1882-84. 
 
 A, BUDD. 
 President, 1SSS-S9. 
 
 F. T. GURDON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by W. J). Downey, 
 
 Ebury Street, S.W.) 
 
 President, 1890-92. 
 
96 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 game is to be played properly. At the same meeting 
 a proposal to alter the scoring laws was made. Nothing 
 was, however, then done in the matter. Reference to 
 the changes which have since been effected in this 
 respect are referred to in these pages. 
 
 The question of the desirability of instituting a 
 Challenge Cup for the Union was again mooted; the 
 suggestion met with but little approval, and though 
 cups have multiplied under the management of bodies 
 allied to the Union yet. there has never been a serious 
 
 effort made to .institute a 
 competition open to all clubs 
 ^glgfl jj j|^ in membership of it. 
 
 M ^^^ When I state that, on 
 
 4 the whole, I consider that 
 
 f (fgagfr-' fte jl CU P S nave Deen prejudicial 
 
 to the game, I am aware 
 that I lay myself open 
 to the charge of want of 
 consistency, as in my own 
 county of Kent I supported 
 the introduction of the sys- 
 tem. The competition was 
 introduced in Kent as a last re- 
 source, in the hope of stopping 
 the game from dying out in 
 certain parts of the county. 
 Cup competitions have un- 
 doubtedly created a large amount of interest, and if, 
 after they had given a genuine impetus to the game, 
 they could have been dropped, good rather than evil 
 might have resulted from them, but in some districts 
 the system has been permitted to assume very large pro- 
 portions, and it is responsible for many evils which have 
 crept into the game, notably betting, which is an un- 
 mitigated curse to any branch of athletics which it 
 
 ROWLAND HILL. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Morgan and Kidd 
 Greenwich, S.&) 
 
 contaminates. 
 
 For season 
 were the same 
 
 1881-2 the president and vice-president 
 as in the previous season. W. Wallace, 
 
 whilst still retaining the post of treasurer, resigned the 
 secretaryship, and the position was rilled by the writer, 
 who has had the privilege of holding it up to the present 
 
 time. 
 
 At the suggestion of H. Vassall, who at the time was 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 07 
 
 captain of Oxford University, a new match was arranged 
 between London and a combined team of the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge. The fixture has been con- 
 tinued ever since, and has been of the greatest assistance 
 to the authorities in the selection of the South team. 
 The London team of recent years has not only been 
 selected from Metropolitan clubs, but also from Western 
 and Midland clubs, so that the match is now the very 
 best trial match for the South team. Trial matches 
 have been tried to assist the Northern members in the 
 selection of the North team, but have been found 
 unnecessary owing to the keen interest in county 
 fixtures, which supply the requisite opportunities 
 properly to judge the merits of players. 
 
 Whilst touching on the question of selection of 
 teams, it may be of interest to point out the mode of 
 selecting players for the South and International 
 matches. The Northern members of the Union Com- 
 mittee choose the North team, and the Southern 
 members the South team. The International teams 
 are chosen by a sub-committee of six, three of whom 
 are Northerners and three are Southerners. The full 
 committee have the power of altering the recommenda- 
 tions of the sub-committee. 
 
 In January, 1 882, a Special General Meeting was called 
 by Yorkshire representatives to consider proposals deal- 
 ing with the place at which general meetings should be 
 held, and the question was again raised of giving penalties 
 for " off-side " play. A proposition to give power to the 
 referee to order players off the field for wilful breaches 
 of the law or foul play was also considered. 
 
 The general meetings had always been held in 
 London, and the proposal to have the meetings 
 alternately in the North and South met with little 
 favour at the meeting. In the following March, at the 
 usual general meeting, Bye-law 1 was altered so as to 
 make it clear that they should always be held in London. 
 An attempt to alter this bye-law has been made from 
 time to time, but it has not met with the general 
 approval of the football community, even though, at the 
 meeting held in September, 1891, a majority voted in 
 favour of the alternate system, but, as a two-thirds 
 majority is required to carry an alteration in the bye- 
 laws of the Union, and this not being obtained, the 
 
 H 
 
93 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 bye-law remains unchanged. It should be pointed out 
 that the majority was almost entirely composed of York- 
 shire representatives, which county, owing to a regulation 
 which does not permit a club to enter the Yorkshire 
 Cup Competition unless the club belongs to the Rugby 
 Union, has by this means alone largely increased the 
 numbers of its clubs in membership with the parent body. 
 
 I am accurate in stating that the majority of 
 clubs in every other district in England are opposed to 
 the change, so in view of the widespread and significant 
 opposition to the proposal, it is to be hoped that it 
 will not be pushed any further ; that the change would 
 be detrimental to the good government of the Union I 
 have no shadow of doubt. London has been found to 
 be convenient for representatives from all parts ; the 
 work done at the meetings has been the result of a 
 general consensus of opinion, not affected specially by 
 the views of the workers in any particular district. If a 
 change is made, the meetings will lose their representa- 
 tive character ; the body will be governed by sections ; 
 reprisals will inevitably arise ; one district will be found 
 when its opportunity comes endeavouring to upset the 
 decisions of the other, and the continuity of policy which 
 has produced such good effects would be at an end. 
 Though at this meeting no penalty laws were passed, yet 
 the committee showed that the necessity for their intro- 
 duction was becoming more fully realised by promising 
 that they would carefully consider the subject and 
 report on it ; the other proposals respecting wilful 
 breaches of the laAvs and foul play obtained but little 
 support ; steps have, however, had to be taken since to 
 deal with these matters. This is another instance of the 
 general unwillingness for change which exists, unless 
 practical experience shows the necessity, a perfectly sound 
 doctrine so long as we do not allow our unwillingness to 
 blind us to the signs which arise and which should be 
 used to form our judgment. These proposals were 
 literally scouted at the time: now sad experience has 
 made converts of all the authorities. 
 
 As the result of the promise to consider the off-side 
 question, at the March meeting the committee proposed 
 penalties. They were not of a very stringent character, 
 as, for instance, from the " free kick " awarded a goal 
 could not be. secured. 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 99 
 
 Time has proved that this penalty did not meet the 
 requirements, reference to which will be made further on 
 in these pages. The experiment of having neutral referees 
 for International matches was tried this season, and 
 gave general satisfaction; the system has now been 
 thoroughly adopted in all matches. 
 
 For the season 1882-83 J. Maclaren was appointed 
 president, and L. Stokes joined F. I. Currey as vice- 
 president. J. Maclaren was the first Northerner to hold 
 this position. He has rendered and still renders the most 
 valuable services to the Union. It was at his suggestion 
 that the first match was played between the North ami 
 the South, and he has laboured incessantly to create and 
 cement a good feeling between players in both divisions 
 of the country. No matters of special interest cropped 
 up that season; peaceful progress alone reigned supreme. 
 
 In the season 1883-84 the officers were unchanged. 
 At the October General Meeting several alterations in 
 the laws were passed ; the practice of " punting-out," 
 which had almost grown into disuse, Avas done away 
 with, and the practice of allowing a second try to be 
 obtained after an ineffectual shot at goal was abolished. 
 Both of these changes were great improvements. 
 " Punting-out " had long lost its scientific points, as 
 were exemplified in the old Rugby game, and of recent 
 years had only been used to obtain a " tricky " second 
 try. As regards the other point, the practice of the 
 attacking side charging before the kick had become 
 prevalent, and further in those cases in which a player 
 who secured a second try had acted quite fairly, the 
 score resulting was out of all proportion to the piece of 
 play which obtained it. 
 
 The " maul in goal " question was also then con- 
 sidered ; a proposal to abolish them altogether Avas made, 
 and has since from time to time been repeated. Never- 
 theless, the " mauls in goal " have been able to maintain 
 their miserable struggling existence even up to the 
 present time, partly owing to their comparatively rare 
 occurrence, and partly from the difficulty of finding a 
 satisfactory solution of the question. Under the neAv 
 laAvs " mauls " have been abolished. 
 
 This season will be noted for the unfortunate difficulty 
 which occurred between the Rugby Union and the Scottish 
 Union, arising out of the International match pla}^ed at 
 
100 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Blackheath. To start with, I would point out that the 
 Scotch, .Irish, and Welsh Unions played at that time 
 identically according to the laws of the Rugby Union, 
 and one of the most unfortunate outcomes of this dispute 
 was the breaking up of the practice by which players in all 
 parts of the globe played according to the same code of laws. 
 
 I will briefly give the facts which gave rise to the 
 dispute. 
 
 In the course of play, the ball was knocked back by 
 a Scotsman (ruled so by the referee, E. Scriven, a well- 
 known Irish player), one of the English team secured 
 it, and a try was obtained. The Scotch claimed that 
 '• knocking back " was illegal ; the English held that it 
 was not an illegal act, and even though it had been, the 
 act was done by a Scotsman, and as no Englishman 
 claimed for it (decided by the referee), the Scotch could 
 not claim for or profit by their own infringement. 
 
 The Scotch Union held that the point should be 
 adjudicated on by a neutral person : the Rugby Union 
 maintained that as it was a question of fact on which the 
 referee alone could decide, they could not agree to the 
 point being submitted to a neutral party, and they 
 claimed the match as a win for England. A long 
 correspondence took place, and as during the season of 
 1884-85 the Unions were unable to come to a satisfactory 
 agreement, the England v. Scotland match was not 
 played in 1885. No further steps were taken in the 
 matter until early in 1886, when a proposal was made by 
 H. G. Cook, then the hon. sec. of the Irish Union, that 
 representatives of the various Unions should meet to 
 talk over the matter. To this proposal England and 
 Scotland consented, and a meeting was accordingly held 
 in Dublin in February of that year ; the result of that 
 meeting was that Scotland awarded the match to 
 England on the understanding that England joined an 
 International Board composed of equal representatives of 
 the four Unions, whose duties would be to decide any 
 dispute which might arise in future International 
 matches on questions of construction of points of law. 
 It was hoped that this arrangement would have put an 
 end to the international difficulties. Unfortunately this 
 was not to be. An alteration made in the scoring law by 
 the Rugby Union in October, 1886, brought the mat- 
 ter up again. Previous to this change being made, 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 101 
 
 LORD KINGSBTTRGH. 
 (From a Photograph by J. Horsburgh, 
 Edinburgh.) 
 
 the practice in vogue of consulting the other Unions 
 
 before proposing alterations in the laws had been 
 
 adopted ; but none of them 
 
 were prepared to give a 
 
 decided opinion. However, 
 
 when the change had been 
 
 carried they jointly pro- 
 tested against its coming into 
 
 operation in International 
 
 matches, and England agreed 
 
 to play during the season 
 
 1886-87 according to the old 
 
 system, as the matches had 
 
 been arranged with the other 
 
 Unions prior to the date on 
 
 which the scoring law had 
 
 been altered. 
 
 During the next season, 
 
 1887-88, the other national- 
 ities did not pla}^ England. 
 
 They desired to extend the powers of the International 
 
 Board so that the laws guiding International matches 
 
 should be made by that body. The Rugby Union held 
 
 that the Board would inevitably become the law-makers 
 
 of the game in general, and 
 that therefore, in justice to 
 the number of clubs they 
 governed, they could not 
 join on a basis of equal re- 
 presentation with the other 
 Unions. Repeated efforts 
 were made to come to an 
 amicable settlement, but no 
 step had a practical result 
 until December, 1889, when 
 the Rugby Union offered to 
 submit the whole question 
 to arbitration. The other 
 Unions fell in with this pro- 
 posal, and Lord Kingsburgh 
 and Major Marindin, who 
 kindly had in the meantime 
 
 consented to act as arbitrators, met in April, 1890, and 
 
 shortly after gave their award. 
 
 MAJOR MARINDIN. 
 (From a Photograph by Fradelle & Young, 
 Regent Street, W.) 
 
102 • RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 I give the portion of the award which defines the 
 regulations of the Board. 
 
 1. International matches shall he played under one code of laws. 
 
 2. The laws presently existing of the Rugby Football Union, except 
 such parts of Laws 25 and 30 as impose a penalty of a free kick if the hall 
 be knocked on when thrown in from touch, shall he the first code of laws 
 for International matches. 
 
 3. The International Rughy Football Board shall consist of twelve 
 members, six of whom shall be elected to represent England, two to 
 represent Scotland, two to represent Ireland, and two to represent 
 Wales. 
 
 4. The International Board shall have power to settle all disputes 
 arising at or in connection with International matches, by a majority of 
 their number. 
 
 5. The International Board shall have power by a majority of not 
 less than three-fourths of their number to amend, alter, or cancel any 
 law in, and add new laws to, the International code. 
 
 The warm thanks of the football community are 
 due to these gentlemen for their labours. I trust, as I 
 know it to be their wish, that they have been the 
 instruments in making a lasting settlement. I now 
 go back to the season of 1883-84. On account of 
 increasing interest in county football in that season it 
 was felt that the necessity had arisen for defining the 
 qualifications for county players, and at a meeting of 
 representatives of counties, regulations were agreed to 
 which have worked well. Year after year since that 
 time county football has gone on prospering, and owing 
 to a general demand in March, 1888, the Union Com- 
 mittee, much on the same lines as those previously 
 agreed to, recommended regulations binding all the 
 counties, and these were accepted at the general 
 meeting. 
 
 At the commencement of season 1884-85 F. I. Currey 
 was appointed president, and the late G. T. Thomson 
 became a vice-president, and the treasurership was taken 
 by H. Vassal! The new president was one of the 
 original founders of the Union, and he has from its 
 earliest days even up to the present moment faithfully 
 served the Union. The late G. T. Thomson was the first 
 Yorkshireman to hold the office of vice-president, and 
 from the good services which he rendered to the game 
 richly deserved the honour conferred upon him. In 
 H. Vassall the Union secured as good a treasurer as an 
 athletic body has ever had, and it is with great satis- 
 faction we note that he still retains the post. 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 103 
 
 For the season of 1885-86 the same officers were 
 appointed as for the previous season. 
 
 It had been felt for some time past that there was a 
 necessity for clearly denning the duties of the referee 
 and umpires, and the matter was considered during the 
 summer of 1885 by the Union Committee. The result 
 of their labours was brought before the October meeting 
 of that year, and an excellent code of regulations was 
 adopted. These regulations have well borne the test of 
 time, and have merely been added to as the alterations 
 in the laws giving increased powers to referees have 
 required. 
 
 For the first time the introduction of the " whistle " 
 and " flag " was tried, and the wonderful success which 
 has attended its introduction must cause those who 
 had the experience of umpiring or ref ereeing prior to this 
 time, to reflect how it was possible that they were able 
 to carry on their work at all; the difficulty of letting 
 players know when an appeal was granted, and the 
 uncertainty as to the decision of the referee caused 
 endless stoppages and confusion. Few things have done 
 more to improve the game than the whistle system. 
 Players have absolute security in stopping when they 
 hear it. This point has several times been before the 
 Union Committee, and they have never deviated from 
 deciding in accordance with this principle. 
 
 Whilst dealing with this question reference should be 
 made to a further change which has been made in recent 
 years, viz., allowing a side to claim to have touch judges 
 instead of umpires. It is not pleasant to have to admit 
 that this alteration was largely made owing to the fact 
 that umpires in many cases had lost their sense of 
 fairness in acting in matches in which their own clubs 
 were engaged. It is a monstrous thing that a team in 
 many cases should be a loser by having a fair umpire, 
 but quite apart from this consideration the " referee and 
 touch judge " system is vastly superior to the old one. 
 The referee is able to give his decisions with much 
 greater promptitude, and we believe with equal if not with 
 greater accuracy. Under the old system his attention 
 was diverted from the game by the necessity to watch 
 the umpires, and in many cases from unfairness, in- 
 competency, or slowness, they were a serious hindrance 
 to him. I admit that some points do occur which a* 
 
104 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 referee is unable to see, but I am strongly of opinion 
 that in most of such cases he would not receive much 
 assistance from an umpire. I think the majority of 
 players like the change ; I know that most of the 
 referees whom we have met are delighted with it ; some of 
 the best in the country have mentioned that they would 
 decline to act in cases where umpires are appointed. 
 
 A proposal emanating from the Football Association 
 for the Union to join with them in a charity festival was 
 cordially approved of by the committee. The result 
 of the festival was that a substantial sum of money was 
 devoted to charitable purposes. A similar understanding 
 has several times since been carried out with marked 
 success, and it is cordially to be hoped that such an 
 excellent institution will not be permitted to die out ; 
 it gives players and spectators an opportunity to help the 
 noble cause of charity. It is gratifying to know that in 
 many districts those in authority have under this head 
 recognised their duty. 
 
 During this season, 1886-87, His Royal Highness the 
 Prince of Wales graciously consented to become Patron 
 of the Union. Important changes were made in the 
 officers. L. Stokes became president, and A. Budd one of 
 the vice-presidents, the former in my opinion certainly 
 the most scientific player that played in his own time. 
 It is a very difficult matter to compare him with men 
 of the present day, as the game has in the last few 
 seasons altered so much ; and my judgment may be 
 at fault, however I feel that he possessed those qualities 
 which would have enabled him, even at the present time, 
 to be equal, if not superior, to any of our players. The 
 new vice-president has been, and is, one of the most 
 useful friends the game has ever had. He, in con- 
 junction with H. Vassall, wrote for the Football Annual 
 " Hints on Play," the ablest production on the game 
 which has ever been given to the public. In all parts of 
 the world where the game is played it has been repro- 
 duced, and has proved invaluable to players. 
 
 At the October General Meeting the committee of the 
 Union brought forward a series of regulations dealing 
 with the question of professionalism. There had been 
 rumours abroad for some time past that players had 
 been making money or improving their position in life 
 by playing football. The aim of these regulations, broadly 
 
T1IE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 105 
 
 speaking, was to prevent profit of any sort being made 
 out of the game. The proposals were unanimously 
 adopted, and met with the cordial approval of the leaders 
 of the Union in all parts of the country. They were of a 
 far-reaching and stringent character. By this action the 
 committee and the football public pledged themselves to 
 be the deadly opponents of professionalism. The com- 
 mittee have faithfully endeavoured to grapple with the 
 evil, and are at the time of writing as determined 
 opponents of it as ever. The professional has, however, 
 shown himself, and more in Yorkshire than in any other 
 county. The manner in which the Yorkshire Union 
 have grappled with the question is very much to the 
 credit of that energetic body. They have taken the 
 right course in fearlessly attacking leading clubs in 
 cases where suspicion has arisen, and they have in 
 numerous cases proved their point, and dealt out punish- 
 ment to the offenders. I feel bound to give some 
 reasons for the consistent support that I have given 
 to the suppression of professionalism. Firstly, I hold 
 that it is injurious to the individual who becomes a pro- 
 fessional. A man finds for a time that it is more re- 
 munerative to play football than to follow his regular 
 occupation. He is induced in many cases to give up his 
 work at an age the most important in his life for forming 
 habits of industry ; he does not realise that a man cannot 
 play for many years in sufficiently good form to earn good 
 wages from the game. After a time his play falls off and 
 he has to go. He has got out of the way of work, and lost 
 valuable time in which he should have been learning a 
 trade. He then recognises that football has unfitted 
 him for other work, and finds it very difficult to get any 
 employment ; and if he is able to get work it will probably 
 be at a much smaller rate of wage than he would have 
 received if he had from the first stuck steadily to work. 
 I am often met in discussing this question with the 
 statement that professionalism has not worked badly 
 in cricket ; to this I give my assent, but I decline to 
 admit that cricket and football can be dealt with on 
 parallel lines. As stated above, a man can only play 
 football in good form for a few years, and then he has 
 nothing to fall back upon ; whilst a cricketer can retain 
 his form for a long number of years, and when getting 
 on in years he can still be a ground bowler, a teacher of 
 
]06 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the game, a ground man or an umpire, so that through 
 cricket a man can get genuine occupation for a number 
 of years. 
 
 I believe that professionalism would increase rough 
 play. The necessity to win will be felt more by the 
 paid player than by the amateur, the necessity to win 
 will create a determination to win at all hazards ; this 
 will inevitably lead to rough play. These two points 
 have much influenced me in forming my judgment. 
 
 I know that there are numerous other arguments 
 
 A FEEE KICK : PLACING THE BALL. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph ly E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 against professionalism which will be given in this book 
 by abler pens than mine. A. Budd has written a very 
 vigorous article for this work on the subject, in which 
 he deals exhaustively with the question in all its bear- 
 ings, and I am quite content to leave this part of the 
 subject to him. At the same time I would record my 
 own opinion that the admission of professionalism would 
 be injurious to the Rugby game. 
 
 At the same meeting the scoring laws were again on 
 the tapis, and an alteration was agreed to. The matter 
 had been prominently before the public for some time 
 past, and the power of the "goal," to maintain which 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 107 
 
 such struggles had been made, was now to be some- ( 
 what shorn of its glory. It was decided that 
 three tries should equal a goal, a useful but cautious 
 reform. The question, though partially settled, was not 
 to be entirely closed. There were a large number of 
 men who thought that three tries should be equal to 
 more than a goal; and supporters of this view have 
 persistently kept it forward, and a further change was 
 made in September, 1891, by which three tries are 
 superior to a goal. 
 
 The law as it now stands is as follows — 
 
 A match shall be decided by a majority of points ; a try shall equal [ 
 two points ; a penalty goal shall equal three points ; a goal from a try : 
 (the try not also to count) shall equal live points. Any other goal shall | 
 equal four points. If the number of points be equal, or no goal be 
 kicked or try obtained, the match shall be drawn. 
 
 In coming to this arrangement a compromise was 
 effected. This is a question on which a very wide diver- 
 gence of opinion exists. In such cases unanimity of 
 action can only be attained by a spirit of compromise 
 being displayed. 
 
 This alteration received the approval of the other 
 Unions. It is eminently satisfactory that this general 
 approval has been obtained. It will be very unwise to 
 do anything that may interfere with this unanimity 
 unless the very strongest reasons arise for it. 
 
 During the season regulations dealing with the insur- 
 ance of players from accident were passed. There is 
 nothing in principle wrong in permitting clubs to insure 
 their players ; care must be taken that under the guise 
 of insurance, players do not make a profit out of the 
 accident fund. 
 
 For the season 1887-88 the officers remained as before. 
 No International matches took place this season, owing 
 to the deadlock to which reference has been made. 
 
 To make up for these matches a return North v. 
 South match was for the first time played ; this procedure 
 met with general approval. A team under the manage- 
 ment of Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury went over to 
 New Zealand and Australia. This was the first under- 
 taking of the kind, no other team having ever gone to 
 our colonies. The Union Committee, while not inter- 
 fering with the enterprise, were unable to give any 
 encouragement to it. They regarded it as a money- 
 
108 ' RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 making speculation, and further, as it was not under the 
 management of any recognised body in the colonies, 
 they refused to support it. Proposals of a like character 
 had in the past been before the committee ; in dealing 
 with these matters they endeavour to act up to these 
 two principles : — 
 
 First. That no one identified with the team, either as 
 a manager or a player, shall make money out of such 
 projects ; and, secondly, that a team shall not go out to 
 the colonies unless under the auspices of a recognised 
 body out there. 
 
 The tour was a success. The team was a fairly strong 
 one, and by playing together became formidable, and 
 gave to our colonial friends a scientific exposition of the 
 game. In playing according to the Australian code, \ 
 which widely differs from the Union laws, they did as 
 well as was expected of them. 
 
 For the season 1888-89 A. Budd became president, and 
 the vice-presidents were H. W. T. Garnett and E. T. 
 Gurdon. 
 
 During the summer of 1888 a sub-committee of the 
 Union considered the question of further penalties for 
 infringements of the laws, and, in consequence of their 
 report at the October General Meeting, numerous altera- 
 tions were made. 
 
 It was determined that a goal could be scored from 
 a free kick penalty for off-side play, and numerous other 
 free kick penalties were enacted, from all of which goals 
 could be obtained, except that for a "knock-on out of 
 touch," which has since been done away with. The 
 changes have worked well. There are a small section 
 of players who will act unfairly if they consider it pays 
 their side to do so. To this class the penalties have 
 acted as an excellent deterrent ; they have had the 
 effect largely of making a side a loser instead of a 
 gainer by unfair play. The questions of rough play 
 and the disputing of referees' decisions were also dealt 
 with, and power was given to the referee to order a 
 player off the field for rough play, and to report to the 
 Union Committee cases in which his decisions were dis- 
 puted. Since then power has also been given him to 
 order players off the ground for such conduct. The 
 effective dealing with these two questions vitally affects 
 the game. With an iron hand rough play must be 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. 109 
 
 suppressed, or rough play will suppress the game. A 
 sympathetic public, increasing from year to year in 
 their interest for our game, watches with anxiety the 
 efforts of those in authority to grapple with this ques- 
 tion. Referees may be assured of the determined support 
 of the Union and County Committees if they use the 
 powers given them to stamp out the evil. The treat- 
 ment of referees, much to be deplored, is becoming 
 worse and worse — not, we mean, that players in many 
 cases act so as to be able to be dealt with by the laws, 
 but the growling and exhibition of discontent to which 
 referees are subjected after a game is over is most pain- 
 ful. Continually one is told of a wrong decision given 
 by such and such a referee. This grumbling and growl- 
 ing is a species of disease from which, we regret, all 
 classes of players are suffering. No laws can meet this 
 evil; good feeling and good sportsmanship can alone 
 effect any good. 
 
 On this question I would give expression to feel- 
 ings of the greatest anxiety. There is an increasing 
 demand for referees who are qualified to act, but there 
 is a decreasing desire on the part of such men to under- 
 take the post. The task is a most difficult one under 
 the most pleasing conditions, but it is an intolerable 
 one if the referee is not treated properly. It will be a 
 bad day for the game when those best qualified to act 
 decline the post ; but if the good feeling of players is 
 not aroused, the danger is imminent. 
 
 During the season a New Zealand team, largely com- 
 posed of Maoris, visited this country. They decided to 
 come on their own responsibility, without receiving en- 
 couragement from the Union. However, that body felt 
 bound to arrange matches for them, and an excellent 
 programme was prepared. Matches were played with 
 English, Irish, and Welsh clubs, and with the Inter- 
 national teams of the respective countries. Their play, 
 though unscientific at the start, showed great improve- 
 ment before the tour was concluded. They made very 
 good matches with several of the leading clubs. The 
 tour was not, however, without some unpleasant inci- 
 dents. I am of the opinion that the result will confirm the 
 authorities in their decision to give no encouragement 
 to a similar undertaking unless it comes under the 
 auspices of some recognised body in the colonies. 
 
110 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 This season several cases of professionalism were 
 brought before the committee. It was found that it 
 was quite impracticable for them to deal satisfactorily 
 with them, consequently they decided to delegate to the 
 County Committees power to deal with such cases, re- 
 serving to themselves the right to override the decisions 
 of those bodies ; at the same time they allowed, on a 
 deposit of £50 (which deposit can be forfeited), an appeal 
 to them from a club against a decision of a County Com- 
 mittee. These powers have been wisely used. There 
 has only been one case of appeal, and on that occasion 
 the deposit was forfeited. 
 
 Owing mainly to the International deadlock, it was 
 decided, with the approval of all the County Committees, 
 to institute a match between the Champion County and 
 the Rest of England. This fixture has, however, been 
 continued, even though the International difficulty is at 
 an end, and has proved a decided success. Not only 
 has it created a great amount of enthusiasm — more 
 especially amongst the clubs in the Champion Count}' 
 — but it has also been of great service to the committee 
 in choosing the teams against Scotland on the occasions 
 in which it has been found practicable to play it before 
 the Scotch match. Since the introduction of the match 
 a well-defined code of regulations has been adopted for 
 deciding the championship. 
 
 For the season 1889-90. H. W. T. Garnett was 
 appointed president — the first Yorkshireman to hold this 
 office — and W. Cail joined E. T. Gurdon as vice-president. 
 Both the newly-appointed officers in their respective 
 districts, as well as on the Union Committee, have 
 rendered the game invaluable services. At the October 
 General Meeting it was resolved to fix a "close time" 
 for playing ; it is now illegal for the game to be played 
 (between Slay 1st and August 31st) on any ground where 
 gate money is taken. 
 
 In the next season 1890-91, E. T. Gurdon became 
 president, a position which, at the time of writing, he 
 still occupies, and Roger Walker became a vice- 
 president. 
 
 The former captained the English fifteen for several 
 years, and was one of the best forwards of his day, and 
 is an excellent and popular president. The new vice- 
 president is an old Lancashire and International player ; is 
 
THE RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880-1892. HI 
 
 a real good friend to the game. At the General Meeting in 
 October, 1890, the "free-kick" penalty for "knock-on out of 
 touch," to which reference has been made, was done away 
 with. This was the only point on which the arbitrators 
 decided that the International Board laws should differ 
 from those of the Union ; and in taking this earliest 
 opportunity of making this alteration, the Union showed 
 their desire to do everything in their power to again get 
 established one universal code of laws by which all 
 players should be bound. 
 
 To further this good object at this meeting, alter- 
 ations were also made in the " maul in goal " and " off- 
 side" laws, in accordance with the Scottish laws. At 
 the first meeting of the newly-constituted International 
 Board, held in November, 1890, at Manchester, these 
 changes were unanimously adopted, and the Rugby 
 Union code became identical with that of the 
 Board. 
 
 At the request of the March General Meeting, the 
 Board having considered the scoring question, recom- 
 mended the alteration to which reference has been 
 made, and the change was adopted at the General 
 Meeting, 1891. 
 
 At the time of writing the Board are engaged upon 
 the task of recodifying the law ; there is very good 
 reason to hope that success will attend their efforts. The 
 Union code of laws adopted at its formation in 1870, 
 have, under the circumstances, worked extremely well. 
 The game has very much changed, and the frequent and 
 important alterations in the laws have made the code 
 somewhat of a patchwork one. W. Cail has given a very 
 clear head, and a very large amount of time to the work 
 of recodification, and the Board are working on his draft. 
 It is very much to be hoped that a code will be arrived 
 at which will satisfy all the nationalities. 
 
 During the summer of 1891, a team got together by 
 the Union Committee, captained by W. E. Maclagan, 
 with Edwin Ash, the first hon. secretary of the Union, 
 as manager, went out to the Cape. The team were the 
 guests of the football authorities in South Africa; all 
 expenses were guaranteed by them, but there was nothing 
 of a money-making speculation in the undertaking. 
 From a football as well as from a social point of view, 
 the tour was a great success. The team did not lose a 
 
112 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 match, though they had some hard struggles. There are 
 good grounds for concluding that their success has in no 
 wise discouraged our colonial friends. They appreciated 
 fully the scientific points of play of their opponents, and 
 profited by their example. I have little doubt that in 
 the future a representative South African team will be 
 found well to hold its own with the best of British 
 teams. 
 
 For the present season, 1891-92, the officers are the 
 
 THE KICK-OFF : EEADY FOR THE KICK. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 same as last season. At the General Meeting at the 
 commencement of the season the professional question 
 was again to the front. Instances of the migration of 
 players from one club to another had occurred under 
 circumstances which, to say the least, were open to 
 grave suspicion. It was felt that such practices were 
 likely to lead to veiled professionalism, and that it was 
 desirable to have some control over migratory players, 
 so regulations dealing with the transfer of member- 
 ship from one club to another, and from one county 
 to another were adopted, as also were regulations 
 dealing with the formation of leagues. An addition 
 was also made to the bye-laws, by which it is 
 
THE EUGBY FOOTBALL UNION, 1880—1892. 113 
 
 enacted that only clubs entirely composed of amateurs 
 are eligible for membership of the Union. We hope 
 and feel that the action taken at this meeting more than 
 ever binds our clubs and the committee not to alter 
 their policy on the professional question. 
 
 In taking a general survey of the period about which 
 we have been writing, we are amply justified in stating 
 that during it the game has made wonderful strides in 
 popularity, not only in Great Britain, but in the colonies ; 
 and in this development the Rugby Union has played 
 an important part. This is illustrated by the large 
 number of clubs which now subscribe to it. At the 
 commencement of the season 1880-81, 130 clubs were 
 on the books ; at the present moment 388 are members. 
 But this in no measure demonstrates the number of 
 clubs which play according to its laws or are governed 
 by its regulations. There is a large number of clubs 
 which do not subscribe to the parent body, but which 
 belong to county bodies; and Unions in the colonies, 
 which are members of the Union; all of these are 
 governed by the same laws and regulations. I can- 
 not look back upon this period without being reminded 
 that the hand of death has deprived the game of some 
 of its best friends : I will make reference to those only 
 who were officially connected with the Union. The 
 earliest loss was that of W. Wallace, who was the secre- 
 tary immediately before the writer took the office ; he 
 laboured long and faithfully for the game. The next to 
 be taken away was H. Fox, the father of West of England 
 football; his sad death was keenly felt by all who had 
 the privilege of working with him. We then lost A. E. 
 Hudson and G. T. Thomson, both of whom were York- 
 shiremen, and had rendered invaluable services to the 
 
 fame. To this number must be added the names of 
 . D. Vans Agnew, and G. W. Burton, who for several 
 years was one of the auditors of the Union. Both of 
 these men were extremely popular, and left a host ot 
 friends behind them. 
 
 From the remarks that have been made, it will easily 
 be gathered that the governing body of the Union have 
 had their share of difficulties Avith which to contend. 
 I may fairly say that they have wonderfully well 
 surmounted them. This is owing to the generous con- 
 fidence reposed in them by their clubs, as well as to the 
 I 
 
114 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 extremely good feeling which has existed amongst the 
 members of the committee themselves. It has been a 
 great pleasure to work with such a body of men. No 
 miserable personal animosities have ever crept in to 
 spoil the harmony of their work ; they have been solely 
 guided by a genuine affection for the game. I know 
 there are difficulties at the present moment to be 
 grappled with ; but if the same spirit prevails as in 
 the past, we may look forward with confidence to the 
 future. 
 
CHAPTER IX. 
 
 PAST DEVELOPMENT IN RUGBY FOOTBALL, AND 
 THE FUTURE OF THE GAME. 
 
 By Arthur Budd. 
 
 ^\[0 one who watched a Rugby football match twenty 
 _1 years ago could have prophesied the wonderful 
 changes the game has since undergone, or have foreseen 
 that two decades would bring about an entire meta- 
 morphosis in the style of play. 
 
 When I played as a schoolboy at Clifton, where the 
 Rugby School game — the progenitor of the Rugby Union 
 game — was adopted in its entirety, the number of 
 players was twenty a-side in an ordinary match, and, in 
 the Sixth and School game, the latter were allowed forty 
 to the twenty of their sturdier seniors. Old Boys who 
 had gained their caps in bygone days were accorded the 
 privilege of joining in all Bigside matches whenever 
 they pleased, so that it was not at all an uncommon 
 thing to see a dozen supernumeraries ranging them- 
 selves on one side or the other. Hacking over the first 
 on-side was permissible, and tripping over a runner was 
 quite as much practised as tackling. A player who 
 could not take and give hacks was not considered worth 
 his salt, and to put one's head down in a scrummage was 
 regarded as an act of high treason. We were frequently 
 boxed in a scrummage for three or four minutes together, 
 only to discover that the half-back had by that time 
 absconded with the ball to the other side of the ground. 
 
 The arrangement of the players behind was two half- 
 backs, one three-quarter, and two whole backs. 
 
 Scrummaging was then the real article. It meant 
 carrying the pack by superior weight and propelling 
 power, and was not at all badly described by the definition 
 i 2 
 
116 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 which is still to be found in our present code, and 
 which speaks of a scrummage as taking place Avhen the 
 ball is put down, and " all who have closed round on their 
 respective sides endeavour to 'push their opponents back, 
 and by kicking the ball to drive it in the direction of 
 the opposite goal line." I cite this definition because it 
 affords a graphic illustration of the magnitude of the 
 change which has occurred since those days in the style 
 of play. In 1870, the above definition presented a very 
 fair picture of what a scrummage was ; now (in 1892) it 
 depicts exactly what a scrummage is not. Then, men 
 pushed straight ahead might and main, while to heel 
 out was regarded as unfair and discreditable ; to-day, 
 they never by any chance do the former, while they do 
 not scruple to do the latter at their own sweet will. 
 
 An individual dribble was sometimes — though not 
 very often — seen, but a concentrated dribble was an 
 impossibility, owing to the extreme difficulty forwards 
 experienced in extricating themselves from the scrum- 
 mage en masse. Passing was an unearthed treasure 
 bequeathed to the discovery and elaboration of more 
 modern philosophers. Forwards, halves, and three- 
 quarters played with a mutual irresponsibility, and 
 without any notion of forming themselves into the 
 links of the cleverly co-ordinated machine, which a 
 high-class team of the present day can manufacture. 
 In fact, the game might be summed up as one where 
 the forwards pushed and plugged away, and gave and 
 took punishment without stint or fear, where the halves 
 ran and played for themselves, and the solitary three- 
 quarter had to cover the entire field between the halves 
 and two backs, who guarded the goal. 
 
 It is the conversion of these factors from isolation 
 into machinery which has transformed the game from 
 what it was to what it is. 
 
 And though this does not read like an attractive 
 game, either to play or witness, such, I can assure the 
 reader, was the case. 
 
 The fact is that the attractiveness of any game is, like 
 everything else, in a great measure a question of habit 
 and education. To the uninitiated, golf does not offer 
 much fascination, yet its patrons — and they number 
 amongst them some of our best athletes — assure you 
 that there is no game like it ; and I once heard the 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 117 
 
 chairman of the Blackheath Golf Club, at a dinner of 
 that venerable club, at which I had the honour to be 
 present, describe it as " the king of sports, possessing 
 all the glories of hunting without any of its dangers." 
 This, I own, is not exactly the description I should, from 
 what I have seen, have applied to it ; but it serves to 
 illustrate what I have said above, that you must 
 understand and play a game before you are capable of 
 pronouncing judgment on its merits. And so it was 
 with the old Rugby game, which, notwithstanding its 
 slowness and roughness, was a most enjoyable one, and 
 demanded for success physical strength and pluck — 
 both admirable qualities in a man. 
 
 I have often in old days heard spectators cheer 
 vociferously over the prolonged equipoise of a well- 
 balanced scrummage — just as you see the doubtful issue 
 of a tug-of-war will provoke enthusiasm at an assault- 
 at-arms. Your modern player and spectator would 
 vote your trial-of-strength scrummage a bore, simply 
 because hard-working, straightforward scrummaging has 
 ceased to be a feature of the game, and has been sup- 
 planted by others which have proved more attractive. 
 I once heard an old International three-quarter, on his 
 return from the Cape, alluding in most uncompli- 
 mentary terms to the innovation of passing, and 
 adjuring his team in Heaven's name to put a stop to 
 " this infernal new passing game." Tempora mutantur, 
 nos et mutamur in Mis. Maybe posterity will smile 
 at what we now regard with pride as our modern 
 scientific game. 
 
 That the Rugby game in its infancy was a rough one 
 no one could seriously dispute, and it is, I suppose, 
 for the reason that the sins of the father are visited on 
 the children, that this reputation, which the parent 
 acquired, has stuck ever since like a leech to her progeny. 
 To this day, despite the fact that the advance of science 
 has removed the coarseness of the primeval game and 
 reduced to a minimum the risks that attend it, the 
 horrors of football still remain a favourite theme with 
 journalists and correspondents ; who, with a profound 
 ignorance of what modern football is like, and: without 
 taking the trouble to go and see it played, burst forth 
 into fiery philippics whenever an accident is recorded. 
 
 Hunting is the pastime of hundreds, football of 
 
118 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 thousands ; nevertheless, the percentage of accidents in 
 the former is in excess of that of the latter. And yet, 
 who, pray, ever yet read an article expatiating on the 
 dangers of the hunting field, or suggesting the suppres- 
 sion of what has been dubbed the " King of Sports " on 
 account of the perils which attend its pursuit ? Skating, 
 swimming, and rowing all contribute a larger percentage 
 to the annual chapter of accidents, yet not one of these 
 has been the subject of censure at the hands of petticoat 
 penmen. 
 
 v ersity 
 
 r^ORNlA^y 
 
 A line out: waiting foe the ball. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 The real truth is that in every sport there is an 
 element of danger. It would not be sport if there were 
 not ; and though it is, of course, possible to import 
 brutality into football as into any other game, still, when 
 it is properly played, the dangers of accident are as 
 small as in any other department of sport; and the 
 athlete who indulges in this healthy and manly exercise 
 runs less risk of bodily harm than the bar-loafer who 
 impairs his kidneys and liver with alcohol, or the billiard- 
 saloon frequenter who loads his lungs with the carbonic- 
 acid gas of a vitiated atmosphere. 
 
 And here, inasmuch as Inter-Public School matches 
 have in the past been vetoed on the score of danger, I 
 will digress to urge the advisability of their becoming a 
 general institution under the present style of play. The 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. Hi) 
 
 experiment was years and years ago tried in a match 
 between Clifton and Marlborough, but resulted in the 
 expenditure of much blood and ill-feeling, and very 
 wisely was not again repeated. Under the altered con- 
 dition of things there is no fear of a repetition of such a 
 fiasco, and the great number of Scottish Public School 
 players who year by year gain their blues at the Uni- 
 versities is without doubt due to the institution of these 
 matches in Scotland, which afford an admirable exchange 
 and mart of style for the different schools. On two 
 occasions, I have had the pleasure and privilege of 
 umpiring when Wellington and Marlborough have met, 
 and can testify to the game being played with an entire 
 absence of roughness, and with the best of good feeling, 
 and I confidently hope that the rest of our great public 
 schools will hasten to follow in the footsteps of this most 
 excellent example. 
 
 Such, then, was the game of the past, and from such 
 materials at their disposal, time and science have evolved 
 another of a totally different character. Indeed, I 
 believe that the parent, if she could herself speak, would 
 tell you that she had considerable difficulty m recognis- 
 ing her own offspring. The roughness of the Iron Age 
 has yielded to the science of the Golden. The game is 
 now as fast as it was slow, as open as it was confined. 
 The new forward is not merely a robust propeller — in- 
 deed, it would be a misnomer to call many of our 
 present forwards propellers at all — but fleet of foot, and 
 versed in passing and concentrated dribbling. The half, 
 who formerly played and ran for himself, is to-day 
 essentially a conduit pipe between the forwards and 
 three-quarters, and the latter, three and sometimes four 
 instead of one in number, have constituted themselves 
 into a machine for the transmission of the ball from one 
 to the other. 
 
 The change from the old to the new, however, was 
 not accomplished by a jump but by a gradual process, 
 in which three departments of the game — forwards, 
 halves, and three-quarters — have in turn played a separate 
 part. 
 
 The first phase was a more open and a faster game 
 by the forwards ; the second, the introduction of passing 
 amongst the forwards exclusively ; the third, the passing 
 by halves to the three-quarters ; and the final, the passing 
 
120 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the three-quarters amongst themselves. The forward 
 was the first subject to be infected by the epidemic, the 
 centre three-quarter the last. 
 
 The reduction of the number of players from twenty 
 to fifteen may be said to have marked the dawn of 
 modern scientific football. At first, despite this reduction, 
 the arrangement of the back players remained intact, but 
 the forwards, no longer hampered by an overplus of num- 
 bers, found themselves able to take an active part in the 
 open play. Fast following up, breaking away en masse, 
 concentrated dribbling, and forward tackling henceforth 
 became features of the game. In this departure the for- 
 wards were greatly assisted by the general recognition of 
 the practice of scrummaging with heads down, which, in- 
 stead of being regarded with disfavour as hitherto, had by 
 degrees become one of the sine qua non qualifications 
 of a good forward. This innovation was the landmark 
 of scientific scrummaging. Henceforth players were able 
 to watch with certainty the whereabouts of the ball, 
 and try by skilful manipulation to control its destination, 
 and, henceforth, for this very reason, which so much 
 facilitated a means of exit for the ball, the breaking up 
 of the scrummage became a comparatively easy matter. 
 This fact the forwards were not slow to appreciate, and 
 by breaking up the scrummage as quickly as possible 
 placed this advantage to the scale of open play. 
 
 In breaking up the packs recourse has been had 
 at different periods to three distinct methods: (1) 
 " foiking "; (2) " heeling out " ; (3) " screwing or 
 wheeling." 
 
 " Foiking " — the definition of which would puzzle 
 the ingenuity of a qualified referee who had weathered 
 the exhaustive examination of a Yorkshire committee — 
 was another name for a forward fishing at the side of 
 the scrummage and extricating the ball with a sweep of 
 the foot — it was, in fact, the correlative of screwing or 
 wheeling, with a difference. 
 
 In " wheeling," the ball is first of all consigned to a 
 back row of the scrummage, and there manipulated in the 
 dark till a convenient opportunity for screwing the foe 
 arrives ; in " foiking," the extrication of the ball used to 
 be laterally accomplished by a dexterous swing of the 
 foot. In both cases the object in view was identical, 
 viz., to get the ball out of the scrummage with forwards 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 121 
 
 prepared to rush it onwards — a similarity of purpose 
 with a variety of legerdemain, one trick being performed 
 in the dark, the other in the light of day. 
 
 As in all fishing, so here, success very much depended 
 on the skill of the angler. At one time, given an adept 
 at the art, and forwards who thoroughly understood the 
 little game, the method met with considerable success ; 
 but it may now be regarded as obsolete, and has been 
 superseded by wheeling, an evolution which has the very 
 obvious advantage of being carried out behind the 
 screen of a row of forwards, and, moreover, is not 
 dependent for success on the dexterity of a single 
 individual. Wheeling and heeling-out I shall have 
 occasion to refer to later on. 
 
 At a juncture when the forward game had made 
 considerable strides in the direction of open foot-work, 
 there stepped most opportunely on the stage a most 
 important personage, the Genius of " passing," who was 
 destined to play the leading rdle in the coming trans- 
 formation scenes. It is not too much to say that his 
 presence entirely revolutionised the game and succeeded 
 in time in consolidating into a uniform machine the 
 component parts of a football fifteen. 
 
 For a time, passing was confined to the forwards ex- 
 clusively, and was what is termed "short" passing. 
 The wonderful successes of the Blackheath Club in 1878-9, 
 whose very fast and clever forwards may fairly claim 
 the credit of being the first illustrators of the method, 
 soon drew public attention to the innovation. The 
 season's record was 54 goals, 30 tries, with 15 victories 
 in 16 matches, a score they, to a large extent, compiled 
 through the instrumentality of their forwards, who, in 
 addition to possessing great pace, had thoroughly mas- 
 tered the essence of the theory, which consisted in backing 
 each other up broadcast and passing to the open side of the 
 carrier. Forthwith the epidemic spread far and wide, and 
 every southern club went in for the new school of play, 
 though in their exaggerated efforts to imitate the 
 inventors, many of them reduced the system to a 
 burlesque. For some reason or other, which I ant 
 unable to fathom, the North for a long time did not 
 catch on, and had to pay the penalty for their ab- 
 stinence in a succession of defeats at the hands of the 
 South. 
 
122 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 When, then, the forwards, by their adoption of hand 
 and foot play in the loose, had become formidable 
 aggressors in the open, it was found that one three- 
 quarter was no longer able single-handed to cover the 
 field between the half and full-backs, and it became 
 necessary to bring up one of the latter to reinforce 
 him. 
 
 For some years this arrangement was adhered to. 
 The first occasion on which the South played three 
 three-quarters against the North was in 1882, when the 
 South team was mainly composed of VassalTs Oxford 
 team. The innovation came about in a somewhat 
 curious way. P. Newton, who had been selected to play 
 forward for the South, was unable to take his place, and 
 H. Vassall had formed such a high opinion of the 
 capabilities of Wade — an opinion more than confirmed 
 by his subsequent career — that he wrote to the Selecting 
 Committee strongly advocating his inclusion in the 
 team. After much deliberation and some misgivings — 
 for these were the good old days, when forwards really 
 worked in a scrummage — the committee resolved to 
 hazard the experiment. The success it met with prac- 
 tically settled the question, and for the future three 
 three-quarters were universally adopted. 
 
 It was not long before the contagion of passing, 
 which had attacked the forwards, spread to the half- 
 backs. Hitherto they had played an individual game, 
 but with three men behind them, who they knew must 
 not be left idle in the cold, and with the means of trans- 
 mission handy in the mechanism of passing, they were 
 bound to consider their own play as subservient to 
 providing the three-quarters with favourable oppor- 
 tunities. What half first set the example of " feeding " 
 I am unable to say. Rowland Hill tells me that the 
 first time he ever saw a pass by a half to a three-quarter 
 was in the North and South match in 1881, when J. 
 Payne slung the ball out to Bartram, who gained a try. 
 There can be no doubt, however, that the man who 
 reduced the art to a science, and thereby revolutionised 
 half-back play, was A. Rotherham, of Oxford and 
 Richmond — the equal of whom we have never, in my 
 opinion, since seen. 
 
 This plaj^er, though coming from Uppingham School, 
 where they do not, I believe, play the Rugby game 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 
 
 123 
 
 proper, originated at Oxford a totally different half-back 
 
 game from what we had hitherto been accustomed to see. 
 
 He was the first to clearly demonstrate that a half-back 
 
 ought not to run and play for himself, but ought 
 
 essentially to be the connecting link between the 
 
 forwards and three-quarters, and he showed how this 
 
 ought to be done, not merely by stationary but by what 
 
 I may term "opportune" passing, i.e., running himself 
 
 and not passing till he had got his three-quarters on 
 
 their legs, and till he had fogged his opponents as to 
 
 whether they ought to go 
 
 for him or the three-quarters 
 
 he was intent on feeding. 
 
 And he not only showed 
 
 how and when to pass, but 
 
 how and when not to pass, 
 
 and how a half ought to 
 
 run on himself when, by a 
 
 feint, he had decoyed his 
 
 tacklers to the three-quarter 
 
 and left an open field for 
 
 himself. 
 
 "Rotherham's game," as 
 it was popularly called, 
 created the type of an ideal 
 half, and he still to this day 
 remains the standard by 
 which the qualities of players 
 are measured, and the example which every half still 
 strives to imitate. 
 
 And as a single individual was responsible for the 
 change in half-back play, so are we indebted to another 
 for the evolution of a centre three-quarter. What 
 Rotherham did for the halves, Rawson Robertshaw, of 
 Bradford, did for the three-quarters. Till he came on 
 the scene and demonstrated that a centre ought not to 
 play for himself but for his wings, a centre such as we 
 look for nowadays was never before typified. His game 
 might be described as a reproduction at three-quarter of 
 Rotherham's at half, the idea of playing for his wings 
 rather than himself, and feeding them by what I have 
 previously termed " opportune " passing, being the 
 main axioms which lay at the root of his theory. And 
 thus he became the last existent link^*lk o iiA jihe future 
 
 A. ROTHEKHAM. 
 
 (.From a Photograph by Hills and Saunders, 
 
 Oxford.) 
 
124 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 may add others — in the machinery which has brought 
 about the co-operation of forwards, halves, and three- 
 quarters. 
 
 Before I leave the past development of the game, I 
 will revert to two devices in scrummaging to which I 
 have previously alluded, viz., wheeling or screwing, and 
 heeling-out. 
 
 The former is unquestionably at present the most 
 fashionable method of scrummaging ; and though it is 
 a process which requires great skill in its execution, and 
 has been the means of shortening the scrummages, 
 still its introduction cannot, in my opinion, be considered 
 an unmixed blessing. For, as I have previously men- 
 tioned, in order to screw successfully it is necessary that 
 your side should first obtain possession of the ball. 
 Having obtained it, the practice is to deposit it behind 
 the first or second row of forwards, where it lies safe 
 from the interference of your opponents, and to there 
 manipulate it till you screw your adversaries off it and 
 rush on with it yourself. AD. this has led to a most 
 objectionable practice. What one now sees in every 
 match, no matter where one goes, is that the moment 
 the ball is put down in the centre of the scrummage 
 both sides try to be the first to pull it back, and you 
 will behold a forest of legs scraping for its possession. 
 This modus operandi is extremely unfair, and entirely 
 opposed to the spirit of the off-side laws, seeing that the 
 bulk of the scrummagers are in front of the ball. It 
 has, however, by general consent been admitted as 
 legitimate, and it is, I am afraid, too late to protest 
 against its continuance. I will therefore content my- 
 self with saying that this practice of scraping, and the 
 practice of heeling-out, have done more than anything 
 else to destroy honest scrummage work, the want of 
 which is the greatest flaw in our present English style, 
 and was undoubtedly the cause of our humiliating defeat 
 last year at the hands of the Scotsmen. You cannot 
 serve God and Mammon, and you cannot balance your- 
 self on one leg and scrape for the ball with the other, 
 and at the same time apply your weight instantaneously 
 so as to get the first momentum on a scrummage — the 
 latter a good old crusted axiom which has borne the 
 brunt of time, and holds water to-day quite as well as it 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 125 
 
 did twenty years ago. It is not wheeling in itself that 
 I am objecting to, but the modus operandi employed, 
 which is an unfair one, and has been the chief agent 
 in inducing the now ever-growing inclination to 
 shirk scrummage work. I should very much like to see 
 a team such as the South team of 1882, which 
 included such men as the two Gurdons, C. Wooldridge, 
 and forwards who worked as well as played in the open, 
 
 LOOSE PLAY. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 scrummage the scraping brigade. You would find, I 
 think, that they would sweep the scrapers before 
 them. 
 
 The other canker-worm of work is heeling-out. 
 You can bet your bottom dollar that a team who 
 habitually heel-out are no pushers. Their sole anxiety 
 is to get the ball to their halves, and the same miserable 
 scraping goes on as in wheeling. And here, again, I ask 
 you, Is it possible for a man to be kicking backwards 
 and pushing forward simultaneously? Of course not. 
 Since football began it has been, and till football ends 
 it will be, an enormous advantage to carry the scrum- 
 mage. Do this, and you can swamp the best halves 
 that ever put jerseys on. If, on the contrary, two sides 
 
126 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 are going to lean against one another and heel, it 
 becomes a mere matter of chance which side gets it, 
 and the very obvious advantage of routing your 
 opponents — and this it is that wins games — is thrown 
 away. You can depend upon it, that however much 
 these devices may pay against teams who do not work, 
 they are bound to break down against an honest scrum- 
 maging team, who, by their quick rush, will not allow 
 you the requisite time for manoeuvring, but will rout 
 you pell-mell and submerge your play behind the pack. 
 The real honest scrummager is a vara avis in England, 
 and I very much fear that unless we foster the breed 
 most carefully, he will soon be as extinct as the 
 dodo. 
 
 But, in addition to this very serious mischief, heeling- 
 out has been the originator of another of a still graver 
 character. I allude to the now prevalent practice of 
 half-backs on defence standing on their opponents' side 
 of the scrummage. I can imagine nothing more directly 
 opposed to the spirit of the game than this anomaly. 
 If it is, as I fear it is, too late to stop heeling-out (and 
 if we had foreseen what it was going to lead to we 
 should have nipped it in the bud years ago), it is not, I 
 hope, too late to put a stop to this latest creation of 
 off-side play, which may, if admitted, entirely spoil the 
 half-back's game of the future. I submit that the half- 
 back so behaving is, clearly, an obstructionist under 
 Law 40, and renders himself liable to the penalty of a 
 free kick. For if it is not in order to spoil the play of 
 his vis-a-vis, tell me, in the name of goodness, with 
 what earthly object in view is he to be found out of his 
 position, on the wrong side of the scrummage ? The 
 Yorkshire wing forward, who played a precisely similar 
 game — i.e., the spoiling of the half-back game — is 
 severely dealt with by our code, but he is quite a mild 
 creature as compared with this most recent form of 
 pestilence. 
 
 To the best of my power, in the foregoing pages, I 
 have endeavoured to trace the footsteps of development ; 
 and before I turn from the past to the future, I propose 
 to briefly consider what we have gained and what we 
 have lost by these changes. 
 
 That the game has been vastly improved from a 
 
/ 
 
 PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 127 
 
 spectator's point of view, and that it is more open and 
 faster at present than ever it was, there cannot be the 
 shadow of a doubt. Nevertheless, in proportion as the 
 whole tendency of modern play has been to weld a 
 football team into a machine, so individual excellence 
 has had, to some extent, to suffer. To illustrate what I 
 mean, I will take the three-quarters. When the centre 
 began to feed his wings, an enormous premium was put 
 on pace, and it is a fact that at the present time a great 
 number of the most successful try-getters are not foot- 
 ball players at all, but sprinters pure and simple. I do 
 not believe that there is a three-quarter back playing, 
 who, if we could transplant him to the past, couid cover 
 the entire field as Lennard Stokes used to. In those 
 days a three-quarter had not his chances made for him 
 — he had to make them for himself. He was dependent 
 entirely on his own resources, and had mainly to rely 
 on his fielding, drop-kicking, and tackling powers. The 
 pure sprinter would have been a fiasco; the position 
 needed something more — a football player. To the 
 premium thus placed on pace is, no doubt, due the 
 deterioration in the drop -kicking of English back 
 players. When the art was practised, in the days of 
 one or two three-quarters, as it had to be a great deal 
 more than it is now, it was neater and more accurate, 
 and you could, in most cases, rely on the ball going into 
 touch. At the present time, Lockwood is the only 
 English player who can show us the old style of timely 
 and accurate kicking. 
 
 I hope in making these remarks I shall not be 
 considered a laudator temporis acti. As a machine, 
 I confess that the game has improved, but whether or 
 not the component parts of the machine are as good as 
 they used to be some five years ago, I think is open to 
 considerable doubt. 
 
 80 much for the past, and so prolific has it been in 
 changes that he would be a rash man who would dare 
 prophesy what the future has in store. There is no 
 reason, however, to suppose that the tendency will be 
 other than it has been, viz., towards open play, and it 
 follows as a corollary to this hypothesis that the faster 
 the game the shorter will be the scrummages, and 
 the shorter the scrummages the less the scrummage 
 work 
 
128 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The supposition, then, that the game will grow more 
 and more open, and that forwards will henceforth rely 
 on finesse rather than scrummage work, brings us face to 
 face with the question of the hour : Is it advisable to 
 play four three-quarter-backs ? 
 
 Some years ago, in an article of mine on the game 
 which, though scarcely up to date, still appears in the 
 "Annual," I wrote very strongly against the system of 
 four three-quarters. I did so on the ground that it is 
 essential that your forwards should not be routed, and 
 that, coiteris paribus, nine forwards ought to rout eight. 
 This opinion was written before the introduction of 
 wheeling and wholesale heeling-out, when forwards 
 really carried the scrummages by weight and pushing ; 
 and if the forwards of that era were to appear redivivi, 
 I would unhesitatingly reiterate that view. But things 
 have altered, and it is now unanimously agreed upon by 
 all who are qualified to judge, that, as far at all events as 
 English play is concerned, scrummage work has reached 
 a minimum. The Southern Selecting Committee, in 
 choosing their team last season, decided to sacrifice 
 brilliancy to work, and were confident that their for- 
 wards, whom they believed to be pushers, would carry 
 the packs against the North, whom they knew to be 
 exceedingly last, but not gluttons for work. The event 
 proved that their hopes were misplaced. The scrum- 
 mages were very evenly balanced, and neither side can 
 be said to have had the best of them. Again, it was 
 regarded as a certain fact that the nine best English 
 forwards were bound to over-run eight of Wales, yet no 
 one who saw that match could say that we had any 
 advantage whatever in the scrummage, though in the 
 open we were undoubtedly superior. I am told by 
 William Cail that eight forwards of Northumberland 
 more than held their own against Durham, who had 
 forsaken their former successful practice of four three- 
 quarters ; and I am told by the same authority that in 
 their county match, eight Durham forwards had the 
 better in the scrummage of nine Yorkshire forwards — 
 reputedly the best county team in England. 
 
 With such data before me, which I could multiply 
 if necessary, I am entitled to ask — Where does the 
 advantage of your ninth forward come in ? In the 
 open he may, but in the pack he decidedly does not, 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 129 
 
 under the style in which we play in England to-day. 
 And I am also entitled to ask what other deduction 
 you can draw from these statistics, except that the 
 method of scrummaging no longer consists in getting 
 on the first momentum and carrying the scrummage 
 before you by pushing, but that it has resolved itself 
 into a game of finesse, in which the most skilful 
 manoeuvres gain the day. 
 
 It then becomes a question, if vou admit these 
 premises, in which position is the player, who makes 
 no material difference in scrummaging, best utilised — as 
 a forward, who, I own, strengthens the forward open 
 play, or as a fourth three-quarter ? 
 
 In my opinion, which I submit with great deference, 
 for I know that the balance of expert judgment is 
 against me, I think there is no question about it. 
 
 In which position is the man most advantageously 
 placed, both from an offensive and a defensive point of 
 view ? In considering the latter does it not stand to 
 reason that your defence at three-quarter is immensely 
 strengthened ? Is it not a very much more difficult 
 job to get through four men than three ? If not, then 
 one three-quarter is as good for defence as two, two as 
 three, and three as four. This reads like a self-evident 
 proposition, but as a great authority, for whose opinion 
 I hold the highest respect, is opposed to this view, I am 
 pleased to be able to confront nim with mathematical 
 logic. 
 
 The same problem meets us when we come to 
 offence. Are not two men better than one ? And assum- 
 ing that you have skilful players who can pass with 
 machine-like rapidity I cannot for the life of me see 
 how one three-quarter can possibly check two who are 
 as good as himself. 
 
 The objection generally advanced against the system 
 is that the ground is not broad enough to afford room 
 for four. Those who advance this argument have surely 
 forgotten this most important fact, that it is not merely 
 the latitude at touch-line which a three-quarter has to 
 manoeuvre in, but that the whole of the field can be 
 again retraversed. 
 
 For instance, the third three-quarter either (1) passes 
 to the fourth, or (2) feints to do so and runs on himself. 
 In either case the last three-quarter of the three-system 
 J 
 
130 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 at the disadvantage of two to one. 
 
 is at tne disadvantage 01 two to one. Supposing, then, 
 the third three-quarter has passed to the fourth, his 
 wing opponent is bound to make for the latter, and if 
 the fourth is wedged in on the touch-line it surely is a 
 very simple thing for him to repass to the third, the 
 third to the centre, and so on, so that one might imagine 
 the ball, by rapid exchanges, travelling to and fro across 
 the field ad infinitum. Your third three-quarter has to 
 stop two of the four-system — he must go for one of 
 
 A TIGHT SCRUMMAGE. 
 [(From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 them. If he makes for the wing the latter can repass, if 
 for the third the latter can pass to the fourth. It is 
 simply a question of stratagem, in which, believe me, 
 two are bound to outmanoeuvre one, if they are skilful 
 players. 
 
 Again, by the four-system we are able to bring m 
 short passing, which is both quicker and more precise 
 than long passing, and, therefore, a far better thing. 
 
 The most inexplicable proceeding on the part of a 
 great number of the opponents to the scheme is that 
 when they meet four they play four themselves. I 
 asked W. P. Carpmael why, when Blackheath meet 
 Cardiff, they adopt the system, and his answer was that 
 though he does not believe in the game he thinks it 
 pays against four. But surely, if the three is the superior 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 131 
 
 fame, ought it not to pay better than four against four ? 
 will leave Carpmael to solve this conundrum, and 
 wait patiently but confidently for time to show me 
 whether I am right or wrong in my opinion. 
 
 On this vexed question of four three-quarters there 
 are some who suggest that the extra man should be 
 employed as a flying man between the halves and three- 
 quarters without any fixed position, but whom you could 
 move as circumstances required — i.e. if on offence, to a 
 position most favourable to give an opportunity to the 
 three-quarters ; if on defence, to a position where he 
 could best stop his adversaries. The Maoris, when over 
 here, tried this experiment, and, I believe, with some 
 degree of success. It, however, does not to my mind 
 possess the facilities for perfect mechanism which the 
 four three-quarter system undoubtedly does. 
 
 Another eventuality which time may have in store 
 is the reduction in the number of forwards. To such a 
 change I should myself be very strongly opposed, for 
 the reason that the game is quite fast enough at present, 
 and by the innovation you would be putting a premium 
 on pace and discounting qualities which we have hitherto 
 considered as essential to a good Rugby forward. To 
 my mind it is not desirable to reduce the game to a pure 
 matter of speed. If you did, you would shut out many 
 who are at present considered our best forwards. You 
 would to a large extent exclude physique and strength, 
 both admirable qualities in an athlete, and a great deal 
 more Rugby in character than mere fleetness of foot. 
 You would never again see such men as C. and E. T. 
 Gurdon, Charles Reid or Gissy Graham — who, in my 
 eyes, typify ideal forward play — I advert to this, not 
 because there is any danger of an immediate movement 
 in this direction, but because I often hear the question 
 discussed, and I happen to know that several good 
 judges are in favour of the innovation. 
 
 Apart, however, from the changes which may occur 
 in the future from the alterations in the number or 
 arrangement of the players and the advance of science, 
 the question which will most materially affect the 
 destiny of the Rugby game is that of professionalism. 
 Since the working man has become so prominent an 
 element in our game, there are many who advocate the 
 introduction of professionalism in toto, and others, the 
 j2 
 
132 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 moderate party, who are in favour of compensation for 
 loss of time. And though both these schools may be 
 honest and sincere in their opinions, I venture to think 
 that they hold these views because they are enthusiasts 
 in the welfare and success of clubs entirely or almost 
 entirely composed of the working man, and have not 
 thought out the problem of what would happen if he 
 were allowed to get his living at Rugby football, or to be 
 recompensed for his absence from labour. To begin 
 with, if one were asked to define " sport," it ought to be 
 described as a recreation pursued for love of itself, and 
 devoid of emolument. To go a step further, you may 
 accept it as a lex non scripta that into whatever branch 
 of athletics an entrance has been opened for profit 
 without amateur supervision, at the same door hand in 
 hand there has stepped in also the element of corrupti- 
 bility. Secondly, is it not an incontrovertible axiom 
 that a man who gives his whole time and energies to a 
 game is bound to outstrip another who only devotes his 
 leisure moments to its pursuit ? And thirdly, what 
 professional sport is there which has thriven permanently 
 under its own administration in this country, or which 
 has not under the test of time sooner or later fallen a 
 victim to corruptibility, disrepute, and sometimes absolute 
 decay ? The case of cricket may, prima facie, seem to 
 contradict these axioms, but on analysis will be found 
 to confirm them. Our best amateur cricketers devote 
 quite as much time to it as the professionals. As a 
 consequence, while they are able to maintain an equality 
 of play, they are at the same time able to retain a 
 monopoly of government. But if W. G. Grace, A. N. 
 Hornby, A. E. Stoddart, and others could not, by their 
 constant devotion to the game, keep pace with the 
 professionals as competitors, the power of governing 
 would leave them with their inferiority of play. The 
 answer, then, to those who urge that the working man 
 ought to be compensated for the " loss of time " incurred 
 by his recreation is that, if he cannot afford the leisure 
 to play a game, he must do without it. How many 
 splendid athletes are never heard of again when they 
 leave their universities and schools, because they have 
 to follow avocations which will not allow them to play 
 football matches, which necessitate one, two, or three 
 days' desertion of their profession ? 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 133 
 
 If A. B. of the Stock Exchange were to ask tor com- 
 pensation for loss of time for a two-days' football tour, 
 such compensation to be fixed on a scale commensurate 
 with his earnings, the football community would de- 
 nounce it as a scandal. A. B., the stockbroker, has 
 therefore to stop at home at his desk because he cannot 
 afford to play, but C. D., the working man, is to be allowed 
 his outing and compensation for leaving his work, 
 which under any other circumstances he could not 
 afford to abandon. If, to come to my second point, a 
 man who gives his whole time to a game is bound to 
 best the amateur, who devotes only his leisure to it, the 
 inevitable law of the survival of the fittest must inter- 
 vene, and it simply becomes a question as to how long 
 the amateur can survive. If ever a vivid illustration of 
 the gradual process of amateur extinction were afforded 
 to us, the Rugby Unionists, as though by Providence, it 
 has been by the history of the Association game from 
 the day that this body legitimised professionalism. I 
 am correct, I believe, in saying that in the whole of 
 the North of England and the Midlands there is not a 
 single amateur football eleven. What does this mean ? 
 Why that the amateurs in those districts have been 
 out-classed, and been submerged by professionals, 
 and have now to seek other modes of recreation than 
 Association football for their leisure. But a few years 
 ago such clubs as the Old Etonians and the Old 
 Carthusians were competitors in the final tie of the 
 Association cup : this year every Southern amateur 
 team was beaten in the first round of the ties. It comes 
 then, to this, that where amateurs are not sufficiently 
 numerous and powerful to form clubs amongst them- 
 selves, and play against each other, you get a professional 
 absorption of districts ; and while you allow a man to 
 play for money, you prevent another playing for love of 
 the game without emolument. Is this sport ? 
 
 And, again, what does this professionalism lead to ? 
 Does it encourage native or residential talent, which, mark 
 you, should be the first and only object of every football 
 club ? On the contrary, it leads to trie wholesale importa- 
 tion of players of repute from other districts or, it may 
 be, countries, to the exclusion of indigenous ability. Is 
 this sport ? I say, certainly not. It is nothing more nor 
 less than handing over success in the game to the best 
 
134 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 capitalised club. If you could give me the wealth of 
 the Duke of Westminster and professionalism in Rugby 
 football to boot, I would in a very short time produce 
 the most formidable fifteen in the United Kingdom. 
 They should be called the "Charing Cross Crusaders," 
 though, probably, on their arrival from the North the 
 majority would have to make inquiries as to the where- 
 abouts of that metropolitan centre. If the hiring of 
 these aliens constitutes sportmanship, then Sir Augustus 
 Harris, who, at great outlay, brings to Drury Lane the 
 best pantomimists of the day, has earned this distinction 
 equally as well as the controllers and financiers of our 
 Association professional football teams. One can under- 
 stand people becoming enthusiastic over a bona-hde club 
 — that is, a club composed of players who have been 
 born or reside in the district — but it is past my compre- 
 hension to understand how eleven men, transported from 
 various points of the compass, can inflame with partisan- 
 ship the natives whom they are actually excluding from 
 the team which they ought themselves to be represent- 
 ing. The summum bonum of football and every other 
 game consists in the encouragement and development of 
 local ability, and not in the transportation of peripatetic 
 exhibitioners. What further happens in this game of 
 barter is this. As long as a team can win their matches 
 they draw great gates, and with the money rolling in the 
 extradition goes on, and the supply of recruits is main- 
 tained. But when a club loses its games it loses all its 
 powers of attraction. The gates fall off, the coffers are 
 depleted, and the once famous club gradually fades 
 into insignificance. The financiers are no longer able 
 to pay the professional his salary, and the latter packs 
 up his trunk and departs either to his native soil or to 
 some more prosperous " sporting " community, and the 
 native talent which has been swamped cannot rise to 
 the surface to fill the breach. 
 
 To sum up, the system of migration, which is a 
 necessary concomitant of professionalism, must inevit- 
 ably lead to (1) the extinction of the amateur, (2) the 
 exclusion of native talent, and (3) the seduction by 
 pecuniary inducement of players from (a) club to club, 
 (6) county to county, or even (c) country to country. Is 
 this sport ? I should call it the prostitution of it. Games 
 won, and great gates, read well in the newspapers, and I 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 135 
 
 doubt not pander to the vanity of those people Avho can 
 deceive themselves with the hallucination that renown 
 accrues to Birmingham, Nottingham, or Preston by 
 victories earned tnrough the prowess of imported 
 Scotsmen who have as much to do with either of 
 those cities as I have with Jerusalem, forgetting the 
 while that the whole credit of success attaches to 
 Scotland, who bred and exported the materials of 
 war, and not to themselves who have merely hired 
 them. Scores and gates are not, thank goodness, the 
 Alpha and Omega of our game; and the great game 
 of football of either code was never invented by 
 the schoolboy, who was the fons et origo of both, 
 to provide a livelihood for professionals and exclude 
 amateurs, or to become a medium of speculation for 
 gate-money financiers. These, if we legitimise pro- 
 fessionalism, are the dangers which face us, and the 
 crisis is consummated in my last axiom, that no pro- 
 fessional sport under its own government, and independ- 
 ently of amateur supervision, has ever yet permanently 
 prospered in this country; and, though at the present 
 time the Football Association, an amateur society, are 
 nominally the governors of the game, there is no blink- 
 ing the fact that with such an organisation as the 
 League behind them the professionals could at any 
 moment cast off the fetters of management of the head 
 and elect to govern themselves. In illustration of my 
 last contention take a retrospect of the past, compare the 
 performances of the English professional and amateur, 
 and tell me why it is that while the latter still remains 
 in most branches of athletics invincible, and in all 
 branches can still hold his own against the best com- 
 petitors the two hemispheres can produce, there is not a 
 single sport, save cricket, at which Australians, Ameri- 
 cans, and Canadians have not soundly thrashed our 
 professionals. 
 
 Take, as an instance, any English professional sport 
 where there is not amateur intervention. 
 
 English professional rowers were once the best in the 
 world. Where are they now ? They have become 
 absolute nonentities ; and you cannot name an oarsman 
 for whom a soul would put down his money for a match 
 against an Australian or American, a Canadian, or a 
 French-Canadian. The famous pair and four-oars of the 
 
136 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Thames and T} r ne are a thing of the past, and a few 
 matches between third-raters, and Doggett's Coat and 
 Badge Race represent the melancholy ruins of a sport 
 which has first been degraded and has then decayed. 
 Mr. Innes, the greatest patron of English professional 
 rowers, found out to his cost the utter rottenness of Eng- 
 lish professional rowing, and refused an}^ longer to allow 
 his pocket to be made a raffle of by competitors. On 
 the other side of the picture you have our amateurs, who 
 always have been and still are the finest amateur oars- 
 men in the world, and remain, as yet, invincible. 
 
 LOOSE GAME '. FOEWAEDS FOLLOWING UP. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by H. J. Whitlocl; Jun., Birmingham.) 
 
 Again, if it were not for the Sheffield Handicaps, 
 which are popular as a vehicle for betting, professional 
 running would be dead as mutton. The Cummings and 
 George, and the Hutchens and Gent matches are the 
 only ones of recent years which have excited public 
 interest, and yet never was amateur running so flourish- 
 ing or so ardently supported by popular enthusiasm as 
 at present. 
 
 And again, take the English professional boxer and 
 compare him with his ancestor — Savers. In default of 
 anything like champion form — though, if it were not for 
 the low repute into which the sport has fallen, there are 
 heaps of champions to be found in this country — we have 
 to find purses for colonials to fight for. 
 
 And once more, and lastly, though one could multiply 
 
PAST AND FUTURE OF THE GAME. 137 
 
 examples, we know that the Cumberland and Westmor- 
 land Wrestling Society discontinued their annual Good 
 Friday meeting because they found that the wrestlers 
 from the North split up the prizes between them before 
 they left for town. 
 
 Here is a catalogue of corruptibility and decay in 
 branches where our professionals were once without 
 rivals in other parts of the world, and in which our 
 amateurs still remain so. 
 
 History repeats itself, and there is no reason to 
 suppose that a Rugby football professional would be 
 a more moral person than his fellow in any other 
 branch, and spurn the temptations which fall across 
 his path. On the contrary, the presumption is the 
 other way, viz., that inasmuch as these temptations 
 would be before him Saturday after Saturday, he would 
 be more likely in time to yield to their influence upon 
 him. 
 
 Moreover, it is not a game like cricket, which affords 
 sufficient occupation to justify the devotion of a man's 
 entire time to it. Three days a week are as much as 
 anybody can play, and then only for an hour and a half 
 at a stretch. This brings the total of the week's play to 
 four and a half hours. Allowing for training and prac- 
 tising in addition to this, the greater part of a man's 
 time would still remain unutilised. The profession of 
 football, then, means a life of idleness while it lasts. 
 But it is also a game at which a man cannot play for 
 many years, and after his career is finished it leads to 
 absolutely nothing; so that the superannuated pro- 
 fessor, when his short day of activity is over, finds him- 
 self stranded without resources, and has to begin life 
 again to get his bread. 
 
 If, with the lesson before them, which facts such 
 as these so cogently supply, if with the warning of 
 "breakers ahead," blind enthusiasts of working men's 
 clubs insist on introducing professionalism, there can be 
 but one result — disunion. The amateur must refuse to 
 submit himself to the process of slow extinction which 
 has been going on in the sister game, and say at once 
 that henceforth he will play and compete with his own 
 class alone, and let professionals for the future look 
 amongst themselves for opponents. And if this black 
 day comes, which I hope never will, it will be the duty 
 
138 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the Rugby Union to see that the division of classes 
 dates from the dawn of professionalism, and not to 
 wait, before seeking to apply a remedy as the short- 
 sighted Associationists have done, to see the whole of 
 the North and part of the South denuded of amateurs 
 and given up to subsidised players. To them the 
 charge of a game of great traditions has been com- 
 mitted, and, if they would be willing to consign the 
 future of these to the baneful influence of professional- 
 ism, they would assuredly be betraying the trust 
 reposed in them, and live regretfully to see the game of 
 to-day depraved, degraded, and decayed. 
 
CHAPTEE X. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 
 
 1871 TO 1880. 
 
 By Arthur G. Guillemard. 
 
 INASMUCH as the series of International matches 
 played under the auspices of the Rugby Football 
 Union has extended over a period of twenty years, and 
 the annual meetings of the picked players of the four 
 countries which, I hope, may long continue to form the 
 United Kingdom, are the leading features in each 
 recurring season, there is no occasion here to dilate upon 
 their interest and value. A few words, however, are 
 required by way of introduction to the records which 
 follow. 
 
 It is not too much to say that in the year 1870 there 
 were but very few English players who were aware that 
 Rugby football had taken any hold upon the affections of 
 Scotsmen ; a twelvemonth later all knew it only too 
 well. As stated in a preceding chapter, certain of the 
 leading Scottish clubs — Edinburgh Academy, Edinburgh 
 Academicals, Merchistonians, St. Andrews, and West of 
 Scotland — declining to recognise a so-called England v. 
 Scotland match under Association rules at the Oval as 
 an International meeting, the dribbling game being 
 almost unknown north of the Tweed, published a 
 challenge in Bell's Life to play a picked twenty of Eng- 
 land under Rugby School laws, during the winter of 
 1870-71. The challenge saw the light a few weeks 
 before the Rugby Football Union was founded, and there 
 was a little doubt as to who should pick up the Scottish 
 glove. However, F. Luscombe, the energetic captain of 
 the Gipsies, who was " spoiling for a fight," suggested to 
 F. Stokes, then captain of Blackheath, that his club, as 
 
140 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the oldest in point of foundation, ought to take the lead, 
 and accordingly B. H. Burns, the Blackheath secretary, 
 promptly wrote accepting the challenge. The principal 
 clubs in London, Liverpool, and Manchester were com- 
 municated with, and a committee formed to select the 
 players, choose a uniform, and make the necessary 
 arrangements. The task was a difficult one, but the 
 co-operation of the chief Northern clubs was enlisted, 
 and a strong detachment of their best men joined forces 
 with the Southern division. Unfortunately it was 
 impossible to obtain the services of any member of the 
 Woolwich Academy team, and of only one of Kichmond, 
 as also to arrange any trial matches ; and thus the twenty 
 suffered materially in the matter of individual players, 
 and also of combination, for the first match between North 
 and South was not played until three years after this. 
 
 Subsequently it became the custom to institute a 
 series of trial matches, which were managed by a sub- 
 committee, who selected the International team subject 
 to confirmation by the full committee. For several 
 years the Northern clubs were not represented by reason 
 of there being no organisation or society capable of 
 sifting the wheat from the chaff, and reporting to the 
 Union Committee. But when J. MacLaren, R, Walker, 
 and E. Kewley joined the committee, the selection of 
 Northern players was placed in their hands, and the 
 annual matches between North and South made the 
 task of getting together a thoroughly representative 
 team comparatively easy. And nowadays, with a 
 plethora of county matches and club tours, the good and 
 bad points of every leading player are well known to all 
 the members of the English Selection Committee, who 
 are carefully chosen according to their knowledge of the 
 game, and have to attend all the Union matches. And 
 it is satisfactory to note that it has never yet been 
 asserted that a place in the English team has been gained 
 by favouritism. 
 
 March 27th, 1871, Edinburgh. 
 Scotland beat England by a goal and a try to a try. 
 
 The first International match between England and 
 Scotland was played at the Academy Ground in Raeburn 
 Place, Edinburgh, on the 27th March, 1871. The 
 weather was magnificent and the turf in excellent order, 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 141 
 
 and an attendance of some 4,000 spectators showed that 
 Kugby football had already attained considerable popu- 
 larity north of the Tweed. The ground measured some 
 120 yards in length by 55 in breadth, and its narrowness 
 compared with English grounds materially handicapped 
 the excellent running of the English half-backs. 
 
 It was arranged before kick-off that the match should 
 be played for two periods of fifty minutes each, that no 
 hacking-over or tripping-up should be allowed, and that 
 the ball should not be taken up for a run unless abso- 
 lutely bounding, as opposed to rolling. There were 
 other points, too, upon which the Scottish fashion of 
 playing the Rugby game had to be followed. The 
 match was very evenly contested until half-time, after 
 which the combination of the Scotsmen, who knew each 
 other's play thoroughly, and their superior training 
 began to tell a tale, and after a maul just outside the 
 English goal-line the umpires ordered the ball to be 
 put down in a scrummage five yards outside the line. 
 It was taken out accordingly, but, instead of putting 
 it down, the Scottish forwards drove the entire scrum- 
 mage into goal, and then grounded the ball and claimed 
 a try. This, though illegal according to English laws, 
 was allowed by the umpires, and a goal was kicked by 
 Cross. England then penned their opponents for some 
 time, and ultimately R H. Birkett ran in close to touch, 
 but the captain's place-kick, a long and difficult one 
 across the wind, failed. Scotland gained another try 
 just before "no side," Cross touching the ball down 
 after an unintentional knock-on by one of his own side. 
 His place-kick, however, was unsuccessful. The English 
 twenty in this match averaged 12st. 3lb. per man, 
 and the Scotch probably about the same. J. F. Green 
 and F. Tobin for England and M. Cross for Scotland 
 played splendidly behind the scrummage. The 
 Scotch forwards were distinctly quicker on their feet, 
 and in better training than their opponents. 
 
 In this match an extraordinary charge was made by 
 Osborne. Finlay had got well away with the ball, and 
 was sprintiDg towards the English goal at hundred 
 yards' speed, when Osborne, folding his arms across his 
 chest, ran full tilt at him, after the fashion of a bull 
 charging a gate. Both were very big, heavy men, and 
 the crash of the collision was tremendous, each reeling 
 
ENGLISH TEAM F. SCOTLAND: EDINBURGH, MARCH, 1871. 
 (Scotland — 1 Goal, 1 Try. England — 1 Try.) 
 
 ~ t 
 
 » E 
 
 ". 
 
 m 
 c ^ 
 
 - > 
 
 6 9 
 
 H § 
 
 X r-' 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. US 
 
 some yards, and finally falling on his back. For a few 
 
 seconds players and spectators alike held their breath, 
 
 fearing terrible results, but the two giants promptly 
 
 resumed their places, apparently none the worse. Burns 
 
 played as substitute for F. W. Isherwood, one of the 
 
 best English forwards, who was unable, owing to an 
 
 accident, to fulfil his promise to play. 
 
 A few words on the leading English players. F. 
 
 Stokes, who learnt his football at Rugby, was a most 
 
 excellent and popular captain of the English twenty for 
 
 this and the two succeeding 
 
 years, combining a thorough 
 
 knowledge of the game with 
 
 admirable tact and good 
 
 temper, and being gifted 
 
 with power of infusing spirit 
 
 and enthusiasm into his 
 
 team similar to that pos- 
 sessed by A. N. Hornby on 
 
 the cricket field. As a 
 
 player, he was one of the 
 
 very best examples of a 
 
 heavy forward, always on 
 
 the ball, and first-rate either 
 
 in the thick of a scrummage 
 
 or in a loose rally, a good 
 
 dribbler, very successful in 
 
 getting the ball when thrown 
 
 out of touch, a very long drop and a particularly safe tackle. 
 
 For his club he often played half-back with success as, 
 though not one of the fastest runners, his powers of 
 " shoving-off " were very great. He was also one of the 
 very longest and best of place-kicks. J. F. Green for 
 several years was one of the most brilliant of half-backs, 
 being an excellent field, and when once under way as 
 speedy a runner as was ever seen with a ball under his 
 arm, his stride being- magnificent. Unfortunately an 
 accident to his right knee obliged him to give up play- 
 ing when he was quite at the top of the tree. F. Tobin 
 was also a grand player, not quite so fast a runner as 
 Green, but more dodgy. Of Bentley and his weight- 
 carrying powers I have written in another chapter. 
 R. H. Birkett, who played in four International 
 matches, was very useful both forward and behind the 
 
 J. F. GREEN. 
 
 {From a Photograph by J. Weston rf 1 Sons 
 
 Folkestone.) 
 
144 EUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 scrummage, and had plenty of pace. A. St. G. Hamersley 
 was a very tall, powerful forward, working most 
 resolutely in the scrummage, and first-rate at get- 
 ting the ball on its being thrown out from touch ; 
 his departure for New Zealand, where he did much 
 towards improving the colonists' game, was a great loss 
 to England. D. P. Turner, who played against Scotland 
 in five successive matches, was a desperately hard- 
 working forward, always keen and untiring, and as 
 regardless of risk or danger as an Irishman. No fewer 
 than ten of the English twenty — F. Stokes, A. G. 
 Guillemard, A. Lyon, J. F. Green, F. Tobin, J. H. Clayton, 
 A. Davenport, J. M. Dugdale, C. W. Sherrard, and D. P. 
 Turner — were Old Rugbeians. 
 
 England.— F. Stokes (Blackheath) , captain ; A. G. Guillemard (West 
 Kent), A. Lyon (Liverpool), R. R. Osborne (Manchester), backs; W. 
 MacLaren (Manchester), three-quarter back; J. E. Bentlev (Gipsies), 
 F. Tobin (Liverpool), J. F. Green (West Kent), half-backs; R. H. 
 Birkett (Clapham Rovers), B. H. Burns (Blackheath), J. H. Clayton 
 (Liverpool), C. A. Crompton (Blackheath), A. Davenport (Ravenscourt 
 Park), J. M. Dugdale (Ravenscourt Park), A. B, Gibson (Manchester), 
 A. St. G. Hamerslev (Marlborough Nomads), J. H. Luscombe (Gipsies), 
 C. W. Sherrard (Blackheath), D. P. Turner (Richmond), and H. J. C. 
 Turner (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — F. Moncrieff (Edinburgh Academicals), captain ; W. D. 
 Brown, and T. Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), B. Ross (St. Andrew's 
 University), backs; J. W. Arthur (Glasgow Academicals), F. Cross 
 (Merchistonians), T. R. Marshall (Edinburgh Academicals), half-backs; 
 A. Buchanan (Edinburgh University), A. B. Colville (Merchistonians), 
 A. Drew (Glasgow Academicals), R. Forsyth (Edinburgh University), 
 F. Finlay, R. Irvine, W. Lyall, and H. Mein (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 J. W. McFarlane (Edinburgh University), D. Munro (St. Andrew's 
 University), T. Ritchie (Merchistonians), F. Robertson (West of Scot- 
 land), and W. Thomson (St. Andrew's University), forwards. 
 
 February 5th, 1872, The Oval. 
 England beat Scotland by 2 goals and 2 tries to 1 goal. 
 
 The second meeting of the two countries took place 
 at the Oval, Kennington, on the 5th February, 1872, in 
 presence of some 4,000 spectators, and under favourable 
 circumstances of weather and ground. The English 
 twenty averaged on this occasion 12 st. 8 lb. per man, 
 whilst the Scotch but little exceeded 12 st., but were an 
 extremely athletic and wiry lot. The ground set apart 
 for play at the northern end of the Oval measured 120 
 yards by 70, and as a consequence of this additional 
 breadth the running was far more brilliant than at Edin- 
 burgh the previous year. Matters opened auspiciously 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 145 
 
 for Scotland, for C. Cathcart, getting the ball out of 
 a loose scrummage, dropped a neat goal for Scotland 
 after some ten minutes' play. This caused the English 
 forwards, who, as usual, began rather slowly, to wake up, 
 and, led by the captain, F. W. Isherwood, A. St. G. 
 Hamersley, and D. P. Turner, they gradually forced 
 their opponents back into goal, where Hamersley 
 touched the ball down after a short maul. From this 
 Isherwood kicked a goal. The second half of the match 
 was principally remarkable for the grand forward play 
 on the English side, and for 
 a magnificent left foot drop 
 by Freeman, which obtained 
 a second goal for England. 
 D'Aguilar and Finney also 
 got in, but Isherwood's place- 
 kicks failed. England's vic- 
 tory was mainly due to their 
 excellent forward play, and 
 their extra weight and 
 strength told an unmistak- 
 able tale on the Scottish side 
 of the scrummage. They 
 were, possibly, one of the 
 fastest sets of forwards, con- 
 sidering their weight, that 
 have ever taken part in an 
 International match. R. P. 
 Maitland (half-back) played very brilliantly for Scotland, 
 and Finney (half-back), and Freeman (three-quarters 
 back) faultlessly for England. 
 
 On this occasion several notable players made their 
 first appearance in an International match. Harold 
 Freeman, who played in three successive matches against 
 Scotland, dropped a goal in the first and third, and a 
 poster in the second. He was a very dashing three- 
 quarter back, a grand drop with either foot, a very sure 
 tackle, and possessed of great judgment and coolness in 
 a dilemma. S. Finney, who learnt the game at Clifton 
 College, was the crack half-back of this era ; very quick 
 at picking up the ball and starting, and a brilliant runner ; 
 especially good in a desperate rush through a crowd of 
 opponents when close to goal ; towards the close of a 
 hard match he generally wore the appearance of having 
 
 K 
 
 F. LUSCOMBE. 
 {From a Photograph by Messy, Nice.) 
 
146 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 been engaged in a prize-fight, but the more wounds he 
 received the better he seemed to play. He was a deadly 
 tackle, but possessed no dropping powers. F. Luscombe, 
 an old Tonbridgian, who played four years against 
 Scotland, was one of the very keenest of forwards, 
 following up splendidly, and never sparing himself ; very 
 quick on his feet, a good dribbler, and a capital tackle. 
 J. A. Body — a pocket Hercules — who hailed from the same 
 school, was equally energetic and always on the ball. J. A. 
 Bush, the well-known Gloucestershire wicket-keeper, was 
 the giant of the team, and conspicuous in the centre of 
 every scrummage ; he played four times against Scotland. 
 F. W. Isherwood was a grand forward — perhaps the best 
 playing on this occasion — and very fast for his weight ; 
 also an excellent place-kick. Seven Old Rugbeians and 
 four Old Marlbunans played for England, who had six 
 of the previous year's team, whilst Scotland mustered 
 eleven. F. Stokes again proved himself an excellent 
 general. 
 
 The following were the players : 
 
 England. — F. Stokes (Blackheath), captain; A. G. Guillemard (West 
 Kent), F. \V. Mills (Marlborough Nomads), W. O. Moberly (Ravens- 
 court Park), backs ; H. Freeman (Marlborough Nomads), three-quarter 
 back; J. F. Bentley (Gipsies), S. Finney (I. C. E. College), P. Wilkinson 
 (Law Club), half-backs ; T. Batson (Blackheath), J. A. Body (Gipsies), 
 J. A. Bush (Clifton), F. I. Currey (Marlborough Nomads), F. B. G. 
 D'Aguilar (Royal Engineers), A. St. G. Hamersley (Marlborough 
 Nomads), F. W. Isherwood (Ravenscourt Park), F. Luscombe (Gipsies), 
 J. E. H. Mackinlay (St. George's Hospital), W. W. Pinching (Guy's 
 Hospital), C. W. Sherrard, R.E. (West Kent), D. P. Turner (Richmond), 
 forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — F. Moncrieff (Edinburgh Academicals), captain, half- 
 back ; L. Balfour (Edinburgh Academicals), W. D. Brown, and T. 
 Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), backs; T. R. Marshall (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), R. P. Maitland (Royal Artillery), three-quarter backs ; 
 J. W. Arthur (Glasgow Academicals), W. Cross (Merchistonians), half- 
 backs; J. Anderson (West of Scotland), W. Bannerman (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), C. Cathcart (Loretto), A. G. Colville (Merchistonians), J. 
 Finlay, R. Irvine, W. Marshall (Edinburgh Academicals), J. H. L. 
 McFarlane (Edinburgh University), J. H. M'Clure (West of Scotland), 
 T. H. Maxwell (Royal Engineers), W. Mein (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 and H. W. Renny-Tailyour (Royal Engineers), forwards. 
 
 March 13th, 1873, Glasgow. 
 England v. Scotland. A drawn match. 
 
 The third match took place at the West of Scotland 
 ground, Partick, Glasgow, on the 13th of March, 1873, 
 and was drawn, England making their opponents touch 
 the ball down on rive occasions. When the English 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 147 
 
 twenty arrived in Glasgow they found the country under 
 snow, but this quickly thawed under a hot sun, and was 
 followed by a downpour of rain which continued through- 
 out the day. The turf was consequently spongy and 
 slippery at the top, and the running of the backs was 
 seriously affected. The ground measured 130 yards by 
 70, and was surrounded by some 5,000 spectators in spite 
 of the miserable weather. The English twenty averaged 
 12st. 6lb. per man, and their opponents 12st. lib., but Eng- 
 land's fourteen forwards (as compared with Scotland's thir- 
 teen) were at a slight disad- 
 vantage in point of weight. 
 The forward play was very 
 fairly even; behind the 
 scrummage McFarlane 
 made some very brilliant 
 runs, whilst the half-back 
 play of Finney and Boyle 
 was beyond all praise, and 
 the former on several occa- 
 sions was within a foot or 
 two of getting in. A mag- 
 nificent drop by Freeman 
 from a fair catch some 50 
 yards from the Scottish 
 goal resulted in a poster, 
 and thus no definite point 
 was gained by either side. 
 
 In connection with this match a singular incident 
 occurred. The greasy nature of the ground caused the 
 English captain to direct his men to have bars of 
 leather affixed to the soles of their boots. Freeman and 
 Boyle, who with Finney were considered the most 
 dangerous men on the side, reported, when the cobbler 
 had done his work, that they were each minus a boot. 
 Several of the team proceeded to ransack the cobbler's 
 shop, but without success, and it was not until after the 
 match — in which Boyle played with a dress boot on his 
 left foot — that the canny tradesman produced the 
 missing articles. Boyle, unfortunately, represented 
 England on this occasion only; he came from Clifton 
 College, and was Oxford's fast bowler this same year, but 
 must not be confounded with C. E. Boyle, the Old 
 Carthusian, who was in the Oxford eleven eight years 
 k2 
 
 M. W. MARSHALL. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Owen, Salisbury.) 
 
148 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 before. He was a fine runner, and excellent tackle. S. 
 Morse played three years in the English team, and was a 
 dashing runner and good drop with either foot. Hon. 
 H. A. Lawrence was a very keen, hard-working and 
 indefatigable forward, and followed up brilliantly. M. 
 W. Marshall, hailing, like Lawrence, from Wellington 
 College, played in no fewer than ten International 
 matches — six v. Scotland, and four v. Ireland — and was in 
 every respect one of the best forwards England ever 
 turned out. Possessed of great height and strength, he 
 was invaluable in a scrummage, used his feet well when 
 the ball got loose, and was a very clever tackle. 
 
 The public schools were well represented this year, 
 the team including five Old Eugbeians, five Old Marl- 
 burians, three Old Cliftonians, three Old Wellmgtonians, 
 and two Old Tonbridgians. 
 
 Scottish hospitality ran high at Glasgow, and this 
 perhaps is accountable for the fact that a certain gallant 
 English forward was found by some of his colleagues 
 shortly after midnight, driving one of Her Majesty's 
 mail carts to the railway station. They fortunately 
 succeeded in persuading him that he had done quite 
 enough work already, or he might have found out to 
 his discomfort that the verb " to run in " could be used 
 by a policeman in the active sense as effectually as by a 
 football player in the neuter. 
 
 The following were the players : — 
 
 England.— F. Stokes (Blackheath), captain; F. W. Mills (Marl- 
 borough Nomads), S. Morse (Law Club), C. H. R. Vanderspar (Rich- 
 mond), backs ; H. Freeman (Marlborough Nomads), three-quarter back ; 
 C. \V. Boyle (Oxford University), S. Finney (I.C.E. College), half-backs ; 
 J. A. Body (Gipsies), J. A. Bush (Clifton), E. C. Cheston (Law Club), 
 W. R. B. Fletcher and A. St. G. Hamersley (Marlborough Nomads), 
 Hon. H. A. Lawrence (Richmond), F. Luscombe (Gipsies), J. E. H. 
 Mackinlay (St. George's Hospital), H. Marsh (I.C.E. College). M. W. 
 Marshall (Blackheath), G. A. Rickards (Gipsies), E. R. Still (Ravens- 
 court Park), and D. P. Turner (Richmond), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — F. Moncrieff (Edinburgh Academicals), captain; W. D. 
 Brown and T. Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), J. L. P. Sanderson 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), backs; G. B. M'Clure (West of Scotland), J. 
 L. McFarlane (Edinburgh University), three-quarter backs ; W. St. Clair 
 Grant (Craigmount), T. R. Marshall (Edinburgh Academicals) . half -backs ; 
 H. W. Allen (Glasgow Academicals), A. Anton (St. Andrew's University), 
 E. M. Bannerman (Edinburgh Academicals), C. C. Bryce (Glasgow 
 Academicals), C. W. Cathcart (Edinburgh University), T. P. Davidson 
 (I.C.E. College), R. W. Irvine and T. Mein (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), T. Whittington (Merchistonians), R. 
 "Wilson (West of Scotland), and A. Wood (Royal High School), forwards. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 149 
 
 February, 23rd, 1874, The Oval. 
 England beat Scotland by a goal to a try. 
 
 On this occasion the Scotsmen had a slight advantage 
 in point of weight, but the English forwards held their 
 own throughout. As in the previous year, rain fell 
 heavily throughout the match, and the ground was in an 
 exceedingly bad state. As usual, the pace of the Scottish 
 forwards caused their opponents to be much penned at 
 the beginning of the match, but when the teams got 
 their second wind the tables were turned. Twice the 
 Scottish goal was endangered 
 by drops by Morse and 
 Milton, and ultimately just 
 before " no side " Freeman, 
 as in 1872, with a magni- 
 ficent left-foot drop effected 
 its downfall. The try for 
 Scotland was obtained by J. 
 Finlay. The twenties both 
 in and behind the scrummage 
 were very evenly matched. 
 
 Of the English twenty 
 this year M. Brooks will be 
 identified as the famous high 
 jumper. W. E. Collins, who 
 played in five International 
 matches, was an admirable 
 and extremely plucky half- 
 back, very quick on his feet, dodging well, and a capital 
 drop with either foot ; like Hamersley he left for New 
 Zealand when still at his best. C. W. Crosse was one of 
 the very best of forwards that ever came from Rugby, 
 but a commission in the 6th Dragoons demanded his 
 services in another sphere of action. The North had had 
 no representatives playing for England since 1871, but on 
 this occasion four obtained places. E. Kewley, who took 
 part in this and the following four matches v. Scotland, 
 and in two v. Ireland, was throughout his career a most 
 excellent forward, and a keen, determined and plucky 
 player, always on the ball, a most brilliant dribbler, 
 and a sure tackle. Roger Walker played five times for 
 England, and proved himself a sterling useful forward, 
 bringing his weight and strength well into play in the 
 scrummages. 
 
 (Frow a Photograph by Xetherville Briyys, 
 London.) 
 
150 BVGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The following were the players — 
 
 England. — A. St. G. Hamersley (Marlborough Nomads), captain; 
 J. M. Batten (Cambridge University), M. Brooks (Oxford University), 
 backs ; H. Freeman, three-quarter back ; W. E. Collins (Old Cheltonians), 
 W. H. Milton and S. Morse (Marlborough Nomads), half-backs; T. 
 Batson (Blackheath), H. A. Bryden (Clapham Rovers), E. C. Cheston 
 (Richmond), C. W. Crosse (Oxford University), F. Cunliffe (Royal Military 
 Academy), E. Genth (Manchester), E. Kewley (Liverpool), Hon. H. A. 
 Lawrence andM. W. Marshall (Blackheath), Hon. S. Parker (Liverpool), 
 W. H. Stafford (Royal Engineers), D. P. Turner (Richmond), and R. 
 "Walker (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — W. D. Brown (Glasgow Academicals), captain, and T. 
 Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), backs ; H. M. Hamilton and W. H. 
 Kidston (West of Scotland) and T. R. Marshall (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 three-quarterbacks; W. St. Clair Grant (Craigmount), A. K. Stewart 
 (Edinburgh University), half-backs ; C. C. Bryce (Glasgow Academicals), 
 T. P. Davidson (I. C. E. College), J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 G. Heron (Glasgow Academicals), R. W. Irvine and J. Mein (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), W. Neilson (West of Scotland), A. G. Petiie (Royal High 
 School), J. Reid (Wanderers), J. K. Todd (Glasgow Academicals), R. 
 Wilson (West of Scotland), A. Wood (Royal High School), and A. Young 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), forwards. 
 
 Febrvaky 19th, 1875, The Oval 
 England beat Ireland by 2 goals and a try. 
 
 This, the first meeting, of the two countries, was not 
 favoured by the weather, heavy rain during the previous 
 night quite ruining the turf, which presented the appear- 
 ance of an extensive quagmire, no less than four matches 
 having being played on the same ground during the 
 previous week. This was something like asking the 
 Gentlemen to meet the Players at cricket on a wicket 
 which had done duty for a county match during the three 
 preceding days. The ground measured 130 yards by 75, 
 and the spectators were some 3,000 in number. England 
 penned their adversaries almost throughout the game, 
 and obtained 2 goals, one from a good drop by Nash, the 
 other from a place-kick by Pearson, after a run in by 
 Cheston. Michell also made a fine rnn-in, but Fraser's 
 place-kick failed. On the winning side Nash was con- 
 spicuous for the way in which he got through the mud. 
 The Irish team showed great want of practice, both in 
 play and dropping, and their backs were badly placed, 
 but tackled well. Cronyn was conspicuous on their side. 
 The forwards played a good and plucky game. 
 
 Lennard Stokes, a younger brother of F. Stokes, who 
 was captain of the first three English twenties, donned 
 an International cap and jersey for the first time in this 
 
V?" 
 
 INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS^tyl S/ Ty 
 
 ^Zi *NIA. 
 match. He played in six successive matches v. Scotland, 
 live times v. Ireland, and also in the first match v. Wales. 
 He played full-back in his opening match, but nearly 
 always afterwards three-quarter back, and it is not too 
 much to say that at this post his equal, either in science 
 or play, has never been seen from the date of the 
 foundation of the Union. Six feet in height, and of 
 sinewy frame, he was the very model of an athlete, and 
 his great pace made him the champion sprinter at the 
 sports of the United Hospitals. He was a faultless catch 
 and field, and a very quick starter, and with his speed of 
 foot, wonderful dodging powers, and clever " shoving-off," 
 was an extremely difficult man to tackle. An excellent 
 place-kick, he was also for several seasons the longest 
 drop in the three kingdoms. Some of his drops at goal 
 from difficult positions when hemmed in by opponents 
 were simply marvellous. His feats in International 
 matches are referred to in the following pages, but it 
 may be recorded here that in a match between Kent and 
 Surrey he dropped three goals in an hour. His tackling 
 was not quite up to the standard of the rest of his play, 
 as he frequently aimed too high, but his great speed 
 often enabled him to rectify an error by a second 
 attempt. His knowledge of the game and finesse were 
 quite on a par with his play. He enjoyed a wonderful 
 hold of his men, and worked them in a most deter- 
 mined manner. Admirable play and a great reputation 
 naturally made him the idol of the ring, and during his 
 career he undoubtedly won more matches for his 
 side than any other player. 
 
 Two other good players behind the scrummage 
 who made their debut in this match were A. 
 W. Pearson, of Guy's Hospital and Blackheath, who 
 played in six International matches, and was a very 
 steady back, a good tackle, and excellent drop and 
 place-kick; and A. T. Michell, of Oxford University, 
 an admirable half-back, very unselfish, and a capital drop 
 and sure tackle. Forward, F. R Adams, of Richmond, 
 who played in seven International matches, proved him- 
 self well worthy of his place, being very keen and 
 
 energetic, and a valuable player by reason of his weight, 
 vigorous following-up. Like two other 
 sterling forwards, Murray Marshall and Lawrence, he 
 
 strength, and vigorous following-up. Like two other 
 sterling forwards, Murray Marshall am 
 learnt his football at Wellington College. 
 
152 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The following were the players : — 
 
 England. — Hon. H. A. Lawrence (Richmond), captain : A. W. Pear- 
 son (Guy's Hospital), L. Stokes (Blackheath), backs; W. H. Milton 
 (Marlborough Nomads), three-quarter back ; W. E. Collins (St. George's 
 Hospital), A. T. Michell, and E. H. Nash (Oxford University), half- 
 backs; F. R. Adams (Richmond), T. Batson (Blackheath), E. C. Cheston 
 (Richmond), C. W. Crosse, and E. C. Fraser (Oxford University), H. J. 
 Graham (Wimbledon Hornets), W. H. Hutchinson (Hull), F. Lus- 
 combe (Gipsies), J. E. H. Mackinlay (St. George's Hospital), M. 
 W. Marshall (Blackheath), E. S. Perrott (Old Cheltonians), D. P. Turner 
 (Richmond), and R. Walker (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Ireland.— G. Stack (Dublin University), captain; J. Cox (Dublin 
 University), R. Walkington (North of Ireland), backs ; R. Bell, junior 
 (North of Ireland), A. Crony n (Dublin University), three-quarter backs; 
 R. Galbraith and J. Myles (Dublin University), E. Mcllwaine (North of 
 Ireland), half-backs ; J. Allen (Wanderers), G. Andrews and W. Ash 
 (North of Ireland), M. Barlow (Wanderers), B. N. Casement (Dublin 
 University), A. Combe (North of Ireland), W. Gaffikin (Windsor), E. 
 Galbraith (Dublin University), H. Hewson (Wanderers), F. McDonald 
 (Methodist College), J. Magennis (Dublin University), and H. D. Walsh 
 (Dublin University), forwards. 
 
 March 8th, 1875, Edinburgh. 
 England v. Scotland. A drawn match. 
 
 Edinburgh was the scene of the fifth England and 
 Scotland match, the ground selected being that on which 
 the first contest had taken place. The field, however, 
 was considerably larger, measuring 130 yards long by 
 85 wide, and the game was very fast. On this occasion 
 the arrangement of the English backs behind the scrum- 
 mage was as follows : two half-backs, one three-quarter 
 back, and three backs, and it answered well. The 
 ground and weather were all that could be desired, and 
 the spectators were some 7,000 in number. The result 
 was almost a counterpart of that recorded at Glasgow 
 two years previously, the only advantage gained being 
 that England obliged their opponents to touch-down on 
 six occasions. The dropping of both sides in this match 
 formed a very brilliant feature of the play, and on some 
 half-dozen occasions a foot or so in point of direction 
 would have caused the downfall of one goal or the other. 
 In this respect A. T. Michell and M. W. Marshall were 
 conspicuous for England, and T. Chalmers and N. Finlay 
 for Scotland. 
 
 This was L. H. Birkett's first International match. A 
 brother of R. H. Birkett, who played in the first English 
 twenty, he was a capital full-back and first-rate drop. 
 W. A. D. Evanson also made his debut on this occasion : he 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 153 
 
 was a very strong and dashing runner, dodging well, and 
 quicker on his feet than most men of his weight. 
 The following were the players : — 
 
 England. — Hon. H. A. Lawrence (Richmond), captain ; L. H. Birkett 
 (Clapham Rovers) and A. W. Pearson (Guy's Hospital), backs; S. 
 Morse (Marlborough Nomads), three-quarter back ; W. E. Collins (Old 
 Cheltonians), W. A. D. Evanson (Civil Service), and A. T. Michell 
 (Oxford University), half-backs; F. R. Adams (Richmond), R. H. Birkett 
 (Clapham Rovers), J. A. Bush (Clifton), E. C. Cheston (Richmond), 
 W. R. B. Fletcher (Marlborough Nomads), H. Genth (Manchester), H. J. 
 Graham (Wimbledon Hornets), E. Kewley (Liverpool), F. Luscorabe 
 (Gipsies), M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), Hon. S. Parker (Liverpool), 
 J. E. Paul (I. C. E. College), and D. P. Turner (Richmond), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — W. D. Brown (Glasgow Academicals) captain, and T. 
 Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), backs ; M. Cross (Merchistonians), 
 Ninian Finlay (Edinburgh Academy), and H. M. Hamilton (West of 
 Scotland), three-quarter backs; J. R. Hay-Gordon (Edinburgh Academi- 
 cals) and J. K. Todd (Glasgow Academicals), half-backs; A. Arthur 
 (Glasgow Academicals), J. Dunlop (West of Scotland), A. Finlay and 
 J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), G. R. Fleming and G. Heron 
 (Glasgow Academicals), R. W. Irvine, A. Marshall, and R. Mein (Edin- 
 burgh Academicals), A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), J. Reid (Wan- 
 derers), and A. Wood (Royal High School), forwards. 
 
 December 13th, 1875, Dublin. 
 England beat Ireland by a goal and a try. 
 
 A hard frost had prevailed in Ireland for ten days 
 preceding the departure of the English team, who, how- 
 ever, declined to be put off in spite of numerous tele- 
 grams, and were finally rewarded by the news of a 
 " mighty thaw." Clark and Kewley each ran in for 
 England, and Pearson kicked a splendid goal from a 
 difficult position. The forward play was very even, and 
 the dropping of the Irish backs showed great improve- 
 ment. The piece of play which evoked most enthusiasm 
 was a dribble by Kewley and Bulteel almost the entire 
 length of the ground. 
 
 The following were the players : — 
 
 England. — F. Luscombe (Gipsies), captain, S. H. Login (Royal 
 Naval College), and A. W. Pearson (Blackheath), backs ; C. R. Gunner 
 (Marlborough Nomads) and A. T. Michell (Oxford University), three- 
 quarter backs ; C. W. H. Clark (Liverpool) and W. E. Collins (St. 
 George's Hospital), half-backs ; J. Brewer (Gipsies), C. C. Bryden 
 (Clapham Rovers), A. J. Bulteel (Manchester), J. A. Bush (Clifton), 
 H. J. Graham and J. D. Graham (Wimbledon), W. Greg, (Manchester), 
 W. H. Hutchinson (Hull), E. Kewley (Liverpool), E. E. Marriott (Man- 
 chester), M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), E. B. Turner (St. George's 
 Hospital), and C. L. Verelst (Liverpool), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. Bell, jun. (North of Ireland), captain, and A. Cronyn 
 (Dublin University), half-backs ; H. Moore (Windsor) and R. Walkington 
 
154 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 (North of Ireland), backs ; B. N. Casement (Wanderers) and J. Hob- 
 son (University), three-quarter backs ; G-. Andrews (North of Ireland), 
 
 D. T. Arnott (Lansdowne), W. H. Ash (North of Ireland), H. Cox 
 (Lansdowne), W. Cuscaden (Bray), W. Finlay (Windsor), R. Galbraith 
 (Dublin University), R. Greer (Kingstown), J. Ireland (Windsor), J. 
 Macdonald (Methodists College), J. Magennis (Dublin Universitv), 
 
 E. N. M'llwaine (North of Ireland), H. I). W r alsh and J. Westby, 
 (Dublin University), forwards. 
 
 March 6th, 1876, The Oval. 
 England beat Scotland by a goal and a try. 
 
 This was the sixth match of the series. The turf of 
 the Held of play, 120 yards by 80, not having been played 
 on during the previous fortnight, was in very fair order. 
 England as usual had the heavier team, averaging 12st. 
 4lb. to Scotland's list. 13lb. Up to the call of half-time 
 the play was wonderfully even, but shortly after the ball 
 had been again started, Collins obtained it, and after a 
 short but brilliant run passed it to Hutchinson, who 
 made the run of the match. Passing the half-backs by 
 sheer pace, shaking himself free from the grasp of the 
 three-quarter backs, and traversing nearly the entire 
 length of the ground, he was not brought to bay until 
 within twenty yards of the Scottish goal. Here Lee, 
 well known at Oxford for his brilliant following up, 
 found the ball "going about," and completed the best 
 piece of play in the whole Rugby season, by passing the 
 last back and running in behind the posts amidst such a 
 roar of cheers as the Oval could but seldom have heard. 
 From this try Stokes easily kicked a goal. Collins also 
 made a brilliant run-in, but the place-kick was unsuccessful. 
 The Scottish team were better together forward than the 
 winners, but their inferiority in weight was not com- 
 pensated for by any special superiority in point of pace. 
 Cross was brilliant as usual behind the scrummage, but 
 otherwise the backs were distinctly inferior to those of 
 England. 
 
 W. C. Hutchinson, who made a very brilliant first 
 appearance in this match, was a first-rate half-back, a quick 
 starter, with a very fair amount of pace, an unselfish 
 player, and good tackle. He took part in two 
 matches only, and died in India early in life. 
 
 F. H. Lee, an Old Marlburian, was a sterling forward, 
 full of energy, a good stayer, and always on the ball. 
 W. H. Hunt was a very powerful and useful man in a 
 scrummage. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 155 
 
 England. — F. Luscombe (Gipsies), captain ; A. H. Heath (Oxford 
 University), A. W. Pearson) (Blackhoath), backs; R. H. Birkett (Clap- 
 h im Rovers), L. Stokes (Blackheath), J. S. Tetley (Bradford), three- 
 quarter backs; \V. E. Collins (St. George's Hospital), W. 0. Hutchinson 
 (K.I.E. College), half-backs ; F. R. Adams (Richmond), J. A. Bush 
 (Clifton), E. C. Cheston (Richmond), H. J. Graham (Wimbledon), W. 
 Greg (Manchester), W. H. Hunt (Preston), E. Kewley (Liverpool), F. 
 H. Lee (Oxford University), M. W. Marshall and W. C. Rawlinson 
 (Blackheath), G. R. Turner (St. George's Hospital), and R. Walker 
 (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — R. W. Irvine (Edinburgh Academicals), captain; J. S. 
 Carrick and T. Chalmers (Glasgow Academicals), backs ; M. Cross 
 (Glasgow Acidemicals), N. J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), D. H. 
 Watson (Glasgow Academicals), three-quarter backs; G. Q. Paterson 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), A. K. Stewart (Edinburgh University), half- 
 backs ; A. Arthur (Glasgow Academicals), W. H. Bolton (West of Scot- 
 land), N. T. Brewis (Institution), C. W. Cathcart (Edinburgh University), 
 D. Drew and G. R. Fleming (Glasgow Academicals), J. H. S. Grahame 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), J. E. Junor (Glasgow Academicals), D.Lang 
 (Paisley), A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), J. Reid, and C. Villar 
 (Wanderers), forwards. 
 
 February 5th, 1877, The Oval. 
 England beat Ireland by 2 goals and a try. 
 
 This was the first International match played by 
 teams of fifteen a side, and from first to last the play was 
 fast and brilliant. Though the Irish team were second 
 best throughout, the match was never so one-sided as to 
 be uninteresting. Hutchinson made a brilliant run-in, 
 and Stokes kicked a goal eight minutes after the com- 
 mencement of play. Hornby subsequently made a very 
 pretty run-in, but the place-kick was unsuccessful. 
 Hutchinson, however, ran in again just before " no side,'' 
 and Stokes kicked a second goal. The English forwards 
 were not only heavier but also quicker on their feet than 
 their opponents, and the winners, as was to be expected, 
 knew more of the science of the game. 
 
 This was A. N. Hornby's first International match. 
 He played nine times for England, and it may safely be 
 said that no player has achieved greater distinction both 
 at cricket and football. Educated at Harrow, he did not 
 take up Rugby football until many years after he had 
 left school ; indeed, his International cap was not donned 
 until within a week of his attaining his thirty-first year. 
 But the spirit of the Rugby game was quite to his liking, 
 and his activity, energy, and pluck were all in his favour. 
 He soon mastered the laws, but the science of back play, 
 only to be gained by experience, took him longer 'to learn, 
 though he was often clever enough at extricating himself 
 
156 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 from a difficulty. He was a brilliant, dashing runner, 
 with a quick dodge which baffled many an opponent, 
 never famous as a drop but punted capitally, a splendid 
 catch and Held, and one of the surest tackles ever seen. 
 A regular die-hard, he instilled much of his spirit and 
 energy into his fifteen, with whom, as also with his 
 opponents, he was very popular. G. Harrison pla}^ed 
 thrice each against Ireland and Scotland, and once against 
 Wales. He was a most useful, hard-working forward, 
 and used his feet well, both in the scrummage and when 
 the ball got loose, being a fine dribbler. 
 
 England. — E. Kewley (Liverpool), captain ; L. Birkett (Clapham 
 Rovers), L. Stokes (Blackheath), backs; R. H. Birkett (Clapham Rovers), 
 A. N. Hornby (Preston), three-quarter backs ; W. C. Hutchinson, and P. 
 L. Price (I.C.E. College), half-backs: F. R. Adams (Richmond), R. H. 
 Fowler (Leeds), G. Harrison (Hull), W. H. Hunt (Preston), F. H. Lee 
 (Oxford University), M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), C. J. C. Touzell 
 (Cambridge University), and E. B. Turner (St! George's Hospital), 
 forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. Galbraith (Dublin University), captain, R. B. Walking- 
 ton (North of Ireland), backs ; H. Brown (Windsor), F. W. Kidd 
 (Lansdowne), three-quarter backs ; T. G. Gordon (North of Ireland), A. 
 Whitestone (Dublin University), half-backs ; T. Brown (Windsor), H. L. 
 Cox and H. G. Edwards (Dublin University), W. Finlay (North of 
 Ireland), W. J. Hamilton (Dublin University), I. Ireland (Windsor), H. 
 W. Jackson (Dublin University), H. C. Kelly (North of Ireland), and 
 W. H. Wilson (Dublin University), forwards. 
 
 March 5th, 1877, Edinburgh. 
 Scotland beat England by a goal. 
 
 The seventh England v. Scotland match was played 
 at Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on the 5th March, 1877, 
 when, to the delight of the majority of some 5,000 
 spectators, Scotland won their second victory. This was 
 the first meeting of the two countries with teams of fifteen 
 a side, and the play was remarkably even up to half- 
 time. Subsequently the English team were rather 
 penned, but the good runs and tackling of A. N. Hornby 
 and L. Stokes at three-quarter back kept their opponents 
 at bay until the last ten minutes, when Malcolm Cross 
 obtained a goal for Scotland by a capital drop. 
 
 Scotland. — R. W. Irvine, captain ; J. S. Carrick (Glasgow Academi- 
 cals), H. H. Johnston (Edinburgh Collegiate), backs; M. Cross and 
 R. C. McKenzie (Glasgow Academicals), three-quarterbacks; J. R. Hay 
 Gordon (Edinburgh Academicals), E. J. Pocock (Edinburgh Wanderers), 
 half-backs; J. H. S. Graham (Edinburgh Academicals), J. E. Junor 
 (Glasgow Academicals), H. M. Napier (West of Scotland), A. G. Petrie 
 (Royal High School), T. R. Reid (Edinburgh Wanderers), T. J. Torrie 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND 1> LAYERS. 157 
 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), C. Villar (Edinburgh Wanderers), D. H. 
 Watson (Glasgow Academicals), forwards. 
 
 England. — E. Kewley (Liverpool), captain; L. Birkett (Clapham 
 Rovers), A. W. Pearson (Blackheath), backs; A. N. Hornby (Preston), 
 L. Stokes (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; W. A. D. Evanson (Rich- 
 mond), P. L. Price (I. C. E. College), half-backs; C. C. Brvden (Clapham 
 Rovers), H. W. T. Garnett (Bradford), G. Harrison (Hull), W. H. 
 Hunt (Preston), A. F. Law (Richmond), M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), 
 R. Todd (Manchester), and C. J. C. Touzell (Cambridge University), 
 forwards. 
 
 March 4th, 1878, The Oval. 
 England v. Scotland. A drawn match. 
 
 The eighth meeting of England and Scotland was 
 favoured by brilliant weather, and. after a very hard- 
 fought struggle, left drawn, neither fifteen being able to 
 boast any tangible advantage, though Scotland had per- 
 haps a trifle the best of the penning. The attendance — 
 about 4,000 — was disappointing, and led to a change of 
 venae in 1880. The Scottish forwards, as usual, showed 
 rather superior pace and activity, but behind the 
 scrummage England had the whip hand, and Hornby 
 and Stokes each narrowly missed dropping a goal. 
 Adams made a good run-in for England, but it was given 
 up, as the Scots were taken at a disadvantage owing to 
 a misconception of one of the laws. Kewley and 
 Marshall played grandly forward. 
 
 This was E. T. Gurdon's first appearance for England : 
 he played no fewer than seven times against Scotland, 
 five times against Ireland, and four times against Wales ; 
 this record of sixteen matches has never been equalled 
 by any English player, and evidences his sterling worth. 
 Educated at Haileybury and Cambridge, he was in the 
 front rank of Rugby players, both at school and the 
 University, and on coming up to London joined the 
 Richmond Club, of which later on he was captain for 
 several seasons. In every respect he was one of the 
 best forwards that ever represented England ; though 
 not built on so large a scale as his younger brother, who 
 made his debut two years later, he was very muscular, 
 and used his weight and strength to the best advantage, 
 and was usually to be found in the very heart of the 
 scrummage. His use of his feet amidst a crowd of 
 forwards was admirable, but better still was his dribbling 
 when he had got the ball before him in the open, and 
 many a time has the ring been wrought up to a pitch 
 of frenzy watching the two Gurdons steering the ball 
 
158 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 past half-backs and three-quarter backs straight for the 
 enemy's quarters. A grand example was that set by the 
 brothers of resolutely keeping the ball on the ground 
 when they had taken it through a scrummage, knowing 
 how much more difficult it is for a half-back to stop a 
 combined rush of two or three good dribblers than a 
 single man with the ball under his arm. E. T. Gurdon 
 was also a deadly tackle, and followed up hard and 
 unflaggingly from kick-off to "no side." An excellent 
 knowledge of the game and thorough unselfishness 
 
 PUTTING THE BALL INTO A SCRIMMAGE. 
 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford). 
 
 helped to make him an admirable and popular captain 
 (the Bradford team will well remember his excellent 
 generalship when, with a strong forward, but weak back 
 team compared with the brilliant back combination of 
 the Northern Club, he compelled the Yorkshireman to 
 play a purely forward game throughout the match), 
 and he is invaluable in the councils of the Union, of 
 which he is now president for the second year. G. 
 Thomson also played his first match for England on this 
 occasion, and took part in eight subsequent matches. 
 He was a very useful and energetic forward, running 
 strongly and playing a dashing and plucky game ; he was 
 for several years on the Union Committee, and little did 
 his colleagues think that he was destined to fall a victim 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 159 
 
 to consumption. Another first appearance was that of 
 the Old Kugbeian, G. F. Vernon, perhaps still better 
 known as a cricketer. He played five times for England, 
 and was an excellent forward, working very hard in the 
 scrummage, and being a most difficult man to stop when 
 he got a chance of a run. Another good feature of his 
 play was his cleverness in getting the ball when thrown 
 out of touch, and he was certainly one of the very best 
 forwards of his time. 
 
 England. — E. Kewley (Liverpool), captain ; H. E. Kayll (Sunder- 
 land), and A. W. Pearson (Blackheath), backs; A. N. Hornby (Preston), 
 and L. Stokes (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; W. A. 1). Evanson 
 (Richmond), and P. L. Price (I. 0. E. College), half-backs; F. R. 
 Adams (Richmond), J. M. Biggs (University College Hospital), H. 
 Fowler (Oxford University), F. D. Fowler (I. C. E. College), E. T. 
 Gurdon (Old Haileyburians), M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), G. 
 Thomson (Halifax), and G. F. Vernon (Blackheath), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — R. W. Irvine (Edinburgh Academicals), captain; W. E. 
 M'Lagan (Edinburgh Academicals), back ; M. Cross (Glasgow Academi- 
 cals), and N. J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), three-quarter backs; 
 J. Campbell (Merchistonians), and J. Neilson (Glasgow Academicals), 
 half-backs ; L. C. Auldjo (Abertay), N. T. Brewis (Institution), J. H. S. 
 Graham, D. R. Irvine, and G. M'Leod (Glasgow Academicals), H. M. 
 Napier (West of Scotland), and A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), 
 forwards. 
 
 March 11th, 1878, Dublin. 
 England beat Ireland by 2 goals and a try. 
 
 This was the fourth meeting, and, though not re- 
 presented by their full strength, England secured an easy 
 victory. The first try was obtained by Gardner owing 
 to a bad piece of play by the Irish back, and the second 
 was obtained in exactly the same manner by Penny. 
 The goals were splendidly kicked by Pearson, though the 
 try in each case was obtained close to touch-in-goal. 
 The third try was obtained by E. B. Turner. The Irish 
 forwards played up pluckily, as usual, and penned their 
 opponents during the second half of the match, though 
 without being able to obtain any definite advantage. 
 Kelly played very finely for Ireland. 
 
 A. Budd, wlio played twice each v. Scotland and 
 Ireland, and once v. Wales, made his first appearance in 
 this match. His football education was gained at Clifton 
 College, Cambridge University, and in the ranks of the 
 Blackheath Club, and for several years he was one of 
 the fastest and most useful forwards — a very determined 
 
160 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 runner, not averse to a collision with an opponent, a 
 plucky charger, and excellent tackle. He played on the 
 verge of the scrummage as a rule, and, if occasionally he 
 robbed a half-back of a chance, was in the habit of 
 getting well off and making a dashing run. A veritable 
 enthusiast, he is as well up in the science of the game as 
 any man in the kingdom, has done excellent work in 
 many special committees, and is invaluable on a point of 
 law. In conjunction with H. Vassall he may be said to 
 have been mainly instrumental in developing amongst 
 forward players the theory of " passing," as to which I 
 am inclined to think that he joins with not a few of the 
 older school of players in considering it to be somewhat 
 over-developed nowadays. 
 
 England.— M. W. Marshall (Blackheath), captain; A. W. Pearson 
 (Blackheath), and W. J. Penny (King's College), backs; H. J. Enthoven 
 (Richmond), and A. N. Hornby (Preston), three-quarter backs; J. L. 
 Bell (Durham), and A. H. Jackson (Guy's Hospital), half-backs; T. 
 Blatherwick (Manchester), A. Budd (Blackheath), F. Dawson (I. C. E. 
 College), H. P. Gardner (Richmond), W. Hunt (Manchester), E. B. 
 Turner (St. George's Hospital), C. L. Verelst (Liverpool), and G. F. 
 Vernon (Blackheath), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. B. Walkington (North of Ireland), captain, back; 
 F. W. Kidd (Lansdowne), R. Matier (North of Ireland), three-quarter 
 backs; F. Hagan (Kingstown School), T. G. Gordon (North of Ireland), 
 half-backs ; E. Croker (Limerick), H. G. Edwards (Dublin University), 
 W. Finlay (North of Ireland), W. Griffiths (Limerick), R, Hughes 
 (Windsor), H. C. Kelly (North of Ireland), J. McDonald (Windsor), 
 W. Moore (Windsor), H. W. Murray (Dublin University), and F. 
 Schutt (Wanderers), forwards. 
 
 March 10th, 1879, Edinburgh. 
 England v. Scotland. A drawn match. 
 
 England and Scotland played their ninth match at 
 Raeburn Place, Edinburgh, on the 10th March, 1879, and 
 again a draw was the result. Both fifteens were thoroughly 
 representative, and England, playing with the wind at 
 the outset, gave Scotland plenty of work to do, 
 Evanson's running being very brilliant. Burton at 
 length ran in, and Stokes kicked a goal. In the second 
 half a good drop by Finlay made the score equal. No 
 further advantage was gained, though a fine drop by 
 Stokes almost obtained a second goal for England, the 
 ball hitting one of the posts. His dropping and the 
 running of the English backs and the excellent defensive 
 play of Maclagan for Scotland were very noticeable. 
 
 This was H. C. Rowley's first match for England, and 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 161 
 
 he played in eight other International matches. He was 
 built as a runner, and was an excellent player either 
 forward, half-back, or three-quarter back. He had 
 plenty of strength and pace, was a tine drop and a very 
 sure tackle, and always one of the keenest men on his 
 side. H. H. Taylor, who hailed from Merchant Taylors' 
 School, played in five International matches ; in the sixth 
 (1881) he lost the night mail to Scotland. Except that 
 he possessed no dropping powers, he was a first-rate half- 
 back, wonderfully quick on the ball and at utilising an 
 opening in his adversaries' defence. He ran low r , and 
 very strongly, though not very fast, and used his arms 
 with great effect ; his tactics in point of attack were his 
 best points, and he* did excellent service for England. 
 G. W. Burton, whose recent death was much regretted by 
 a large circle of football players, took part in six Inter- 
 national matches, and was a very fast and brilliant player 
 when the ball was in the open ; like his old friend Budd, 
 he did but little work in the scrummage itself, but in 
 their own particular style both did good service for 
 Blackheath and England. He was a fine dribbler, having 
 been educated at Winchester, and a sure tackle, and had 
 a happy knack of running in. S. Ncame, who played 
 for England in four matches, learnt the game at Chelten- 
 ham, and was a useful and occasionally brilliant forward, 
 working well in the scrummage, and a dangerous man 
 when the ball was loose. 
 
 England. — F. R. Adams (Richmond), captain; H. Huth (Hudders- 
 field), W. J. Penny (United Hospitals), backs; L. Stokes (Blackheath), 
 three-quarter back ; W. A. D. Evanson (Richmond), H. H. Taylor (St. 
 George's Hospital), half-backs ; A. Budd and G. W. Burton (Blackheath), 
 F. D. Fowler (Manchester), G. Harrison (Hull), N. F. McLeod (I. C. E. 
 College), S. Neame (Old Cheltonians), H. C. Rowley (Manchester), H. 
 Springmann (Liverpool), and R. Walker (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Scotland.— ST. W. Irvine (Edinburgh Academicals), captain; W. E. 
 Maclagan (Edinburgh Academicals), back ; M. Cross (Glasgow Academi- 
 cals), N. J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), three-quarter backs; 
 J. Neilson and J. A. Campbell (Glasgow Academicals), half-backs; R. 
 Ainslie and N. T. Brewis (Edinburgh Institution), J. B. Brown and 
 E. Ewart (Glasgow Academicals), J. H. S. Graham and D. R. Irvine 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), J. E. Junor (Glasgow Academicals),' H. M. 
 Napier (West of Scotland), and A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), 
 forwards. 
 
 March 30th, 1879, The Oval. 
 England beat Ireland by 3 goals. 
 
 The fifth match against Ireland, originally fixed for 
 the 3rd February, but postponed owing to frost, was 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 played at Kennington Oval on the 24th March, 1879. 
 unfortunately, Ireland was very indifferently represented, 
 and, though the forwards showed up fairly well, the 
 fifteen were quite over-matched, only once forcing the 
 ball over the English goal-line. England obtained 3 
 goals, one brilliantly dropped by Stokes, and the other 
 
 two kicked by him from runs- 
 in by Rowley and Twynam. 
 The English team was not 
 quite so strong as that which 
 played against Scotland. 
 
 It is somewhat singular 
 that H. T. Twynam, who 
 played live times for England 
 v. Ireland, and twice v. Wales, 
 should have only taken part 
 in one match v. Scotland, 
 and that in his last year, 
 1884, when he certainly 
 played in finer form than on 
 any previous occasion, and 
 was invaluable from first to 
 last. He was a brilliant half- 
 back, a fine runner with a 
 very difficult dodge, but was a trifle uncertain, and had 
 no powers of dropping. Better at attack than defence, 
 he always played a hard, resolute game, and was full of 
 energy and pluck. 
 
 England. — F. R. Adams (Richmond), captain; W. J. Penny 
 (United Hospitals), back ; W. A. D. Evanson (Richmond), L. Stokes 
 (Blackheath), three-quarter hacks ; W. E. Openshaw (Manchester) and 
 H. T. Twvnam (Richmond), half -hacks ; H. D. Bateson (Liverpool), 
 J. M. Biggs (United Hospitals), A. Budd and G. W. Burton (Blackheath), 
 E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), G. Harrison (Hull), X. F. M'Leod (I.C.E. Col- 
 lege), S.Neame (01dCheltonians),and H. C. Rowley (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — W. C. Neville (Dublin University), captain ; W. Pike 
 (Kingstown), back ; J. Bagot (Dublin University), W. J. Willis (Lands- 
 downe), three-quarter backs ; J. Heron (North of Ireland), A. M. 
 Whitestone (Dublin University), half-backs; J. D. Bristow (North of 
 Ireland), B. Casement and J. L. Cuppaidge (Dublin University), W. 
 Finlay (North of Ireland), J. J. Keon (Limerick), H. W. Murray (Dublin 
 University), Purdon (North of Ireland), F. Schute (Wanderers), and 
 G. Scriven (Dublin University), forwards. 
 
 January 30th, 1880, Dublin. 
 England beat Ireland by a goal and a try to a try. 
 
 The seventh match of the series, and a seventh 
 victory for the Rose. The weather and ground were 
 
 H. T. TWYNAM. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Elliott tfc Fry, 
 London.) 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 163 
 
 favourable, and the spectators numbered some three 
 thousand. The English Committee were unable to get 
 together their best team, and the match was a very hard- 
 fought one. This was L. Stokes's first appearance as 
 captain, and he was obliged to work his team very hard 
 to score a win. Ireland, playing with the wind behind 
 them for the first half of the match, showed to great 
 advantage, their forwards — always their strongest depart- 
 ment — working very hard. At last Cuppaidge ran in — 
 this was the first try ever gained by Ireland in these 
 matches — but Walkington's place-kick was a failure. 
 After half-time England got the upper hand ; Markendale 
 got in, but Hunt missed the shot at goal. Ellis shortly 
 afterwards ran in, and Stokes kicked a goal. The losers 
 showed much better form than any Irish team in the 
 six previous matches. 
 
 The record of this match brings to notice the per- 
 formances of C. Gurdon, to whom reference has already 
 been made in reviewing his brother's play. He, too, was 
 educated at Haileybury and Cambridge, and on coming 
 up to London joined the 
 Richmond Club. Taller, and 
 built on a larger scale than 
 his brother, with enormous 
 strength in his thighs and 
 shoulders, he was one of the 
 most massive and muscular 
 forwards that ever stripped, 
 and averaged about 13st. 
 71b. when in hard training. 
 Great advantage, however, as 
 his side derived from his 
 weight and strength, — for in 
 his day a scrummage was 
 worthy of its name, — they 
 derived still more from his 
 admirable play. A very zeal- 
 ous worker in the scrum- 
 mage, he devoted all his attention to the ball, and was 
 very careful not to overrun it whilst steering it through 
 the ranks of his opponents. When he had got it free he 
 dribbled fast and with unusual skill and success, and 
 half- and three-quarter backs dreaded his rush more than 
 that of anv other player. He was also one of the surest 
 L 2 
 
 CHARLES GURDON. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Window <£' Grove, 
 
 Baker Street, W.) 
 
ENGLISH TE1M ft SCOTLAND: MANCHESTER, FEBRUARY 28, 1880 
 
 England, 2 Goals 3 Tries ; Scotland, 1 Goal. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 165 
 
 of tackles, and always in the front rank in following up. 
 His record of International matches shows six against 
 Scotland, live against Ireland, and three against Wales, 
 and but for an accident to one of his knees he would be 
 able to boast of a still longer list. T. Fry played thrice 
 for England ; he was a first-rate full-back, being a deadly 
 tackle, a very strong runner and excellent drop, but 
 might have had a rather safer pair of hands as a catch 
 and field. As a full-back he enjoys the — I believe, unique 
 — distinction of having run-in against Scotland. : 
 
 England. — L. Stokes ( Blackheath), captain, and R. Hunt (Man- 
 chester), three-quarter hacks; A. H. Jackson (Blackheath) and H. T. 
 Twynam (Richmond), half-backs ; T. Fry (Queen's House) and A. N. 
 Hornby (Manchester), backs; S. Ellis (Queen's House), C. Gurdon 
 (Richmond), B. Kilner (Wakefield Trinity), E. T. Markendale (Man- 
 chester Rangers), S. Neame (Old Cheltonians), H. C. Rowley (Manchester), 
 J. Schofield (Manchester Rangers), G. F. Vernon (Blackheath), and C. 
 Woodhead (Huddersfield), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — H. C. Kelly (North of Ireland), captain; R. B. Walk- 
 ington (North of Ireland), back; J. L. Bagot (Dublin University) and 
 A. Whitestone, three-quarter backs ; W. T. Heron (North of Ireland) 
 and M. Johnston (Dublin University), half-backs ; J. L. Cuppaidge, A. J. 
 Forrest (Wanderers), R. W. Hughes (Queen's College), F. Kennedy and 
 J. A. Macdonald (Wanderers) , A. Millar (Kingstown), H. Purdon (North of 
 Ireland), G. Scriven (Dublin University), and J. Taylor, forwards. 
 
 February 28th, 1880, Manchester. 
 England beat Scotland by 2 goals and 3 tries to a goal. 
 
 In this, the tenth match of the series, England was 
 represented by probably the very strongest of all the 
 teams that, to the date of writing, have done battle for 
 the Rose. Scotland, however, owing to a very easy 
 victory over Ireland, were favourites and particularly 
 confident. They were led by the veteran Irvine, who 
 had played in all the previous matches. L. Stokes was 
 captain of England, and worked his fifteen admirably. 
 The ground was in fair order, but a trifle slippery at the 
 top ; a strong breeze blew from the upper end, of which 
 the visitors, winning the toss, had the advantage at the 
 outset. Recognising the necessity for a great effort, the 
 English forwards — usually slow at the start — got to work 
 in most vigorous style, and within some eight minutes 
 of kick-off Taylor made a short but brilliant run-in. 
 The captain's place-kick across the wind failed, and for 
 the ensuing half-hour the play was very even. Then 
 Taylor again ran-in very cleverly, but Stokes's shot was 
 again unsuccessful. After half-time the struggle was 
 
166 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL 
 
 .still more desperate, but Fry made a fine run-in and 
 Stokes kicked a good goal. Sorley Brown then ran-in 
 cleverly for Scotland, and Cross scored a goal by a capital 
 kick. The last twenty minutes showed clearly that 
 England held the last trump, and two more tries were 
 obtained from runs-in by E. T. Gurdon and Burton, 
 from the latter of which Stokes kicked another goal. 
 The forwards were very fairly matched, but England had 
 a decided advantage behind the scrummage, where 
 Finch, the smallest player in the two fifteens, played 
 
 with great pluck. The match 
 was productive of as good a 
 display of football as has 
 ever been seen either before 
 or since, and was very evenly 
 contested, despite the aspect 
 of the score. 
 
 England. — L. Stokes (Black- 
 heath), captain, and C. M. Sawyer 
 (Broughton), three-quarter backs ; 
 T. Fry (Queen's House), hack ; R. T. 
 Finch (Cambridge University) and 
 H. H. Taylor (St. George's Hospital), 
 half-backs; G. W. Burton (Black- 
 heath), C. H. Coates (Cambridge 
 University), C. Gurdon and E. T. 
 Gurdon (Richmond), G. Harrison 
 (Leeds), S. Neame (Old Cheltonians), 
 C. Phillips (Oxford University), H. 
 C. Rowley (Manchester), G. F. 
 Vernon (Blackheath), and R. Walker 
 (Manchester), forwards. 
 Scotland. — R.W.Irvine (Edinburgh Academicals) , captain; W. E. 
 Maclagan (Edinburgh Academicals), back ; M. Cross (Glasgow Academi- 
 cals), and N. J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academicals), three-quarter backs ; 
 W. Sorley Brown and W. H. Masters (Edinburgh Institution), half- 
 backs; R. Ainslie and N. T. Brewis (Edinburgh Institution), J. B. 
 Brown (Glasgow Academicals), D. Y. Cassels (West of Scotland), E. N. 
 Ewart (Glasgow Academicals), J. H. S. Graham (Edinburgh Academi- 
 cals), D. M'Cowan (West of Scotland), A. G. Petrie (Royal High School), 
 and C. Stewart (West of Scotland), forwards. Umpires, J. MacLaren 
 (Manchester) and A. R. Stewart (Edinburgh Wanderers). Referee, 
 A. G. Guillemard (President R. F. U.). 
 
 C. H. Coates, a line powerful forward, and a splendid 
 man in the scrummage, made his debut in this match, and 
 also played the two following years against Scotland. 
 
 Thus ended the first decade of International matches. 
 Of the ten contests with Scotland, four had been won, 
 two lost, and four drawn ; of the six with Ireland, all had 
 resulted in victories for the Rose. 
 
 C. HUTTON COATES. 
 (.From a Photograph by Hoggard, 
 Redcar.) 
 
CHAPTEE XL 
 
 INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 
 
 1881-1892. 
 
 By A. Budd. 
 
 March 19th, 1881, Edinburgh. 
 
 England x. Scotland. Drawn. England, 1 goal 1 try ; Scotland, 1 goal 1 try. 
 
 THE season 1880-81 will be memorable for the 
 amount of interruption to the game by frost and 
 snow, but the match England v. Scotland at Raeburn 
 Place was played under the most favourable conditions 
 of ground and weather. England was handicapped by 
 the loss of two of the best men behind the scrummage, 
 H. H. Taylor missing the train from London, and C. M. 
 Sawyer being unable to play owing to business engage- 
 ments. Taylor's place was taken by F. T. Wright, of 
 Manchester, then a student at Edinburgh University, 
 who for his age and strength played pluckily and well, 
 but proved unequal to the task of facing such experienced 
 halves as Campbell and Wauchope, and so throughout 
 the match the English team had a comparatively weak 
 spot in both defence and attack. Campbell Rowley, the 
 other half-back, played magnificently, and drew attention 
 away from the weaker side as much as possible. Scot- 
 land were the first to score by the aid of a clever run on 
 the part of R. Ainslie, and Begbie almost kicked a goal, the 
 ball rebounding from one of the posts. This was all the 
 score at half-time. The game was fast and open, the 
 fine combined action of the English forwards telling 
 sorely against the lighter Scotsmen, whose backs, however, 
 repeatedly regained the ground lost by the forwards. 
 Then L. Stokes, catching the ball from a kick-out, obtained 
 a goal by one of the grandest drop-kicks ever seen, the 
 
168 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 ball travelling fully 80 yards from kick to pitch. Roused 
 by this success, the English forwards played up brilliantly, 
 and Campbell Rowley obtained a try, which Stokes failed 
 to improve. Defeat for Scotland now seemed certain, 
 when within three minutes of time J. Brown grounded the 
 ball beneath the bar, no English player attempting to tackle 
 him, the general impression being that he was offside. 
 Begbie succeeded in kicking a goal, and thus ended a most 
 sensational International match in a draw with a score of 
 a goal and a try for each side. R. Ainslie and J. Brown 
 were most prominent amongst the Scotch forwards, and 
 J. A. Campbell the most noticeable among the backs. 
 A. R. Don Wauchope was outplayed by Campbell 
 Rowley, and had few opportunities of showing his 
 dodging powers. C. Reid, of the Edinburgh Academicals, 
 made his first appearance against England. This player 
 through his magnificent physique and clever play may 
 fairly claim the title of " champion forward " of Scotland. 
 At the line-out and in the scrummage he has had no 
 equal, whilst his tackling was a terror to his opponents. 
 Few will deny his claim to be considered the finest for- 
 ward that ever played for Scotland. His only rival in 
 England has been C. Gurdon. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — A. N. Hornby (Manchester), back ; It. Hunt (Manches- 
 ter), L.Stokes (Blackheath), captain, three-quarterbacks; F. T. Wright 
 (Manchester), H. C. Rowley (Manchester), half-backs; G. W. Burton 
 (Blackheath), C. H. Coates (Leeds), C. W. L. Fernandes (Leeds), H. Fowler 
 (Walthamstow), C. Gurdon (Richmond), E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), W. 
 Hewitt (Queen's House), A. Budd (Blackheath), C. Phillips (Birkenhead 
 Park), H. Yassall (Oxford University), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — F. A. Begbie (Edinburgh Wanderers), back; W. E. 
 M'Lagan (Edinburgh Academicals), N. J. Finlay (Edinburgh Academi- 
 cals), R. C. Mackenzie (Glasgow Academicals), three-quarter backs; J. A. 
 Campbell (Glasgow Academicals), A. R. Don Wauchope (Edinburgh Wan- 
 derers), half-backs ; J. S. Graham, captain (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 
 C. Reid (Edinburgh Academicals), D. Y. Cassels (West of Scotland), 
 
 D. M' Go wan (West of Scotland), J. Maitland (Edinburgh Institution), 
 J. B. Brown (Glasgow Academicals), R. Ainslie (Edinburgh Institution), 
 T. Ainslie (Edinburgh Institution), W. A. Peterkin (Edinburgh Univer- 
 sity), forwards. 
 
 February 5th, 1881, Manchester. 
 
 England 2 goals 2 tries ; Ireland, nil. 
 
 This match was deprived of much interest through 
 differences in the Irish Council, which caused the Irish- 
 men to play a team not quite representative of the full 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 169 
 
 strength of that country. Notwithstanding defections 
 the Irish forwards worked well in the scrummages, but, 
 as usual, the Englishmen outmatched them behind. The 
 English team could hardly have been improved upon, and 
 played splendidly, though at the outset the forwards 
 played a sluggish game. The Englishmen won by 2 goals 
 and 2 tries to nothing. Taylor played magnificently, 
 scoring twice, whilst Hornby, the full-back, and Sawyer, 
 both Lancastrians, delighted the local crowd by each 
 scoring a try. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — A. N. Hornby (Manchester), back ; L. Stokes (Black- 
 heath), captain, and C. M. Sawyer (Broughton), three-quarter backs ; H. 
 H. Taylor (Blackheath) andW. R. Richardson (Manchester), half-backs; 
 E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), C. Phillips (Birkenhead Park), C. W. L. 
 Fernandes (Leeds), W. Hewitt (Queen's House), H. C. Rowley (Man- 
 chester), G. F. Vernon (Blackheath), C. Gurdon (Richmond), J. Ravens- 
 croft (Birkenhead), J. I. Ward (Richmond), G. W. Burton (Blackheath), 
 forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — T. Harrison (Cork), back ; W. Pierce (Cork), W. W. Pike 
 (Kingstown), three-quarterbacks; M. Johnstone (Dublin University), F. 
 li. Spunner (Tipperary), half-backs; H. Morell (Dublin University), H. 
 Purdon (North of Ireland), A. J. Forrest, captain (Dublin University), A. 
 W. Wallace, (Dublin University), G. Scriven (Dublin University), A. R. 
 M'Mullen (Cork), D. Browing (Dublin Wanderers), J. C. L. Burkett 
 (Cork), H. P. Cummins (Cork), F. Kennedy (Dublin Wanderers), 
 forwards. 
 
 Fekruary 19th, Blackheath. 
 
 England beat Wales by 8 goals and 6 tries to nothing. 
 
 This was the first International match with Wales, 
 who were thoroughly overmatched. Stokes kicked 6 
 goals, Hunt 1, and also dropped 1. The tries were 
 obtained by Burton (4), Vassall (3), and Budd, Hunt, 
 Fernandes, Rowley, Taylor, and Twynam, 1 each. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — T. Fry (Queen's House), back ; L. Stokes, captain (Black- 
 heath), R. Hunt (Manchester), three-quarter backs ; H. H. Taylor 
 (Blackheath), H. T. Twynam (Richmond), half-backs ; A. P. James 
 (Blackheath), G. W. Burton (Blackheath), C. W". L. Fernandes (Leeds), H. 
 Fowler (Walthamstow), E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), C. Gurdon (Richmond), 
 W. Hewitt (Queen's House), H. Vassall (Oxford University), H. C. Rowley 
 (Manchester), C. P. Wilson (Cambridge University), forwards. 
 
 Wales. — C. H. Newman (Newport), R. H. B. Summers (Haverford- 
 west), backs; E. Peake (Chepstow), J. A. Bevan, captain (Grosmont), 
 three-quarter backs ; E. J. Lewis (Llandovery), J. Watkins (Llandaff), 
 half-backs ; E. J. Purdon (Newport), G. F. Harding, T. A. Rees (Llan- 
 dovery), B. E. Gorling (Cardiff), B. B. Mann (Cardiff), W. D. Phillips 
 (Cardiff), E. Trehearne (Pontypridd), G. Darbyshire (Bangor). R. D. 
 G. Williams (Newport and Brecon), forwards. 
 
170 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Makch 4th, 1882, Manchester. 
 Scotland beat England by 2 tries to nothing. 
 
 In 1882 the match was played at Manchester. L. 
 Stokes had retired from the game, and E. Beswick, of 
 Swinton, and W. N. Bolton, Blackheath, filled the im- 
 portant posts of three-quarter backs, and neither, of them 
 particularly distinguished himself. Beswick obtained 
 his place through his excellent play in the North v. 
 South match, whilst Bolton had shown extraordinary 
 form for Blackheath. He subsequently did yeoman 
 
 service for England. Tall 
 and powerful, a magnificent 
 runner, handing-ofF most 
 powerfully, and being very 
 difficult to stop, he was the 
 type of a wing three-quarter 
 to meet the strong tactics 
 of a Scotch team ; and 
 with G. C. Wade for com- 
 panion on the opposite 
 wing, England was perhaps 
 never more strongly repre- 
 sented in attack and de- 
 fence at three - quarters. 
 A. N. Hornby was again at 
 back, and was captain of 
 the team, furnishing the 
 first instance of a player 
 who has combined the two offices of captain of the lead- 
 ing cricket and football teams of England. Experts were 
 by no means sanguine as to the prospects of the English- 
 men's success, and the issue of the match bore out their 
 evil forebodings. But the circumstances were altogether 
 unfavourable for an exhibition of good football. The 
 ground was heavy, wet, and greasy, and the heavy English 
 forwards were at a disadvantage. They exhibited fair 
 individual form, but displayed very little combination, 
 whereas the Scotch forwards played like one man. There 
 was an enormous crowd of spectators, and the manage- 
 ment utterly failed to cope with the numbers, who climbed 
 over the barriers and invaded the field of play. It was a 
 marvel how the game was continued at all. It went all 
 in Scotland's favour, who won by 2 tries to nil. The only 
 point in England's favour was a good run by Payne, who 
 
 W. N. BOLTON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by J. Hawke, 
 
 Plymouth.) 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYKUS. 171 
 
 but for the spectators might have crossed the line. 
 With that exception the Englishmen were fairly penned, 
 and playing two three-quarters as against three, Hornby 
 proved unequal to the task of keeping the Scotsmen out. 
 His tackling was good, but in fielding the ball and in 
 punting he was far removed from his best form. Sorley 
 Brown was a thorn in the sides of the Englishmen, and 
 was undoubtedly the most prominent player of the 
 match. 
 
 This was the first of the matches between Scotland 
 and England in which either side had been victorious 
 away from their own country. It was also the first 
 match in which a neutral referee officiated, so altogether 
 the match of 1882 was memorable in precedents and 
 records. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — A. N. Hornby (Manchester), back; E. Beswick (Swinton), 
 W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), three-quarterbacks; H. H. Taylor (Black- 
 heath), J. H. Payne (Broughton), half-backs; C. H. Coates (Yorkshire 
 Wanderers), H. G. Fuller (Cambridge University), E. T. Gurdon (Rich- 
 mond), C. Gurdon (Richmond), J. T. Hunt (Manchester), P. A. Newton 
 (Cambridge University), H. C. Rowley (Manchester), H. Tatham (Oxford 
 University), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), H. Vassall (Oxford University), 
 forwards. 
 
 Scotland.— J. P. Veitch (Royal High School), back ; W. E. Maclagan 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), A. Phillips (Institution F.P.),three-quarter backs; 
 A. R. Don Wauchope (Fettes Lorettonians) , W. Sorley Brown (Institution 
 F. P.), half-backs ; R. Ainslie (Institution F. P.), F. Ainslie (Institution 
 F. P.), J. B. Brown (Glasgow Academicals), D. Y. Cassels, captain (West 
 of Scotland), R. Maitland (Institution F. P.), D. McCowan (West of 
 Scotland), C. Reid (Edinburgh Academicals), A. Walker (West of Scot- 
 land), J. G. Walker (Fettes-Lorettonians), W. A. Walls (Glasgow 
 Academicals), forwards. 
 
 February 6th, Dublin. 
 England v. Ireland. Draivn, each side scoring 2 tries. 
 
 A very evenly contested game, in which the Irish- 
 men more than held their own, playing a very sound 
 game. Pike at three-quarters displayed brilliant style. 
 Individually the Englishmen were superior, but they 
 lacked combination, and manifestly exhibited want of 
 condition. To these two causes may be attributed the 
 failure of England to win an International match this 
 season. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 Ireland. — R. B. Walkington (North of Ireland), back ; W. W. Pike 
 (Kingstown), R. E. M'Lean (Dublin University), E. J. Wolfe (North of 
 Ireland and Armagh), three-quarter backs; G. C. Bent (Dublin University), 
 M.Johnstone (Dublin University), half-backs ; J. W. Taylor (North "of 
 
172 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Ireland, Queen's College, Belfast), A. J. Forrest (Wanderers), M. B. 
 Henry (Dublin University), C. Stokes (Cork Bankers), W. A. Cummins 
 (Cork), J. A. Macdonald (Queen's College. Belfast), E. Nelson (Queen's 
 College, Belfast), R. W. Hughes (Ulster), T. R. Johnstone-Smyth (Lans- 
 downe), forwards. 
 
 England. — A. N. Hornby (Manchester), back ; E. Beswick (Swinton), 
 R. Hunt (Manchester), W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), half-backs ; H. C. 
 Rowley (Manchester), H. T. Twynam (Richmond), quarter-backs ; C. 
 Gurdon (Richmond), captain, G. T. Thomson (Halifax), H. G. Fuller 
 (Cambridge University), H. Vassall (Oxford University), W. Hewitt 
 (Queen's House), B. B. Middleton (Birkenhead), J. T. Hunt (Manchester), 
 J. I. Ward (Richmond), A. Spurling (Blackheath), forwards. 
 
 January 14th, Newport. 
 North of England beat Wales by a goal to a try. 
 
 In consequence of the crushing defeat experienced 
 by Wales in 1881, it was decided to put a North of Eng- 
 land team against them. The North only won by a 
 goal to a try, and the good form shown by the Welsh- 
 men, added to their victory over Ireland, gained for 
 them a place in the International fixtures of the future. 
 
 March 3rd, Edinburgh, 1883. 
 England beat Scotland by two tries to a try. 
 
 In the thirteenth match England retaliated on 
 Scotland by winning at Edinburgh, for the first time on 
 Scottish soil. The Scotch team was mainly the same as 
 that which took part in the great victory at Manchester 
 in 1882, though A. R. Don Wauchope and J. G. Walker 
 were unable to play through injuries. Wauchope's place 
 was taken by P. W. Smeaton, of the Edinburgh Academi- 
 cals. The English team was largely composed of new 
 men, who all played in tine form, and in every instance 
 laid the foundation of special fame as International 
 players. H, B. Tristram, as back, played as substitute 
 for A. S. Taylor, incapacitated by an accident to his knee, 
 and demonstrated that he was the best man who had 
 ever officiated in that position. W. N. Bolton, A. M. 
 Evanson, and G. C. Wade were the three-quarters, and a 
 liner trio never wore the English jersey. Allan Rother- 
 ham, the half-back of the decade, made his first appear- 
 ance. Among the forwards the Gurdons, Fuller, 
 Thomson, and Tatham were as good as ever ; whilst of 
 the young players, E. J. Moore, R. M. Pattison, and C. S. 
 Wooldridge, quite justified their selection. The English 
 team played a distinctive style, the Oxford passing, 
 inaugurated by that prince of captains, H. Vassall, was 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 173 
 
 understood by the whole team, and as practically the 
 same men took part in all three matches of the year, 
 they worked together in perfect unison. In the previous 
 year England had played five backs in opposition to six. 
 This year the numbers were reversed, Scotland playing live 
 backs and England six. The result of the match was 
 also reversed, for whereas England with five backs in 
 1882 lost the match, Scotland with live backs in 1883 
 lost the match in their turn. The game is noteworthy 
 as being the last occasion on which two three-quarter 
 
 A FORWARD RUSH. 
 
 (From an Instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 backs were played in an International Match, and the 
 policy of the Scotsmen in adopting that system is 
 questionable, when it was well known that the play of 
 the three " three-quarters " was the strong point in the 
 English game. Possibly the selectors of the Scotch 
 team relied upon the strength of their ten forwards to 
 rush the English nine and thus spoil the back play. 
 But the Englishmen, led by C. Gurdon, who displayed 
 wonderful form, worked hard and frustrated these tactics, 
 and so the forwards were fairly evenly matched. Now 
 and then England slacked ; Scotland never did, and by 
 their unfailing energy considerably interfered with the 
 " passing " game ; but when the Englishmen did get a 
 chance they illustrated the efficacy of the system. The 
 
174 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Scotch forwards, prominent amongst whom was C. Reid, 
 played their characteristic strong game, but their back 
 play was weak and disappointing. Reid obtained the try 
 for Scotland ; Rotherham and Bolton scored for Eng- 
 land, the latter's try being the result of a brilliant run ; 
 but though he landed the ball between the posts the 
 kick at goal was a failure. The match throughout was 
 well contested, and was practically a struggle between 
 determined forward play and scientific combination 
 amongst the back players. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — H. B. Tristram (Oxford University), back; W.N. Bolton 
 (Blaekheath and R.M. College Sandhurst), A. M. Evanson (Oxford 
 University), G. C. Wade (Oxford University), three-quarter backs ; A. 
 Rotherham (Oxford University), J. H. Payne (Broughton), half-backs ; 
 E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), captain, C. Gurdon (Richmond), H. G. Fuller 
 (Cambridge University), R. M. Pattison (Cambridge University), W. M. 
 Tatham (Oxford University and Marlborough Nomads), C. S. Wooldridge 
 (Oxford University), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), E. G. Moore (Oxford 
 University), R. S. F. Henderson (Blaekheath), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — D. W. Kidston (Glasgow Academicals), back ; W. E. 
 Maclagan (London Scottish), M. F. Reid (Loretto), three-quarter backs ; 
 P. W. Smeaton (Edinburgh Academicals), W. Sorley Brown (Edin- 
 burgh Institution), half-backs; D. Y. Cassels, captain, A. Walker 
 (West of Scotland), D. M'Cowan ( West of Scotland), J. Jameson (West of 
 Scotland), J. B. Brown (Glasgow Academicals), W. A. Walls (Glasgow 
 Academicals), J. G. Mowat (Glasgow Academicals), C. Reid (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), D. Somerville (Edinburgh Institution), T. Ainslie (Edin- 
 burgh Institution), forwards. 
 
 February 5th, Manchester. 
 England beat Ireland by a goal and 3 tries to a try. 
 
 The English team again showed a want of " lasting 
 
 Eower," for whilst scoring a goal and 2 tries before 
 alf-time, they were able to score only a try to a try 
 during the second half. The Irishmen played in a won- 
 derfully plucky manner in an uphill game, and, as usual, 
 exhibited honest work in the scrummage. Their drib- 
 bling was excellent, A. J. Forrest being particularly pro- 
 minent. England won by a goal (placed by Evanson from 
 a try by Tatham) and 3 tries (Wade, Bolton, and Twynam) 
 to a try (Forrest). The play of the winners was dis- 
 appointing ; at times brilliant, and at other times slack, 
 the scrummage work being very poor. Several changes 
 were made in selecting the team to meet Scotland. 
 
 Teams. 
 England.— A. S. Taylor (Blaekheath), back ; A. M. Evanson (Oxford 
 University), W. N. Bolton (Blaekheath), G. C. Wade (Oxford University), 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 175 
 
 three-quarter backs ; H. T. Twynam (Richmond), J. H. Payne (Brough- 
 ton), half-backs ; E. T. Gurdon, captain (Richmond), C. S. Wooldridgr 
 (Oxford University), W. M. Tatham (Marlborough Nomads and Oxford 
 University), B. B. Middleton (Birkenhead Park), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), 
 H. G. Fuller (Cambridge University), G. Standing (Blackheath), R. M. 
 Pattison (Cambridge University), E. G. Moore (Oxford University), 
 forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. Morrow (Queen's College, Belfast), back; R. E. M'Lean 
 (North of Ireland), T. Scovell (Kingstown), three-quarter backs; W. W. 
 Fletcher (Kingstown), J. P. Warren (Kingstown), half-backs ; Dr. Scriven, 
 captain (Dublin University), T. Taylor (Queen's College, Belfast), A. J. 
 Forrest (Wanderers), H. King (Dublin University), F. Henston (Kings- 
 town), A. Miller (Kingstown), D. F. Moore (Wanderers), S. Bruce (North 
 of Ireland), R. W. Hughes (North 
 of Ireland), J. S. M'Donald (Queen's 
 College, Belfast), forwards. 
 
 December 15th, 1882, Swansea. 
 
 England beat Wales by 2 goals and 
 
 4 tries to nothing. 
 
 In this, the second match 
 between these countries, 
 England was very strongly 
 represented, and the back 
 combination was far too 
 strong for Wales. The great 
 feature of the match was the 
 powerful and dodgy run- 
 ning of G. C. Wade, who 
 obtained 3 tries ; the other 
 tries were scored by Thomson 
 and Henderson. Though 
 the score was large, the match was not a "runaway affair," 
 for the Welshmen pressed their opponents on several 
 occasions, their forwards working most honestly, whilst the 
 Englishmen occasionally slackened in the scrummage 
 work. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England.— A. S. Taylor (Blackheath), back ; W. N. Bolton (Royal 
 Military College, Sandhurst), A. M. Evanson (Oxford University), Gr. C. 
 Wade (Oxford University), three-quarter backs; A. Rotherham (Oxford 
 University), J. H. Payne (Broughton), half-backs ; E. T. Gurdon, captain 
 (Richmond), H. G. Fuller (Cambridge University), H. Vassall (Oxford 
 University), W. M. Tatham (Oxford University), R. S. F. Henderson 
 (Blackheath), C. S. Wooldridge (Oxford University), R. S. Kindersley 
 (Exeter), G. Standing (Blackheath), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), forwards. 
 
 Wales. — C. P. Lewis (Llandovery), J. Bowen (Llanelly), backs ; 
 W. B. Norton (Cardiff), J. Clare (Cardiff), D. Gwynn (Swansea), three- 
 quarter backs ; C. H. Newman (Newport), E. Treharne (Pontypridd), 
 half-backs; G. F. Harding (Newport), R. Gould (Newport), G-. L.Morris 
 
 E. S. F. HENDERSON. 
 (From a Photograph by J. Moffat, Edinburgh.) 
 
176 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 (Swansea), A. Cattell (Llanelly), T. B. Jones (Newport), J. H. Judson 
 (Llanelly), T.J. S. Clapp (Nantyglo), F. W. Purdon (Swansea), forwards. 
 
 Mauch 1st, 1884, Blackheath. 
 England beat Scotland by a goal to a try. 
 
 The year 1884 was memorable for the famous dispute 
 as to the validity of the try gained by England, a dispute 
 which caused the abandonment of the England v. Scot- 
 land match in 1885, and was also the unavowed reason 
 of the great embroglio of 1888 and 1889. Blackheath 
 was the venue of the match, and an even game was 
 anticipated. The only guide to the merits of the 
 respective teams was the result of the English and 
 Scotch matches with Wales, inasmuch as though Ireland 
 had been soundly beaten by Scotland, whilst playing 
 England a tight game, no line could be drawn from the 
 matches with that country, since England with a weak 
 team had met Ireland with its best, whilst the Irishmen 
 had been poorly represented when meeting Scotland 
 with its best team. The match bore out the anticipa- 
 tions of a keen contest, but, strangely enough, where 
 England was expected to be strong they were weak, 
 whilst Scotland shone at their weak point. Generally, 
 England has been superior to Scotland in the open, and 
 the passing has been more scientilic and well-timed, 
 whilst the Scotch teams have shone in the tight scrum- 
 mages, but have generally failed in the open. In this 
 match the open play of England was not brilliant, though 
 at times the players exhibited their proper form, notably 
 during the concluding minutes of the match. Scotland, 
 though beaten, had slightly the better of the match, and 
 had not the English forwards done good scrummage- 
 work, the Thistle would have triumphed over the Kose. 
 C. Reid, as usual, was the bulwark of the Scotch forwards, 
 and scored for his country. Grant Asher and Don 
 Wauchope were the Scotch halves, and rarely have two 
 more brilliant players appeared on the same side as 
 the rival cracks of Oxford and Cambridge Universities. 
 They were most equally matched by Rotherham and 
 Twynam, and as a consequence brilliant play was con- 
 spicuous by its absence, the several halves frustrating 
 the open tactics of the respective vis-a-vis. The 
 English three-quarters were expected to be superior to 
 their opponents, but in actual play they showed to no 
 advantage compared with the Scotch trio. 
 
ENGLISH TEAM v. SCOTLAND: BLACKHEATH, MARCH 1st, 1884. 
 (England, 1 Goal ; Scotland, 1 Try.) 
 (From a Photograph by Hills & Saunders, Oxford.) 
 
 M 
 
178 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The disputed point was a try gained by Kindersley, 
 from which a goal was scored. The facts of the dispute 
 were simple, and admitted by both sides. A Scotch 
 player knocked the ball back, and an Englishman secured 
 it and Kindersley obtained a try. The contention of 
 England was (1) "that it was lawful to knock back": 
 (2) " that even if it was illegal to do so the Scotsmen 
 could claim no advantage from an illegal act committed 
 by one of their side"; (3) "that as no Englishman 
 appealed, the subsequent play was legal " ; (4) " that the 
 referee decided that a try was obtained, and based his 
 decision on a point of fact, the point put before him 
 being whether an Englishman had appealed or not." 
 The Scotsmen contended that " the point in dispute 
 •was the interpretation of the law dealing with knocking 
 the ball, and denied the right of the Rugby Union to be 
 sole interpreters of the laws of the game." The Rugby 
 Union, for the sake of argument, conceded the Scotch 
 interpretation of the law, viz., " that knocking back was 
 illegal," but firmly refused to allow the decision of the 
 referee on a point of fact to be submitted to any arbitra- 
 tion. To quote from a statement sent by G. R. Hill, the 
 secretary of the Rugby Union, to the clubs belonging 
 to the Union : — 
 
 " The committee hold that the referee's decision upon the only point 
 on which the issue of the match turns is plain, and it is this decision 
 that my committee have urged Scotland to accept. Their refusal to do 
 so has resulted in the ahandonment of the annual match between the two 
 countries this year (1885). My committee much regret this result, hut 
 they are firmly convinced that the abandonment of the match is a matter 
 far less important than the upholding the principle that a referee's 
 decision is unimpeachable. Whilst expressing their willingness to con- 
 sider any proposal that Scotland might bring forward for the settlement 
 
 ' of disputed points in future International matches in connection with the 
 construction of the laws, they have felt it their plain duty to decline all 
 overtures for the discussion of the referee's ruling. The establishment 
 
 ' of a precedent of this nature would be a fatal blow to the interests of 
 Rugby Union football ; the spirit in which the game should be played 
 will be entirely lost if the decisions of the officials appointed for the 
 purpose of seeing fair play are to be discussed and set aside. In holdkig 
 
 ' this view my committee are convinced that they have the loyal support of 
 every club in the Rugby Football Union." 
 
 The Scotch Union were correct in their contention 
 that the Rugby Union could not claim the right to 
 interpret the laws of the game as governing International 
 matches, but they were wrong in endeavouring to argue 
 that this was the point at issue as regards the match in 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 179 
 
 question. It was the referee's decision on a point of 
 fact that was assailed, and the Rugby Union evinced 
 clearness of judgment in keeping the real issue before 
 them, and performed true and lasting service to the best 
 interests of the game by declining to consent to any 
 arrangement which should arraign the decision of the 
 referee on a point of fact. Out of the dispute good 
 ensued, and on the Scotsmen agreeing to admit the 
 victory of England, the Rugby Union consented to the 
 formation of an International Board to settle future 
 disputes in International matches. The functions of 
 this Board Avere further developed in 1890, and it finally 
 acquired the power of making and interpreting the laws 
 governing International matches. This occurred after a 
 dispute between the Rugby Union and the Unions of 
 the other countries lasting two years, during which 
 period, though Scotland, Ireland, and Wales played 
 International matches, England had no fixture with any 
 of the other countries. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — H. B. Tristram (Oxford University and Durham), back; 
 A. M. Evanson (Oxford University and Richmond), G. C. Wade (Oxford 
 University), W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; A. Rother- 
 ham (Oxford University), H. T. Twynam (Richmond), half-backs; E. T. 
 Gurdon (Richmond), captain, C. Gurdon (Richmond), R. S. F. Henderson 
 (Blackheath), W. M. Tatham (Oxford University and Marlborough 
 Nomads), E. L. Strong (Oxford University and Somerset), C. J. B. 
 Marriott (Cambridge University), C. S. Wooldridge (Hampshire, late 
 Oxford), R. S. Kindersley (Devonshire and Oxford), G. T. Thomson 
 (Halifax), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — J. P. Veitch (Royal High School), back; D. J. Mac- 
 farlan (London Scottish), E. L. Roland (Edinburgh Wanderers), W. E. 
 Maclagan (London Scottish), three-quarter backs ; A. G. Grant Asher 
 (Fettes-Loretto), A. R. Don Wauchope (Fettes-Loretto), half-backs; 
 
 C. Reid (Edinburgh Academicals), J. B. Brown (Glasgow Academicals), 
 W. Walls (Glasgow Academicals), T. Ainslie (Edinburgh Institution), 
 W. A. Peterkin (Edinburgh University), C. W. Berry (Fettes-Loretto), 
 
 D. McCowan (West of Scotland), J. Jamieson (West of Scotland), J. 
 Tod (Watsonians), forwards. 
 
 February 4th, Dublin. 
 England defeated Ireland by a goal to nothing. 
 
 Against Ireland this year England played a very weak 
 team, and barely escaped defeat. The forwards played 
 a sound though not brilliant game. Had the Irish backs 
 been scorers instead of defensive players the Irishmen 
 would probably have won the match. Bolton was in his 
 best form, and obtained a try, and Evanson kicked the goal. 
 M 2 
 
180 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — C. II. Sample (Cambridge University and Northumber- 
 land), back; W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), H. Wigglesworth (Thomes), 
 H. Fallas (Wakefield Trinity), three-quarter backs; J. H. Payne 
 (Broughton), H. T. Twynam (Richmond), half-backs; E. T. Gurdon 
 (Richmond), captain, W. M. Tatham (Oxford "University and Marlborough 
 Nomads), E. L. Strong (Oxford University and Somerset), C. J. B. 
 Marriott (Cambridge University), C. S. Wooldridge (Hampshire County, 
 late Oxford University), A. Wood (Halifax), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), A. 
 Teggin (Broughton Rangers), H. Bell (New Brighton), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. W r . Morrow (Belfast Albion), back ; D. Ross (Belfast 
 Albion), R. H. Scovell (Dublin University), R. E. McLean (North of 
 Ireland), three-quarter backs ; M. Johnston (Dublin University), W. 
 Higgin (North of Ireland), half-backs ; J. A. Macdonald (Queen's 
 College, Belfast), captain, S. Bruce (North of Ireland), It. W. Hughes 
 (North of Ireland), O. Stokes (Cork), F. Lewis (Cork), W. G. Rutherford 
 (Tipperary), J. B. Buchanan (Dublin University), J. A. Brabazon 
 (Dublin University), D. F. Moore (Wanderers), forwards. 
 
 January 5th, Leeds. 
 England defeated Wales bg a goal and 2 tries to a goal. 
 
 The ground was very heavy, but the Welshmen 
 seemed to like the wet, and fairly put the Englishmen 
 on their mettle. The tries for England were gained by 
 Rotherham, Wade, and Twynam, Bolton kicking the 
 
 foal. Allen obtained the try for Wales, and Lewis 
 icked the goal. The English backs, who had very few 
 chances, were very difficult to hold when once they got 
 fairly off. W. H. Gvvynn played a very clever game at 
 half-back for Wales, and Taylor nearly succeeded in 
 lowering the English goal by a drop-kick. The Welsh- 
 men were delighted at the good tight they made. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — H. B. Tristram (Oxford University and Durham), back; 
 G. C. Wade (Oxford University), C. E. Chapman (Southampton Trojans 
 and Cambridge University), W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), three-quarter 
 backs; A. Rotherham (Oxford University), H. T. Twynam (Richmond), 
 half-backs; E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), captain, C. Gurdon (Richmond), 
 R. S. F. Henderson (Blackheath), W. M. Tatham (Oxford University), 
 E. L. Strong (Oxford University), H. G. Fuller (Cambridge University), 
 C. J. B. Marriott (Cambridge University), C. S. Wooldridge (Hamp- 
 shire County, late Oxford University), J. T. Hunt (Manchester), 
 forwards. 
 
 Wales. — C. P. Lewis (Llandovery), back; C. P. Allen (Beaumaris), 
 W. B. Norton (Cardiff), C. G. Taylor (Wrexham), three-quarter backs; 
 C. H. Newman (Newport), W. H. Gwynn (Swansea), half-backs; T. J. S. 
 Clapp (Newport), W. D. Phillips (Cardiff), J. S. Smith (Cardiff), R. 
 Gould (Newport), H. S. Lyne (Newport), H. J. Simpson (Cardiff), G. L. 
 Morris (Swansea), F. Margrave (Llanelly), F. G. Andrews (Swansea), 
 forwards. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 181 
 
 Fehkuaky 7th, 1885, Manchester. 
 England beat Ireland by 2 tries to 1 try. 
 
 In February England met and defeated Ireland at 
 Manchester by 2 tries to 1. Sample filled Tristram's 
 place at back ; Bolton, Wade's at three-quarter, and C. 
 Gurdon, Horley, and Wooldridge replaced Court, Kinders- 
 ley, and Teggin. The form was nothing approaching 
 the brilliancy of the Welsh match. The English 
 forwards were palpably worsted by the Irishmen in the 
 scrummage, and it was only the great superiority of the 
 back players which won the game. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — C. H. Sample (Northumberland and Cambridge Univer- 
 sity), back ; A. E. Stoddart (Blackheath), J. J. Hawcridge (Bradford), 
 W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; J. H. Payne 
 (Broughton), A. Rotherham (Oxford University), half-backs; E. T. Gurdon 
 (Richmond), captain, C. Gurdon (Richmond), 0. S. Wooldridge (Hamp- 
 shire and Blackheath), C. H. Horlev (Swinton), A. T. Kemble (Liverpool), 
 F. Moss (Broughton), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), G. Harrison (Hull), J. 
 Ryalls (Cheshire County), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — G. Wheeler (Queen's College, Belfast), back; R. E. 
 M'Lean (North of Ireland), J. P. Ross (Lansdowne), E. H. Greene 
 (Dublin University), three-quarterbacks; E. C. Crawford (Dublin Univer- 
 sity), R. G. Warren (Lansdowne), half-backs ; W. Rutherford (Tipperary), 
 captain, R. W. Hughes (North of Ireland), T. Allen (North of Ireland), 
 F. Moore (Dublin Wanderers), T. R. Lyle (Dublin University), T. 
 Hobbes (Dublin University), R. M. Bradshaw (Dublin Wanderers), J. 
 Shanahan (Lansdowne), H. J. Neill (North of Ireland), forwards. 
 
 January 3rd, 1885, Swansea. 
 England beat Wales by 1 goal and 4 tries to 1 goal and 1 try. 
 
 Owing to the dispute which arose on the occasion of 
 the last match the game between England and Scotland 
 unfortunately did not take place. That against Wales 
 was played in the first week in January, on the ground 
 of the Swansea Club ; and though the Englishmen were 
 not over-confident as to the result, they won handsomely 
 by 1 goal and 4 tries to 1 goal and 1 try. The game 
 was the fastest that we ever recollect seeing in an Inter- 
 national match, and adapted to a nicety to the pace of 
 the English fifteen, who with Stoddart, Hawcridge, and 
 Wade at three-quarter, and J. Payne and Rotherham at 
 half, were irresistible as scorers. Wade never played so 
 well in his life, and the Welshmen could make nothing 
 of him. He ran and dodged just as he liked, and veteran 
 Welshmen from that day's experience still hold the 
 opinion that he is the finest three-quarter England ever 
 
82 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 sent against them. The halves, both masters of the art 
 of feeding, played in their most finished style, and kept 
 their three-quarters continually at work. Forward the 
 teams were evenly matched in the scrummage, but in 
 the open the Welshmen were outpaced and outclassed. 
 A. J. Gould and C. G. Taylor performed creditably for 
 Wales, and Jordan sprinted ham for his two tries when 
 he got an open field. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — H. B. Tristram (Oxford University and Durham), back ; 
 J. J. Hawcridge (Bradford), A. E. Stoddart (Blackheath), G. C. Wade 
 (Oxford University), three-quarter backs; A. Rotherham (Oxford Univer- 
 sity), J. H. Payne (Broughton), half-backs; E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), 
 captain, R. 8. Kindersley (Oxford University), E. D. Court (Blackheath), 
 H. J. Ryalls (New Brighton), F. Moss (Broughton), A. T. Kemble (Liver- 
 pool), G. Harrison (Hull), A. Teggin (Broughton Rangers), R. S. F. 
 Henderson (Blackheath), forwards. 
 
 Wales. — A. J. Gould (Newport), back; H. M. Jordan (Newport), 
 C. G. Taylor (Cardiff), F. E. Hancock (Cardiff), three-quarter backs; 
 W. H. Gwynn (Swansea), C. H. Newman (Cambridge University), half- 
 backs ; R. Gould (Newport), T. J. 8. Clapp (Newport), H. 8. Lyne (New- 
 port), T. B. Jones (Newport), L. C. Thomas (Cardiff), S. Goldsworthy 
 (Swansea), R. D. Richards (Swansea), J. S. Smith (Cardiff), M. Rowland 
 (Lampeter), forwards. 
 
 Maiich 13th, 1886, Edinburgh. 
 England drew uith Scotland, neither side scorix;/. 
 
 England and Scotland once more met, and a very 
 stubborn game ended without points to either. The 
 match cannot be described as a brilliant exposition of 
 football, but from the toughness of the struggle and the 
 always doubtful issue, it was intensely exciting. For 
 two-thirds of the game England had to act on the 
 defence, but just when she appeared beaten, she took 
 the whip hand, and very nearly won in the last quarter 
 of an hour. Bonsor hurt his knee badly in the first ten 
 minutes, and was a cripple throughout the game, so that 
 not only could he not feed his three-quarters, but he 
 could not keep Asher in check, and the latter did pretty 
 much as he liked. Eotherham and Robertshaw of our 
 back players alone did themselves justice. Stoddart was 
 indisposed, and Brutton, painfully nervous, allowed his 
 vis-a-vis Morrison to show him a clean pair of heels in 
 every sprint. Robertshaw played a masterly game on 
 this occasion. He was the first to show in an English and 
 Scotch match how a typical centre three-quarter ought 
 to play not for himself but for his wings. To him, 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 183 
 
 Rotherham, and the forwards — amongst whom especial 
 mention should be made of C. Gurdon, N. Spurling, 
 Inglis, and Wilkinson — the credit of the draw belongs. 
 On the Scotch side Wilson and Morrison played well, 
 Holms was nervous, and A. R. Don Wauchope never 
 got off. 
 
 Several players appeared for the first time in this 
 contest, notably Raw- 
 son Robertshaw, of 
 Bradford, the centre 
 three-quarter par ex- 
 cellence of his day ; 
 and A. E. Stoddart, 
 without doubt the most 
 agile and finished wing 
 three-quarter who has 
 done service for Eng- 
 land. This athlete, by 
 his performances in 
 the cricket field, and as 
 a Rugby Union player, 
 has earned for himself 
 a fame that has fallen 
 to the lot of no other 
 man, and his deeds 
 have equalled even 
 those of the renowned 
 A. N. Hornby. Of great 
 speed, and possessed 
 of wonderful dodging 
 powers, Stoddart has 
 left behind him a 
 unique record of achievements on the football field. These 
 qualities, combined with great powers both as a drop and 
 place-kicker, have caused him to be regarded as one of 
 the best men who has filled the position of wing three- 
 quarter. Unfortunately for him absence from England, 
 and the discontinuance of International matches in 1888 
 and 1889 as far as England was concerned, prevented 
 him displaying his unrivalled powers in the great 
 matches as often as he would have liked ; and thus his 
 record of appearances in the classic fixtures has suffered 
 in comparison with others whose playing days fell in 
 more propitious times. But by general consensus 
 
 A. E. STODDAKT. 
 {From a Photograph by Walery, Regent Street, W.) 
 
184 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Stoddart is regarded as the wing three-quarter during 
 the middle and latter part of the decade now under 
 description. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — C. H. Sample (Northumberland), back ; A. E. Stoddart 
 (Blackbeath), R. Robertshaw (Bradford), E. B. Brutton (Cambridge 
 University), three-quarter backs ; A. Rotherham (Richmond), F. Bonsor 
 (Bradford), half-backs; E. T. Gurdon (Richmond), captain, 0. Gurdon 
 (Richmond), W. G. Cb'bborn (Richmond), C. J. B. Marriott (Blackheath), 
 N. Spurling (Blackheath), R. E. Inglis (Blackheath), G. L. Jeffeiy 
 (Cambridge University), E. Wilkinson (Bradford), A. Teggin (Broughton 
 Rangers), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — J. P. Veitch (Royal High School), back; R. H. Morrison 
 (Edinburgh University), J. Wilson (Royal High School), W. F. Holms 
 (Cooper Hill College), three-quarter backs; A. G. Asher (Fettesian- 
 Lorettonians), A. R. Don Wauchope (Fettesian-Lorettonians), half- 
 backs ; J. B. Brown (Glasgow Academicals) , W. A. Wallis (Glasgow 
 Academicals), C. Reid (Edinburgh Academicals), T. W.Irvine (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), A. T. Clay (Edinburgh Academicals), M. M. Evans 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), Dr. Tod (Watsonians), C. J. B. Milne (West 
 of Scotland), D. A. McLeod (Glasgow University), forwards. 
 
 February 6th, 1886, Durlin. 
 England beat Ireland by 1 try to nothing. 
 
 England met Ireland in Dublin on February 6th, and 
 Avon by 1 try to nothing. The score does not represent 
 the play, which was greatly in favour of the English 
 team, who beat the Irishmen forward, where they 
 expected to excel, while behind they quite out-classed 
 them. A. S. Taylor played back, Wade three-quarters, 
 and P. F. Hancock forward, vice Sample, Brutton, and 
 E. T. Gurdon. The other players' names appear in the 
 team v. Scotland. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England.— A. S. Taylor (Blackheath), back ; A. E. Stoddart, R. 
 Robertshaw (Bradford), G. C. Wade (Oxford University and Richmond), 
 three-quarterbacks; A. Rotherham (Richmond), F. Bonsor (Bradford), 
 half-backs ; C. Gurdon (Richmond), W. G. Clibborn (Richmond), C. J. B. 
 Marriott (Blackheath), captain, P. F. Hancock (Somersetshire), N. 
 Spurling (Blackheath), E. W r ilkinson (Bradford), A. Teggin (Broughton 
 Rangers), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — R. W. Morrow (Lisburn), back ; J. P. Ross (North of 
 Ireland), D. J. Ross (Albion), E. H. Greene (Dublin Wanderers), three- 
 quarter backs ; R. G. Warren (Lansdowne), M. Johnston (Dublin 
 Wanderers), captain, half-backs ; R. H. Mossey-Westropp (Limerick and 
 Monkstown), R. W. Hughes (North of Ireland), T. Shanahan (Lansdowne), 
 J. Johnstone (Albion), H. Brabazon (Dublin University), W. C. Ruther- 
 ford (Clan william), T. R. Lyle (Dublin University), J. Chambers (Dublin 
 University), V. C. Le Fanu (Cambridge Uni versify and Lansdowne), 
 forwards. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 185 
 
 January 2nd, 1886, Blackheath. 
 England beat Wales by 1 goal 2 tries to I goal. 
 
 England played Wales at Blackheath, on January 
 2nd, and won by 1 goal (placed by Stoddart from a 
 free catch) and 2 tries (Wade and Wilkinson) to 1 
 goal placed from a try by Stadden. The performance was 
 not a great one. The forwards never showed any dash, 
 and after a quarter of an hour slacked away to nothing. 
 Elliot and Moss were in the forwards in this match, but 
 didjiot play against Scotland. The English goal was 
 
 FORMING THE SCRUMMAGE. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 obtained from a foolish piece of play on the part of 
 Elliot, which luckily proved the winning point. That 
 player, catching the ball from a miss-kick of the Welsh 
 back, had a clear-run in, but, to the astonishment of his 
 fellow-players, made his mark, from which Stoddart 
 placed a goal. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 'England.— A. S.Taylor (Blackheath), hack; G. C. Wade (Richmond), 
 A. E. Stoddart (Blackheath), R. Robertshaw (Bradford), three-quarter 
 hacks; A. Rotherham (Richmond), F. Bonsor (Bradford), half-backs; 
 C. Gurdon (Richmond), W. G. Clibborn (Richmond), C. J. B. Marriott 
 (Blackheath), captain, G. L. Jeft'ery (Cambridge University and Black- 
 heath), R. E. Inglis (Blackheath), P. F. Hancock (Somersetshire), E. 
 Wilkinson (Bradford), F. Moss (Broughton Rangers), C. Elliot (Sunder- 
 land), forwards. ^^ » ' »r ^ *v. -^ 
 
186 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Wales. — D. Bowen (Llanelly), back; C. G. Taylor (Blackheath and 
 Ruabon), W. M. Douglas (Cardiff), A. J. Gould (Newport), three-quarter 
 backs; C. H. Newman (Newport), captain, \V. Stadden (Cardiff), half- 
 backs ; A. F. Hill (Cardiff), D. Morgan (Swansea), E. P. Alexander 
 (Cambridge University), J. W. R. Gould (Newport), W. H. Thomas 
 (Llandovery), E. Roberts (Llanelly), W. Bowen (Swansea), D. H. Lewis 
 (Cardiff), G. A. Young (Cardiff), forwards. 
 
 Makch 5th, 1887, Manchester. 
 England drew with Scotland, each side scoring 1 try. 
 
 England met Scotland at Manchester, and once more 
 the teams left the field with honours easy. The match 
 was played in so thick a fog that it was impossible to see 
 across the held of play. Scotland were supposed to have 
 an easy job on hand, but the English team played in the 
 most determined fashion, and at half-time led by a try. 
 In the succeeding half the Scotch equalised matters. 
 Jeffery, who gained the try, was decidedly the man of the 
 day, and gave as finished and skilful exhibition of modern 
 forward play as could be wished for. W. N. Bolton once 
 more, after only a few weeks' practice, took his place at 
 three-quarter, and played a remarkably fine robust game. 
 Tristram at full-back was magnificent, and his tackling 
 of Maclagan in full stride on the goal-line was a perform- 
 ance which nobody who witnessed it will ever forget. 
 On account of their form against Ireland and Wales, the 
 English team which met Scotland, and which was a very 
 different one from the two who played in the other Inter- 
 national matches, was undoubtedly a greatly underrated 
 one, as will be gathered from the names of the fifteen. 
 Behind they were decidedly superior to Scotland, and on 
 the day's play certainly their equals forward. Jeffery, 
 Hickson, Clibborn, Cleveland, D e whirs t, and Wilkinson 
 were all great players ; the names of the back division 
 speak for themselves ; and the team as a whole, though 
 estimated lightly, was probably one of the best that ever 
 represented England. On the Scotch side C. Beid once 
 more showed himself to be the finest forward of this or 
 any other time, and had able supporters in M'Ewan 
 and MacMillan, both of whom played in characteristic 
 Scotch style. The halves, Orr and P. B. Don Wauchope, 
 were by no means a match for Botherham and Bonsor. 
 Maclagan was as sound as ever, but Lindsay played 
 nervously, and Woodrow was not up to International 
 class. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 187 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — H. B. Tristram (Richmond), back; W. N. Bolton 
 (Blackheath), R. Robertshaw (Bradford), R. E. Lockwood (Dewsbury), 
 three-quarter backs ; A. Rotherham (Richmond) , captain, F. Bonsor 
 (Bradford), half-backs; J. H. Dewhirst (Cambridge University), H. 
 Springman (Liverpool), W. G. Clibborn (Richmond), G. L. Jeffery 
 (Blackheath), C. R. Cleveland (Oxford University), J. L. Hickson 
 (Bradford), E. Wilkinson (Bradford), R. Seddon (Broughton Rangers), 
 A. Teggin (Broughton Rangers), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — W. F. Holms (London Scottish), back; W. E. Maclagan 
 (London Scottish), G. C. Lindsay (London Scottish), A. N. Woodrow 
 (Glasgow Academicals), three-quarterbacks; C. Orr (West of Scotland), 
 P. H. Don Wauchope (Edinburgh Wanderers), half-backs; C. Reid 
 (Edinburgh Academicals), T. W. Irvine (Edinburgh Academicals), M. C. 
 M'Ewan (Edinburgh Academicals), A. T. Clay (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 H. Kerr (Glasgow Academicals), J. French (Glasgow Academicals) , C. W. 
 Berry (Edinburgh Wanderers) ,' J. G. MacMillan (West of Scotland), D. 
 Morton (West of Scotland), forwards. 
 
 February 5th, 1887, Durlin. 
 Ireland beat England by 2 goals to nil. 
 
 The English and Irish match on the 5th of February 
 at Dublin resulted in the first victory for Ireland by 2 
 goals (from tries by Montgomery and Tillie) to nil. 
 
 The cause of England's defeat must be attributed to 
 the mediocre display of her forwards, who allowed them- 
 selves to be hustled all over the field by their opponents, 
 and never gave their players behind a ghost of a chance. 
 To make matters worse, Fagan, who started with a 
 sprained ankle, and never ought to have played, broke 
 down shortly after the start. The Irishmen played in 
 the most resolute style, and it was their determination 
 and cohesion which enabled them to beat England, who 
 were unquestionably their superiors behind the scrum- 
 mage. The English team was largely remodelled before 
 they met Scotland, Roberts (back), M. T. Scott (half), 
 C. J. Marriott, Seddon, and Pease being supplanted by 
 players whose names appear in the team v. Scotland. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — S. Roberts (Swinton), back; E. Lockwood (Dewsbury), 
 W. N. Bolton (Blackheath), A. Fagan (United Hospitals), three-quarter 
 backs; M. T. Scott (Cambridge University), A. Rotherham (Richmond), 
 captain, half-backs; W. G. Clibborn (Richmond), G. L. Jeffery (Black- 
 heath), C. J. B. Marriott (Blackheath), J. H. Dewhirst (Cambridge 
 University), R. Seddon (Broughton Rangers), A. T. Kemble (Liverpool), 
 A. Teggin (Broughton Rangers), J. L. Hickson (Bradford), F. Pease 
 (Durham), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — D. B. Walking-ton (North of Ireland and Dublin Univer- 
 sity), back ; C. R. Tillie (Dublin University), D. F. Rambaut (Dublin 
 University) , R. Montgomery (Queen's College, Belfast) , three-quarterbacks ; 
 
188 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 R. G. Warren (Lansdowne), captain, J. M'Laughlin (Derry), half-backs ; 
 T. R. Lyle (Dublin University), J. Chambers (Dublin University), V. C. Le 
 Fanu (Lansdowne and Cambridge University), H. J. Neill (North of 
 Ireland), E. J. Walsh (Lansdowne), J. Dick (Queen's College, Cork), J. 
 Johnstone (Albion), R. Stevenson (Lisburn), J. M'Cauley (Limerick), 
 forwards. 
 
 Januaky 8th, 1887, Llanelly. 
 England drew with Wales, neither side scoring. 
 
 England met Wales at Llanelly on the 8th of January, 
 when a drawn game resulted. The ground was not in 
 a tit state for football, a morning's thaw supervening on 
 a severe frost. Till the last moment it was in doubt 
 whether the match could be played, and it was only 
 carried out under the greatest difficulties. Not a player on 
 the field could keep his legs on the skating rink, and 
 both sides funked the hard frost-bound ground with a 
 slippery top. Scientific football was out of the question, 
 and the game, which consisted of slipping and sliding, 
 demands no serious comment. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — S.Roberts (Swinton), back; R. Robertshaw (Bradford), 
 J. Le Fleming (Cambridge University), R. E. Lockwood (Dewsbury), 
 three-quarterbacks; F. Bonsor (Bradford), A. Rotherham (Richmond), 
 captain, half-backs; W. G. Clibborn (Richmond), N. Spurling (Black- 
 heath), G. L. Jeffery (Blackheath), C. R. Cleveland (Oxford University), 
 J. H. Dewhirst (Cambridge University), H. C. Baker (Gloucestershire), 
 F. Wilkinson (Bradford), J. L. Hickson (Bradford), R. Seddon 
 (Broughton Rangers), forwards. 
 
 Wales.— D. H. Bowen (Llanelly), back; C. G. Taylor (Ruabon 
 and London Welsh), A. J. Gould (Newport and London Welsh), T. 
 Douglas (Cardiff), three-quarter backs; C. H. Newman (Newport and 
 Durham), O. J. Evans (Cardiff), half-backs ; E. P. Alexander (Cam- 
 bridge and London Welsh), W. H. Thomas (Cambridge and London 
 Welsh), D. Morgan (Swansea), W. Bowen (Swansea), A. J. Hvbart 
 (Cardiff), A. F. Bland (Cardiff), W. S. Clapp (Newport), R. Gould 
 (Newport), T. W. Lockwood (Newport), forwards. 
 
 1887-88. — England played no International matches 
 this season, declining to recognise an International 
 tribunal constituted on the basis of an International 
 numerical equality. A team was, however, chosen, and 
 caps presented to its members. 
 
 Team. 
 
 A. Fagan (Richmond), back; J. Valentine (Swinton), P. Robert- 
 shaw (Bradford), C. G. Hubbard (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; 
 F. Bonsor (Bradford), F. H. Fox (Somerset), half-backs; G. L. 
 Jeffery .(Blackheath), N. Spurling (Blackheath), W. G. Clibborn 
 (Richmond), J. H. Dewhirst (Richmond), A. Robinson (Cambridge 
 University), P. F. Hancock (Somerset), H. Eagles (Salford), J. L. 
 Hickson (Bradford), C. Anderton (Manchester Free Wanderers), forwards. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 189 
 
 February 16th, 1889, Blackheath. 
 England beat the Maoris by 1 yoal 4 tries to nothing. 
 
 The only International match in which England 
 engaged this season was that against the Maoris on the 
 16th of February at Blackheath. As was expected 
 would be the case, the visitors were completely out- 
 classed and defeated by a goal and 4 tries to nothing. 
 Bedford got in twice, Evershed, Stoddart, and Sutclifte 
 once. 
 
 The match will be remembered for the rough play 
 and extraordinary conduct of the Maoris, who during 
 their visit to this country displayed a remarkable apti- 
 tude for disputing the decisions of the officials. The 
 English umpire and the referee were anathematised and 
 threatened, and at one period of the game five of the 
 Maori team left the field, but were induced to return by 
 their manager. The English team was an exceedingly 
 strong one, and it was a great pity that they had no 
 opportunity of showing their prowess to the other 
 countries. ™ 
 
 1EAM. 
 
 A. Royle (Broug-hton Rangers), back; R. E. Lockwood (Dews- 
 bury), A. E. Stoddart (Blackbeath), J. W. Sutcliffe (Heckmond- 
 wike), three-quarter backs; F. Bonsor (Bradford) , W. M. Scott (Cam- 
 bridge University), half-backs; C. Anderton (Manchester Free 
 Wanderers), H.Bedford (Morley), J. W. Cave (Cambridge University), 
 F. Evershed (Burton), D. Jowett (Heckmondwike), F. W. Lowrie 
 (Batley), A. Robinson (Blackheath), H. Wilkinson (Halifax), W. 
 Yiend (Hartlepool Rovers), forwards. 
 
 March 1st, 1890, Edinburgh. 
 England beat Scotland by 1 goal and 1 try to nothing. 
 
 This year will ever be memorable by reason of the 
 satisfactory settlement of the International difficulty, 
 and the resumption of International matches. England 
 and Scotland recommenced their battles at Edinburgh 
 on the 1st March, when the former proved victorious by 
 a goal and a try (the scorers being Evershed and Dyson) 
 to nil. As may be supposed, the game after the sus- 
 pension of hostilities for a couple of years excited the 
 greatest interest. England thoroughly deserved her victory, 
 and showed superior play at every point of the game. 
 The play was open and attractive, and the English for- 
 wards, five of whom were Yorkshiremen, for once in the 
 way worked together with the combination of a club 
 team, and were much too fast for the Scots in the open. 
 
ENGLISH TEAM v. SCOTLAND: EDINBURGH, MARCH 1st, 1890. 
 (England, 1 Goal 1 Try ; Scotland, Nil.) 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCIEEH AND PLAYERS. 191 
 
 Evershed, Woods, Toothill, and Bedford were brilliant. 
 Aston, the English three-quarter, played as fine a centre 
 game as has ever been shown in an International match, 
 and the way he fed his wings was a revelation to Scotch 
 football. He practically got the try for Dyson by a most 
 skilful piece of passing. The Scotch forwards were not 
 seen at their best, and did not work in the scrummage 
 in their traditional style. For the first time in his career 
 Maclagan, who had done such sterling work for Scotland 
 in her past International matches, failed, and clearly 
 showed the signs of wear. M'Ewan and MacMillan were 
 the best of their forwards. Stevenson is not a centre 
 three-quarter, and though he is undoubtedly a clever 
 player, being a very skilful kick in particular, he plays 
 his own game and not the game of his wings. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Kichmond), back ; P. H. Morrison (Cam- 
 bridge University), R. L. Aston (Cambridge Universitj^), J. Dyson 
 (Huddersfield), three-quarter backs; F. H. Fox (Somerset), captain, 
 M. T. Scott (Northumberland), half -backs; J. L. Hickson (Bradford), 
 J. Toothill (Bradford), E. Holmes (Manningham), D. Jowett (Heck- 
 mondwike), H. Bedford (Morley), S. M. J. Woods (Cambridge Univer- 
 sity), F. Evershed (Burton), J. H. Rogers (Moseley), A. Robinson 
 (Blackheath) , forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — G-. MacG-regor (Cambridge University), back ; W. E. 
 Maclagan (London Scottish), H. J. Stevenson (Edinburgh Academicals), 
 G. R. Wilson (Royal High School), three-quarter backs ; C. E. Orr 
 (West of Scotland), D. G. Anderson (London Scottish), half-backs; M. C. 
 M'Ewan (Edinburgh Academicals), J. D. Boswell (West of Scotland), 
 J. E. Orr (West of Scotland), D. Morton (West of Scotland), R. G. 
 MacMillan (West of Scotland), A. Dalgleish (Gala), F. W. J. Goodhue 
 (London Scottish), I. M'Intyre (Edinburgh Wanderers), H. T. Ker 
 (Glasgow Academicals), forwards. 
 
 March 15th, 1890, Blackheath. 
 England beat Ireland by 3 tries to nothing. 
 
 England met and defeated Ireland by 3 tries to 
 nothing at Blackheath on the 15th of March. The 
 points were scored by Stoddart (who played vice Dyson), 
 Rogers, and Morrison. After playing well in the first 
 half the English team slacked off, and the Irishmen 
 were several times near scoring towards the end of the 
 game. The English form was nothing like so good as 
 against Scotland. _ 
 
 ° Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Richmond), back ; P. H. Morrison 
 (Cambridge University), R. L. Aston (Cambridge University), A. E. 
 Stoddart (Blackheath), captain, three-quarter backs; F. W. Spence 
 
192 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 (Birkenhead Park), Mason T. Scott (Northumberland), half-backs; J. L. 
 Hickson (Bradford), J. Toothill (Bradford), E. Holmes (Manningham), 
 D. Jowett (Heckmondwike), H. Bedford (Morley), S. M. J. Woods 
 (Cambridge University), F. Evershed (Burton), J. H. Rogers (Moseley), 
 
 A. Robinson (Blackheath), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — D. B. Walkington (Dublin University), back; R. Dunlop 
 (Dublin University), R. W. Johnstone (Dublin University), T. Edwards 
 (Lansdowne), three-quarter backs ; R, G.Warren (Lansdowne), captain, 
 
 B. Tuke (Bective Rangers), half-backs ; J. H. O'Connor (Bective Rangers), 
 J. Waites (Bective Rangers), V. C. Le Fanu (Lansdowne), E. Forrest 
 (Wanderers), J. Roche (Wanderers), R. Stevenson (Dungannon), W. 
 Davis (Bective Rangers), J. N. Nash (Queen's College, Cork), J. Lyttle 
 (North of Ireland), forwards. 
 
 February 15th, 1890, Dewsrury. 
 Wales beat England by a try to nothing. 
 
 Wales gained her first victory over England by a 
 try to nothing. A sleeting snow-storm, which continued 
 throughout the game, rendered the ground a veritable 
 quagmire. Indeed, we never recollect seeing a football 
 ground in such a condition. The English forwards, a 
 very heavy lot, were quite unable to keep their feet or 
 show anything like approaching their proper form. The 
 English fifteen were remodelled before meeting Scotland. 
 The Welsh try was cleverly gained by Stadden, who 
 tricked the opposing half by bouncing the ball out of 
 touch. The Welsh passing by the four three-quarters 
 was very fine, considering the state of the ground. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Richmond), back ; P. H. Morrison 
 (Cambridge University), A. E. Stoddart (Blackheath), J. Valentine 
 (Swinton), three-quarter backs; F. H. Fox (Somersetshire), J. Wright 
 (Bradford), half-backs ; A. Robinson (Blackheath), P. F. Hancock 
 (Somersetshire), J. H. Dewhirst (Richmond), S. M. J. Woods (Cambridge 
 University), R. D. Budworth (Oxford University), F. Evershed (Burton- 
 on-Trent)', J. H. Rogers (Moseley), J. L. Hickson (Bradford), F. W. Lowrie, 
 (Batley), forwards. 
 
 Wales. — W. J. Bancroft (Swansea), back; D. Gwynn (Swansea), 
 Percy Lloyd (Llanelly), R. Garrett (Penarth), A. J. Gould (Newport), 
 three-quarterbacks; W. Stadden (Cardiff), C.Thomas (Newport), half- 
 backs; W. O. Williams (Cardiff), D. W. Evans (Cardiff), A. E. Bland 
 (Cardiff), J. Hannen (Newport), W. H. Thomas (London Welsh), S, 
 Thomas (Llanelly), W. Bowen (Swansea), J. Meredith (Swansea), forwards. 
 
 March 7th, 1891, Richmond. 
 Scotland beat England by 3 goals to 1 goal. 
 
 The English fifteen which met Scotland at Richmond 
 on the 7th March were certainly the most disappointing 
 that ever represented this country, and gave an exhibition 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 193 
 
 entirely unworthy of the reputation of the players who 
 composed it. They carried with them the confidence of 
 the public, who expected to see a repetition of the 
 Edinburgh performances in the previous season. Not 
 only, however, were they beaten, but badly beaten, by 3 
 goals to 1. Tries were got by J. E. Orr and W. Neilson, 
 and a goal dropped by P. R. Clauss. Chiefly to blame 
 for this were the forwards and halves. The former were 
 hustled and routed, and there was not an ounce of 
 scrummage work amongst the nine of them, while it is 
 not the slightest exaggeration to say that in the second 
 half they literally chucked it. Berry, who had shown 
 good form at half in the previous International matches, 
 cut up most indifferently, and probably realised at the 
 end of the game that it is advisable to train for an 
 International match, especially to meet the determined 
 play indulged in by Scotsmen. The game clearly de- 
 monstrated that Berry's forte was trickiness in attack, 
 and that his defence was deplorably weak. Behind 
 beaten forwards he was useless. Leake was not strong 
 enough to withstand the rushes of the Scotch for- 
 wards, and Christopherson at three-quarter was far below 
 his proper form. Of the backs Alderson, Lockwood, 
 and Mitchell, alone played up to their true form, the 
 first especially kicking and defending with great coolness 
 and judgment under the most trying circumstances. The 
 clever goal dropped by Clauss in the first ten minutes 
 may have helped to demoralise the Englishmen, but 
 certainly cannot be advanced as a complete excuse for 
 the very worst display which any English team ever 
 gave. The Scotsmen played with great dash. McGregor 
 made a most excellent centre, and Clauss's dropped goal 
 was the thing of the match. Anderson at half was far 
 too strong for his opponents. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Richmond), back ; P. Christopherson 
 (Blackheath), F. H. R. Alderson (Durham), R. E. Lockwood (Yorkshire), 
 three-quarter hacks ; J. Berry (Lancashire), W. R. M. Leake (Harle- 
 quins), half-backs; R. D. Bud worth (Blackheath), E. Bonham-Carter 
 (Oxford University), S. M. J. Woods (Cambridge University), J. H. 
 Rogers (Moseley), E. H. G. North (Oxford University), J. Richards 
 (Yorkshire), R. P. Wilson (Lancashire), T. Kent (Lancashire), D. Jowett 
 ( Yorkshire), forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — H.J.Stevenson (Edinburgh Academicals), back; P. R. 
 Clauss (Oxford University), G. M'Gregor (Cambridge University), W. 
 Neilson (Merchiston), three-quarter backs ; C. E. Orr (West of Scotland), 
 
 N 
 
194 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 D. G. Anderson (London Scottish), half-backs ; M. C. M'Ewan (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), J. D. Boswell (West of Scotland), J. E. Orr (West of 
 Scotland), G. T. Neilson (West of Scotland), F. W. J. Goodhue (London 
 Scottish), J. G-. Macmillan (London Scottish), Ian M'Intyre (Edinburgh 
 Academicals), H. T. O. Leggatt (Watsonians), J. Gibson (Royal High 
 School), forwards. 
 
 February 7th, 1891, Dublin. 
 England beat Ireland by 2 goals and 3 tries to nothing. 
 
 At Dublin, on the 7th of February, England gained a 
 very easy victory over Ireland by no less than 2 goals 
 and 3 tries to nothing. 
 
 Two tries were obtained by Lockwood, and one each 
 by Wilson, Jowett, and Toothill. The Irishmen were 
 never in the hunt, and a very high estimate was made 
 of the abilities of the English team, an estimate which 
 the Scotch match most effectually disproved. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Richmond), back; P. H. Morrison (Cam- 
 bridge University), F. H. R. Alderson, captain (Durham), R. E. Lock- 
 wood (Yorkshire), three-quarter backs; J. Berry (Lancashire), W. R. M. 
 Leake (Harlequins), half-backs; E. H. G. North (Oxford University), T. 
 Kent (Lancashire), L. J. Percival (Oxford University), R. P. Wilson 
 (Lancashire), J. Toothill (Yorkshire), W. E. Bromet (Yorkshire), S. M. J. 
 Woods (Cambridge University), D. Jowett (Yorkshire), J. Richards 
 (Yorkshire), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — D. B. Walkington (North of Ireland), back ; R. G. Dunlop 
 .(North of Ireland and Dublin University), S. Lee (North of Ireland), 
 R. Montgomery (North of Ireland and Cambridge Universit)-), half- 
 backs; B. Tuke (Bective Rangers), A. C. M'Donnell (Dublin University 
 and Richmond), quarter-backs ; J. Roche (Wanderers), J. H. O'Connor 
 (Bective Rangers), V. C. Le Fanu (Lansdowne), W. Davis (Bessbrook), 
 £. Forrest (Wanderers), J. Lyttle (North of England), L. Nash (Queen's 
 College, Cork), T. Rook (Dublin University), J. Waites (Bective Rangers), 
 forwards. 
 
 January 3rd, 1891, Newport. 
 England beat Wales by 2 goals and 1 try to a goal. 
 
 The Welsh match was played at Newport on the 
 3rd of January, when England took her revenge for the 
 previous season's defeat, scoring 2 goals and a try 
 (Christopherson 2 tries and Bud worth 1) to a goal from 
 a try by Pearson, 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. G. Mitchell (Richmond), back; R. E. Lockwood, 
 (Yorkshire), F. R. Alderson (Durham), captain, P. Christopherson 
 (Blackheath), three-quarter backs; J. Berry (Lancaster), W. R. M. 
 Leake (Harlequins), half-backs; W. E. Bromet (Yorkshire), J. Toothill 
 (Yorkshire), T. Kent (Lancashire), R. D. Bud worth (Blackheath), D. 
 Jowett (Yorkshire), R. P. Wilson (Lancashire), J. Richards (Yorkshire), 
 E. H. G. North (Oxford University), S. M. J. Woods (Cambridge 
 University), forwards. 
 
INTERNATIONAL MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 195 
 
 Wales. — W. J. Bancroft (Swansea), back ; C. S. Arthur (Cardiff), 
 T. P. Pearson (Cardiff), P. Lloyd (Llanelly), D. Gwynn (Swansea), 
 three-quarter backs ; H. M. Ingledew (Cardiff), C. J. Thomas (New- 
 port), half-backs ; W. Bowen (Swansea), captain, J. Hannen (Newport), 
 P. Bennett (Cardiff Harlequins), W. Rice-Evans (Swansea), E. V. Pegge 
 (Neath), D. W. Evans (Cardiff), R. L. Thomas (London Welsh), H. 
 Parker (Newport), forwards. 
 
 March 5th, 1892, Edinburgh. 
 England beat Scotland by a goal to nothing. 
 
 This year will be memorable from the fact that 
 England won all her matches without a point being 
 scored against her, a per- 
 formance she had hitherto 
 never accomplished. The 
 Scotch match was played at 
 Edinburgh on the 5th of 
 March. Both sides were con- 
 fident as to the issue, and 
 speculation was rife as to 
 whether England would be 
 able to retrieve the crushing 
 defeat of the previous season. 
 No fewer than eight places 
 were tilled by Yorkshiremen. 
 The game, though a close 
 one, was disappointing in the 
 extreme, and very much more 
 resembled a cup- tie than an 
 International match. It was 
 slow, uninteresting, and devoid of incident or polish. 
 Activity and skill were at a discount, and very rough 
 play was indulged in by both sides, the brandy bottle 
 having frequently to be requisitioned for the knocked- 
 out ones. In adopting this method of warfare one 
 side was as much to blame as the other, but we hope 
 it will be the last occasion when the slow-coach game, 
 which we thought was buried years ago, will be 
 adopted in an International match. The style was 
 not adapted to the English team, who possessed great 
 pace forward, as they showed on the very few occa- 
 sions when there was any open play. They wanted 
 to play an open game, but as they were unable to 
 make it a fast one, they have only to blame their own 
 inability to do so. There can be no doubt, however, that 
 the present style of English forward play is very ill-suited 
 x 2 
 
 PERCY CHRISTOPHERSON. 
 
 (From a Photograph l»i Gillman & Co., 
 
 Oxford.) 
 
196 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 to the tight game, which is practically extinct on this 
 side of the border. 
 
 England gained the winning point (Bromet scoring) 
 just before half-time. On the day's play, such as it was, 
 there was nothing to choose between the teams. As 
 there was not the smallest scope for brilliancy, it is im- 
 possible to individualise excellence. Neither of the 
 English halves were up to International form, and the 
 halves on both sides indulged in off-side tactics. Indignant 
 Scotsmen have written to the papers complaining of the 
 play of Briggs and Varley in this respect, but if they 
 had the many opportunities which Londoners have of 
 seeing Anderson play, they would realise that at this 
 game he is very difficult to beat. Alderson and Lock- 
 wood, the latter of whom is a long way the finest three- 
 quarter in the three kingdoms, played with sound 
 judgment, though on account of the character of the 
 game the little Yorkshireman never had an opportunity 
 of showing his wonderfully brilliant powers. Coop, the 
 back, kicked cleverly, but did not play a safe game. 
 Anderson worked hard, but had a very rough time of it ; 
 and Campbell played excellently at three-quarter. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — J. Coop (Leigh), back ; R. E. Lockwood (Heckmondwike), 
 F. H. R. Alderson (Hartlepool), J. Dyson (Huddersfield) , three-quarter 
 backs; A. Briggs (Bradford), H. Varlev (Liversedge), half-backs; J. 
 Toothill (Bradford), W. Nichol (Brighouse), W. E. Bromet (Tadcaster), 
 H. Bradshaw (Bramley), F. Evershed (Blackheath), E. Bullough (Wigan), 
 W. Yiend (Hartlepool), T. Kent (Salford), S. M. J. Woods (Somerset), 
 forwards. 
 
 Scotland. — H. J. Stevenson (Edinburgh Academicals), back ; P. R. 
 Clauss (Oxford University), W. Neilson (Cambridge University), G. T. 
 Campbell (London Scottish), three-quarter backs ; D. G. Anderson 
 (London Scottish), C. E. Orr (West of Scotland), half-backs; M. C. 
 McEwen (Edinburgh Academicals), R. G. McMillan (London Scottish). 
 F. W. J. Goodhue (London Scottish), J. E. Orr (West of Scotland), J. D. 
 Boswell (West of Scotland), J. N. Millar (West of Scotland), G. T. Neilson 
 (West of Scotland), W. A. Macdonald (Glasgow University), W. R. 
 Gibson (Royal High School), forwards. 
 
 Febrx'aky 6th, Manchester. 
 England beat Ireland by a goal and a try to nothing. 
 
 A closely contested match in which the Irish forwards 
 thoroughly routed the Englishmen in the early part of 
 the game. Towards the finish condition told, and when 
 once the packs were held, the superior speed of the 
 Englishmen told, and Evershed scored a brilliant try ; 
 
INTERNATIONA], MATCHES AND PLAYERS. 197 
 
 later on he again broke away, and getting close to the 
 line transferred to Percival, who scored. The English 
 team was strengthened by the inclusion of some York- 
 shire scrummagers. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England.— S. Houghton (Cheshire), back; R. E. Lockwood (Heck- 
 mondwike), J. H. Marsh (Swinton), G. C. Hubbard (Blackheath), three- 
 quarter backs; E. W. Taylor (Rockliffc), A. Briggs, half-backs; S. M. J. 
 Woods, captain, W. E. Bromet (Tadcaster), A. Ashworth (Oldham), J. 
 Toothill (Bradford), L. J. Percival (Oxford University), E. Bullough 
 (Wigan), T. Kent (Salford), F. Evershed (Burton and Blackheath), W. 
 Yiend (Hartlepool Rovers), forwards. 
 
 Ireland. — T. Peel (Limerick), back; R. Dunlop (Dublin University), 
 S. Lee (North of Ireland), T. Gardiner (North of Ireland), three-quarter 
 backs; T. Thornhill (Wanderers), B. Tuke (Bective), half-backs; 
 V. C. Le Fanu (Lansdowne), E. J. Walsh (Lansdowne), J. E. Jameson 
 (Lansdowne), A. Wallis (Wanderers), C. Rooke (Dublin University), 
 W. Davis (Bessbrook), T. Johnstone (Queen's College, Belfast), J. 
 O'Connor (Bective Rangers), forwards. 
 
 January 2nd, Blackheath. 
 England beat Wales by 3 goals and a try to nil. 
 
 The score does not indicate the state of the game. 
 The Welsh eight forwards outplayed the English nine, 
 and had their half-backs fed the three-quarters the game 
 must have been won by Wales, who had all the worst of 
 the luck. The brothers James were unable to play for 
 Wales. The Welsh passing was erratic and often forward. 
 Bancroft played superbly at back. The tries for England 
 were scored by Nichol, Hubbard, Alderson, and Evershed. 
 Lockwood was the shining light amongst the England 
 players. 
 
 Teams. 
 
 England. — W. B. Thomson (Blackheath), back; R. E. Lockwood 
 (Heckmondwike), F. H. R. Alderson (Hartlepool), captain, G. C. Hub- 
 bard (Blackheath), three-quarter backs ; C. Emmott (Bradford), A. 
 Briggs (Bradford), half-backs ; A. Allport (Blackheath), W. Yiend 
 (Hartlepool), W. Nichol (Brighouse), W. E. Bromet (Tadcaster), J. 
 Toothill (Bradford), T. Kent (Salford), E. Bullough (St. Helen's), J. 
 Pyke (St. Helen's), F. Evershed (Burton-on-Trent and Blackheath), 
 forwards. 
 
 Wales. — W. J. Bancroft (Swansea), back ; R. Garrett (Penarth), A. 
 J. Gould (Newport), captain, T. W. Pearson (Cardiff), W. McCutcheon 
 (Oldham and Swansea), three-quarter backs ; P. Phillips (Newport), G. 
 Bowles (Penarth), half-backs; T. C. Graham (Newport), A. W. Bouchier 
 (Newport), W. Watts (Newport), J. Hannen (Newport), C. B. Nicholl 
 (Cambridge and Llanelly), J. Deacon (Swansea), R. L. Thomas (Llanelly), 
 F. Mills (Swansea), forwards. 
 
CHAPTER XIL 
 
 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 
 By R. W. Irvine. 
 
 WHILE the Scotch maintain, and no doubt with 
 truth, that- football is a national game, and has 
 existed in Scotland in some form or other since the time 
 when the Caledonian savages first took to wearing boots, 
 nevertheless Rugby football as at present played is, it 
 cannot be denied, a game adopted from across the 
 border. Its very name implies this, and when he con- 
 siders how important a part the great English school,Rugby, 
 played in developing and fostering the game, in establishing 
 the present laws of the game, and in popularising it 
 throughout the country, no Scotsman, however patriotic, 
 will grudge that the name Rugby should be for ever 
 associated with the game, even though he may be the 
 last to admit that either Rugby or the country in which 
 it lies has any present pre-eminence over his own country 
 in that sport. Football seems to be a game peculiarly 
 congenial to the " perfervidum ingenium Scotorum." 
 Not only is it played well and enthusiastically in the 
 schools, but it is also astonishing how kindly grown men 
 who never saw a Rugby ball till nearly twenty, and to 
 whom, when they begin, the meaning of " off-side " is one 
 of the mysteries, take to the sport, and how soon they 
 become, at least in the scrummage, first-rate players. 
 
 Scotch Rugby football may be said to have sprung 
 up from bovhood into robust manhood with the first 
 International match in 1871. In saying this there is no 
 disparagement to the earlier players. Far from it. 
 " Vixerunt fortes ante Agamemnona multi." Many of 
 us can recall to mind Rugby players, heroes of our boy- 
 hood, who flourished before International matches were 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 199 
 
 dreamed of, and the idea of a football Union had not 
 yet taken shape, players who would have made many of 
 our cracks of the present day look small. The Rugby 
 game was played, and playect well, by school and club 
 thirty years ago and more ; but in those days inter- 
 scholastic matches were very local and comparatively 
 few, while inter-club matches were even fewer. Except in 
 Edinburgh and Glasgow there were very few properly 
 organised Rugby clubs in Scotland. There was one, and 
 a good one — St. Andrews — a club whose prowess was 
 known far and wide, and 
 which made up for the 
 paucity of its matches by the 
 fervour with which it entered 
 into those it did play. Pro- 
 vincial Rugby football hardly 
 existed. There is no evidence 
 of any provincial Rugby club 
 out of Edinburgh (and dis- 
 trict), Glasgow (and district), 
 St. Andrews, and Aberdeen 
 University, playing regularly 
 as a club, before 1870. For 
 some years prior to that, 
 however, signs of greater 
 activity and enterprise were 
 becoming visible in the 
 Scotch Rugby world. Edin- 
 burgh and Glasgow clubs were playing more matches 
 among themselves, and journeying more frequently 
 to each other. But what gave the great impetus to 
 the game had to do with our neighbours across the 
 border. For some years previous to 1871 an annual 
 match had been played in London — an International 
 match it was called — it was played according to the laws 
 of the dribbling game. England usually won, but the 
 Scotch made a good fight always. This match at first 
 attracted only a sort of curiosity in Scotland, and a 
 languid sort of interest. But in course of time, as the 
 Scotch were beaten time after time, and it was quite an 
 accepted truth that Scotland was in football, as in 
 cricket, wonderfully good for its opportunities, but far 
 behind England, the souls of certain Scotch past and 
 present players stirred within them. The idea dawned 
 
 E. "W. IRVINE. 
 
200 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 upon them, " If there is to be an International match, 
 let it be a real one, and don't let the relative merits of 
 England and Scotland in football matters be decided 
 purely by Association football, let us ask them to send 
 a Rugby team north and play us on our native heath." 
 The Scotch leaders felt that they could not be so very 
 far behind their opponents, and at all events, better to 
 know the truth than to be set down as inferior, as it 
 were, by proxy. At last, after much consultation, and in 
 some trepidation, but not at all in despair, the missive 
 was despatched. Scotland did not undertake to play 
 only Scotsmen residing in Scotland. She reserved to 
 herself the right to get them from wherever she found 
 them, and it was to be a really representative team ; and 
 she would admit that if it was beaten. There was no 
 Scottish Rugby Union then, except the rough-and-ready 
 Union, in connection with which Scottish Rugby players 
 should always hold in venerable remembrance F. 
 Moncrieff the first Scotch captain, H. H. Almond, J. W. 
 Arthur, Dr. Chiene, R Hall Rlythe, and Angus Buchanan. 
 A team was selected without wrangle and without 
 jealousy, and invitations were sent to the team to play 
 in a great match, and responded to with alacrity. 
 
 The first Scotch team was selected from Edinburgh 
 Academicals, Edinburgh University, Royal High School 
 F.R (which was supposed to mean former pupils), St. 
 Andrews, Merchistonians, Glasgow Academicals, and 
 West of Scotland. The men were requested to get 
 into training, and did it. It was twenty a-side, and the 
 Scotch forwards were heavy and fast. We were ignorant 
 what team England would bring, of what sort of players 
 they had, and of how the} T would play; and though 
 assured by Colville, a London Merchistonian — and a rare 
 good forward, too — that we would find their size, strength, 
 and weight not very materially different from our own, 
 many of us entered that match with a sort of vague fear 
 that some entirely new kind of play would be shown by 
 our opponents, and that they would out-manoeuvre us 
 entirely. The day of the match soon settled that un- 
 certainty. The English twenty were big and heavy — 
 probably bigger and heavier than ours, but not over- 
 poweringly so. Before Ave had played ten minutes we 
 were on good terms with each other. Each side had 
 made a discovery — we that our opponents were flesh 
 
SCOTTISH TEAM V. ENGLAND, EDINBURGH, 
 
 MARCH 27, 1871. 
 
 (Scotland— 1 Goal, 1 Try. England— 1 Try.) 
 
202 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and blood like ourselves, and could be mauled back and 
 tackled and knocked about just like other men; they 
 that in this far north land Rugby players existed who 
 could maul, tackle, and play-up with the best of them. 
 There was one critical time during the match. Feeling 
 was pretty highly strung. It was among the first no- 
 hacking matches for many of the players on both sides. 
 Now, hacking becomes an instinctive action to one 
 trained to it; you hack at a man running past out 
 of reach as surely as you blink when a man puts his 
 finger in your eye. There were a good many hacks-over 
 going on, and, as blood got up, it began to be muttered, 
 " Hang it ! why not have hacking allowed ? " " It can't 
 be prevented — far better have it." The question hung 
 in the balance. The teams seemed nothing loth. The 
 captains (MoncriefT and F. Stokes) both looked as if they 
 ought to say "no" and would rather like to say "yes," 
 and were irresolute, when Almond, who was umpire, 
 vowed he would throw up his job if it were agreed on, 
 so it was forbidden, and hackers were ordered to be 
 more cautious. The match was won by Scotland by a 
 goal and a try to a try — the Scotch goal placed by Cross 
 (not Malcolm, but his big brother) from a very difficult 
 kick — and though many matches have been played 
 since then between the countries, there has not been one 
 better fought or more exciting than this, the first one. 
 The Scotsmen were exultant, and the winning ball 
 hung for many a day in the shop of Johnnie Bowton, 
 at the Stock Bridge, adorned with ribbons like the tail of 
 a Clydesdale stallion at a horse show. With this match 
 and victory the life of Rugby football as a national insti- 
 tution fairly commenced. It was the end of the season, 
 and the last match played; but by the beginning of 
 another year enthusiasm was fairly taking possession of 
 the Scotch Rugbeians. The winter of 1871-72 saw an 
 activity in Rugby football that it had never known 
 before. Not merely was this so in Scotland, England, 
 too, was waking up and girding up her loins. Her 
 defeat had nettled her. The Rugby Union was formed 
 — the " Rugball Footby Union," as it was once styled by a 
 hilarious and bibulous Scotch forward. The leading- 
 Scotch clubs joined it, and in 1873 the Scotch Football 
 Union was formed, the original clubs forming it being 
 the same that had originated the International match— 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 203 
 
 viz., the Universities of Edinburgh, St. Andrews, and 
 Glasgow, the Academicals of Edinburgh and Glasgow, 
 the Koyal High School, the West of Scotland, and the 
 Merchistonians, with power to add to their number. 
 The original object of the Union was stated in three 
 propositions, which still hold good: — (1) To encourage 
 football in Scotland ; (2) to co-operate with the Rugby 
 Union ; (3) to select the International teams. 
 
 The spring of that year saw the second International 
 match played at Kennington Oval. Much deliberation was 
 bestowed on the selection 
 of the Scottish team. Trial 
 matches were played ; Lon- 
 don was appealed to to sup- 
 ply some good Scots, and on 
 February 5th, 1872, the Scot- 
 tish twenty turned out full of 
 hope on Kennington Oval. 
 The match was peculiar. 
 Almost immediately after 
 kick-off the Scotch forwards 
 carried a scrummage, fol- 
 lowed up well, and in a trice 
 Cathcart had dropped a goal. 
 England looked dubious. 
 One of them remarked, " We 
 have no chance against your 
 pace." The result showed 
 now far off his reckoning he was. The rest of the 
 match was one continual penning of the Scotsmen, the 
 only flash of luck they had being when Chalmers once 
 made his mark near the centre of the field, and L. M. 
 Balfour, an Academy boy of sixteen, very nearly placed 
 a goal from it. Scotland was beaten by two goals and 
 two tries to a goal. The English team was a grand one ; 
 forward it was the heaviest football twenty that ever 
 played together. Back, very little was required, but 
 Freeman and Finney could have done all that was 
 required behind by themselves. The licking did Scotland 
 good. Their previous victory had made them very 
 cocky. They thought that because they had beaten 
 England in 1871, that, therefore, they had nothing to 
 learn from them. They now saw that in the proper 
 arrangement of their men, and in the proper selection of 
 
 L. M. BALFOUR. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Marshall Wane, 
 Edinburgh.) 
 
204 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 men for the back places, they were a century behind 
 England. They also found out that touch is something 
 more than merely the boundary of the field of play, and 
 that half the game of backs is played across the touch- 
 line. They also found that light fast forwards were no 
 good against heavy fast forwards in a twenty a-side 
 match. Like wise men they took the lesson to heart. 
 They formed their own Union in the next year, and they 
 instituted the inter-city matches between Edinburgh 
 and Glasgow. 
 
 The inauguration of the inter-city match was a great 
 hit. It has become between Edinburgh and Glasgow 
 what the International is between England and Scotland, 
 and has given the same impetus to the game in the 
 respective cities. Edinburgh won both matches, a team 
 was chosen, and the third International match was 
 played in Glasgow at Partick. The ground was a quag- 
 mire, and the match ended in a draw, after a game which 
 while stubbornly fought out by the players, must have 
 been monotonous to a degree to the onlookers, and 
 must have had a great deal to do with depopularising 
 the Rugby game in Glasgow. It was one succession of 
 weary mauls, broken by an occasional rush, but at this 
 interval of time the impression left was that of a muddy, 
 wet, struggling 100 minutes of steamy mauls, and 
 standing out in bold relief, Freeman, the English three- 
 quarter back, making his mark, and having such an 
 appalling drop at goal as one seldom sees in a football 
 lifetime. 
 
 The next season saw the International played in 
 London, and won by England by a goal (dropped by the 
 demon Freeman) to a try and a disputed trv. In this 
 match Scotland had, admittedly on all hands, the pull 
 all through. She was superior for the first time behind 
 the scrummage. Kidston, St. Clair-Grant, and A. K. 
 Stewart, shone brilliantly, and the forwards had rather the 
 pull of their opponents. Still the luck was against 
 Scotia, and she had to pocket another defeat. How 
 lucky the Southerners thought themselves was well seen 
 in the fervour with which their skipper, in a speech at 
 the dinner of the match, thanked God that Jupiter 
 Pluvius had come to the rescue, and made the ground so 
 slimy as to take the heels from the fleet Scotch backs. 
 
 1875-76 saw much the same state of matters. The 
 
INTKHNATIQNAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 205 
 
 inter-city matches continued to be toughly and grimly 
 fought, but the metropolis always kept the whip- 
 hand. The International of 1875 was played in Edin- 
 burgh, and was a draw — as usual, Scotland fully holding 
 its own forward, but being lamentably weak behind. The 
 number of shaves the Scotch goal had from the dropping 
 of Pearson and Mitchell that day no Scotsman playing 
 will ever forget. Another draw in favour of England. 
 
 1876 saw the fight again removed to London ; and 
 on the Oval, for the third time in succession, the Thistle 
 was nowhere. Scotland had the pull forward, but behind 
 were far inferior. She had one half-back who weighed 
 somewhere about nine stone, and the other dislocated his 
 thumb early in the game, and R. Birkett and Collins ran 
 over them as they pleased, while Hutchinson had a run 
 for England, which will live in football history, nearly 
 the whole length of the ground, and the try was con- 
 summated by Lee. England had a goal and a try to the 
 good, and two matches to the good on the whole. 
 
 1877 saw a change. An agreement had at last been 
 come to regarding the fifteen a-side, and it was to be 
 tried this time. Scotland had previously routed Ireland 
 in a match remarkable for the number of goals gained — 
 six goals to nil — played at Belfast. In this match 
 Ireland showed much good material, but it was raw. 
 Much good Hibernian breath was expended in shouting 
 which would have done more good to the distressed 
 country if spent in shoving. " Oireland, Oireland, 
 get behind yourselves," a despairing son of Erin was 
 heard to cry, as the Scotch forwards were wedging 
 through the Irish with the ball before them, and the 
 Irish did not seem to know where it was, and were not 
 coming round. But if Scotland had the best of it on 
 the field, the vanquished were the victors at the social 
 board, and if Ireland was raw at the game that day, 
 Scotland was certainly boiled next morning. Flushed 
 with this victory, Scotland met England full of confi- 
 dence a fortnight after in Edinburgh. The teams were 
 well matched. Scotland was in good form behind and 
 fully held its own ; the match was fast and furious to a 
 degree never before seen in an International, and when 
 within five minutes of " No side," Grahame got the ball 
 and chucked to Malcolm Cross, and Cross, quick as 
 lightning, dropped at goal, the excitement beggared 
 
206 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 description. The match was won by Scotland by this 
 dropped goal — and we felt that onr long struggle for 
 fifteen a-side had not been in vain. The verdict of 
 players and public was hearty and unanimous, and the 
 twenty a-side International was from that date a thing 
 of the past. In that year, too, the first attempt was 
 
 made to have a more true 
 trial match for the selection 
 of the team than had hither- 
 to been accomplished — and 
 the East v. West match was 
 the remedy proposed and 
 adopted. Whether it has 
 been a success or not is a 
 question, but it has ever 
 since been the substitute of 
 the second Inter-city, and 
 now there is an Inter-city 
 before New- Year in one city, 
 and the East v. West after 
 New- Year in the other. 
 
 1878 saw Scotland's fif- 
 teen again on the Oval ; again 
 saw a splendid fast match, 
 and at last saw the spell of Scotch ill-luck on the Oval 
 broken, for not only was she not beaten, she very nearly 
 won — in fact, many of the team thought she had won — 
 but it was only a draw ; no score either side. The Scotch 
 had there probably the best forward, and indeed, all- 
 round team, they ever put on a field. Their backs, too, 
 were good — had much improved on their three years' 
 before form — but had not yet acquired anything like the 
 finish and easy certainty in catching and dropping the 
 ball that we saw in Stokes and Pearson and used to see 
 in Freeman. They could drop as far, and Finlay, pro- 
 bably, was the longest drop in Britain, Stokes not 
 excepted. They could tackle— I would rather fall into 
 the hands of any back in the three kingdoms than into 
 those of W. E. Maclagan when roused. They could 
 utilise touch — none neater at taking a little punt or drop 
 at a nice angle into touch at a critical moment than 
 Malcolm Cross. But with all that they wanted the 
 freedom, dash, and style altogether which characterised 
 the play of the English. Their play, compared with 
 
 J. H. S. GRAHAME. 
 (.From a Photograph ''// Moffat, Edinburgh.') 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 207 
 
 that of the Englishmen, was like the play of clever 
 ponies, or big active Clydesdales, to that of thorough- 
 bred racehorses. Ireland didn't raise a team to come 
 across to play us. 
 
 1879 came round. Things still went on well. The 
 Union flourished. New clubs were joining. A team 
 was sent across to Ireland and again defeated its 
 opponents, but this time by half the former score, 
 and the Irish forward play had improved in a way 
 that promised to give Scotland and England some 
 trouble to hold their own at no distant date. The 
 English International of 1879 was played at Edinburgh. 
 A tough and splendid match resulted in a goal placed by 
 Stokes from a run by Burton being equalised by a most 
 cleverly dropped goal by Ninian Finlay, and the result 
 was a draw in favour of nobody. 
 
 In 1880 the Scotch Union prospered, the funds 
 prospered, new clubs joined. There were now 24 clubs 
 composing it, whereas in 1879 there were 21, and in the 
 first year, 1873, there were 8. Ireland came over__ 
 Glasgow, and, while showing //vJ~- 
 
 good mettle, was well beaten 
 m all points of the game, 
 but the Irish had left their 
 souls in the Irish Channel 
 the night before. England 
 had previously been over in 
 Dublin and just escaped 
 being beaten by Ireland. 
 Scotland was thus the fa- 
 vourite — she had never such 
 a good team. The English 
 team was too old and the 
 men stale. Never was a 
 greater mistake made. The 
 Scotch as usual were fully 
 as good as the others for- 
 ward, but the backs might, 
 
 half of them anyhow, have just as well been left in 
 Scotland. Once an English back was past the Scotch 
 forwards the backs seemed suddenly seized with paralysis, 
 pawed him like old women, as if to encourage his onward 
 career, and England won by 2 goals and 3 tries to 1 
 goal placed by Cross from a try by Sorley Brown. 
 
 *8 
 
 "W. E. MACLAGAN. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Xearetti & Zambra, 
 Crystal Palace, Sydenham.) 
 
208 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 This was the biggest beating Scotland had yet had 
 on paper, and certainly the sorest disappointment. It 
 was also the least easily explained. England certainly 
 had a magnificent team, admittedly on all hands, but 
 Scotland had also a first-rate team. The men had been 
 doing wonders all the season. Certainly the ground 
 was simply not fit for football, hardly fit for mudpies, 
 and a gale of wind blowing, but that was the same for 
 both sides. It was just what happens sometimes in a 
 man and in a team — they were not in form and not in 
 
 luck. They seemed to play 
 with the funk on them, and 
 never played to win, and 
 didn't win. This match is 
 noticeable as the first Eng- 
 lish International played out 
 of London. It was played at 
 Wh alley Range, Manchester, 
 and the crowds that wit- 
 nessed it surpassed anything 
 hitherto seen at any football 
 match in the three king- 
 doms. 
 
 The match with England 
 in 1881 was splendidly con- 
 tested. Scotland were the 
 first to score, by R. Ainslie 
 making a good run from the 
 25-yard line, but Begbie's kick failed, the ball grazing the 
 post. This was all the score in the first half, the play being 
 so equal that it was impossible to award the preference to 
 either side. The Scotch backs now played a defensive 
 game, but Stokes getting the ball chucked to him lowered 
 the Scotch goal by perhaps the most magnificent drop- 
 kick ever seen in the International matches. Immediately 
 afterwards Campbell Rowley romped over the line. The 
 place-kick was a failure. With England a goal in 
 advance, the Scotsmen had little hope of saving the 
 match. Three minutes from time the match seemed a 
 certain victory for England, when J. Brown securing the 
 ball eluded Hornby and grounded the ball between the 
 posts, and Begbie kicked a goal. Thus ended the most 
 sensational International match, the result being a draw, 
 a goal and a try for each side. 
 
 W. A. PETEEKIN. 
 
 {From a Photograph by W. Crook, 
 Edinburgh.) 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 209 
 
 The match with Ireland ended in a great surprise. 
 There was a schism in the Scotch Union, and some 
 clubs considering themselves hardly dealt with because 
 so few of their men were selected in the team, resorted 
 to the unpatriotic course of withdrawing those who had 
 been chosen. Thus Scotland appeared at Belfast with- 
 out her best team, and Ireland won by a goal to a 
 
 fey. 
 
 SCOTTISH INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL FROM 
 1881 TO THE PRESENT TIME. 
 
 In dealing with Scottish football in its relationship 
 with England for the past ten years, we may not have 
 as bright a tale to tell as we might have wished for, and 
 we may find that we have been subjected to one or two 
 rather unpleasant castigations ; but at the same time the 
 record for the period is quite presentable, and it contains 
 at least two achievements which outshine any per- 
 formances in the whole history of the game north of the 
 Tweed. In March, 1882, our team at Manchester gained 
 a victory which set the whole country into an ecstasy of 
 delight. Ten years later our men went up to London to 
 meet what was styled one of the finest teams England 
 ever produced, and, to our huge satisfaction, Scotland 
 won by the largest score she had ever compiled in one 
 of these matches. These are the particular bright spots 
 on the roll, but on the other side of the account we have 
 to swallow an unpalatable defeat in 1883, when for the 
 first time we were beaten on our own ground, followed in 
 1890 and 1892 by two more humiliating downfalls on 
 our native heath. These defeats were more than rebuffs, 
 and they were doubly unpleasant from the fact that we 
 had been waiting since 1877 to see Scotland win at home 
 — and we are waiting still. Old players have a way of 
 marking off years on their fingers' ends, and they will tell 
 you such and such a team was much better than 
 England's, although it lost, while another fifteen which 
 won ought never to have had the slightest chance with 
 their opponents. Such a process is too intricate to 
 follow, besides being apt to lead to people n begging to 
 differ," and for the sake of lucidity we shall here treat of 
 the teams as the balance of the account in goals and 
 
210 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 tries stands favourably or unfavourably to them. To get 
 at the condition of Scottish football in any given year 
 we must examine the positions and performances of the 
 leading clubs. In 1882 Edinburgh Institution football 
 players were at their zenith. The Edinburgh Academi- 
 cals were at low ebb, and Raeburn Place had lost its 
 monopoly. In Glasgow the Academicals were still a 
 strong team, but they were slowly giving way before the 
 West of Scotland. Naturally, these influences affected our 
 national selection, and it is not surprising to find a strong 
 
 " 'Stution " element in the 
 fifteen. Among the forwards 
 we had the brothers Ainslie 
 and R. Maitland, and behind 
 Sorley Brown partnered A. R. 
 Don Wauchope at half-back, 
 with A. Philp and W. E. Mac- 
 lagan at three-quarter. Our 
 full-back was the sturdy High 
 School man, J. P. Veitch, and 
 among the other forwards 
 were C. Reid, not yet quite 
 at his best, rough-and-ready 
 W. A. Walls, J. B. Brown, and 
 D. Y. Casseils as captain of 
 the team. Our two tries' 
 victory gave unbounded 
 satisfaction in Scotland, and 
 none who saw the game will forget how our forwards cut 
 out the work that afternoon. The Scotsmen seemed to 
 have stones the worst of it on weight, but they had all 
 the best of the pushing, and there was only one team 
 in it in the loose. R. Ainslie added greatly to his 
 reputation by his fine tackling and play in the open. 
 To W. N. Bolton he was most attentive, and the big 
 Blackheath man did not get much time to consider his 
 movements. It is generally acknowledged that R. 
 Ainslie stands out as one of the very best forwards ever 
 we had. His weight was not great, but he used every 
 ounce, and we have never had a forward who came through 
 on to the opposing backs more quickly. One of his 
 strongest points was his tackling, which was always safe 
 and low, and his great speed often brought him within 
 reach of a man who seemed clear of the forwards. 
 
 E T. AINSLIE. 
 
 From a Pltotoaraph bit George Shaw, 
 
 Edinburgh, 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL; SCOTLAND. 211 
 
 When at his best he left Edinburgh for the South of 
 Scotland, and gave up football when he still seemed to have 
 a long career before him. T. Ainslie had most of his 
 brother's points, but not so well developed, and although 
 he played for a much longer period, and was in more 
 Internationals, he was not the same brilliant forward. 
 Still he was a line all-round player, and belonged to the 
 true type of Scotch scrummagers. 
 
 That year we had not a single weak spot in our 
 back team, which included two men who belong to 
 a very limited class of players standing on a 
 platform quite by themselves. No stronger defence 
 than W. E. Maclagan's has ever been seen in Scotland, 
 and we never had a man to make the same electrifying 
 run as A. R. Don Wauchope. N. J. Finlay made great 
 runs in his day, and probably scored as often as 
 Wauchope did, but he was never so difficult to follow, 
 and his movements did not produce the same fever of 
 excitement on a crowd that Wauchope's raised. 
 Although defence was undoubtedly Maclagan's strong 
 point, if he got the ball within a dozen yards of the line 
 he was a most dangerous man in more ways than one, 
 and an ordinary player might well be excused if he took 
 second thoughts about standing up before him when he 
 was bent upon scoring. Roughness has often been, 
 imputed to him, and there is no doubt in his younger 
 days he now and again gave exhibitions of his strength 
 which were not good for the subject. More than once he 
 has tossed a man, full pitch as the bowlers would say, 
 on to the little paling at Raeburn Place and made the 
 timber crack. He was one of the most powerful players 
 we ever had, and no man on the football field could put 
 his strength to more use than Maclagan when he cared 
 to, or asJDr. Irvine says, "when he was roused." 
 
 From a splendid victory of 1882 Ave have to pass to 
 a more than unusually unpleasant defeat. Our troubles 
 in 1883 began with our team, which behind the maul 
 was of a most patchy description, and it is safe to say 
 we were never more poorly represented behind than we 
 were that year. Our team before the match did not 
 inspire confidence, and in the actual play some of the 
 men cut up badly, and as a climax we were beaten for 
 the first time at Raeburn Place. A comparison of the 
 opposing rear divisions will almost tell the tale of our 
 o 2 
 
212 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 disaster. England was represented by — Full - back, 
 H. B. Tristram ; three-quarters, W. N. Bolton, H. M. Evan- 
 son,and G.C. Wade; half-backs,. J. H. Payne and A. Rother- 
 ham. Scotland. — Full back, W. 1). Kidston; three-quarters 
 W. E. Maclagan and M. F. Reid; half-backs, P.W. Smeaton 
 and W. S. Brown. This we should certainly say was the 
 finest back team England played during the decade 
 under notice, and when we consider that Maclagan, far 
 from well, had practically all the work behind our 
 halves to do, and England had three three-quarters play- 
 ing against our two, the marvel is that we escaped with a 
 two tries to one try beating. But our forwards as usual 
 did splendid work, and if they did not win the match 
 they saved us from heavy defeat. This was decidedly 
 Bolton's year, and he left an impression which was not 
 soon forgotten. Evanson we had heard much about, 
 but he did not sustain his reputation. Tristram did, 
 however, and many present thought it a little rough on 
 Scotland that she should have reared for England the 
 best full-back she ever had. 
 
 Our half-backs in this match did quite their 
 share of the work. P. W. Smeaton's selection had been 
 taken exception to in some quarters, but he proved one 
 of the most useful men on our side, and frequently 
 his punt, which he got in from all sorts of awkward 
 positions, gained us ground when we most wanted it. 
 He had never much speed, but he was always a most 
 tenacious tackier, and nobody ever saw him shirk his 
 work. Probably to this day he is of opinion that he 
 scored a try in this match which would at least have 
 made it a draw. At the beginning of the game an 
 incident happened which may have put into Wade's 
 head a perverted idea of Scottish football, and perhaps 
 influenced his play, for he did very little after it. Getting 
 the ball in good position, the Anglo-Australian was 
 making off, and had just got up a good turn of speed 
 when T. Ainslie came in his way. The Institution repre- 
 sentative finding he could not reach his man, deliberately 
 shot out his foot and knocked the Oxonian's legs right 
 from under him. Wade rose looking as if he had 
 been hurt — inwardly, and no doubt he made mental 
 comparisons of football as practised in England and 
 Scotland. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 213 
 
 During the season 1883-84 a great many changes took 
 
 Elace at home. The two three-quarters s} 7 stem, which 
 ad received almost its deathblow at Raeburn Place, 
 had not been entirely discarded by the clubs, but in all 
 the Union teams three were chosen. A. R Don Wau- 
 chope, who had been off for a year in consequence of an 
 injury to his knee, returned to active participation in 
 the game. 
 
 In club football the Institution had sunk from their 
 high position, and their place was taken by the West of 
 Scotland, who were now the champion team. The Wat- 
 
 A FREE KICK : TAKING A PUNT. 
 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 sonians under J. Tod had sprung into prominence. Edin- 
 burgh University were strong, and C. Reid, with M. C. 
 McEwen and J. W. Irvine as young players, was building 
 up for the Edinburgh Academicals a fine team which a 
 couple of years later swept all before it. We had never 
 been better off for players, and after defeating W r ales and 
 Ireland we had great hopes of the fifteen that went up to 
 London. Everybody knows that the match gave rise to 
 the " unfortunate dispute," and that Scotland, after hold- 
 ing out for a long time, gave up her claim, and allowed 
 England the game rather than be without the match. 
 England's back team on that occasion was exactly that 
 
214 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 which represented her the year previous at Raeburn 
 Place, while Scotland had — back, J. P. Veitch ; three- 
 quarters, D.J. Macfarlane, W. E. Maclagan,and E. Roland ; 
 half-backs, A. R. Don Wauchope and A. G. G. Asher ; 
 forward, J. B. Brown, W. A. Walls, and T. Ainslie 
 
 remained of the old brigade. 
 ^jflM^a^ J. Jamieson, a West of Scot- 
 
 land man, over whose selec- 
 tion there had been news- 
 paper debates, made his 
 second appearance. J. Tod 
 got his place for the first 
 time, and another new 
 player, C. W. Berry, was in- 
 troduced. J amieson may not 
 have been all that his friends 
 claimed for him, but he was 
 a smart, clever player and 
 an exceptionally fine dribbler. 
 Berry was one of the best 
 
 J. GOBDON MITCHELL. 
 
 (From a PhotoarapJi l>>i J. E. Millar, 
 Hamilton. 
 
 qualification to urge 
 " worth his place for his 
 
 place kicks ever we had, 
 though in English matches 
 it was always a doubtful 
 on a man's behalf that he was 
 place-kicking alone." Berry, 
 however, was a sterling forward of the heavy class, and 
 was always of great service in the tight work. In this 
 match Wauchope and Asher played together against 
 England for the first time, and continuing to represent 
 us several seasons, they without doubt constituted the 
 best pair Ave have had in this decade. Asher was a very 
 fine player, who seldom showed poor form, and if he did 
 not shine with the same brilliancy as Wauchope, he was 
 always of immense service to his side. His running was 
 his weak point, and he was never counted a dangerous 
 scorer. When a man does not shine as a runner, and is 
 strong in other points, his friends at once put in a claim 
 on his behalf as an "all-round" player. All-round in this 
 sense is misapplied, and if a man be no runner and scorer 
 he is not entitled to have the term bestowed upon him. 
 Wauchope, in the strictest sense of the word, was an all- 
 round player, as he could not only run, but his kicking, 
 tackling, and general defence were very strong when he 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 215 
 
 saw occasion to exert them. Asher's running was poor, 
 and he therefore cannot justly be considered an all- 
 round man. At the same time he was one of our most 
 successful half-backs. He and Wauchope did splendid 
 service for us in this game. 
 
 In 1885 we were without our English fixture, but 
 through a freak of the weather, which interrupted our 
 
 fame with Ireland at Belfast, we unexpectedly had the 
 rishmen at Raeburn Place on the English date. This 
 match we won by a goal and two tries, and it is memorable 
 for Wauchope's running and Green's play on behalf of Ire- 
 land. Among our clubs the Edinburgh Academicals broke 
 the West of Scotland's record, beat the Glasgow Academi- 
 cals in the return by the largest score made in an Inter- 
 Academical match for ten years, and finally established 
 their claim to be considered the best team in the country 
 by defeating the Watsonians by three goals and a try. 
 
 After the lapse of two years we renewed hostilities, 
 and at Raeburn Place had a great game with England, 
 which resulted in a scoreless draw. This, in our opinion, 
 was one of the best matches 
 in the series, and we very 
 narrowly missed winning it. 
 Veitch reappeared for us at 
 full-back, and our three- 
 quarters were R. H. Morrison, 
 G. Wilson, and W. F. Holms, 
 while opposed to these were 
 C. H. Sample, back, A. E. 
 Stoddart, A. Robertshaw, 
 E. B. Brutton, halves, with A. 
 Rotherham and F. Bonsor, at 
 quarter. In our forward team 
 were J. B. Brown, W. A. 
 Walls, T. W. Irvine, A. T. 
 Clay, C. Reid, M. C. McEwen, 
 and J. Tod. 
 
 England's forwards were 
 strong, and we had heard a deal about C. Gurdon's 
 process, which was said to be most 
 the line. No English team ever came 
 i reputation as this one, and it was said 
 of the backs would bewilder us. In fact 
 
 C. HELD. 
 
 Photograph hi/ StiUiard tfc Co. 
 Oxford.) 
 
 hooking 
 
 deadly on 
 with such 
 the 
 
 passing 
 
 they were over advertised, and if we were not conversant 
 
216 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 with their strong points, it was not because the southern 
 papers had failed to impress them upon us. As 
 often happens in these cases, the strong points proved 
 weak, and we were very little troubled by the English 
 running and passing. Somehow or other we in Scotland 
 could never come to look upon Stoddart as a great player, 
 and while he was highly esteemed in England, we 
 calculated that we had not much to fear from him — and 
 we were not disappointed. Robertshaw we thought more 
 of, and we never liked his wide accurate passing ; but G. 
 Wilson that day did his duty admirably as regards 
 Robertshaw, and frequently the Bradford man, when he 
 was looking for a pass from his half-backs, received Wilson 
 and the ball at the same moment. Early in the game our 
 centre three-quarter got behind, but there is no question 
 abouthis having "knocked on" when he was gathering the 
 ball. We missed a grand opportunity of winning the match 
 in the second half, when C. Reid broke away and ran up to 
 Sample, close on the line. Many people believe that had 
 Reid gone on he would never have been held, but seeing 
 Irvine following hard at his side, he no doubt thought 
 to make more sure of it by passing. The throw was a 
 bad one, hard and low, and pitched at Irvine's feet. It 
 was not taken and the chance was lost. Towards the 
 close we were having rather an anxious time, but were 
 much relieved when the hardy little John Tod emerged 
 from the thick of it with the ball tucked under his arm, 
 and resolutely pushed his way to the centre. Tod was 
 always as hard as a bullet, a powerful, tightly knit 
 little player, with no end of stamina, and playing with as 
 much vigour at the end as the beginning of the game. 
 Two men on the English side impressed us that year, C. 
 H. Sample by his fine play at back, and C. Gurdon by 
 his obnoxious "hook." This latter feat hardly seemed 
 to come under the category of fair football, and on one 
 occasion when Gurdon was at work, a handling he 
 received from C. Reid was keenly relished by a section on 
 one of the stands, where by the way, one old International 
 man exhausted more of his breath on behalf of Scotland 
 than ever he did on the actual field of play. As with 
 H. B. Tristram, we half grudged having given to Eng- 
 land such a good man as Sample. At Edinburgh 
 Academy he played in the same fifteen with Frank 
 Wright, who on another occasion rendered great service 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 217 
 
 to England. Sample at school was a fine drop and a 
 good tackier, but heavy and slow in his movements. 
 When he appeared at Raeburn Place his Cambridge 
 training appeared to have lined him down greatly, and 
 while he still retained his drop, and had the real Scotch 
 schoolboy tackle, he was much smarter in his general 
 movements, and his judgment had greatly matured. It 
 is doubtful if C. Reid ever played a better game than he 
 did on this occasion ; and if we consider nim not as a 
 great individual player, but as a power in any team, it 
 can be realised what Reid at his best meant to Scotland. 
 He was the forward of his time. There was no man to 
 compare with him in England, Scotland, Ireland, or 
 Wales. Neither was there before nor has there been 
 since. Besides the physical qualities which rendered him 
 a dangerous adversary, his football at all points was 
 perfect, and we had no specialist in our team of whom it 
 could be said that in his own particular game he was 
 superior to Reid. His speed was much above that of 
 the average forward, and in many matches he made as 
 big runs as the backs. In fact, in the International under 
 notice, his run in the second half was the best perform- 
 ance of its kind of the day. Roughness has been 
 imputed to him, but the charge is almost groundless, 
 and if on occasion he did use his strength, it must be 
 remembered in extenuation that he had to put up with 
 all manner of annoying attentions, often from aspiring 
 individuals who would have preferred the distinction of 
 having knocked down C. Reid to the honour of half a 
 dozen International caps. We have seen a shaved- 
 headed Yorkshireman in the line-out fix on to Reid like 
 a limpet long before the ball was thrown out from touch, 
 and hang on till he had to be forcibly shaken off. G. 
 Wilson was one of the central figures in this match, 
 and from his play all parties declared him to have a 
 great career before him. As his subsequent perform- 
 ances testify, he failed to fulfil expectations, and it 
 cannot be said that he did not get the opportunity, for 
 no man ever lived longer on one game than Wilson did. 
 He was always a dodgy runner, and often very difficult to 
 hold, but his football was faulty, and he was addicted to 
 mistakes, which were liable at any time to endanger the 
 prospects of his side. 
 
 1887 was the year of the foggy International at 
 
SCOTTISH TEAM V. ENGLAND : RICHMOND, MARCH 7th, 1891 
 
 Scotland, 3 Goals ; England, 1 Goal.) 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 219 
 
 Manchester, which, from the performances of our team 
 against Ireland and Wales, and the large selection of 
 good men at our command, we had hopea to win. The 
 draw, therefore, was not at all satisfactory, and it was all 
 the more tantalising from the fact that the old story of 
 players, brilliant against other countries, curling up when 
 they came to meet England, had to be repeated. It was 
 this ever recurring failure that prejudiced the national 
 mind against scoring men, and accounts for the estima- 
 tion in which many of England's backs were held on this 
 side of the Border. Had some of our players shown a 
 semblance of their form we should have won the match. 
 At one period we thought we had won it, but for once 
 Maclagan's rush at the line was unsuccessful. We had 
 abundance of first-rate men in the country that year, and 
 our final choice fell on W. F. Holms, back ; G. C. Lind- 
 say, W. E. Maclagan, and A. N. Woodrow, three-quarter- 
 backs ; C. E. Orr and P. H. Don Wauchope, half-backs ; 
 with C. Reid (capt.), T. W. Irvine, M. C. McEwen, A. T. Clay 
 Berry, H. Kerr, French, McMillan, and Morton among the 
 forwards. We had beaten Ireland and given Wales a 
 hiding by the tall score of 4 goals and 8 tries. The Welsh 
 match was at Raeburn Place, and G. C. Lindsay spent 
 the greater part of the time running behind. W. A. 
 Cameron, the Watsonian full-back, gained his only 
 International cap upon this occasion, and he certainly 
 has not been overloaded with honours, for he was always 
 a reliable back, who had the correct style in all his 
 actions. H. J. Stevenson was at this time beginning to 
 make for himself a reputation as a three-quarter, and 
 J. Marsh was playing in the Institution. P. H. Don 
 Wauchope, who succeeded his brother as one of our 
 national halves, had much the same style, but was not 
 so effective. He did not possess the same weight and 
 strength, but he was probably as fast, and although 
 not such an inimitable dodger as the elder member of 
 the family, he was a very clever runner, and must have 
 scored a great number of tries during his career. Kerr 
 and French were two of a type of Glasgow forwards who 
 seemed peculiarly calculated to raise the gall of the 
 Edinburgh people. Oceans of ink were spilled over 
 them, and it was needless waste, for French was well 
 worth his place, and Kerr was, at the lowest estimate, 
 the fourth best forward in the country. 
 
220 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 During 1888 and 1889 the " unfortunate dispute " in 
 another phase cropped up again, and robbed us of our 
 great match. In' 1888 our pride was much hurt by 
 Wales beating us at Newport. On that occasion we 
 played three centre three-quarters, H. J. Stevenson, M. M. 
 buncan and W. E. Maclagan with C. E. Orr and C. P. 
 Eraser as our halves. The latter division were blamed 
 for our defeat, but no section of the team played above 
 itself. 
 
 In 1889 we had a great game with Ireland, which 
 almost compensated for the loss of the English 
 fixture. We won by a try, but as the Scotsman said at 
 the time, it was " one of the most exciting and hotly 
 contested games ever seen in connection with an 
 International match." LeFanu and M'Laughlin left great 
 impressions behind them. LeFanu, as one of the best 
 forwards that has played against us, and M'Laughlin as 
 a most extraordinary worker for a quarter. 
 
 The English International of 1890 was a very bad one 
 for us. A great surprise was sprung upon the country in 
 the selection of W. E. Maclagan, and in giving G. Wilson 
 a place the Union made anything but a popular choice. 
 Our half-backs were again blamed for losing the match 
 by not feeding their halves, but it would have been very 
 hard for them to feed without the ball. Where we really 
 lost the game was in the scrummage, where the English 
 took possession of the ball, and held our forwards while 
 Fox and his companion nipped it back to their halves. 
 The match taught us this species of attack most im- 
 pressively, and when our team went to London in 1891 
 and scored our greatest victory, the English press com- 
 plained that we had learned it too well. Our forwards 
 undoubtedly won us this match, and our backs, as they 
 very well might, were seen to great advantage. Our three- 
 quarters, W. Neilson, G. Macgregor, and P. Clauss, were 
 scoring men and behind winning forwards were all that 
 was wanted. Had our Union fully realised in 1892 that we 
 should require backs who were able to cut out the work 
 for themselves, we should never have lost the game that 
 year. G. T. Campbell, W. Neilson, and P. Clauss made a 
 very poor show, and our half-backs were disappointing. 
 
 H. J. Stevenson, M. C. McEwen, C. E. Orr, and K. G. 
 McMillan are the prominent men of the last three years. 
 Orr, in the true sense of the word, is one of our best all- 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: SCOTLAND. 221 
 
 round quarters, McEwen is one of our great forwards, 
 a powerful player, strong in all points of the game. Of 
 Stevenson it has to be said we never had a more 
 versatile player. His defence at three-quarters in 1890 
 materially kept down the score, and when the Union saw 
 fit to place him at full back in 1891 and 1892 he filled the 
 position as adequately as any man ever we had. Centre 
 three-quarters, however, is his true place, and in it he has 
 never been known to play a poor game, a fitting testimony 
 to the merit of one of the most remarkable players the 
 country has produced, and a back who will be remembered 
 along with N. J. Finlay, W. E. Maclagan, and A. R. Don 
 Wauchope. 
 
CHAPTEE XIII. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 
 By J. J. MacCarthy. 
 
 FOOTBALL in Ireland may be said to consist of three 
 parts — Rugbeian, Associationist, and Gaelic, The 
 rule of play in these organisations has been denned as 
 follows : — In Rugby, you kick the ball ; in Associa- 
 tion, you kick the man if you cannot kick the ball ; and 
 in Gaelic, you kick the ball if you cannot kick the man. 
 This puts the present procedure and position of the rival 
 devotees into a nutshell. The Associationists are mainly 
 confined to Belfast, where they form a body which it 
 would be as difficult to convict of professionalism as it 
 would be for them to prove that they are amateurs. The 
 Gaels are a free and festive community, who have their 
 headquarters at Clonturk Park, Drumcondra, co. Dublin. 
 This park is conveniently situated between Glasnevin 
 graveyard and the Mater Miserecordia Hospital. A 
 man has been known to pass from the football field 
 direct to the hospital, and from the hospital to the 
 cemetery ; another match being then got up to raise 
 funds for the benefit of the next-of-kin, thus running 
 the risk of killing a few more for the benefit of the 
 deceased ! Gaelic football, which is almost exclusively 
 played on Sunday, flourishes enormously all over the 
 country, and its most important rule is that no man 
 who has played Rugby shall be permitted to participate 
 until he has purged himself by two years' abstention 
 from the pseudo- Saxon game. 
 
 With these and the Associationists, however, this work 
 has little or nothing to do, the object of the present under- 
 taking being simply to record the establishment, develop- 
 ment, and present position of the Rugby game in 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 
 
 J2:l 
 
 f 
 
 > 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 H. G. COOK. 
 
 Ireland. It has been a very uphill pursuit all along, 
 the principal obstacle, until very recently, being the 
 scarcity of cash. Indeed, 
 no one who belongs to the 
 present ranks of wealthy and 
 pampered ease in the way 
 of football, can conceive the 
 struggles, obstacles, and sac- 
 rifices which have confronted 
 the founders and pioneers 
 of our game. It must be 
 acknowledged that what 
 money we had at times was 
 not always expended on the 
 necessities of football life : 
 an escapade in a Waxworks, 
 after a certain International 
 match, costing us about fifty 
 pounds, while a ceremony 
 known as "Highland hon- 
 ours," viz., smashing champagne glasses and bottles 
 against the wall of the dining-room, which was covered 
 with mirrors, cost us over eighty pounds. These debts 
 lay like logs round our necks for a long time, so much so 
 
 that Rowland Hill, on be- 
 half of the English Football 
 Union, offered us a very con- 
 siderable sum, but this was 
 declined by our then honor- 
 ary secretary, H. G. Cook, 
 who, in conjunction with E. 
 McAllister and J. Redmond 
 Blood, eventually managed 
 to work our finances into 
 their present satisfactory 
 condition. 
 
 There is no necessity to 
 go back to the actual my- 
 thology of the game. Suf- 
 fice it to say that it was 
 played after a very primi- 
 tive fashion by the peasantry 
 of the west and south over a hundred years ago, 
 and at times matches between rival parishes remained 
 
 E. MCALLISTER. 
 
224 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 undecided until the representatives of one were able 
 to carry the ball home by force. Any method to 
 prevent this capture was permissible — sticks, sods, and 
 stones being freely used, and many serious injuries were 
 sustained on both sides. It was in about 1868 that the 
 game began to assume some civilised shape ; but the 
 clubs were very few — Dublin University, North of 
 Ireland. Catholic University, Eathrnines School, Belve- 
 dere College, Clongowes College, and Tullabeg College 
 being almost the only organisations which recognised 
 any discipline in their play. The two last - named 
 colleges had methods of their own, which mainly con- 
 sisted of dribbling — an art which they brought to a 
 fiitch of perfection never excelled in an Association 
 nternational match. They used to play on'graj^ej, 
 and the ball, which was made by the college shoe- 
 maker, was about double the size of an orange. 
 Three or four of these would be used in the course 
 of a match, which usually lasted for two hours or 
 more. Tullabeg College was disbanded three or four 
 years ago, the students of it going over to Clongowes, 
 where the Rugby code was adopted during the year 
 after, and there is a very smart team in Clongowes now. 
 Several subsequently celebrated men played under the 
 old rules at Clongowes, such as John Naish, Lord Chan- 
 cellor of Ireland ; the Rev. Robert Curtis, Fellow of the 
 Royal University ; Rev. V. Naish, Professor of Stony- 
 hurst College, etc. 
 
 In 1871, a club was raised at Scott's Military Academy, 
 which comprised amongst its members Darley, who was 
 afterwards killed when leading his men at Abu Klea ; C. 
 Higginson, who was killed in some other battle ; and 
 Crookshank, who has now a vast sugar estate in South 
 America. This Scott's Academy team was almost as 
 good as any in Ireland. Bray had a good fifteen, as also 
 had Kingstown School and Kingstown Football Club. 
 North of Ireland Football Club, Windsor and Methodist 
 College represented almost the full strength of Belfast. 
 There were two clubs in the County Limerick, but there 
 is no record of any organisation in Cork. 
 
 Then came an event which had an important effect- 
 in the development of football in Ireland, and this was 
 the establishment of the Dublin Wanderers Football 
 Club in 1872. This was mainly accomplished by 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 225 
 
 R M. Peter, who is justly entitled to be considered the 
 " Father of Irish football." Peter had just come back 
 from Blackheath School, and seeing a lot of youngsters, 
 including myself, playing in a field off Morehampton 
 Road, proposed to them the construction of a club, in 
 which both " young 'uns " and " old 'uns " subsequently 
 had equal representation on the committee. Their first 
 club-house was a mud cabin, but later on they moved 
 down to a stable at the rear of the houses in Clyde 
 Road ; and this was really the nursery of our present 
 game. Many of the Univer- 
 sity fellows joined, with the 
 proviso that none of them 
 should play against the 
 College First Fifteen, and 
 amongst these were A. P. 
 Cronyn, B. Casement, Wal- 
 lace-Beatty, etc. ; while the 
 Brothers Barlow, Walter 
 Higorinson, J. Ross-Todd, 
 Allen, the Darleys, Frank 
 Collier, C. C. Byrne, T. and 
 H. F. Spunner, Kernaghan, 
 etc., were of the distinctly 
 home division. It was a rule 
 then that to be entitled to 
 play Trinity First Fifteen a 
 club should have previously 
 beaten their "Second," the " 
 Stoker of Henry Irving fame, . Arnold Graves, Ivor 
 MTvor of rowing repute, and Henry Hacket — chiefly 
 contenting themselves with playing the Engineering 
 School, the Medical School, and other internecine con- 
 tests when foreign opposition was not forthcoming. For 
 a long time the Wanderers had to put up with playing 
 the Second Fifteen, and even this they could not defeat, 
 as in the absence of any registerecl or well-defined 
 " First," it was very easy to strengthen the " Second," 
 according to taste or necessity. " Spud " Murphy came 
 along, also Ralph Benson, Harry Robinson, and his 
 brother J. J. — a splendid dribbler — " Darkey " Smith 
 Malet ; and at last the spell was broken by big Jack 
 Myles casting traditional restrictions to the winds, and 
 scoring the first try for the Wanderers, who had previously 
 
 E. M. PETEK. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Robinson, Dublin.) 
 
 First," — who had " Bram " 
 
226 IWGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 beaten the " Second," against Dublin University First 
 Fifteen. 
 
 In 1873 we had our first visit from an English team 
 — the Dingle Football Club, I think, of Liverpool. They 
 wore green jerseys, and had a very even match with 
 Dublin University in the College Park. It was now 
 thought that the formation of some governing body was 
 necessary. After practices or matches in Trinity, 
 George Stack used to invite Peter, the Barlows, the 
 Galbraiths, Walsh, Wilson, etc., up to his rooms, and 
 thus many a time was the question discussed over a 
 pleasant tumbler of punch. Poor Stack, who did so 
 much for us, afterwards accidentally poisoned himself 
 with an overdose of chloral. The following is a list of 
 the founders and officers of the Irish Football Union 
 with the date of November, 1874 : — 
 
 President — His Grace the Lord Lieutenant. Vice-Presidents — The 
 Right Hon. the Lord Mayor, the Hon. David Plunket, M.P., Sir Arthur 
 Guinness, Bart., M.P., Edward Gibson, Q.C.,M.P., Rev. J. Leslie, F.T.C.D. 
 Hon. Secretary — H. D. Walsh, Esq., B.C.E., 14, Merrion Square, South 
 Dublin. Hon. Treasurer — R. M. Peter, Esq., 24, Upper Merrion Street, 
 Dublin. Executive Committee — G. H. Stack, Esq., B.A., M. Barlow, Esq., R. 
 Galbraith, Esq., B.A., A. P. Cronyn, Esq., E. Galbraith, Esq. Clubs at 
 present in the Union, with names of representatives on the Central Com- 
 mittee : Dublin University — G. H. Stack, Esq. (captain), R. Galbraith, 
 Esq. Engineers— H. D. Walsh, Esq.. D. Neill, Esq. Wanderers 
 (Dublin)— R. M. Peter, Esq., M. Barlow, Esq. Bray (Co. Wicklow)— 
 W. H. Wilson, Esq., H. Adams, Esq. Lansdowne Road (Co. Dublin) — 
 J. D. Ogilby, Esq., G. Burke, Esq. Rathkeale (Co. Limerick)— Captain 
 Bowyer, T. B. Bolton, Esq. Portora (Co. Fermanagh) — C- Murphy, 
 Esq., E. Galbraith, Esq. Dungannon (Co. Tyrone) — W. Smyth, Esq., 
 W. Beatty, Esq. Kingstown (Co. Dublin)— R. Greene, Esq., — Abbot, 
 Esq. Monaghan (Co. Monaghan) — A. P. Cronyn, Esq., J. Cronyn, Esq. 
 Rathmines (Dublin) — A. E. Jacob, Esq., D. Stokes, Esq. Arlington 
 (Queen's Co.) — J. Shannon, Esq., W. Carson, Esq. Scott's Military 
 Academy (Dublin) — R. Crookshank, Esq., G. Heenan, Esq. 
 
 Nearly all these were Trinity or Wanderers' men, 
 although representing such places as Monaghan, Dun- 
 gannon, etc. which had no clubs, but still their subscrip- 
 tions were paid. We got £35 in public subscriptions, 
 and of this some £23 were devoted towards the expenses 
 of our team for the first International match with 
 England. Before this engagement, however, in the 
 words of " Enniscorthy," a " dreadful row arose," and in 
 this way : The first Inter-Provincial meeting between 
 Dublin Wanderers and North of Ireland F. C. took 
 place at Ormeau on a terribly wet day in November, 
 and the natives won very easily. None of us Dubliners 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 227 
 
 knew the necessity of bars on our boots. Under 
 these circumstances the victory should not have 
 carried much solid significance, but it served more 
 than its intrinsic purpose. The " North," of course, 
 " dined " us, and after dinner the health of the 
 Queen had been barely honoured, when the " hooley " 
 began. How dared we Dubliners ? What right had we 
 to establish a so-called Irish Football Union without 
 first consulting Belfast ? They had shown us that day 
 that they were better players, they had more money, 
 more enthusiasm, etc. We did all that we could in the 
 endeavour to pacify them, urging that they were specifi- 
 cally invited to join, in the preliminary prospectus ; but 
 our pacific overtures were rejected, and they formed an 
 opposition Union under the title of the " North of Ire- 
 land Union." John Heron was president ; " Dickey " 
 Bell, an old International College boy, hon. sec. ; and 
 R. B. Walkington, hon. treasurer. 
 
 A compromise was arranged between the two Unions 
 to the effect that each should nominate ten of the Irish 
 twenty, which was to play England in London on the 
 15th of February, 1875. Such an enterprise, and such 
 a twenty ! They had never previously seen each other ; 
 the twenty a-side game was absolutely unknown in 
 Ireland, and some of the team did not turn up at all. 
 H. L. Robinson and the celebrated " Darkey " Smith, the 
 two best backs in Dublin University, were absentees, 
 although their names were on the cards sold about the 
 Oval. Backs were put to play forward and vice versa, 
 and the whole lot were immaculately innocent of training. 
 Almost every one of the North men wore beards, and 
 Ashe was like Falstaff- — " a mountain of mummy." On 
 the other hand, England had been playing Scotland 
 since 1871, and her team was thoroughly disciplined 
 and trained. We did not arrive in London until mid- 
 day Sunday, Yalentine's Day, and it rained mercilessly 
 all the afternoon. Monday morning was equally dis- 
 couraging, but by one o'clock a strong sun had set in, 
 and although the ground was soft and sloppy, the 
 weather overhead and around was delightful. George 
 Stack won the toss and kicked off towards the gaso- 
 meter goal ; and Milton returning, Ireland almost 
 immediately touched down. The drop out by Wal- 
 kington distinctly demonstrated the difference between 
 p2 
 
IRELAND V. ENGLAND ; THE OVAL, FEB. 19, 1875. 
 W »" B (England— 2 Goals, 1 Try. Ireland— Nil.) 
 
 i a 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 
 
 ±>!> 
 
 the teams. There was not a man on the Irish side who 
 could drop twenty-five yards, and they never dreamed 
 of punting, which Roger Walker introduced into Ireland 
 a few years later. In the tight scrummages they could 
 do what they liked, often shoving the Saxons the length 
 of a cricket crease ; but when the ball got loose, they 
 were too blown to follow up. Then Stokes or Milton 
 would coolly pick up, and, uncharged, would drop about 
 fifty yards back. Mitchel got a try close to touch half- 
 way through the first period ; but this would not have 
 won the match, as we only 
 counted goals then. In the 
 second period, however, Nash 
 dropped a goal and Pear- 
 son placed a goal off a try 
 by Cheston, so that England 
 won by two goals and a try 
 to nil. This by no means 
 adequately indicated the 
 superiority of the English 
 team, who won at all points 
 as they liked, except in solid 
 scrummaging. Some of our 
 men were simply unfit for 
 any fourth or fifth rate 
 team. And the late foot- 
 ball editor of the Field, 
 H. 0. Moore, asserted that 
 
 he could whip up twenty Irishmen, then resident 
 in London, who would make hares of this pseudo- 
 Irish twenty. The quarter-backs were the only re- 
 deeming features, and of these Cronyn was distinctly 
 superior. He was a strong, heavy, little fellow, as hard 
 as nails, with tremendous pace ; in fact, he was champion 
 of Ireland for 440 yards. He tackled well, and although 
 in cold blood he could not drop across the Strand, he 
 frequently got in a very long kick into touch at the end 
 of a run. He joined the army a few years later, and he 
 is at home alive and well spending the Christmas in 
 Dublin, where his mother and brother reside. He was 
 the best half-back of the old school that the whole 
 United Kingdom ever produced. Poor " Dickey " Bell, 
 a universal favourite, on the other hand, had lots of 
 hard luck, and died of dropsy in 1885. 
 
 A. P. CRONYN. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Lafayette, Dublin.) 
 
230 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 It was feared for a long time that we would have no 
 match in 1876, fully a fortnight's frost interfering with 
 it, but at last a thaw setting in the Englishmen travelled 
 on one day's telegraphed notice. The match was played 
 for the only time on the Leinster Cricket Ground, Rath- 
 mines, on the 13th of December. The Irishmen had 
 discarded their stout woollen green-and- white jerseys of 
 the previous season for wretched thin cotton vests, but 
 even these possessed an advantage. Cronyn, in being 
 tackled, was denuded to the waist, and before he could 
 
 get another jersey the ball came to him again. Away 
 e went from his own twenty-five through almost the 
 whole English team, for no one could get a grip on his 
 slippery skin. He dodged Clarke and Collins, handed 
 off Mitchel and Gunner, Login dropped at his knees, but 
 he jumped over him amidst terrible excitement, but, 
 slipping on landing, Pearson pounced on him at the 
 very verge of the goal line. This was probably the 
 finest run ever made in an International match, and in 
 the connection it should be recollected that there were 
 twenty men to be passed. 
 
 Although England won by a goal, which Pearson 
 kicked from Kewley's try in the second half, and a try 
 by Clarke in the first, the Irishmen showed much im- 
 provement, the backs being able to drop fairly. They 
 were also complimented on their tackling ; but this was 
 not an unmixed blessing, because they collared their 
 own men as often as the enemy, the jerseys being the 
 same, and the Irishmen were no better acquainted with 
 each other than with their visitors. It is noteworthy that 
 Richard Galbraith, one of our most pronounced backs, 
 who played " half " in the first match, was amongst the 
 forwards on the present occasion. This will convey an 
 idea of the helpless ignorance which characterised our 
 councils ; and it was not for want of forwards, for they 
 had J. J. Robinson, one of the best that Ireland ever 
 produced, at their command. He and his brother, 
 H. L. Robinson — as also were R. M. Peter and several 
 others — were trained at Blackheath School, which was 
 then the home and headquarters of hacking. The 
 match, however, gave a tremendous impetus to the 
 game and clubs commenced to sprout up all over the 
 country. A cup was given for competition amongst the 
 northern schools, and was won by Armagh Royal, a 
 
D. F. MOORE. 
 (From a Photograph by Robinson <C* Sons, Dublin.) 
 
 F. W. MOORE. 
 
 From a Photograph by Robinson cfc Sons, Dublin.) 
 
 JCOLM MOORE. 
 
 THE BROTHERS MOORE. 
 
232 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 school which has produced more first-rate players than 
 all the others put together. Rainbaut, 51. Johnson, 
 A. C. McDonnell, A. M. Whitestone, Malcolm Moore, 
 etc., are all Armachains. Ulster had all the best of it 
 with regard to foreign matches, being so near to Scot- 
 land, and thus the Caledonian clubs crossed over very 
 often. 
 
 Several subsequently celebrated men cropped up 
 now simultaneously, viz., J. Heron, H. C. Kelly, T. 
 Gisborne-Gordon, F. Kidd, W. J. Hamilton, A. M. 
 Whitestone, H. Spunner, all of whom worthily wore the 
 shamrock later on. A club called the Phoenix was started 
 in the Phoenix Park, and it quickly became one of the 
 strongest in the country. The famous brothers Fred, 
 Frank, and Malcolm Moore, all of whom afterwards 
 gained their International caps, were members of it, 
 as also were A. C. Rodger, G. L. Fagan (brother of A. 
 Fagan, the English International), W. J. McBlain, and 
 these found their way to the Irish fifteen. The trium- 
 virate, Joseph, Daniel, and John Ross, are the only 
 other three brothers who got green caps. We travelled 
 to Limerick to give the game a lift there, all those 
 mentioned above, except Malcolm Moore, playing, and 
 although we won very easily, our visit did a deal of good. 
 We were only once beaten (having changed our name to 
 Kingsbridge), and that was by Kingstown School, which i 
 we may remark, en passant, is the oldest regular club in 
 Ireland. The score was a dropped goal by G. L. Fagan ; 
 and there was something almost uncanny about his 
 dropped goals. It did not matter where he was or what 
 the angle or distance inside of fifty yards, he always 
 dropped a goal. The only one he ever did miss was 
 against England, when the ball was going straight for 
 the bar, but H. C. Rowley put up his hands and touched 
 it. Fagan also introduced the tactics of the half-back 
 following round the scrummage and pouncing oh the 
 opposing half-back the very instant that he would bend 
 for the ball. 
 
 There were great changes in 1877.. The number of 
 players was reduced from twenty to fifteen, and as is 
 well known this did not conduce to the benefit of the 
 weaker side. Walsh resigned the secretaryship and was 
 succeeded by W. H. Wilson, whom we subsequently 
 elected to a place in the Irish fifteen because he could 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 233 
 
 place goals. This was most Hibernian, considering the 
 little chance we had of scoring a try and thus affording 
 him the opportunity of having a shot at goal. R. 
 Galbraith, wno captained us, was put full back this 
 time and nearly dropped a goal, but we were beaten 
 by two goals, both kicked by Lennard Stokes off tries 
 by Hutchinson, and a try (Hornby) to nil. Neither 
 Crony n nor Bell donned the jersey at the Oval, their 
 places on this occasion being taken by T. Gisborne- 
 Gordon and A. M. Whitestone. It would be weary work 
 wading through the minutiae of the next three years. In 
 March, 1878, the Irish venue was changed to Lansdowne 
 Road, and here England beat us by two goals and a try 
 to nil, but it was a very even match notwithstanding. 
 W. C. Neville had succeeded W. H. Wilson as hon. 
 secretary this year, and after him came the renowned 
 R. M. Peter. Civilisation succeeded, and football 
 throve apace all over the land. Despite this, how- 
 ever, we got a dreadful beating at the Oval in 1879. 
 The match had been postponed owing to frost from 
 February 3rd to March 24th, and then we could get no one 
 to travel. W. W. Pike, who played so brilliantly at three- 
 quarter-back a few years later, was full-back on this occa- 
 sion, and made as many mistakes as possible. . Willis, 
 another young schoolboy from Portarlington, was also 
 a disastrous failure, and J. Heron missed two or three 
 easy tries. Stokes dropped a goal and placed two 
 others oft' tries by Rowley and Twynam ; Adams and 
 Openshaw also gained tries. 
 
 1880 may be termed the " turning year," when A. J. 
 Forrest, McEwan, Crawford, and other subsequent celebri- 
 ties, left Cheltenham College of which Forrest was captain, 
 and his advent to Ireland created a great revolution in the 
 forward play. Forrest was not a very hard pusher, but he 
 went fast; was a tricky dribbler, and when he laid his hand 
 on a man, well, that man was his. He went straight on to 
 the Irish fifteen, and had no companion men of his own 
 type, only pushers as well, including R. W. Hughes, who 
 has played in more International matches than any 
 other Irishman. Scriven, Cuppaidge, Hugh Kelly, Mc- 
 Donald, and J. W. Taylor, were all forwards of this same 
 team. No better six men ever entered a scrummage on 
 the same side. Hugh Kelly, who is now Sheriff' of the 
 County Down, was a magnificent man, six feet six or so, 
 
234 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and built in proportion. He was a splendid scrummager, 
 but the softest hearted and gentlest creature alive. To 
 sum up shortly, the Irish forwards fairly ran over their 
 opponents, with the result that Cuppaidge gained the 
 first try that Ireland ever scored, right under the bar ; 
 but Walkington, who trembled from head to toe, missed 
 it badly. Then Forrest gained another try; but Mc- 
 Laren and Neville disagreeing, Nugent disallowed it. 
 Then in the second half Mackendale gained a try for 
 England which R. Hunt missed, so that we were equal ; 
 but later on Ellis crossed the line for England, and 
 Stokes taking the kick, landed an easy goal. Just 
 before call of no side, Stokes made the finest shot at 
 goal I ever saw. The ball was hopping into touch at 
 half-way when he grabbed with his left hand, passed it 
 round behind his back to the right, and dropped within 
 a foot or two of the bar. 
 
 Let a veil be drawn over our English engagement of 
 1881, although as a counterpoise we achieved our first 
 International victory over Scotland, to which allusion 
 is made elsewhere. Owing to disputes, misadventures, and 
 jealousies, more than half the originally chosen team 
 cried off, and we were very happy to find that we had a 
 full team of fifteen men of any sort on our arrival at 
 Manchester. They did fairly well for the first few 
 minutes, but afterwards they went all to smash, and 
 H. H. Taylor (2), Sawyer, and Hornby, gained tries off 
 which Stokes placed two goals. This was one of the 
 very best teams that ever represented England ; while 
 on the other hand, ours was the very worst that ever 
 played for Ireland. 
 
 Foundation of the Irish Rugby Football Union. 
 
 We must not forget to note that before the com- 
 mencement of this season, R. M. Peter at last succeeded 
 in reconciling the antagonistic elements which were 
 distracting our game ; and Leinster, Ulster, and Munster, 
 joining hands cordially, buried the various Irish Football 
 Unions, and established the Irish Rugby Football L^nion 
 in their place. The officers elected were : — W. C. 
 Neville, M.B. (Leinster), president ; R. Bell (Ulster) and 
 W. J. Goulding (Munster), vice-presidents ; hon. secretary 7 , 
 R. M. Peter (Leinster); hon. treasurer, Edwin Hughes 
 (Ulster) ; committee — Leinster : W. C. Neville, R, M. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 235 
 
 Peter, F. Kennedy, G. P. Nugent, G. Scriven, F. Schute. 
 Ulster : R. Bell, J. A. Macdonald, R W. Hughes, W. T. 
 Heron, H. C. Kelly, and G. Shaw. Munster : W. J. 
 Goulding, Walter Kelly, T. Harrison, J. J. Keen, with 
 two vacancies, until Munster should defeat either Leinster 
 or Ulster, or even play a draw with them. The victory 
 she accomplished very soon, as Leinster sent a wretched 
 team down to Cork and got well beaten. The hon. 
 secretaries of the branches were : Leinster, F. Kennedy ; 
 Ulster, W. T. Heron ; Munster, A. McMullen. Later on 
 was organised the province of Connaught, which was 
 allowed a representation of three, viz., Richard Biggs, 
 LL.D., Rev. George Baile, and J. J. MacCarthy. Ever 
 since the establishment of this Irish Rugby Football 
 Union everything has been peaceful and pleasant ; but 
 the most marvellous performances in connection with 
 it were unquestionably those of E. McAllister and 
 J. Redmond Blood. When Peter resigned the hon. 
 secretaryship, and Kennedy and Buchanan had held 
 it like a hot coal, McAllister succeeded to the office 
 in 1886. 
 
 Reverting to the progress of the game as regards 
 International matches between Ireland and England, the 
 year of 1882 will be long remembered as phenomenal in 
 the football history of Ireland. The match was played 
 at Lansdowne Road, and, without any possibility of con- 
 tradiction, Ireland won by a goal and a try to two tries, 
 but the official result was a draw. This was the famous 
 Pike cum Nugent match, Pike, the player, winning it, 
 while Nugent, the umpire, lost it. McLean kicked a 
 goal for Ireland off a try by Taylor, but Dr. Nugent 
 decided that it was no goal. The actual score was two tries 
 each, Stokes scoring for Ireland almost immediately after 
 the kick-off, but Walkington missed the kick ; then Hunt 
 got in for England, Rowley missing. W. N. Bolton (an 
 Irishman, by the way), whose first appearance it was in 
 an International match, then scored for England, and 
 finally M. Johnston got a try, which was virtually gained 
 by Taylor. Off this McLean kicked the goal above 
 referred to, and which was disallowed by Dr. Nugent 
 amidst universal dismay. In addition to this Morrell 
 gained another try for Ireland, but, as neither umpire nor 
 referee could see it, the claim was waived, and thus the 
 match resulted in a draw altogether in favour of Ireland. 
 
236 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 In 1883 the match was played at Manchester on the 
 3rd of February. As usual, being without money, we 
 could get no travelling expenses allowed us, and, to 
 make matters worse, the cross-Channel journey was 
 something frightful. Hughes was so sick that we had 
 to carry him to his hotel, and after ten minutes' play 
 he was obliged to retire, so that we were playing 
 fourteen against fifteen. Ireland started, against a 
 blinding sun, and, in consequence, Morrow, the 
 phenomenal full-back, was in this match a most 
 undisguisable failure. Forrest gained a very clever try 
 for Ireland through fast following up, but then Tatham 
 (a good man), Bolton, Wade, and Twynam, got in for 
 England. Evanson placed a goal off Tatham's try. 
 
 In the succeeding season Ireland got the worst 
 beating that she ever sustained — on the merits of the 
 match — from England at Lansdowne Road, although the 
 score was only one very fluky try to nil. The three-quarter- 
 back combination of England was Wade, Robertshaw, and 
 Stoddart, and never did three men play better together. 
 Stoddart and Wade, not to mention free kicks, had 
 unmolested darts at Morrow who brought them down 
 time after time after a fashion that stamped him as the 
 full-back of an age. Morrow was like a man baling 
 out a row boat for his life, so often did he repel the 
 assaults. In the end Bolton was awarded a try. 1885 in 
 Manchester was only a repetition of 1883 in the same place. 
 Most of our men were seasick, despite which Greene 
 gained a try for Ireland uphill in the first few minutes. 
 Shanahan, following a run of Ross's, missed another 
 badl} T , mainly through Ross's fault. Hawcridge and 
 Bolton ultimately got in for England, the latter country 
 thus winning a match by two tries to one. Wheeler, of 
 the Queen's College, Belfast, who never played full-back 
 until this match, was a great failure, and Sample, of 
 Cambridge, was given a good deal of credit in the 
 opposite position which he did not deserve. This brings 
 us on to our first victory over England. Never was a 
 team so determined to win as the Irish one was on this 
 occasion, and in the connection, as an illustration of 
 this determination, a funny fact may be mentioned. 
 Macaulay, of Limerick, was chosen for a place amongst 
 the Irish forwards, and as he had already had his 
 holidays, he could only devise the expedient of getting 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 
 
 237 
 
 married in order to obtain the necessary leave of 
 absence. This was heroic, and his wife fully endorsed 
 the enthusiasm. We beat England " all ends up " fore 
 and aft, but there are secrets about this match 
 which must remain for the instruction of a future 
 generation. Everything was arranged " ready cut 
 and dry," even to the very ball which was played 
 with. There was not a weak point in the team as a 
 winning one, and this was the game they went out to 
 play. McLaughlin, of Derry, a big, strong man, was told 
 off to charge everything, 
 while Warren, captain, as 
 co- half-back, remained as a 
 scorer, with Stevenson to 
 save him. These tactics 
 worked admirably, although 
 the Irish forwards were not 
 as good as was expected, 
 and the result was that Ire- 
 land won by two goals, placed 
 by Rambaut, off tries by 
 Tillie and Montgomery. The 
 last-named was the hero of 
 the match, and his barely 
 unsuccessful free kick from 
 half - way fairly paralysed 
 the visitors. Lockwood got 
 stunned in the last ten 
 
 minutes ; but, as a matter of fact, they (the Englishmen) 
 never had a look in. 
 
 After this came the International deadlock. 
 
 If J. W. Taylor had been able to play on the 
 1886 team (instead of Dick) it would have been 
 as strong as Ireland could possibly produce, for it is 
 unquestionable that he was the finest forward in the 
 country. Many people, including J. B. Browne and 
 Malcolm Cross, of the Scottish fifteen, have frequently 
 declared in public that Taylor was the best forward they 
 had ever seen. He was even bigger than Hugh Kelly, 
 stronger, and much faster, and could play back just as 
 well as forward. His entrance into the football arena 
 was quite an accident. Queen's College, Belfast, Football 
 Club were short one day,, and putting a jersey over 
 Taylor's waistcoat, they put him nolens volens into the 
 
 J. W. TAYLOE. 
 {From a Photograph by R. Seggon, Belfast) 
 
IRISH TEAM V. ENGLAND : DUBLIN, FEBRUARY 5th, 1887. 
 (Ireland— 2 Goals. England— Nil.) 
 
 
 /. 7. 
 
 O E- 
 
 . » 
 
 -; I 
 
 . ■< 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 239 
 
 scrummage, where he quickly proved himself to be the 
 best forward on the ground. He has now retired from the 
 game, and has an extensive medical practice in Belfast. 
 
 As the International difficulty which caused a 
 suspension of active hostilities between Ireland and 
 England will receive treatment from other hands, it 
 may be passed over. However, while our backs were 
 improving, our forwards were getting worse every 
 day, and, what is more, they were becoming generally 
 smaller in stature as the season progressed. Any big 
 men that we now had — with very rare exceptions — were 
 our worst ; and the almost universal adoption of the 
 detestable wing game left us without a centre to our 
 scrummage. When peace was restored, England put a 
 magnificent team on the Rectory grounds, with the 
 strongest, heaviest, and fleetest forwards that I ever 
 saw wearing the Rose. Our team was not a bad one, 
 although very new, and, really, we were extremely 
 unlucky in being beaten by three tries to nil. To start 
 with, the fact that a blunder had been made in the 
 arrangement of our hotel, which kept us walking about 
 the streets for half a night, placed us at a terrible 
 disadvantage ; then, again, we had at least two tries 
 disappointingly allowed. Dunlop, who had been stripped 
 of his jersey, walked off the ground to get another one 
 when we were within a yard of the English line, and 
 there were several other misadventures. Stoddart, 
 Rogers, and Morrison, got the tries — that by the last- 
 named being unopposed. Last year's business at 
 Lansdowne Road, must be fresh in the minds of every- 
 body. We were beaten by two goals and three tries to 
 nil; Lockwood got the first try, which was missed by 
 Alderson ; R. P. Wilson the second, missed by Jowett ; 
 Wilson also got the third, which was all wrong. Lock- 
 wood scored in the second half. 
 
 Ireland and Scotland. 
 
 To relate our experience with the Thistle would be 
 to tell one continuous tale of woe ; but the superiority 
 of Scotland is solely attributable to the tremendous 
 strength of her forwards. They are also very rough, 
 and there is scarcely an Ireland v. Scotland match on 
 record in which two or three Irishmen have not been 
 
240 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 carried off the field hurt. In 1883 this actually 
 happened to no less than four men — viz., Morrow, 
 concussion of the brain ; Wallis, broken ankle ; White- 
 stone and Macdonald, wrenched knees. Our first match 
 was played in Belfast, during the height of the dispute 
 between Leinster and Ulster, with the result that Ulster 
 had thirteen men on the team, and the two that 
 Leinster sent up might have been much better at 
 home in bed. Sorley-Brown and Hay-Gordon were 
 running in every instant, and the final verdict was six 
 goals and two tries to nil. The list of results given 
 elsewhere will show how the other games went ; but we 
 may dwell a little upon a description of our only victor}'. 
 It was at Belfast, in 1881, when by some as yet 
 unexplained miracle, the amphibious inhabitants of the 
 northern Athens were favoured with a fairly fine day, and 
 the Ormeau grounds were packed with the largest assem- 
 blage of spectators that ever passed the gates. They com- 
 menced fiercely, but Avhen Spunner and " big " Jock 
 Graham had gotten black eyes, and a certain hot Scots- 
 man had come second-best out of an independent boxing 
 match with David Browning, milder methods were adopted. 
 No tangible score was gained in the first half, but in the 
 second, M'Mullen, of Cork, making a miss-catch at a 
 long kick, placed the whole Scottish team on side ; and 
 Graham, who was leaning against the Irish goal-post, 
 rubbing his shin after a recent hack, leisurely limped 
 over and touched the ball dead. Nothing could be 
 more galling or tantalising than this ; but some slight 
 relief was forthcoming when Begbie missed the kick, 
 which was as easy as possible. Only live minutes 
 remained. Could we win? Surely we deserved it, as 
 we had been on the Scottish goal line all day, and thrice 
 compelled them to touch a defence with very narrow 
 escapes. The spectators became simply hysterical, and 
 never ceased shouting from this to the very end. J. W. 
 Taylor got possession immediately after the drop out, 
 and, with all his team attending him, ran and worried 
 his way, amidst frantic exhortations, up to the Scottish 
 twenty-five, where he passed to " Merry " Johnston, who 
 returned him the leather on the very verge of the 
 Scottish line. Here it. was heeled out from the scrum- 
 mage to Johnston, who amidst vociferous profanity 
 missed his pick up, and Campbell, darting through, shot 
 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 241 
 
 the ball into touch — ten yards down. "Barney" Hughes, 
 however, rapidly realised the situation, and threw it 
 out to Taylor before the Scotsmen could line up, and 
 Taylor transferred to Johnston, who, quicker than you 
 could think or write, tossed to Bagot, who dropped it 
 over the Caledonian goal. Such frantic excitement 
 as these lightningly executed, triumphant movements, 
 evoked, was never seen ; and men, women, and children 
 embraced each other indiscriminately. The spell of 
 sorrow was broken, and we returned to Dublin by the five 
 o'clock train, supremely happy. 
 
 Several of the other matches were very close, and, 
 strange to say, the really worst beating that we ever got 
 on the merits of the game was in 1889, when the score 
 was only a goal — fiukily dropped by Stevenson. We 
 had by a long way the best of the match at Edinburgh 
 in 1888. 
 
 Some Prominent Players. 
 
 Amongst Irish full-backs four stand out with remark- 
 able prominence. These are R. B. Walkington, North 
 of Ireland Football Club ; T. Harrison, Cork Football 
 Club ; R. Morrow, Belfast ; and D. B. Walkington, North 
 of Ireland Football Club. These appeared in the above 
 order. Strange to say, it will thus be seen Dublin never 
 produced a custodian of more than average merit, 
 although a man named Macready (who only played 
 once, and that for the Wanderers when they won the 
 Leinster Cup) showed astonishing excellence on this 
 occasion. R. B. Walkington always affected a coolness 
 which he never really felt, and often in endeavouring to 
 demonstrate his confidence allowed himself to be charged 
 down. He was also greatly inclined to run too much, 
 but during his time he was unquestionably the best full- 
 back we had. His failure to convert Cuppaidge's try — 
 the first gained by Ireland — through over-confidence 
 will never be forgotten, nor forgiven either. Almost 
 contemporaneously, though slightly later, came T. Harri- 
 son, of Cork, and of him it may be truly said that he 
 never got a fair chance. He was isolated away from 
 everybody in Cork, which is 200 miles from Dublin and 
 300 from Belfast. These were the only centres of foot- 
 ball in Ireland during his time. No one ever knew how 
 good he was, and through all his trials, especially against 
 
242 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 J. C. BAGOT. 
 
 Scotland, he came out with flying colours. He was a 
 marvellous drop ; I never saw him miss a man, but, strange 
 
 to say, he took little or no 
 interest in football, and it 
 was very difficult to persuade 
 him to play. It was not only 
 possible, but highly prob- 
 able, that he may have been 
 the very best that the world 
 has produced, if all was 
 known. 
 
 R. W. Morrow, like H. B. 
 Tristram, was of the " Single 
 Speech Hamilton " type. 
 The best full-back perform- 
 ance in Ireland was that 
 of Morrow against England 
 at Dublin in 1884. Morrow, 
 if he did nothing but stop 
 Wade, Stoddart, and Robert- 
 shaw as often as he did unaided, achieved a reputation 
 which must last for all football time. He never received 
 the slightest assistance from his three-quarter backs, nor 
 did his forwards run back to goal ; but still he brought 
 down each of these three (who 
 were the most dangerous 
 triumvirate of the time) over 
 and over again. Morrow was 
 somewhat short in his kicking, 
 and, moreover, spoiled him- 
 self by his desire to play three- 
 quarter back, which he did 
 whenever he could persuade 
 his captain to permit him. 
 He never properly recovered 
 from the concussion of the 
 brain which he sustained 
 against Scotland, and few 
 people could ever divine 
 how it was that he lost his 
 wonderful form when he 
 went to Edinburgh. D. B. 
 
 Walkington, younger brother of R. B., is as good as 
 can be on a bright day, but in the dark his delicate 
 
 E. B. WALKIXGTON. 
 (From a Photogr aph ly McigilL Belfast.^ 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 243 
 
 sight tells terribly against him. He looks to be about 
 eleven stone weight, but he is really over thirteen, and 
 many a man who tried to push him over has been very 
 muck " sold." He is a magnificent kick into touch, and 
 very often drops goals, as he did from full-back against 
 Wales last year. G. Wheeler, Pike, and others, who 
 have played full-back for Ireland, were three-quarter 
 backs, who never occupied the post of full-back except 
 in International matches. 
 
 Looking down the list of three-quarter-backs from the 
 very first, I do not think that there can be mentioned 
 anyone who could be considered as fairly first-rate. We £ 
 never produced a Lennard Stokes, a Stoddart, a Bolton, 
 a Hawcridge, a Malcolm Cross, or a Ninian Finlay. 
 Perhaps intrinsically our best production (W. N. Bolton 
 is an Irishman) was A. M. Whitestone, who was 
 chivied about between forward, three-quarter, and half- 
 back, but he was always neat, quick, and clever. He could 
 run like a hare, was an inevitable tackier, and a perfect 
 beauty for a straight drop. The majority will swear by 
 J. C. Bagot and W. W. Pike, but really neither of this 
 pair was soundly good. Both were plucky and lucky at 
 times ; but when they were out of form, their presence 
 would be much more felt to the disadvantage of their 
 side than their absence. Pike played a phenomenal game 
 in our drawn match with England ; but he never again 
 approached this form, not even in school matches. He 
 was a dasher of the most pronounced type, but if his 
 dashes failed early, he did not try any more. Bagot was a 
 most extraordinary man ; he used to stop stoct-still in 
 the middle of the ground, and the whole opposition 
 would ricochet off him, although he was very light and 
 fragile, but then he would go on again. This attribute, 
 supplemented by really excellent dropping and punting 
 powers, enabled him to gain a great deal of ground when 
 it was least expected and most wanted. The present 
 R. Dunlop, of Dublin University, is by far the 
 soundest and most brilliant three-quarter back that Ire- 
 land ever produced. He is very strong, a fine kick, has 
 great pace, is a certain tackier, never knows when he is 
 beaten, and above all has the grand attribute of always 
 being in the exact spot where he is required. He gets 
 behind a full-back when the latter is in danger very 
 quickly. R. S. Montgomery was a tremendous scorer. He 
 Q2 
 
2te 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 does everything like a flash of lightning, and no one ever 
 stopped him when he once got fairly moving after his well- 
 known " limp " dodge ; but if he got roughly handled in the 
 first fifteen minutes, he never could do anything after- 
 wards ; besides, he was always an irresolute tackier. 
 E. H. Greene was exactly of the same class, with the 
 addition of being a deadly drop at goal. C. R. Tillie, 
 who was partner (wing- three-quarter) with Montgomery, 
 was dreadfully nervous ; but he was a better tackier, and 
 almost as good a scorer. With D. F. Rambaut in the 
 
 centre of this pair, the Irish 
 attack was as good as any 
 that ever was seen, excepting 
 Stoddart, Robertshaw, and 
 Wade. Another fine centre- 
 three-quarter was A. Walpole, 
 who was well known in Lon- 
 don, where he played for the 
 Royal Engineers, but he 
 spoiled most of his work by 
 passing forward. R. E. 
 McLean was a somewhat un- 
 certain and surely an unam- 
 bitious wing-three-quarter, 
 but a sound defence man as 
 a rule. The brothers Ross 
 were most harebrained, be- 
 ing either phenomenally 
 brilliant or frightful failures. Scovell was a child, and 
 Fletcher the same. F. W. Kidd was a great big strong 
 man, but, like most of this type, trusted too much to 
 his strength. J. Atkinson was very slow, but a wonder- 
 ful drop at goal. There would not be the least use in 
 criticising the very early Irish three-quarter-backs, because 
 they had not the slightest idea of the game at all. H. L. 
 Robinson, " Darky " Smith, and Malet ran with won- 
 derful pace, dash, and dodging powers, but this was all 
 that they could do ; and the play of the later ones not 
 here specified is well known wherever it ought to be. 
 
 Unquestionably R, G. Warren Avould be named 
 as our best half-back, were it not for the fact that 
 he could never play up against a score. If nothing 
 had been gained against his side he was grand, but 
 one try against him completely broke his heart. He 
 
 E. G. WARREN. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 245 
 
 was faster than most people thought, but he often 
 stopped when past the full-back to look for someone to 
 pass to, when he might have run in. Otherwise he 
 displayed a most profound knowledge of the game, and 
 neither his club (Lansdowne) nor his country has done 
 any good since he retired. He had a wonderful knack 
 of keeping his men together, and was a resolute charger 
 and tackier, but he usually bargained for a wing forward 
 to protect him. He was a fat, strong little fellow like 
 Rambaut, and few have shown so much solid service for 
 the shamrock. Of the old style, A. P. Cronyn was a 
 long way the best in Ireland. He has been described else- 
 where. A. C. Rodger was the link between the past and 
 present, with marvellouspace and dodging powers, and had 
 he not been hurt just as his merit was being recognised, he 
 must have made a great name for himself. Meredith 
 Johnston played in several International matches, in- 
 cluding the drawn one against England, and was of the 
 slow and sure order. He never let his vis-a-vis away, 
 and very often covered a whole lot of ground in galloping 
 fashion. McLaughlin, who virtually won the English 
 match of 1888, was a pure " bruiser," being a deadly 
 tackier and dribbler; and the same remark applies to 
 H. F. Spunner, who knocked the Scotsmen out of time 
 when we beat them. W. T. Heron, brother of the other 
 International half-back, James Heron (now of Man- 
 chester) promised to be a wonder, having great pace and 
 dash, but he unfortunately died very young. He was 
 about the same size as, and in many other ways resembled, 
 Hay - Masters, who was a much underrated Scottish 
 half-back. Great hopes were also confidently enter- 
 tained about Tuke and Cameron, the famous Bective 
 Rangers' combination of later days ; but neither could 
 play without the other, and never getting on a worthy 
 International together, they were comparative failures. 
 They played the same game as the now celebrated 
 Brothers James, of Wales, Tuke being much more like 
 the Jameses. There was a young fellow named Collier, 
 who played in the Ulster fifteen and for Ireland against 
 Scotland, who was a great man on a wet day, and played 
 a sort of cross between the P. W. Smeaton (Scotland) 
 and W. Openshaw (England) game. He spoiled as well 
 as did Smeaton, and dribbled as well as Openshaw, but 
 dribbling was his forte. E. C. Crawford was essentially 
 
246 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 like Rotherham; and Ernest Greene, when half-back, 
 was exactly the same as A. R. Don Wanchope, standing 
 on his mark like a sprinter for the whole day, but when 
 he did get a run he finished it with a try. The last 
 game, however, that "the Don" played for Scotland 
 against Ireland at Edinburgh was very different, for he 
 
 did more tackling than any 
 two men on his side. A. C. 
 Macdonald, now of Rich- 
 mond, imitates Grant Asher, 
 but he has not so much dash, 
 especially at present. 
 
 When we approach the 
 forward ranks it is very sad, 
 and the reverse of reassuring, 
 to recognise that the Irish 
 scrummagers are not what 
 they used to be when Ireland 
 was the premier forward na- 
 tion of the four. The like of 
 the following does not exist 
 at present, viz., J. W] Tay- 
 lor, J. L. Cuppaidge, J. A. 
 Macdonald, R. W. Hughes, 
 G. Scriven, Oliver Stokes, H. C. Kelly, W. J. Hamilton, 
 T. R. Lyle, or E. J. Walsh. W T alsh plays occasionally, 
 but very seldom. These were the best forwards we ever 
 produced, and, considering that the first six played 
 together, the present deterioration is more accentuated. 
 These were all of the " thorough " forward type, i.e., who 
 went doggedly and determinedly right through the 
 scrummage, forcing their way through the opposing 
 forwards by -sheer strength, weight, and determination. 
 This is what any of the above always did ; and 
 the world never produced a forward like J. W. Tay- 
 lor. He was heavy, he was big, he was fast, he was 
 a good kick, he never missed a tackle, and he never tired 
 nor loafed. Cuppaidge was a good understudy to him, 
 and Macdonald would have been as good, only that he 
 was so small and light. He was a rigid disciplinarian, 
 and led the life of an anchorite. The same remark applies 
 to J. Roche, our present premier forward. R. W. 
 Hughes was too unselfish, and never counted himself 
 for his worth. He was heavy and strong, but silent 
 
 E. W. HUGHES. 
 
 (From a Photograph }»/ Robt. Seogous, 
 
 Belfast > 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: IRELAND. 247 
 
 and apparently unenthusiastic, but still he did the 
 work. Hugh Kelly was a great, grand, big fellow, 
 whom only the goal line — and not the guarder of it — 
 could stop ; but he had a generous, gentlemanly, and 
 soft heart, which cost him much merit and his side 
 more than one important match. W. J. Hamilton was 
 an old-time player — gaunt, with all-spreading legs — an 
 earnest shover and perfect dribbler, but he played too 
 early for the present game. Lyle was a converted 
 Associationist, and a splendid shover and dribbler. 
 Walsh was our champion high jumper and hurdle 
 racer. He would have been a champion back 
 — being a phenomenal kick and tackier — but for his 
 sight, so by compulsion played forward, and was really 
 a champion player in that position. V. C. Le Fanu 
 merits a high place, but the demon of wingism over- 
 came him. J. H. O'Connor is as good as they are 
 made for pace, strength, tackling, and staying powers, 
 but he has no idea of clever dribbling. James Moffat 
 was A 1 until he took to Micawberism, and the same 
 fault overcame the Forrests, 
 Shanahan, Finlay, Ruther- 
 ford, Brabazon, J. Johnston, 
 and, indeed, a great many 
 others who could not be 
 excelled when they used to 
 make their own work. T. H. 
 Hobbes, H. Niell, T. Allen, 
 were men who had not quite 
 the strength to do all that 
 their energy and honesty 
 suggested. H. King, who 
 had a chest and much 
 the same build as Toothill, 
 was an honest wonder 
 for hard work, and S. 
 Bruce, who got his leg 
 smashed by Hickson, in 
 
 addition to being a grand forward, was the longest drop 
 of his time — 1877-8. Nor must we omit Oliver 
 Stokes of the Cork Bankers, who, considering his oppor- 
 tunities, achieved the unimpeachable character of being 
 not only a sincere shover, but a certain scorer. He 
 scored in almost every match that he played in, even 
 
 O. SCEIVEN. 
 From a Photograph by Lafayette, Dublin.) 
 
248 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 including the English International. H. Morell, of 
 Dublin University Football Club, did great service to 
 that club as captain, making his men play and work 
 whether they liked it or not. About his time — 1882 — 
 they had a little Welshman named Edwards, who 
 subsequently played for both Ireland and the Princi- 
 pality, and it is said that he never figured in a losing 
 team. W. A. Wallis was the first Irish forward that 
 ever frightened a Scotsman, and he did it " consider- 
 ably." W. Hogg, of Dublin University, 1884, was 
 seldom seen, but he was always felt. If an opponent 
 got past the full-back, Hogg was always sure to be in 
 the way, for the purpose of obstruction if not absolute 
 arrest, after he had shoved as hard as the best of them 
 in the mauls. Of course there were many other men of 
 much merit, and few achieved their places in any 
 Irish fifteen without admirable attributes. 
 
CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 
 
 THE youngest but the most energetic of the four 
 L T nions, Wales, has every reason to be satisfied with 
 the progress of the game in the southern parts of the 
 Principality. Though the Welsh International matches 
 date six years after the first fixture between England 
 and Ireland, the Welsh record against the mighty 
 Scots and the Englishmen is as good as that recorded 
 for Ireland, whilst the " Taffies " have defeated the 
 " Paddies " four times as against thrice. 
 
 In no Rugby circle is the game pursued with such 
 energy, assiduity, and invention as in South Wales. It 
 would not be quite correct to say that there are only 
 four clubs in Wales, for such assertion would be at once 
 combated by such clubs as Penarth, Neath, Pen-y-Craig, 
 and others. But the game is played in four district 
 circles, of which Swansea, Llanelly, Cardiff, and Newport 
 are the centres, and the clubs of those four towns 
 generally play four matches each amongst themselves in 
 the season. The geographical position of South Wales 
 prevents matches being systematically arranged with 
 English clubs, save those situated in the neighbouring 
 counties of Gloucester and Somerset, though the country 
 is a favourite touring ground of many Yorkshire and 
 Lancashire clubs, such as Halifax, Dewsbury, Hudders- 
 field, Swinton, Salford, Oldham, and the like ; and not 
 unfrequently Blackheath, and other prominent London 
 clubs, arrange fixtures with one or other of the crack 
 Welsh teams. 
 
 Yet, when all is said and done, Rugby football is 
 confined practically to the southern counties of Wales, 
 
250 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL, 
 
 and the four great clubs have been the developers of 
 home-made talent by continually playing and replaying 
 
 amongst themselves. This 
 concentration of strength in 
 
 a comparatively small area, 
 and with a few le 
 
 E. MULLOCK. 
 
 Leading clubs, 
 has given Welsh football a 
 style of its own. Naturally, 
 in so limited a district, the 
 number of first-class players 
 has been comparatively few, 
 and therefore the choice 
 open to the Union has been 
 more select than varied. 
 The Welshmen have made 
 up for their paucity in 
 numbers by their science 
 in play ; and it is no flat- 
 tering tale which records 
 that in many a match in 
 which the Welshmen have been defeated they have suc- 
 cumbed to superior weight, strength, and speed, which 
 have broken down the system carefully planned and 
 practised by the wily, ingenious " Taffs." 
 
 Richard Mullock, the 
 father of Welsh football, was 
 the main agent in the form- 
 ation of the Welsh Union, and 
 in arranging International 
 matches. The ground was 
 prepared for him by the 
 South Wales club and the 
 South Wales Football Union. 
 The origin of the Welsh 
 Rugby Union was the South 
 Wales Club. This club was 
 formed to encourage Rugby 
 football, and to get some 
 good matches played. In- 
 dividual players joined, and 
 were not debarred from play- 
 ing with other clubs; but 
 
 were eligible to play for the South Wales club in the 
 better matches which that club was able to arrange. In 
 
 C. H. NEWMAN. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 
 
 251 
 
 (From a Photograph 
 
 W. D. PHILLIPS. 
 
 A. Freke, Cardiff.) 
 
 the year 1877, and under the auspices of the South 
 
 Wales Football Club, a challenge was instituted for 
 
 competition among South 
 
 Wales clubs. In 1878 the 
 
 South Wales Football Club 
 
 was dissolved, and in its 
 
 place the South Wales Foot- 
 ball Union was established, 
 
 thus providing for clubs to 
 
 join the Union in place of 
 
 individuals joining a club as 
 
 heretofore. 
 
 In March, 1880, a meeting 
 
 was held at Swansea, when 
 
 the South Wales Football 
 
 Union was dissolved, and the 
 
 Welsh Football Union was 
 
 formed. The change was 
 
 more in name than in mem- 
 bership, and was made with 
 
 the object of securing International matches with the 
 
 English, Scotch, and Irish Unions. 
 
 The first match was played against England, 
 
 February 19th, 1881. No one expected to win or to 
 
 make even a close fight, but 
 the Welsh leaders were 
 anxious to impart the feeling 
 of patriotism into the game, 
 which was then struggling in 
 its infancy. But this first 
 effort was not attended with 
 any very encouraging result ; 
 that 8 goals 6 tries defeat 
 at Blackheath was a rude 
 awakening, and showed that 
 Wales had a lot to learn 
 before her football education 
 could be considered com- 
 plete. Amongst the first team 
 were C. H. Newman and 
 W. D. Phillips. C. H. New- 
 man came from Monmouth 
 
 Grammar School, which has proved a great nursery for 
 
 the Newport Club, having furnished such players as G. F. 
 
 D. GWYNX. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Battersby, 
 Manchester.) 
 
252 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Harding, T. Harding, George Rosser, T. B. Jones, T. L. 
 Nicholas, and others. Newman's football honours were 
 varied. He obtained his " blue" at Cambridge in 1882. 
 He went to Durham in 1883 and played half-back for 
 that county. He played continually for Wales up to 
 1887, and" captained the team for three years, from 
 1884-7. He was thick-set, short in stature, but powerful, 
 and for tricky play he has only been excelled by Arthur 
 Gould. He was the first man in South Wales to intro- 
 duce the passing game. W. D. Phillips was the founder 
 
 and captain of the Cardiff 
 Wanderers in 1872, which 
 office he held till the amal- 
 gamation of that club with 
 the " Glamorgan," the level 
 town club at that time. Up 
 to the season 1884-85, the 
 termination of his football 
 career, he was either captain 
 or vice-captain of the Cardiff 
 Club, holding the former 
 office in the years 1879, 1880, 
 and 1882. He represented 
 Wales in 1881, and played in 
 all the International matches 
 in 1882 and 1884. He is now 
 a vice-president of the Welsh 
 Union, to which office he 
 was elected in 1885. An enthusiastic follower of the 
 game, Phillips has done good service in the field, and his 
 counsel has been valued in debate. 
 
 In 1882 there was no match with England, but a 
 North of England team was sent to Newport. The good 
 light made by the Welshmen gave encouragement to 
 the game, and caused England to favour them with 
 another fixture. The match with Ireland at Dublin 
 ended in a win for Wales, and the new Union had now 
 won its spurs, and established its right to admission to 
 matches with the other Unions. 
 
 In 1883, David Gwynn, of Swansea, played against 
 England for the first time. From 1879 to April, 1890, 
 he played regularly as centre or wing- three-quarters for 
 the " 
 list. 
 
 JOHN HiiNKY BOWEN. 
 
 (Frvm a Photograph bij Lucas & Co., 
 Llanelli/.) 
 
 Swansea first fifteen, generally heading the scoring 
 He first represented Wales in 1882, and his last 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 253 
 
 match for his country was at Newport, in 1891. 
 Altogether he took part in about a dozen International 
 matches. He removed to Oldham in 1890, and was 
 captain of that team in 1890, 1891, and 1892, playing 
 centre three-quarter for Lancashire when they won the 
 County championship in 1890-91. He fields the ball 
 cleanly, dodges smartly, receives and passes cleverly, and 
 kicks splendidly in any position. 
 
 Harry Bowen, of Llanelly, then a lad of seventeen, 
 played at full-back against England, and shares with D. 
 Gwynn the honour of being the only member of the 
 1883 Welsh teams still taking active part in football. 
 Bowen played thrice for Wales, viz., v. England in 1883, 
 v. Scotland in 1886, and again V: England in 1887, where 
 the match was drawn. His forte is powerful punting in 
 little room. 
 
 Three famous players came to the front in 1884 : C. 
 G. Taylor of Ruabon, W. H. Gwynn of Swansea, and H. 
 S. Lyne of Newport. C. G. Taylor was one of the 
 cleverest men in the kingdom with his feet. He was 
 originally an Association player of some note. His first 
 Rugby experience was with the Royal Naval Engineering 
 College, at Portsmouth. H. S. Lyne happened to hear of 
 his ability in the year 1882 through a brother of his who 
 
 was at Portsmouth College. Taylor was asked to play 
 for a scratch Welsh team against the 'Varsity at Oxford. 
 He played a clinking game, and scored the only two tries 
 obtained against the then redoubtable Oxford team. He 
 was immediately after chosen for Wales, and played in 
 most of the International matches. He was one of the 
 most extraordinary players that ever played, as he 
 retained much of his old Association style of play ; indeed, 
 he was one of the very few really good players that went 
 in for flying kicks, and hardly ever failed to bring them 
 off — a style of play then, as now, much deprecated. He 
 was very fast and a good kick. 
 
 W. H. Gwynn was probably the most scientific half- 
 back that has ever played for Wales. He played for two 
 seasons, viz., 1884 and 1885, and his best performance was 
 against England at Leeds, in his first appearance in 
 International matches. He is now vice-president of the 
 Union, and a representative of Wales on the Inter- 
 national Board. 
 
 Horace S. Lyne has served Wales well both as a 
 
254 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 H. S. LYNE. 
 
 From a Photograph by VilKers & Son, 
 Newport.) 
 
 player and legislator. He played for Wales as a forward 
 for" three seasons, 1882-83, 1883-84, 1884-85. On his 
 
 marriage in 1885, he retired 
 from actual participation in 
 the game, but has taken 
 active interest in legislation, 
 having been for many years 
 a vice-president of the Welsh 
 Union, and a member of 
 the Match Committee for 
 the past three years. He 
 has also been one of the 
 representatives for Wales 
 on the International Board 
 since its formation. 
 
 In 1885, Wales succeeded 
 in making a draw with Scot- 
 land. Four changes were 
 made from the forward team 
 that had played against Eng- 
 land, and the team playing against Scotland was about 
 the best that had represented Wales so far. The 
 forwards were a grand lot, heavy and fast, and every 
 man a scrummager. They had secured a couple of bril- 
 liant recruits in D. Morgans 
 and W. H. Thomas. Morgans 
 proved to be a gem of the 
 first water, and when in his 
 prime was the best forward 
 m Wales. Thomas was a 
 youngster at Llandovery Col- 
 lege, that nursery for Welsh 
 Internationals, where his 
 merits were noticed by the 
 Swansea Club, and his ser- 
 vices enlisted in order to 
 assist them against Llanelly 
 in the cup ties. This brought 
 him under the notice of the 
 Welsh Union, and although 
 only a stripling he was a- 
 warded a cap. A. F. Hill, 
 
 the Cardiffian, and E. P. Alexander, of Brecon, also a 
 famous member of the Cambridge team, were another 
 
 A. J. OOULD. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 
 
 255 
 
 pair of forwards who in after seasons did yeoman service 
 m the scarlet jerseys. But the season will be memorable 
 for the introduction of two players who have had more 
 influence on Welsh football than any other men. They 
 were Arthur J. Gould and Frank E. Hancock. Arthur 
 Gould made his debut for Wales at full-back, but is 
 unquestionably the best centre three-quarter that Wales 
 has ever produced. He played for Wales in 1884, and 
 with the exception of the season 1890-91, when he was 
 absent from England, has been selected on every subse- 
 quent occasion, and thus 
 holds the record amongst 
 Welsh International players. 
 He is exceedingly fast, a 
 
 food tackier, and fine 
 icker, using both feet with 
 ease. He has a peculiar 
 knack of dropping goals. 
 His remarkable agility has 
 earned him the sobriquet 
 of " monkey." His forte lies 
 in taking passes and inter- 
 cepting those of his op- 
 ponents at top speed. 
 
 In the Scotch match of 
 1886 the four three-quarter 
 system was given a trial for 
 the first time in an Inter- 
 national match. The result was hardly successful. The 
 Welsh forwards were rather below the usual standard, 
 and quite failed to hold up the scrummage against the 
 sturdy Northern forwards. With the forwards so badly 
 beaten the backs never had a chance, and in order to 
 make the best of a bad bargain, Harry Bo wen was sent 
 forward, and Gould took up his old position as back. 
 This was not very encouraging to the supporters of the 
 new system, and the Welsh Union did not muster up 
 sufficient courage to repeat the experiment till four 
 seasons later. 
 
 Passing over 1887, the season 1887-88 is notable for the 
 victory over Scotland at Newport. There was no match 
 with England owing to the regrettable misunderstand- 
 ing with that country. The Welsh team had been 
 thoroughly overhauled, and several of the veterans had 
 
 C. J. THOMAS. 
 
 (From a Photograph by J. T. Dando & Sons, 
 
 Newport, Mon.) 
 
256 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 made room for younger players. C. G. Taylor, C. H. 
 Newman, E. P. Alexander, after doing gallant service, 
 retired. They will ever be remembered as pioneers in 
 the long march which Wales had made in her efforts to 
 get a position among the nations. The new men 
 exceeded the most sanguine expectations. The three- 
 quarters proved themselves to be without exception the 
 best two that had ever represented Wales. Gould was 
 
 DAVID AND EVAN JAMES. 
 (From a Photograph by J. U. Goldie, Swansea.) 
 
 then at his best, and showed himself more than a match 
 for Stevenson ; Price Jenkins, who obtained the winning 
 try, enjoyed the reputation of being one of the best 
 three-quarter backs in London, while Bowen as a 
 defensive player was perfection, tackling superbly, it 
 being almost impossible to get by him. 
 
 In 1888-89 the four three-quarter system was adopted 
 permanently by the Welsh Union, and again the season 
 was attended with disastrous results, mainly through the 
 selection of three-quarter players, good in themselves, 
 but the dissimilarity of whose style of play prevented 
 anything like combination. C. J. Thomas, of Newport, 
 though gaining his cap in the previous season, made his 
 mark this year. A versatile player, he has appeared for 
 Wales in three positions, viz., half, wing- three-quarter, 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 
 
 257 
 
 and centre three-quarter. In either position he is clever 
 — short, sharp, dodgy runs being his forte. He also 
 tackles very surely. 
 
 In 1889-90 matches were renewed with England, the 
 International dispute having been brought to a satisfac- 
 tory termination. For the tirst time W ales played four 
 three-quarters against England, and though the ground 
 at Dewsbury was all against the system, the Welshmen 
 played magnificently, and won by a try to nothing. The 
 tall English forwards were helpless in the mud, and the 
 sturdy, thick-set Welshmen 
 thoroughly outplayed them. 
 At three-quarters the long 
 English passing was frus- 
 trated by the greasy state of 
 the ball, whereas the Welsh- 
 men, by short sharp passing, 
 kept the ball going from 
 hand to hand and repeatedly 
 gained ground. In this 
 match Bancroft, only a mere 
 lad, was tried at back. He 
 had been discovered by the 
 Swansea Club, and met Avith 
 such marked success that he 
 has occupied the position of 
 back ever since. He is a good 
 kicker, punting and dropping 
 with both feet, and with a splendid length. He was a 
 little weak in tackling in his first season, but he improved 
 later on. 
 
 In 1890-91, the brothers James, of Swansea, played, 
 in conjunction, at half-back for the first time in an In- 
 ternational match, and C. B. Nicholl, of Cambridge, who 
 had been playing occasionally for Llanelly, made his 
 debut. He promises to be one of the finest forwards 
 ever turned out from Wales, and adds another name 
 to the long list of Llandovery boys who have made a 
 reputation for themselves. David and Evan James 
 are undoubtedly the finest pair of half-backs in W r ales 
 that play regularly together. They have a style pecu- 
 liar to themselves which is wonderfully effective. Con- 
 sidering their size, they are recklessly daring in defensive 
 tactics, tackling with great resolution and effect. David 
 
 R 
 
 C. B. NICHOLL. 
 
 (From a Photo by Messrs. Stern, Cambridge.) 
 
258 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 generally works the scrums, picking up smartly and 
 
 Eassing with low and rapid transfers to Evan, who 
 andles brilliantly. Both dodge and feint cleverly, 
 David particularly being very clever near the line. They 
 run strongly, and, as they dodge in very little space, and 
 pass and repass with great rapidity, they are remarkably 
 difficult to stop when clear of the forwards. The}- are 
 skilful dribblers, but rarely resort to kicking. 
 
 1891-92 was the most disastrous season, as regards 
 
 International matches, that Wales has had in recent years, 
 
 all three matches being lost. Wales thus earned the 
 
 " wooden spoon " of International football for this season, 
 
 a fate that has fallen to her lot only once before, viz., in 
 
 1888-89. In 1887-88 Wales Avas actually champion 
 
 country, defeating both Scotland and Ireland, and there 
 
 being no match with England. As regards the four 
 
 three-quarter system a good judge remarks : " The 
 
 system can be perfected only by constant practice and 
 
 unison of style. In a club fifteen the practice can be 
 
 had, and a player out of harmony with the rest can 
 
 either be broken into the style or rejected altogether, 
 
 whereas, in an International match, players who are 
 
 unfortunately only too often selected for individual 
 
 brilliancy fail to combine with one another or to keep 
 
 their proper position." The writer has closely observed 
 
 Club and International games for many seasons, and as 
 
 the result of his observations emphatically declares that 
 
 until Wales systematically practises the four selected 
 
 three-quarters for some time previous to the match, she 
 
 can never hope to show other countries what the system 
 
 is capable ot effecting. When her clubs play English 
 
 teams they invariably either outplay the Englishmen 
 
 behind, or compel them to bring out a man as an extra 
 
 three-quarter. The cause is obvious ; the club mates are 
 
 combined and in their right places. The following 
 
 account of the system by W. H. Gwynn, of Swansea, 
 
 the International half-back, will emphasise and illustrate 
 
 the above reflections. 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 
 
 259 
 
 THE FOUR THREE-QUARTER SYSTEM : 
 
 HOW IT SHOULD BE PLAYED. 
 
 By W. II. Gwynn. 
 
 Its Evolution. — As far back as 1878 many of the 
 Welsh clubs played eight forwards and seven backs, the 
 latter arranged into three halves — the centre one known 
 as "flying-man" — two three-quarters, and two backs. 
 The "flying-man" was entrusted with a roving com- 
 mission, and, after a few 
 seasons, settled down into a 
 centre three-quarter. In the 
 International match between 
 England and Wales, at Swan- 
 sea, in 1883, the Home fif- 
 teen had two halves, three 
 three - quarters, and two 
 backs. It soon became ap- 
 parent that one of the backs 
 could be better employed 
 elsewhere, and, while most 
 of the clubs drafted him 
 into the forwards, a few, 
 notably Cardiff, favouring 
 the elaborate passing tactics 
 then in vogue, added him to ^nm « 
 the three - quarters, and, as 
 the experiment was phenomenally successful, this plan of 
 marshalling the forces spread rapidly, and was speedily 
 adopted by all the Welsh clubs. 
 
 Its Characteristics. — The vitality and success of the 
 four three-quarter system depend upon open play and 
 scientific combination. For the attainment of these 
 essentials it is absolutely indispensable (1) that the for- 
 wards and halves be content to work the play so that the 
 attacking resources of the quartette be utilised to the 
 fullest extent ; (2) that the passing be low and rapid, 
 ivith both hands on the ball, and so delivered that the 
 receiver is enabled to take when on the move ; (3) that 
 the three-quarters stand not more than seven yards 
 apart and fairly well behind one another. 
 R 2 
 
 W. F. GWYNN. 
 
 Photograph by J. II. Gohlie, Swansea.) 
 
260 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Forwards. — The forwards should endeavour either 
 by wheeling or heeling-out to make the game as loose as 
 possible. 
 
 The wheeling should generally be towards the open, 
 and the heeling-out should be promptly and cleanly 
 executed, so that by smart passing the ball can be 
 among the three-quarters before the opposing forwards 
 have time to spread. 
 
 Half-backs. — The halves, one working the scrums, 
 and the other about four or five yards away and clear of 
 the pack, must pass from the ground with low and sivift 
 transfers. If well marked, the feet can be used in send- 
 ing the ball across to the three-quarters. 
 
 Three-quarters. — I. Their Positions. — It is of vital 
 importance that the proper and relative distances among 
 the three-quarters be carefully maintained. 
 
 The three-quarters on the open side of the pack 
 should stand about six yards wide from each other, and 
 from live to six yards behind. The near centre should 
 be not less than seven yards wide of the pack and about 
 seven yards behind. The wing on the near side should 
 be not less than ten yards behind the scrummage ready 
 to support the centres in defence, to block the rush along 
 the touch side, and should gain ground mainly by kick- 
 ing into touch. Posted at the above relative distances the 
 quartette are best situated both for attack and defence. 
 
 II. Essential Qualifications. — All the three-quar- 
 ters require to be able to kick readily in any position; 
 the centres should be able to held cleanly, and to dodge 
 well, in order to create openings for the wings, who ought 
 to possess plenty of pace, and be able to handle well, and 
 to take the ball when sprinting. 
 
 III. Their Methods of Play. — 1. The first or near 
 centre having obtained the ball on the run from a low 
 pass by one of the halves, may either (a) sprint round 
 the opposing centre, and thus afford a grand opportunity 
 for his outside pair ; or (b) dodge through, and as the 
 opponents close in pass to sides ; or (c) pass low and 
 sharp to second centre ; or (d) pass over centre to wing ; 
 or (e) kick into touch, if centre is well watched or ham- 
 pered : or (/) punt high to drop between opposing three- 
 quarters and back, for centre and wing to secure by 
 following up ; or (</) drop at goal. 
 
 2. The second centre on receiving the ball when on 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 261 
 
 the move down the field may either (a) race round 
 opponent and make an opening for his wing ; • or (b) dodge 
 tnrough, and when pressed pass to first centre or wing ; 
 or (c) pass immediately to wing if he is favourably placed ; 
 or (d) kick into touch if wing is badly situated ; or (e) 
 jpant high, for others to back up ; or (/) repass smartly 
 to centre, if clear ; or (g) drop at goal. 
 
 3. The outside wing receiving ball from centres may 
 either (a) sprint round opponents, and when pressed by 
 opposing back repass to centres ; or (6) double back into 
 play and dodge through, or pass out to centre, who by 
 this time has moved outside : or (c) repass to centre if 
 well watched and centre favourably placed ; or (d) kick 
 into touch ; or (e) drop at goal ; or (/) screw right across 
 into play for forwards and other wing to secure ; this 
 manoeuvre is very effective when the bail has been carried 
 into the corner. 
 
 Sequences of Effective Passes, which, when at- 
 tempted under certain circumstances, are extremely 
 difficult to check. 
 
 1. From halves to near centre, to second centre, 
 back to first centre, right out over second centre to 
 wing. 
 
 2. From halves to first centre, right out to wing, 
 back to second centre, back to wing. 
 
 The Swansea Football Club. — This club was started 
 in 1870. Mr. C. C. Chambers, as secretary and captain, 
 took a prominent part in its formation and early career. 
 Some three or four matches were yearly played on the 
 Brynymor and Primrose fields. 
 
 In 1875 the cricket club completed the task of con- 
 verting some sand-hills near the coast into the magnifi- 
 cent eight-acre enclosure now known as the St. Helen's 
 field, wnich henceforth became the head- quarters of the 
 football club. From 1880, when the Welsh Challenge 
 Cup was won, to 1885, when the first tour was under- 
 taken — Wakefield Trinity (won), Halifax (lost) — the 
 game gradually acquired immense popularity, the visits 
 of the English Fifteen in 1883 and 1885 creating great 
 interest. The results of 1887 — 20 matches won and 3 
 lost — when they again won the Challenge Cup, brought 
 Swansea into great prominence, placing them at the head 
 of the first-class clubs. During the last three seasons, 
 
WELSH TEAM V. ENGLAND : DEWSBURY, FEBRUARY 15th, 1890. 
 Wales— 1 Tet : Englani — >il. 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Anlaby Howl, Hull.) 
 
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 ^fe 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL: WALES. 263 
 
 1889 to 1892, under the captaincy of W. Bowen, they have 
 been marvellously successful, claiming the grand aggre- 
 gate of 69 wins to 10 losses. 
 
 The Llanelly Club originated in 1872 in the desire of 
 some gentlemen, among whom may be mentioned W. Y. 
 Nevile, Ingram, Dr. Samuel, Colliver, Bewan, and J. C. 
 Howell, to form a team to play against Swansea, then a 
 strong combination. The first meeting took place in 
 Matheas's photographic studio. This may be regarded 
 as the foundation ol the Llanelly Football Club. For a 
 few years very little progress was made, and it was only 
 when Buchanan became captain and Ingram secretary 
 that the club was held "responsible for its actions." 
 From then to the present day the club advanced by 
 leaps and bounds, and now holds the position of being 
 one of the four chief clubs in South Wales. 
 
 The following gentlemen have in turn watched over 
 the clerical arrangements : — Ingram, John Brown, W . 
 Wilkins, Harry Bowen, C. S. Antony, Gavin Henry. As 
 mentioned above, Buchanan first captained the team. It 
 seems but yesterday that the news of his death by a 
 stray shot flew through the town. He was succeeded by 
 Margrave, one of the best and most gentlemanly half- 
 backs that ever played. On his retirement the office 
 fell to Harry Bowen, who held it for several years. 
 Subsequently D. R. Williams, J. Jones, Wilson, A. C. 
 Davies, and Percy Lloyd have captained the team. 
 Among other prominent members may be mentioned 
 Howell, Walkeys, Powell, Roderich, Lewis, Pyle, Sykes, 
 Sails, Samuel, and Trubshaw. 
 
 The South Wales Challenge Cup has been twice won by 
 Llanelly, Newport being the vanquished team each time in 
 the final, while the final stage has been reached several times. 
 
 The Neivport Football Club, or rather that section of 
 the Newport Cricket, Athletic, Football, and Tennis 
 Club, took its origin in the autumn of the year 1874, 
 when C. H. Newman, W. Phillips, J. Leonard, W. Clifford 
 Phillips, and a few others called a meeting of men likely 
 to play football, and formed a committee, consisting of 
 the above-named. The Association rules were adopted 
 and played during that season, and the club wound 
 up with a match against Cardiff, played at Cardiff under 
 Rugby rules. The match was drawn as the rules then 
 stood. The ground used by the club was " The Marshes," 
 
264 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and continued to be used till the season 1878-79, when 
 the club acquired the present athletic ground at Rodney 
 Parade. J. Leonard was the first captain, and during the 
 season 1875-6 various matches were played with Cardiff, 
 Swansea, Lampeter, Hereford, and other neighbouring 
 teams, and they were all won. Phillips became captain 
 in 1876-7, and again the team was successful in every 
 match, the list of fixtures including Cardiff, Swansea, 
 Llanelly. In 1877-8 the club was drafted into the 
 N. C. A. F. and T. Club, with R Mullock and S. Bellerby 
 as hon. sees. In this year the South Wales Cup was 
 established, and was won by Newport ; the team again 
 were successful in every match. W. Phillips was still 
 captain in the season of 1878-9, in which 17 matches 
 were played, and all were won. These matches included 
 the Cup Competition, in which Newport were again 
 successful. At the end of the season 1879-80 the Black- 
 heath Club came to Newport and inflicted a severe 
 defeat on the club, the first defeat since the foundation 
 of the club in 1874, i.e., the team had gone through 
 four successive seasons without losing a match, a feat 
 without precedent in the history of any football club. 
 In the first round for the cup, which was played against 
 Swansea, at Bridgend, the club were beaten, and so lost 
 the cup, which, on being won the third year in 
 succession, would have become their property. These 
 successes in the early days of the club, when it was not 
 until the fifth year that defeat was known, are paralleled 
 by the late season of 1891-92. In this season 33 matches 
 were played, of which 29 were won and 4 drawn. One 
 of the best judges in England of football described 
 the fifteen as " the best club team of the season." 
 
 The Cardiff Club was founded in 1876 by an amalga- 
 mation of the Glamorgan and the Cardiff Wanderers, the 
 two clubs then existing in the town. T. S. Donaldson 
 Selby, the captain of the former, was elected the first 
 captain of the new club, and W. D. Phillips, the captain 
 of the Wanderers, to the vice-captaincy. The club has 
 always taken a leading place in the game, but it came 
 more prominently before the English public in the 
 season 1884-5, by very successfully introducing the four 
 three-quarter system, the game now adopted by all 
 Welsh teams, and by a considerable number of clubs in 
 the West of England. The captains of the Cardiff Club 
 
INTERNATIONAL FOOTBALL; WALES. 
 
 265 
 
 have been:— T. S. Donaldson Selby, E. C. Fry, R. H. 
 Fox, W. D. Phillips (for three seasons), B. E. Girling, H. 
 J. Simpson, F. E. Hancock, W. M. Douglas, G. A. 
 Young, A. F. Hill, C. S. Arthur, W. E. O. Williams, and 
 D. W. Evans. 
 
 1878 
 1879 
 1880 
 1881 
 1882 
 1883 
 1884 
 1885 
 1886 
 1887 
 
 THE WELSH CUP. 
 
 Newport beat Swansea by 1 goal to nil. 
 
 Newport beab Cardiff by 1 goal and 1 try to nil. 
 
 Swansea beat Lampeter College by 1 goal and 1 try to nil. 
 
 Cardiff beat Llanelly by 1 try to nil. 
 
 Llanelly beat Newport by 1 goal to nil. 
 
 Newport beat Llanelly by 1 goal to 1 try. 
 
 Newport beat Swansea by 1 goal 2 tries to 1 goal 1 try. 
 
 Newport beat Neath by 1 goal to nil. 
 
 Llanelly beat Newport by 3 goals 1 try to nil. 
 
 Swansea beat Llanelly by 1 goal to nil. 
 
CHAPTER XY. 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 
 
 By II. Vassall, 
 Late Captain of the Oxford University Football Club. 
 
 THE Oxford Rugby Football Club was started at a 
 meeting of Old Rugbeians held in Balliol College on 
 Nov. 2, 1869. Previous to this date there had been no 
 organised football at Oxford. A few enthusiastic old boys 
 of such schools as Eton, Harrow, Winchester and Rugby 
 used occasionally to get up games to be played under 
 the rules of their old schools, but the idea that football 
 was only a schoolboys' game was then universal, and 
 every freshman was expected to go down regularly to the 
 river to be " tubbed for his college torpids. It was 
 not till quite ten years later that football was recognised 
 as in any sense a genuine substitute for the river, and 
 even then a man must have had a great reputation as a 
 player at school to be able to escape the river altogether. 
 
 Some of the rules passed when the club was formed 
 look curious when viewed in the light of the subsequent 
 history of the game at Oxford ; but they are interesting 
 as evidence that in the early days of the club very 
 few except Rugbeians and Marlburians took any part in 
 the game. 
 
 The first rule was that the captain, the secretary, 
 and one of the three committeemen, must always be 
 Rugbeians. 
 
 As a matter of fact, this rule held good for the 
 surprisingly long period of seven years, the captains 
 during that time being A. Davenport, W. 0. Moberly 
 (two years), E. R. Still (two years), A. T. Michell, and 
 W. H. Bolton ; then came the Marlburian, F. H. Lee, and 
 then another Rugbeian, H. J). Bateson, since whose time 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 267 
 
 there have been only two Rugbeian captains — the Inter- 
 national, C. Phillips, in the latter half of the season 
 1879-80, and P. Coles in 1886. 
 
 Another of the original rules of a like kind was that 
 a subscription of half-a-crown be levied on all Rugbeian 
 and Marlburian members of the club, but that it be 
 optional to members of other schools. 
 
 If such a rule were in force now, there would be a 
 notable diminution in the funds, of the club. 
 
 The original committee consisted of the three Rug- 
 beians — D; venport, who played for England v. Scotland in 
 1871, Oldham and Cook, and the two outsiders, E. F. S. 
 Tylecote of Clifton, and H. Freeman of Marlborough, 
 the former of whom is the famous Dark Blue cricketer, 
 and the latter the hero of an England v. Scotland match, 
 in which he dropped a wonderful goal. 
 
 It is amusing to note that the only games played 
 by the club for the first two years were our old school- 
 day friends, Sixth v. School, Dissyllables v. the Rest, etc., 
 and that they used to play each match out for two days, 
 Avith any number of players on each side. Sometimes 
 over twenty a-side turned up, and sometimes only ten, 
 and the numbers on each side were by no means always 
 equal. Teams of Old Boys went down annually to 
 Rugby and Wellington, but otherwise there was nothing 
 of the nature of a foreign match. 
 
 We have now said enough to show that the game in 
 its infancy at Oxford was merely a replica of the game 
 as played on the Big Sides of the Rugby football schools 
 of the time ; and such it continued until the beginning 
 of 1872, when it was decided to play a match with 
 Cambridge. In preparation for this event a great trial 
 match was played at Oxford between twenty Rugbeians 
 and twenty of all other schools. The Rugbeians won 
 easily by a goal and four tries to a try — possibly b} r two 
 goals and three tries, as there is a delightful sentence in 
 the account which runs as follows : " The last try, if not a 
 goal, was very nearly one, but there were no umpires 
 appointed." The days of referees and their whistles were 
 yet a long way off. 
 
 The first Oxford team to do battle against Cambridge 
 was picked after the game, and naturally contained a 
 large proportion of Rugbeians, no less than fifteen out of 
 the twenty hailing from that ancient home of football. 
 
OXFORD UNIVERSITY RUGBY UNION FIFTEEN, 1882. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 269 
 
 As we have never seen any record of this match in 
 print, we give the teams of both sides, as played on 
 February 10, 1872. 
 
 Oxford: — Moberly (captain), Pearson, Michell (backs); Francis, 
 Fletcher, Deacon (half-backs) ; Botfield, Brierley, Bulpett, Carlyon, 
 Cholraondeley, Edgell, Fletcher, Gardner, Isherwood, Macgregor, Peake, 
 Sayer, Still, and Weston (forwards). 
 
 Cambridge: — Lambert (captain), Riley, Lyon (half-backs); Batten, 
 Hamilton, Luscombe (backs) ; Agnew, Back, Baxter, Collin, Deakin, 
 Dudgeon, Hull, Macdonald, Margerison, Morse, Napier, Sisson, Sprot, and 
 Winthrop (forwards). 
 
 Oxford won by a goal from a try by Isherwood to 
 nil. Fletcher also kicked a flying-kick goal for Oxford, 
 but as it was alleged that it had touched one of the 
 Cambridge men on the way, it was not counted — another 
 touching instance of the way the game was played before 
 the referee had become a necessary institution. The 
 Cambridge captain, Lambert, was the mainstay of his 
 side, but the Oxford forwards proved too good for their 
 heavier opponents. 
 
 It should be noted that the famous three-quarter 
 back, H. Freeman, was unable to play for Oxford in this 
 match, but he played in the same year for England v. 
 Scotland, as did the Oxford captain, W. 0. Moberly, 
 following the example of his predecessor, A. Davenport. 
 
 R. W. Isherwood also got a place in that year's 
 English team, and three more of this Oxford team, 
 W. R. B. Fletcher, E. R. Still, and A. T. Michell, got their 
 International caps later on. Still and Michell were 
 afterwards captains of Oxford, and so the tradition was 
 set going that the Oxford captain should always get his 
 International cap — a tradition which has been kept up 
 with remarkably few exceptions right down to the 
 present day. 
 
 Freeman and Fletcher were members of their old 
 school club, the then famous Marlborough Nomads, but 
 all the others belonged, as most Rugbeians of that day 
 did, to the Ravenscourt Park Club, and it was therefore 
 natural that the first foreign match played at Oxford 
 should be against the latter club. It was played a 
 fortnight after the Cambridge match, and H. Freeman 
 was once more able to play for Oxford. He scored 2 
 tries out of 3, but as no goal was kicked, the match 
 counted as a draw in those days. 
 
270 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 In October, 1872, Moberly resigned the captaincy in 
 favour of E. R. Still, who secured his International cap 
 at the same time as that huge forward, W. R. B. Fletcher 
 and the Oxford fast-bowler C. W. Boyle. Moberly still 
 continued to render invaluable aid to the club as 
 secretary, and no small share of the credit for putting 
 the club on a thoroughly firm footing is due to him for 
 his services both on the field and off it — services which 
 he has since repeated both in cricket and football for 
 Clifton College, where he is still a master. Another 
 member of the Committee of that year was R. Leach, 
 who ran for Oxford in the quarter at Lillie Bridge, and 
 was the eldest of the cricketing family of that name, 
 hailing from Rochdale. 
 
 There is no record of any foreign matches being 
 played in 1872, but in 1873 eight matches were played, 
 of which four — those against Rugby School, Blackheath, 
 Marlborough Nomads, Cooper's Hill (return) — were won 
 outright. Three more — those against Cooper's Hill, 
 Ravenscourt Park and Richmond — were then counted as 
 draws, but would nowadays count as wins, whilst the 
 match against Cambridge, played at the Oval on Decem- 
 ber 3rd, ended in a pretty even draw of one try each, 
 though the Oxford men claim to have had the best of 
 the " penning." 
 
 This was by no means a bad record for the season 
 for a young club, for in those days Ravenscourt Park, 
 Marlborough Nomads, and Cooper's Hill, were about on a 
 par with Blackheath and Richmond. 
 
 The 1873 team were : — 
 
 M. Brooks, H. Field, W. O. Moberly (backs), W. H. Game (three- 
 quarters), A. T. MicheU, G. C. Vecqueray (half-backs), E. R. Still 
 (captain), W. R. B. Fletcher, E. C. Fraser, C. W. Crosse, W. H. Bolton, 
 H. Bourdillon, R. M. Edgell, K. W. Sheffield, J. Harrison, H. Russell, 
 R. F. Brunskill, F. G. Cholmondeley, B. Powell, W. F. Gooding. 
 
 Three Oxonians played for England against Scotland 
 in 1873-4, H. Freeman, C. W. Crosse and M. Brooks. 
 Brooks afterwards gave up football, and devoted himself 
 to jumping, for which he still holds the record at the 
 'Varsity sports, with his marvellous jump of 6 ft. 2| in. 
 H. Russell also was an athletic blue as a three-miler. 
 It should be noted that the first appearance in the team 
 of the famous cricketer W. H. Game coincides with the 
 last appearance of W. 0. Moberly, of whom it has been 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 271 
 
 said that he is a long way the best cricketer who never 
 got his blue. 
 
 The Oxford half-back, A. T. Michell, was a brother 
 of the Cambridge full-back, W. G. Michell, now a 
 master at Rugby School, and though each of them 
 represented his University for four years, this was the 
 only occasion on which they actually appeared on the 
 field as opponents. 
 
 In the next season, 1874, the match list was enlarged by 
 the addition of new matches with the Gypsies, Old Chel- 
 tonians, United Hospitals, Wasps, Woolwich and Clifton 
 Club — names which inspired much more terror at that 
 date than they do now — but Oxford managed to get 
 through the season undefeated, and in it began to play 
 fifteen a-side against any clubs which would consent to 
 do so. This naturally developed a distaste for tight 
 scrummages, and by the time of the 'Varsity match they 
 had begun to fancy themselves for their play in the 
 loose, and tried hard to persuade Cambridge to agree to 
 fifteen a-side, but, as Cambridge had a good set of heavy 
 forwards and were not nearly so strong behind as Oxford, 
 they held out for the more orthodox number of twenty, 
 with the result that the match was tight and uninter- 
 esting, ending in a draw in favour of Oxford by 
 to nil. 
 
 The Oxford team were : — 
 
 A. T. Michell (captain), E. H. Nash, R. W. Riicker (half-back; 
 Champneys, W. H. Game, D. B. Wilson (backs), W. H. 
 W. R. B. Fletcher, E. C. Fraser, C. W. Crosse, F. H. Lee, C. F. Harrison, 
 H. Bourdillon, R. W. Sheffield, H. Merivale, H. D. Bateson, F. H. 
 Bainbrigge, J. E. Lloyd, H. Russell, R. F. Brunskill (forwards). 
 
 This was the last twenty that played for Oxford, and 
 the best match of the season was a fifteen a-side game 
 with Blackheath, which ended in a draw, thanks to the 
 magnificent play of L. Stokes. 
 
 The Oxonians who played against Scotland in this 
 year were the captain A. T. Michell, and W. R. B. 
 Fletcher ; and besides Michell, C. W. Crosse, E. C. Fraser, 
 and E. H. Nash also played in the Irish match, which 
 was instituted in this season. 
 
 In 1875-6 W. H. Bolton was elected captain, and the 
 committee consisted of Lee Forman, Fraser, and Game. 
 A programme similar to that of the previous year was 
 carried through successfully, the best matches being 
 
272 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 those with Cooper's Hill, which the famous half-back, 
 W. Hutchinson, had then made into one of the strongest 
 teams in England. At the end of the season an extra 
 match was arranged with the Glasgow and Edinburgh 
 Academicals, to come off after the International match 
 at the Oval. The Scotsmen brought down no less than 
 twelve of the Scotch Twenty in their fifteen, and after a 
 grand game defeated Oxford by 2 tries to 1. This 
 is the first recorded defeat of Oxford since the foundation 
 of the club seven years before, and it is a noticeable 
 fact that on the rare occasions on which Scotch teams 
 have visited Oxford, they have generally proved a thorn 
 in the side of the 'Varsity team, as the present writer 
 has good occasion to remember. Two of the Oxford 
 team had just played for England against Scotland — the 
 full-back, A. H. Heath, then a freshman from Clifton, 
 afterwards a cricket blue for four years, and now captain 
 of Staffordshire, and F. H. Lee, who was noted as the 
 best " follower up " of his day. In the International 
 match he backed up a magnificent run of Hutchinson's, 
 and secured the try which won the match for England. 
 The 'Varsity match of this year was chiefly noticeable as 
 being the first played with fifteen a-side, and as coming 
 on the same day as the International match against 
 Ireland in Dublin, a clashing of dates which has not been 
 allowed since, as it prevented Michell from playing for 
 Oxford, who, nevertheless, won by a try. The Oxford 
 team consisted of : — 
 
 A. H. Heath, F. Gh Champneys (backs), E. H. Nash (three-quarter 
 hack), H. Bourdillon, J. Forman (half -hacks), W. H. Bolton (captain), 
 F. H. Lee, H. D. Bateson, C. F. Harrison, A. Law, J. James, T. John- 
 son, T. W. Wall, H. Russell, and E. C. Fraser (forwards). 
 
 The Oxford captain, W. H. Bolton, could not 
 play for England, because he hailed from Scotland, 
 where he played for the West of Scotland Club, but he 
 kept up tne tradition of the Oxford captain being an 
 International by getting his Scotch cap. He was the 
 first of the many good Scotsmen we have had in 
 Oxford teams. 
 
 The next season, 1876-7, was a disastrous one for 
 Oxford. They lost three matches, including the Cam- 
 bridge one, in which A. H. Heath was not able to play, 
 and they had only one man playing for England, namely 
 the captain, F. H. Lee. At the same time there was a 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 273 
 
 team in Oxford which held an unbeaten record for two 
 whole seasons. We allude to the St. John's College team 
 — which was developed by the College Ties, started in 
 1875. They had a determined set of forwards, noted for 
 their hard tackling and good passing, and several men 
 behind who played for the 'Varsity, such as M. Shearman, 
 F. W. Champneys, H. Brembridge, Lockhart Ross, and 
 W. Giles. They won the Ties as long as they lasted, but 
 these were soon abolished, because they were found to 
 be making the College matches too bloodthirsty, and all 
 subsequent attempts to revive them have happily been 
 
 A DRIBBLE. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 unsuccessful. The success of this forward team is 
 alluded to in the Badminton series as an instance of 
 how determined forward play can overcome superior 
 combination behind the scrummage. The defeat of 
 Oxford by Edinburgh University in 1885, referred to on 
 page 292, is another example of the same. The Oxford 
 team, which was beaten by Cambridge by a goal and 
 2 tries to nil, was : — 
 
 A. C. Sim, C. C. Atkinson (backs) ; R. W. Rucker (three-quarter back) ; 
 J. Forman, F. W. Champneys (half-backs) ; F. H. Lee (captain), J. H. 
 Bainbrigge, J. James, H. Brembridge, J. J. Mowbray, T. W. Wall, C. 
 Phillips, M. Macmillan, W. H. Cornish, and R. Gaisford (forwards). 
 
 In 1877-8 Oxford had a very satisfactory season, as 
 they lost only one match against the United Hospitals, 
 
274 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 who brought down a very strong team, including E. B. 
 Turner and J. M. Biggs forward, and A. W. Pearson, W. 
 J. Penny, L. Stokes, and A. H. Jackson behind, whilst 
 Springman, Hirst, and A. H. Evans, Oxford's three best 
 men behind, were on the sick list, and F. H. Lee had to 
 play three-quarters for the occasion. The Cambridge 
 match was won rather easily by 2 tries to nil. Cam- 
 bridge had the heavier forwards, but Oxford played a 
 loose dribbling game, and so gave their backs a chance 
 of showing their superiority. H. Fowler, a freshman 
 from Clifton, who afterwards got his cricket blue, was 
 the best forward in the team, and he played against 
 Scotland in the following spring. The Oxford captain, 
 H. D. Bateson, was a very clever player in the 
 open, but had rather a predilection for wing play ; he 
 secured his International cap the year after he had gone 
 down. 
 
 The Oxford team was as follows : — 
 
 A. H. Heath, J. Ravenscroft (backs) : P. Springman, E. T. Hirst 
 (three-quarter backs) ; A. H. Evans, A. H. Vecqueray (half-backs) ; H 
 I). Bateson (captain), H. Fowler, F. H. Lee, J. J. Mowbray, H. Brem- 
 bridge, J. H. Bainbrigge, C. Phillips, T. W. Wall, J. James. 
 
 In 1878-9 H. Fowler, the International, was elected 
 captain, and the rest of the committee were C. Phillips, 
 E. T. Hirst, A. H. Heath, A. H. Vecqueray, T. W. Wall, 
 P. Springman, and A. H. Evans. The names of the 
 committee are by themselves sufficient to show that the 
 Oxford team would be. a good one ; but, unfortunately, 
 the 'Varsity match had to be postponed over Christmas 
 for frost, and the team were not so well together after 
 the vacation as they had been in November, when the 
 present writer paid his first visit to Oxford and saw 
 T. W. Wall place seven goals in succession against the 
 Naval College. Wall went down at Christmas, and 
 Crosby Burrowes lost his chance of his football cap by 
 rowing in the 'Varsity eight in the following term. He 
 and H. Brembridge and R. S. Kindersley used to play 
 for Devonshire against Somersetshire in the days when 
 H. Bourdillon, H. A. Tudor, C. F. Sanctuary, and the 
 writer, formed the Oxford contingent of the Somerset team. 
 
 The team that eventually played a drawn game with 
 Cambridge in February at the Oval was as follows : — 
 
 A. H. Heath, H. A. Tudor (backs); P. Springman, E. T. Hirst 
 (three-quarter backs) ; A. H. Evans, A. H. Yecqueray (half-backs) ; 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 275 
 
 H. Fowler (captain), C. Phillips, A. Back, E. Branfoot, G. V. Cox, M. 
 Shearman, G. 0. Jacob, J. Ravenscroft, and J. J. Mowbray (forwards). 
 
 This was the last appearance of A. H. Vecqueray, who 
 had done good service for Oxford at half-back ; he was 
 a brother of the Vecqueray who played for Oxford in 
 1873, and they were sons of the Rugby master of that 
 name. 
 
 It is worthy of notice that several of the Oxford 
 forwards were school three-quarters, who were not 
 found good enough to play for Oxford in that position, 
 but who nevertheless were made into excellent forwards. 
 O. V. Cox was a Clifton three-quarter who had won the 
 freshman's quarter at Oxford. Montague Shearman had 
 played three-quarters at Merchant Taylors and for St. 
 John's, and his marvellous sprinting soon earned for him 
 the position of President of the Athletic Club. George 
 Jacob had played three-quarters for Blackheath School, 
 and J. Ravenscroft had played full-back for the 'Varsity 
 in the previous year. Of these, Shearman afterwards 
 played for the South, and Ravenscroft became an Inter- 
 national. 
 
 In 1879-80 A. H. Evans was elected captain, but the 
 'Varsity match was again postponed for frost, and at 
 Christmas he resigned the captaincy to C. Phillips, and 
 gave up the game. He then took up Association as a 
 gentler form of exercise, and became so good at it that 
 he was offered his cap — an honour which he declined out 
 of consideration for his old Rugby football friends. He 
 was a wonderfully good all-round athlete, who more 
 than justified the great reputation which he had at 
 Clifton. He is the only man who has been captain of 
 both cricket and Rugby football at Oxford. His place 
 on the football field was half-back ; but he could play 
 three-quarters, and he once played as a forward for 
 the South, and was picked as a forward for England v. 
 Ireland, but the match was postponed for frost, and 
 when it did come off Evans did not play. Springman 
 also had to give up the game because of an injury to his 
 knee. He was as good at three-quarters as Evans at 
 half, and that is saying a good deal. He was very small 
 and very fast, and had a wonderful knack of getting 
 through his men untouched. They came up to Oxford 
 in the same year, and it is probably safe to say that the 
 "Varsity team never secured a pair of freshmen of equal 
 s 2 
 
 e 
 
276 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 value before or since. Springman was the second great 
 player whom we received from Scotland, but he was of 
 English birth, being a brother of H. H. Springman of 
 Liverpool, who played against Scotland in 1879, and 
 again in 1887 after an absence of eight years in the 
 Colonies. 
 
 The loss of Evans and Springman was brought home 
 to us in the 'Varsity match which we lost in February 
 by 2 goals to 1. Maclachlan touched the ball when 
 Finch dropped his goal, but Stokes and Gurdon, the 
 umpires, did not see it, and Cambridge deserved to win, 
 for the Oxford half simply gave them the try, from 
 which H. Y. L. Smith placed a very fine goal. 
 
 The Oxford team was as follows : — 
 
 A. H. Heath, N. Maclachlan (backs); E. T. Hirst, H. A. Tudor 
 (three-quarter backs) ; E. L. Knight, L. Watkins (half-backs) ; C. Phillips 
 (captain), G. O. Jacob, E. P. Branfoot, M. Shearman, P. A. Xewton, 
 H. Vassall, J. G. Walker, A. R. Paterson, and C. F. Sanctuary (forwards). 
 
 This was the last match played at the Oval. Three 
 of the forwards of the 1882 team made their debut in it, 
 and it was the last occasion on which some of the old 
 lights appeared, such as the cricket blues, Heath and 
 Hirst, the athletic blue, Shearman, and the captain, 
 C. Phillips, who played against Scotland in the following 
 month. C. F. Sanctuary and L. Watkins, by securing 
 places in this team, maintained the tradition handed 
 down to them by W. H. Game, H. A. Tudor, and R. T. 
 Finch (the Cambridge captain), that the captain of Sher- 
 borne School should always get into the 'Varsity team — 
 a tradition which we hope their successors have carried 
 on to the present day. A. R. Paterson, J. G. Walker, 
 and N. Maclachlan were all freshmen from Loretto 
 School. After one more year Maclachlan had to give up 
 football because of an injured knee, but he became 
 captain of cricket ; J. G. Walker got his cricket blue, and 
 became a Scotch International ; whilst Paterson became 
 president of the O. U. B. C. ; and this trio was only a 
 sample, though certainly a good sample, of what was to 
 follow from the same school. 
 
 It may be mentioned as a point of interest that the 
 word " deliberately " was cut out of the Rugby Union 
 law about " knocking-on " because of a dispute which 
 occurred in the Richmond match of this season. 
 Twynam knocked the ball on at the far end of a line out- 
 
RUGBY. FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 277 
 
 of touch, followed up his knock, caught the ball, and rail 
 in unopposed. The Richmond captain, V. R. Adams, 
 refused to admit that the knock-on was deliberate, and 
 as there were no referees in those days, but only two 
 umpires, a deadlock ensued, which finally convinced the 
 authorities that the word should be cut out of the law. 
 
 In the season of 1880-1 P. A. Newton was elected 
 captain. He had played half-back for Blackheath against 
 Oxford the year before he came up, but he was made 
 into a forward at Oxford, and afterwards gained his 
 International cap in that position. The secretary for the 
 term was R. ft. Blandy, a very good forward from 
 Cheltenham, who had been unlucky enough to hurt his 
 knee after he had been picked to play against Cambridge 
 the year before, and who was again unable to play in this 
 his last year. 
 
 We lost one match before Christmas, v. Cheshire, 
 who managed to snatch a victory by a dropped goal, and 
 one after Christmas, v. Blackheath, who beat us by a try 
 to nil, whilst we managed to make a draw of the 
 Cambridge match, thanks to Bevan's dropped goal being 
 disallowed by the umpires. It Avas claimed that the ball 
 had never been properly in the scrummage, which only 
 meant that the scrummage had not been started in the 
 good old-fashioned way. A Cambridge forward had 
 kicked the ball out at once to Don Wauchope, who passed 
 to Bevan. Perhaps the umpires did not see what had 
 happened, or perhaps they thought it unorthodox play, but 
 Ave feel certain that any referee of the present day would 
 have allowed the goal to stand. Oxford had a good team 
 forward, thanks to the dribbling of the four Scotchmen, 
 Paterson, Mackenzie, J. G. Walker, and A. Walker, but 
 only a moderate lot behind, where H. A. Tudor, who was 
 picked for the South that year, was the only one really 
 up to form. We had a wonderful half-back in R. L. 
 Knight, who was also a cricket blue, but he was injured 
 before the 'Varsity match ; he was very small and very 
 fast, and he used to score at least one try in almost every 
 match. He was offered a Welsh cap, but declined it. 
 Had he been a little stronger in defensive play, he might 
 have played for England. After Christmas he was elected 
 captain and Vassal! secretary for the rest of the season. 
 In the 'Varsity match Knight's place was taken by the 
 long-jumper, M. B. Peacock, who had come up from 
 
278 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Wellington with a great reputation as a three-quarters, 
 but who was quite out of his place at half-back. 
 The Oxford team was as follows : — 
 
 N. Maclachlan, J. Booker (backs) ; H. A. Tudor, A. M. Evanson (three- 
 quarters) ; H. Irwin, M. B. Peacock (half-backs) ; P. A. Newton (captain), 
 H. Vassall, A. R. Paterson, J. G. Walker, A. Walker, A. 0. M. Mackenzie, 
 C. S. Sanctuary, C. F. H. Leslie, and W. M. Barwick (forwards). 
 
 In the following February the first England v. Wales 
 match was played. One place amongst the English 
 forwards was left to be filled from amongst the English- 
 men in the Oxford team 
 after their match with Black- 
 heath. The place was given 
 to Vassall, who scored 4 of 
 the 16 tries of the match, 
 and thereby secured his 
 place against Scotland in 
 company with the old Oxon- 
 ians Fowler and Phillips. 
 Two Oxford men played for 
 Wales, the cricket blue, E. 
 Peake, and the half-back, L. 
 Watkins. In this year also 
 there was a Manchester 
 schoolboy, 
 son, playii 
 v. Ireland, 
 to Oxford 
 October and at once became Asher's partner at half-back. 
 For the season 1881-2 Vassall was elected captain, 
 and the committee consisted of Walker, Maclachlan, 
 Paterson, Mackenzie, Booker, and Evanson ; so that the 
 Scotchmen Avere in a majority. There was plenty of 
 good material for the new team, for, besides eleven old 
 caps, there were Tatham and Strong amongst the seniors, 
 and Asher, Allen, Richardson, Cave, and Tristram 
 amongst the freshmen. The season opened well with a 
 series of six wins, which included Blackheath and Rich- 
 mond, and then came the memorable match with 
 Edinburgh University on November 28th — memorable 
 as being the last defeat to which Oxford had to submit 
 lor more than three years. The next defeat occurred on 
 February 9th, 1885, at the hands of the same club, 
 Edinburgh University, and was the only defeat of that 
 
 H. VASSALL. 
 (From a Photouniph by Elliott il> Fry, London.) 
 
 W. R. Richard- 
 for England 
 He came up 
 in the following 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 279 
 
 season. These events have given a special interest to all 
 matches between Oxford and Edinburgh Universities, 
 and a resume of them will show what close fights they 
 have provided. 
 
 Edinburgh won the first by 2 goals to a goal and a 
 try. Knight came up to help his old club for the last 
 time, and scored both goal and try for Oxford. One of 
 the Edinburgh's goals was from a fair catch made off a 
 feeble kick of Alien's, just in front of his own goal. 
 Oxford had their revenge in December, 1883, when 
 Tatham took the Oxford team on tour for the first time, 
 and defeated Edinburgh by a goal and a try to nil. 
 Edinburgh then broke the Oxford record at Oxford in 
 1885 by 1 try to nil. In December of the same year 
 Lindsay took the Oxford team to Edinburgh, and beat 
 them by 2 goals to a goal and a try. In 1886 
 they paid another visit to Oxford, and once more won by a 
 try to nil, and again in 1888 they won in Edinburgh by the 
 same score, but the last match played in Christopherson's 
 year in Edinburgh was won by Oxford by the com- 
 paratively large score of a goal and 2 tries to nil. 
 Thus Edinburgh have won four matches, and Oxford 
 three, but Edinburgh have only scored 3 goals and 
 4 tries to Oxford's 5 goals and 4 tries in the seven 
 matches, so there has never really been very much to 
 choose between the two teams. 
 
 In November, 1881, a new Rugby Union match was 
 started under the title of the Universities v. London, 
 nominally as an interesting match in itself, but really 
 as a trial match for the South team. It had struck the 
 Oxford captain that the 'Varsities were not getting their 
 fair share of the places in the South team, so on the way 
 back from the Scotch match in March, he proposed the 
 new match to L. Stokes, who was then captain of Eng- 
 land and of Blackheath, and who, by the way, had just 
 dropped the most wonderful goal — a full 75 yards 
 drop — against Scotland that the writer has ever seen. 
 Stokes took up the idea of the match without any 
 suspicion of the designs upon the London monopoly 
 of the South team, and with the help of Rowland Hill 
 got it accepted by the Rugby Union committee. The 
 immediate result of the match was that whereas in 
 the previous year the Cambridge captain, C. P. Wilson, 
 was the only resident 'Varsity man in the South team, in 
 
280 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 W. M. TATHAM. 
 
 (From a Diotoyrtiph bu StiUiard d- Co., 
 Oxford.) 
 
 this year there were five, A. S. Taylor, H. G. Fuller, H. 
 Vassall, W. M. Tatham, and A. M. Evanson, and in the 
 following year five more were added to these, as will appear 
 in due course. 
 
 In the first of these matches, sixteen a side were 
 played, so as to allow each 'Varsity to send eight men — 
 
 for subsequent years it was 
 settled that the odd man 
 should come from the win- 
 ners of the last 'Varsity 
 match, unless the two cap- 
 tains agreed to the contrary. 
 The captaincy was to go to 
 each 'Varsity alternately, and 
 the selection of the joint team 
 was to be left entirely to the 
 two captains — contrary to 
 the usual method of proce- 
 dure at the 'Varsities, where 
 all teams are picked by the 
 committee. We should be 
 glad to see the system 
 changed, as we hold very 
 strongly that the captain 
 ought always to have the final selection of the team for 
 which he is responsible, and that committees ought only 
 to pick the trial teams to bring men under the captain's 
 notice. The Oxford half of the first joint team were H. 
 Vassall, J. G. Walker, A. 0. Mackenzie, W. M. Tatham, 
 and C. F. H. Leslie (forwards), W. R. Richardson, A. M. 
 Evanson, and E. R. W^ethey (behind) ; A. R. Paterson could 
 not play, and all the full-backs except A. S. Taylor of 
 Cambridge were injured, but, as two full-backs were 
 still considered necessary, Wethey, who proved an 
 efficient substitute, was given the place, and the match 
 ended in a very even draw. It was in this match that 
 the historic maul of five minutes' duration took place 
 between C. Gurdon and Vassall, since which time the 
 writer has always been a keen advocate for the total 
 abolition of mauls. 
 
 The 'Varsity match was won fairly easily by 2 goals 
 and a try to a goal, in spite of the dodgy runs of Don 
 Wauchope and the deadly tackling of A. S. Taylor, 
 which the writer has good cause to remember. The 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 
 
 281 
 
 Oxford forwards, who were just beginning to get into the 
 game which made them famous for some years to come, 
 carried all before them, and A. M. Evanson played better 
 at three-quarters than he ever played before or since. It 
 was he who kept the combination going throughout the 
 match, and it must not be forgotten that in this match 
 he had only one partner at three-quarters. The team 
 against Cambridge was : — 
 
 H. A. Tudor, H. W. Cave (backs) ; A. M. Evanson, C. P. Allen 
 (three-quarters) ; A. G. Grant-Asher, W. R. Richardson (half-backs) ; 
 H. Vassall (captain), W. M. Tatham, J. G. Walker, A. R. Paterson, 
 C. F. H. Leslie, A. O. Mackenzie, W. M. Barwick, E. L. Strong, F. 
 "W. Hodgson (forwards). 
 
 As Leslie went down after this season, it may be w T ell 
 to mention here that he and Grant-Asher are the only 
 two members of the Rugby team who ever represented 
 Oxford in three different branches of athletics — Leslie 
 in football, cricket, and racquets, and Asher in football, 
 cricket, and long-jumping. 
 
 In the International matches of this year Oxford was 
 represented by Tatham and 
 the captain for England, and 
 by Asher and the two Walkers 
 for Scotland. These two 
 brothers were two of the best 
 forwards that Oxford has ever 
 had. They were thorough pro- 
 ficients of the Scotch style of 
 scrummaging, which means 
 that they were the backbone 
 of every scrummage formed. 
 
 The Welsh match of this 
 year was against a North 
 team. W. R. Richardson 
 played for the North, and W. 
 F. Evans and C. P. Lewis for 
 Wales. Evans had been just 
 outside the Oxford team of 
 
 1879, and Lewis, who captained Wales for three years, 
 was an old Oxford blue, both for cricket and athletics. 
 
 For the season 1882-3 H. Vassall was elected to a 
 second term of office as captain, but as he w r as known 
 to be going down at Christmas, James Walker was 
 elected deputy-captain. 
 
 A. M. EVAXSOX. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Byrne A- Co.. 
 Richmond.) 
 
282 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Unfortunately he hurt his ankle badly in Scotland 
 after playing for Scotland v. Wales, and was therefore 
 unable to play in the following term, when Evanson 
 was made captain for the rest of the season, and Tatham 
 secretary. Ihe rest of the committee for this year were 
 Kichardson, Mackenzie, Strong, andAsher. 
 
 Great things were expected of the team before the 
 season began. Arthur Budd had written a magazine 
 article for the special benefit of the Oxford captain, 
 pointing out that there was no end to what might be 
 done, given good material and plenty of opportunities 
 for practice. Good material he certainly had, for 
 besides twelve of the last year's team, which was no 
 bad one, there were Wooldridge, Kindersley, Court, 
 Moore, F. C. Mackenzie, Squire, to pick from amongst 
 the forwards, Wade, Rotherham, and Tristram were 
 there ready to be brought out, and Lindsay had just 
 come up with a great reputation from Loretto, for 
 he had already played in East v. West as a schoolboy. 
 The workman must be bad indeed who could complain 
 of such tools as those. Budd's second requisite for 
 making a team invincible was constant practice, and 
 here again Oxford is specially favoured. With ex- 
 cellent grounds in the Parks close at hand, and crowds 
 of men ready to play six days a week if given a chance, 
 the difficulty was rather to stop them from getting too 
 much practice. The common thing was to play five 
 times a week ; one match, more rarely two, one " picked 
 fifteens," one college match and a couple of Association 
 college matches thrown in on off-days. In those days a 
 good many colleges could not put an Association and a 
 Rugby team on the field on the same day, consequently 
 there was a good deal of overlapping, and nearly all the 
 Rugby Blues used to play Association for their colleges, 
 just to keep their feet m at dribbling. The Rugby team 
 undoubtedly derived much benefit from this Association 
 practice, but the "picked fifteens" were the centre of 
 the whole system. There was great competition for a 
 place in them, which carried with it the right of wearing 
 the club jersey with the crown on it. The committee 
 took infinite pains in picking the sides, and the games 
 were as keen as games could be. Everybody with any 
 sort of a reputation, either from his school or from his 
 college, was given a chance of showing what he was 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 283 
 
 worth ; men were tried in new positions, three-quarters 
 were made into backs or forwards (as, for instance, J. R. 
 Deakin. who afterwards became captain of the Midland 
 Counties as a forward), and, most important point of all, 
 constant coaching was going on throughout the game. 
 The result was thoroughly good football and thoroughly 
 enjoyable football — far more useful to the team than the 
 minor foreign matches. These practice games gave the 
 committee a thorough knowledge of the play of all the 
 besi men in the 'Varsity, and made the task of picking 
 the 'Varsity team comparatively easy to them. They 
 also knew offhand who were the right men to play as 
 substitutes for any member of the team who might be 
 injured, or to fill up places in any visiting team which 
 came down short-handed. We must not omit to mention 
 that far the most valuable emergency man of the day 
 was W. E. W. Collins, the fast bowler, who, though too 
 senior to play against Cambridge, was always ready to 
 fill a vacant place, and so well did he till them that he 
 was once offered the position of full-back in the South 
 team, which his modesty alone made him decline. As 
 we were debarred by our rules from presenting the Blue 
 coat to anyone who did not actually play against Cam- 
 bridge, we gave him the club cap in recognition of his 
 services. Mention of the Blue coat reminds us that it 
 was in this term, when eight of our men had just been 
 picked to play for the South, that it occurred to T. H. 
 French, the Association captain, that it was a good 
 opportunity to claim the full Blue coat for the football 
 teams. He asked the Rugby captain to write the letter, 
 which was sent to A. R. Paterson, president of the 
 0. U. B. C, as the chief representative of existing Blues, 
 requesting him to convene a meeting of Blues representing 
 boating, cricket, and athletics, to consider the application 
 of the football clubs for admission to the sacred circle. 
 The football clubs undoubtedly had a strong case ; foot- 
 ball was by this time universally recognised as the 
 national winter game, Oxford football had always been 
 of a high standard and was now approaching its zenith ; 
 the time had therefore clearly come for putting it on a 
 level with the other three great branches of sport at the 
 University. The athletic men had been admitted to the 
 dignity of the Blue some years before, but not without 
 a somewhat heated controversy The football men were 
 
284 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 now admitted not only without opposition but with 
 cordiality and good grace. The committee which 
 admitted them to the fellowship of the Blue consisted 
 of three dons and four undergraduates. The dons were 
 Messrs. T. Case, C. N. Jackson, and W. W. Courtney, one 
 for each branch of sport ; and the undergraduates were 
 
 G. C. Harrison, E. T. Wells, 
 W. Cave, and the president, 
 A. R. Paterson. 
 
 The team improved 
 steadily all through the sea- 
 son ; only thirteen matches 
 were played, but they were 
 all won, and the score at the 
 end of the season was 28 
 goals and 26 tries against 
 1 goal and 2 tries. The two 
 tries were scored by Sand- 
 hurst in the first match of 
 the season, before the team 
 was properly together, and the 
 goal was dropped by a for- 
 ward for the Midland Coun- 
 ties in the last minute of the 
 match, which Oxford won by 6 goals and 1 try to 1 goal. 
 Ten of the Oxford goals were dropped by Cave, Lindsay, 
 Wade, and Rotherham, and the tries were scored by no less 
 than seventeen different men — a fact which will give some 
 idea of the extent to which passing was developed. It 
 was this development of the passing game which was 
 the keynote to the success of the team. Short passing 
 amongst the forwards had been adopted by other clubs 
 before this date ; but long passing, right across the 
 ground if necessary, was a thing hitherto unknown. 
 The team soon grasped the idea that passing, to be 
 successful, must be to the open, and they learnt very 
 quickly to back up in the open, and only to call for 
 passes when they were in a better position than the man 
 m possession. In this way they used to sweep the ball 
 from end to end of the ground time after time, passing 
 any length with such deadly accuracy that very often 
 the whole team handled the ball in less than two 
 minutes, and their opponents, who were not accustomed 
 to these novel tactics, were completely nonplussed. 
 
 A. E. PATERSOX. 
 
 (From a Phototjmph hn Hills db Saunders 
 Oxford.) 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 
 
 285 
 
 After the combined 'Varsities had beaten London, ten 
 of their men were picked for the South team, which 
 beat the North by 4 goals and 4 tries to nil; from 
 Cambridge their full-back, A. S. Taylor, and their grand 
 forward, H. 
 
 as 
 
 play 
 Evanson 
 
 if 
 
 G. 
 
 by 
 
 Wade, 
 and Wooldridge. 
 Asher, who was 
 strong claims to 
 
 Fuller, who fell into the Oxford style of 
 instinct, and from Oxford, Rotherham, 
 Vassall, Tatham, Strong, Kindersley, 
 We must not omit to mention that 
 already a Scotch International, had 
 be Don Wauchope's partner at half- 
 back for the combined team, but as the match was now 
 recognised as a trial for the South, the Oxford captain, 
 who knew what a treasure he had secured in Rotherham, 
 felt bound to give him his chance of showing the 
 authorities what ne was worth. The extraordinary thing 
 about Rotherham's sudden rise to the first rank is 
 that he came from Uppingham School, where in those 
 days they did not play Rugby Union rules, but mixed 
 rules of their own, one feature of which was that the 
 ball might never be picked up except on the first bound. 
 
 Wade's rise was quite as 
 sudden, but, to our shame 
 be it said, he had been in 
 Oxford a year before we 
 discovered him. From out- 
 side sources we heard that 
 there was a great Australian 
 player at Merton College, 
 called Wade ; at first we 
 were somewhat disinclined 
 to believe the report, as he 
 had not been near the Parks 
 the year before ; but when 
 we found that there was such 
 a man rowing in the Merton 
 
 an m- 
 
 (From a Photograph by Hills cfr Saunders, 
 Oxford.) 
 
 boat, we sent him 
 vitation to play in "picked 
 fifteens." We shall never 
 forget the curiosity with which we watched his first 
 appearance. He did not seem quite at home with the ball 
 at first, and his kicking was a little faulty ; but everybody 
 who tried to tackle him retired from the attempt 
 convinced that the rumour was true, and that we had 
 secured a wonder, who only wanted a little practice to 
 
286 BUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 make him into the best three-quarters of the day. 
 Against these discoveries must be set the loss of A. O. 
 M. Mackenzie, who broke his leg in the United Hospitals 
 match, and of E. L. Strong, whose injured knee alone 
 prevented him from getting in that year the International 
 cap, which he secured the year after. 
 
 In the Christinas vacation we suffered a still more 
 serious loss owing to J. G. Walker's accident, and when 
 the day finally came for the postponed 'Varsity match, 
 Paterson was rowing in the 'Varsity eight, and Evanson 
 and Cave had been injured in the Swinton match. 
 Cambridge had also lost their captain, Don Wauchope, 
 and others, so the match was robbed of much of its 
 interest. It ended in a narrow victory for Oxford (by a 
 clever try of Rotherham's to nil). 
 
 The team that played was : — 
 
 H. B. Tristram (back) ; G. C. Wade, G. C. Lindsay, C. P. Allen 
 (three-quarterbacks) ; A. Rotherham and A. G. Grant- Asher (half-backs) ; 
 H. Vassall (captain), W. M. Tatham, C. S. Wooldridge, R. S. Kindersley, 
 E. J. Moore, E. D. Court, G. F. Bradby, W. H. Squire, and F. C. 
 Mackenzie. 
 
 It is a noteworthy fact that there were twelve Inter- 
 nationals in Oxford at this time, and that four more of 
 this team became Internationals the year after. In 
 order to put a fifteen of Internationals on the field, we 
 should have had to play four three-quarters, a thing 
 then unknown ; but as a club team of Internationals is 
 unique, we put it down on paper : — 
 
 H. B. Tristram (back) ; G. C. Wade, A. M. Evanson, G. C. Lindsay, 
 C. P. Allen (three-quarters) ; A. Rotherham, A. G. Grant-Asher (half- 
 backs) ; H. Vassall, J. G. Walker, W. M. Tatham, R. S. Kindersley, 
 C. S. Wooldridge, E. L. Strong, E. J. Moore, E. D. Court, with W. 
 R. Richardson as umpire. 
 
 But even if none of the men had been injured, and if 
 four three-quarters had been the fashion, we should 
 never have played this team exactly as it stands, for it 
 does not include H. W. Cave (who, in spite of his bad 
 eyesight, was a better man on that year's play than 
 either Lindsay or Allen) and A. R. Paterson, who would 
 have been one of the first men picked for England if he 
 had been eligible. The Scotch authorities would not 
 hear of him for Scotland, and possibly they were right, 
 for the Scotch style of forward play was at that time 
 very different from the Oxford style, and Paterson had 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 287 
 
 not Walker's gift of adapting himself to both styles, but 
 at his own game he was hard to beat. The other four 
 Blues of that year,Bradby, Squire, and the two Mackenzies, 
 though they never became Internationals, were quite 
 sound players, fully worth their places. 
 
 Tristram had been improving all the season, and was 
 the first full-back who played for us in that position by 
 himself. He was not picked in the earlier big matches 
 because A. S. Taylor had a start of him in reputation, 
 but by the end of the season he was universally admitted 
 to be the best full-back in England, and he played in 
 that position against Scotland. 
 
 There were no less than seven of that year's Blues 
 who came from Loretto School — Walker, Paterson, 
 Asher, Tristram, Lindsay, and the two Mackenzies — a 
 wonderful record for a school of the size of Loretto. 
 Strong also came from a Scotch school, and Wade from 
 Australia — the rest were from English schools, Rugby 
 coming first with Cave, Allen, Court, Bradby, and Squire, 
 Marlborough next with Vassall and Tatham, so that the 
 two schools which practically monopolised the team ten 
 years previously, now only provided seven men between 
 them. Kindersley came from Clifton, Rotherham from 
 Uppingham, Evanson from Oundle, Moore from Epsom, 
 Richardson from Manchester, and Wooldridge from 
 Winchester. 
 
 Uppingham rules did bear some resemblance to 
 Rugby rules, but Winchester rules are absolutely sui 
 generis, and most Wykehamists took to Association on 
 leaving school, but the late G. W. Burton, of Blackheath, 
 had gained an International Rugby cap as a fast forward, 
 and Wooldridge was quite one of the best forwards of 
 his day. 
 
 The double Blues in this team were Kindersley and 
 Paterson, successive presidents of the O. U. B. C, Evanson, 
 who put the weight, Lindsay, who ran in the quarter, 
 and Walker, the cricketer; Asher's treble Blue has already 
 been mentioned. Some of them were to be seen rowing 
 for their colleges, such as Wooldridge, Mackenzie, Wade, 
 and Cave, for at this time it was still considered possible 
 to take up both rowing and football, though the breach 
 between the two was always widening, and of late years 
 has become rather marked, definite complaints being 
 heard .that football has robbed the river of much of its 
 
288 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 C. S. WOOLDRIDGE. 
 
 (From a Photograph b/i IT. 3T. Salmon, 
 
 Winchester.) 
 
 most promising material ; and as a matter of fact, the 
 only double Blue for rowing and football since the days 
 
 of Paterson and Kindersley 
 was C R. Carter in 1885. 
 We regret the quarrel, and 
 should be glad to see the 
 compromise of the early 
 eighties restored. It cer- 
 tainly worked with very 
 little friction then. 
 
 Besides all the Rugby 
 International caps, there was 
 a fair sprinkling of Associa- 
 tion ones about this time in 
 Oxford. The names of C. W. 
 Wilson, P. C. Parr,R. S. King, 
 and shortly afterwards of 
 Bromley J)avenport and 
 M. P. Walters, occur to one 
 as evidence that the football 
 Blue was handsomely earned in both branches of the 
 game. In the season 1883-4 W. M. Tatham was 
 elected captain, and A. G. Asher secretary. Strong, 
 Moore, Rotherham, Tristram and Wade completed the 
 committee. There were 13 
 old Blues available, and the 
 two new ones were C. W. 
 Berry from Loretto, who 
 became a Scotch Interna- 
 tional in the same year, and 
 R. E. Ingiis, a freshman from 
 Rugby School, who played 
 for England in 1886 ; so there 
 was no falling-off in the 
 quality of the material avail- 
 able for tilling up vacancies. 
 The natural result was that 
 under Tatham's captaincy 
 the team not onlymaintained 
 but considerably increased 
 its reputation. The record 
 for the season was twenty 
 matches won, one drawn, and none lost ; and the score, 
 48 goals and 44 tries, against 4 goals and 4 tries. The 
 
 E. S. KIXDEESLEY. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Hiile A Saunders, 
 Oxford.) 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 
 
 £9 
 
 E. J. MOORE. 
 
 (From a Photograph by C. Gilhnnn 
 Oxford.) 
 
 most noteworthy features of this eventful season were 
 the decisive defeat of Cambridge, the Northern tour, and 
 the Yorkshire match. 
 
 The team that played 
 against Cambridge, and beat 
 them by 3 goals and 4 tries 
 to 1 goal, was as follows : — 
 
 H. B. Tristram (back); G. C. 
 Wade, G. C. Lindsay, C. P. Allen 
 (three-quarters) ; A. Rotherham, 
 A. G. G. Asher (half-backs) ; W. M. 
 Tatham (captain), E. L. Strong, 
 R. S. Kindersley, E. J. Moore, E. D. 
 Court, C. W. Berry, W. H. Squire, 
 F. C. Mackenzie, and R. E. Inglis 
 {forwards). 
 
 Bradby was unable to play, 
 and Inglis took his place. 
 
 Immediately after the 
 North v. South match, Ox- 
 ford started on its first tour. 
 
 They played Manchester on the Monday, Liverpool on 
 the Tuesday, Glasgow Academicals on the Thursday, 
 and Edinburgh University on the Saturday — a very 
 fair week's work for any team. They whipped up a few 
 
 of the last year's Blues to 
 help them — namely, Walker, 
 Paterson, Evanson, and Wool- 
 dridge; but Walker hurt him- 
 self again in the first match, 
 and Evanson collapsed in the 
 second. In the two remain- 
 ing matches W. W. Ord came 
 to the rescue ; he was a useful 
 man, who could play in any 
 position, and who had often 
 filled a place in the 1882 
 team. Contrary to the ex- 
 pectation of some of his 
 friends, who thought that 
 he was trying to get too 
 much out of his men in a 
 week, Tatham returned vic- 
 torious, and well plea r ed to have wiped out the Edin- 
 burgh University defeat of 1881. At the beginning 
 
 (From a Photograph 1»/ Hills <£• Sounder. 
 Oxford.) 
 
290 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the Easter term the team was very nearly caught 
 napping by Gloucester County, who played them a drawn 
 game in vile weather, but nevertheless they felt justified 
 in challenging Yorkshire County at the close of the 
 season. Yorkshire had not been beaten for three seasons, 
 and a tremendous amount of interest was taken in the 
 meeting of the two unbeaten teams of the day. In order 
 to take a gate the match was played on the 'Varsity 
 Running Ground in Iffley Road, and there were 6,000 
 spectators, who were rewarded by seeing one of the 
 keenest and most even matches ever played. There was 
 no score in the first half, but soon after change of ends 
 Wooldridge secured the ball from a line out and passed 
 to Rotherham, who dashed in, and Berry turned the try 
 into a goal ; and Oxford eventually won by this goal 
 to nothing. Asher and Rotherham were the heroes of 
 the day — in fact, Asher probably never played better in 
 his life than he did in this match — Tatham, Kindersley, 
 Wooldridge, and Court were most prominent among the 
 forwards ; and for Yorkshire, Bonsor, Wiggles worth, 
 Fallas, Hutchinson, and the captain, G. T. Thomson, 
 distinguished themselves especially. Eleven of this 
 year's Oxford team were Internationals, viz., all the 
 backs (Tristram, Wade, Lindsay, Allen, Rotherham, and 
 Asher) and five of the forwards (Tatham, Strong, Kin- 
 dersley, Berry, and Moore). In the next season, 1884-5, 
 A. G. G. Asher was elected captain, A. Rotherham sec- 
 retary, and the committee was filled up by Berry, Cave, 
 Lindsay, and Squire. Cave had to give up the game 
 this season, but his place was immediately filled by yet 
 another acquisition from Loretto in the person of A. S. 
 Blair, who soon proved himself fit to play in the wonder- 
 ful company of backs in which he found himself — namely, 
 Asher, Rotherham, Tristram, Wade, and Lindsay. He 
 was very fast, as was proved by his winning the quarter 
 for Oxford at Lillie Bridge in 1885; and if his football 
 career had not been cut short by an injury to his knee 
 early in the ensuing season, he would probably have 
 played for Scotland. As it was, he had to content 
 himself with serving them as secretary, and it was he 
 who conducted the case for Scotland through all the 
 troublous times of the International dispute. 
 
 In this year, then, Oxford was stronger than ever 
 behind, but there was a sad falling-off amongst the 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 291 
 
 forwards. By the time of the ' Varsity match only three 
 of the old forwards (Berry, Squire, and Inglis) were avail- 
 able, and the new ones were of a different class 
 altogether — indeed, some of them were quite bad players, 
 and to this fact the ultimate downfall of the team was 
 due. Their backs pulled them through most of their 
 matches pretty easily, though there were two drawn 
 games before Christmas, those against Manchester and 
 Bradford. Bradford was one of the strongest clubs in 
 the country this year, and made a bold bid to lower the 
 Oxford colours ; but, fortunately for Oxford, three of the 
 old forwards were able to play on that day, namely, Kin- 
 dersley, Moore, and Court, the last of whom was in his 
 best form that year, and played for England later on in 
 the season. 
 
 The 'Varsity match of this year was remarkable as an 
 exception to the rule that backs cannot win a match 
 if their forwards are hopelessly beaten. The Oxford 
 forwards made no stand at all against the Cambridge 
 ones. They were simply pushed all over the field and 
 yet Oxford won by 3 goals and a try to a try ; besides 
 which, Wade and Lindsay both so nearly dropped goals 
 that in each case the ball hit the post. This result can, 
 of course, only be attributed to the exceptional excellence 
 of the Oxford backs. At least four of them (Tristram, 
 Wade, Rotherham, and Asher) were perfect in their 
 respective positions, and the other two (Lindsay and Blair) 
 were in their very best form. Rotherham and Asher on 
 that day stood the hardest test that can be applied to 
 half-backs, that of finding openings for your three- 
 quarters when your forwards are being rushed. It was 
 more than mortal man could do to stop Wade when he 
 meant business, as he did that day; and whenever Cam- 
 bridge did get the ball past the Oxford three-quarters, 
 they still had to deal with Tristram, who was as safe 
 as a house. 
 
 The Oxford team was : — 
 
 H. B. Tristram (back) ; G. C. Wade, G. C. Lindsay, A. S. Blair (three- 
 quarters) ; A. G. G. Asher (captain), A. Rotherham. (half-backs) ; W. H. 
 Squire, C. W. Berry, R. E. Inglis, B. A. Cohen, A. B. Turner, P. Coles, 
 H. V. Page, A. McNeill, and R. C. Kitto (forwards). 
 
 Of the new men, McNeill and Kitto came from 
 Loretto as well as Blair ; Cohen and Coles came from 
 Rugby, Turner from Marlborough, and Page from 
 T2 
 
292 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Cheltenham. McNeill was president of athletics at the 
 time, and Page afterwards became captain of cricket. 
 
 Oxford began the next term with three wins, and 
 then came their Black Monday, February the 9th, when 
 •they were beaten by Edinburgh University by a try to 
 nil. The Scotch forwards were far too cunning to try to 
 rush the scrummages, as Cambridge had done. They 
 simply kept the ball tight, and the game was a long succes- 
 sion of scrummages. If the Oxford forwards had done 
 nothing more than keep it loose, their backs would have 
 won this match also ; but they were never given half a 
 chance of doing so, and Oxford had to taste defeat for 
 the first time for over three years. During that time 
 they had played 56 matches, won 50 and drawn 6, and 
 had scored 108 goals and 101 tries against 8 goals and 
 9 tries. 
 
 In the season 1885-6 G. C. Lindsay was elected 
 captain, and A. S. Blair secretary, the places on com- 
 mittee being filled by G. F. Bradby, P. Coles, H. V. Page, 
 and R. C. Kitto. In this season Oxford had to make a 
 fresh start, as all the members of the 1882 and 1883 
 teams had gone down except the new captain G. C. 
 Lindsay ; and G. F. Bradby and Coles, Page, and Kitto 
 were the only other old Blues available, as Blair dis- 
 located his knee in the first match. It was, therefore, 
 no light task that Lindsay had before him — to form a 
 team worthy 'to uphold the reputation gained for Oxford 
 by the teams of the last four years, especially as Cam- 
 bridge were known to be leaving no stone unturned in 
 their efforts to break the run of Oxford victories. 
 
 By the time of the 'Varsity match Cambridge had 
 been beaten by Blackheath and Richmond, and Oxford 
 by Richmond and South Wales, but, unfortunately, 
 Oxford lost their best half-back, the Marlburian, R. R. 
 Mangin, who broke his collar-bone in the London Welsh 
 match. He had played so well for the combined 
 'Varsities v. London that but for this accident he would 
 certainly ha\~e been picked for the South team of this 
 year. 
 
 The team that played against Cambridge was : — 
 
 J. G. B. Sutherland (Fettes) (back) ; G. C. Lindsay (Loretto) 
 (captain), J. R. Wordsworth (Glenalmond), K. J. Key (Clifton) (three- 
 quarter backs) ; E. A. Surtees (Haileybury), J. D. Hall (New Zealand) 
 (half-backs) ; G. F. Bradby (Rugby), P. Coles (Rugby), R. C. Kitto 
 (Loretto), H. V. Page (Cheltenham), F. C. Cousins (Finchley), P. H. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 293 
 
 Blyth (Loretto), C. R. Carter (Cheltenham), J. D. Boswell (Loretto), 
 C. R Cleveland (Finchley) (forwards). 
 
 An unusual proportion of this team became school- 
 masters ; Bradby and Page are back at their old schools, 
 Surtees at Repton, Carter, the rowing Blue, at Welling- 
 ton, and Kitto at Llandovery. 
 
 Cambridge won the match by two tries, scored by 
 Brutton and Leake, to nil, and thus started a series of 
 victories which lasted until 1889, or just as long as the 
 previous run of Oxford wins. 
 
 Immediately after the 'Varsity match the Oxford 
 team started on their second northern tour, on which 
 they had the satisfaction of beating Edinburgh 
 University with their ordinary team — a victory chiefly 
 due to Lindsay, who dropped a goal and scored a try. 
 They were beaten by the West of Scotland, then, as 
 usual, the champion team of Scotland, by 2 tries to 
 1, and then they came back to England and defeated 
 the famous Bradford team by 2 tries to nil ; but it is 
 only fair to state that for this match Oxford had enlisted 
 the services of the old Blues, Tristram, Wade, Bother- 
 ham, and Inglis, without whose assistance they could 
 hardly have hoped to win. On the next day West 
 Cheshire scored a lucky win by a dropped goal to nil, 
 but no more matches were lost this season, at the end of 
 which Lindsay and Brutton agreed to a rule, which 
 ought to have been passed long before, to exclude fifth- 
 year men from the 'Varsity match. In the following 
 season, 1886-7, P. Coles was elected captain and R. C. 
 Kitto secretary ; the committee consisted of P. H. Blyth, 
 F. C. Cousins, J. D. Boswell, and C. R. Cleveland. They 
 took a very wise step in securing the services of C. N . 
 Jackson of Hertford College as permanent treasurer for 
 the club ; and they passed a rule that no member of the 
 team should be allowed to miss a club match for any 
 other except an International, to which Champion 
 County matches have now been added, on the application 
 of L. J. Percival for leave to play for the Midland 
 Counties v. Yorkshire. 
 
 Actual residence with a four years' limit was now 
 made the qualification for the 'Varsity match, and the 
 season opened with an excellent innovation in the shape 
 of a freshmen's match on the lines of the freshmen's 
 match at cricket. 
 
294 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The season was not a very successful one, as, although 
 thirteen matches were won, including two on tour in 
 Ireland against the Wanderers and Lansdowne, several 
 of the most important matches at Oxford were lost, and 
 Cambridge won at Blackheath by three tries to nil. 
 
 Team.—K. J. Key (Clifton) (back); J. D. Hall (New Zealand), 
 P. Christopherson (Bedford), M. H. O. Ewing (Finchley) (three- quarter 
 backs) ; L. R. Paterson (Keble), A. P. Koe (Haileybury) (half-backs) ; 
 P. Coles (Rugby) (captain), R. C. Kitto (Loretto), F. C. Cousins (Finch- 
 ley), C. R. Cleveland (Finchley), P. H. Blyth (Loretto). N. F. Hender- 
 son (Dulwich), J. D. Boswell (Loretto), H. H. Castens (Rugby), R. M. C. 
 Harvey (Marlborough) (forwards). 
 
 PASSING THE BALL. 
 
 (From an Instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 Of these Cleveland, who was one of the best forwards 
 ever produced by Oxford, played in all the International 
 matches of the year, and as this was the last appearance 
 of Henderson, it must be mentioned here that he played 
 for Scotland five years later. 
 
 In the following season, 1887-8, R. C. Kitto was 
 elected captain ; J. D. Boswell, the future Scotch Inter- 
 national, secretary ; and Castens, Christopherson, and 
 Harvey to the committee. 
 
 Oxford had a much better record this year than 
 in the tAvo preceding ones ; no matches were lost 
 before the Cambridge match, and the only one lost after 
 it was that against Bradford at Bradford. 
 
 The brilliant successes of the Christmas term had led 
 us to hope for a victory over Cambridge ; but when the 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 295 
 
 time came, Scott and Duncan proved far too good, and 
 Oxford was badly beaten by a goal and 2 tries to 
 nil. The team was : — 
 
 W. llashleigh (Tonbridge) (back) ; P. Christopherson (Bedford), 
 C. J. N.Fleming (Fettes\ J. B. Sayer (Finchley) (three-quarterbacks); 
 W. G. Wilson (York), L. R. Paterson (Loretto) (half-backs); R. C. 
 Kitto (Loretto) (captain), J. D. Boswell (Loretto), H. H. Castens 
 (Rugby), J. M. Glubb (Bedford), E. P. Simpson (Wellington), D. \Y. 
 Evans (Llandovery), R. O. B. Lane (Marlborough), C. C. Bradford 
 (Clifton), R. D. Budworth (Brecon) (forwards). 
 
 In this team it should be noted that Rashleigh 
 succeeded Key at full-back, and that since the time of 
 these famous cricketers there have been no double 
 Blues of any sort in the Oxford Rugby teams up to the 
 present date. 
 
 There were no English International matches in this 
 year, but Castens played for the South v. the North, and 
 he turned out for the Cape against the English team that 
 went out there in 1891. 
 
 But for the 'Varsity match itself the committee had 
 every reason to be satisfied with the team they had 
 selected ; but it must always stand recorded against 
 them that they entirely failed to discover the merits of 
 P. Evershed as a forward. He used to play three- 
 quarters for his college, and they tried him in that 
 position for the next twenty against the first fifteen at 
 the beginning of the season, but that was all. The next 
 season he came to live at Burton, and was soon found to 
 have the makings of a first-class forward in him. He 
 played for England against the Maoris in that yesiT, and 
 by 1890 he was the best forward in England. 
 
 In the season 1888-9 the officers elected were P. 
 Christopherson (captain), D. W. Evans (secretary), R. O. 
 B. Lane, W. Rashleigh, and W. G. Wilson (committee- 
 men). The team showed very in-and-out form up to 
 Christmas, after which every match was won, but before 
 Christmas they had lost as many matches as they had 
 won — a record unprecedented in the annals of Oxford 
 football, and due in part to the fact that they played far 
 too many matches and consequently not enough " picked 
 fifteens." Some of their victories, however, had been 
 quite as startling as their defeats. Both Oxford and 
 Cambridge had played drawn games with the London 
 Scottish, then the champion team of the South, and 
 Oxford had beaten Bradford, whereas Cambridge had 
 
296 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 just been beaten by them ; but all who had hopes of 
 winning the 'Varsity match were doomed to be disap- 
 pointed once more at Queen's Club, where Cambridge 
 won by a goal and 2 tries to nil. The team was : — 
 
 W. Rashleigh (Tonbridge) (back) ; C. J.N. Fleming (Fettes), P. 
 Christopherson (Bedford) (captain), A. R. Lewis (Christ's Hospital) 
 (three-quarterbacks); R. F. C. de Winton (Marlborough), F. Morgan 
 (Llandovery) (half-backs) ; D. W. Evans (Llandovery), R. O. B. Lane 
 (Marlborough), R. D. Budworth (Brecon), J. B. Aldridge (Malvern), J. 
 H. G. Wilson (York), E. H. G. North (Blackheath) , T. Parker (Dur- 
 ham), R. S. Hunter (Fettes), W. T. Grenfell (Marlborough) (forwards). 
 
 It is noticeable that there was not a single Lorettonian 
 in the team for the first time for ten years. 
 
 Once more there were no English International 
 matches, but D. W. Evans played for Wales, and P. 
 Christopherson played for the South. 
 
 In the following season, 1889-90, the following officers 
 were elected : — R. 0. B. Lane (captain), R. D. Budworth 
 (secretary), C. J. N. Fleming, E. G. North, J. H. G. 
 Wilson (committee). 
 
 Exceptional interest was taken in the 'Varsity match 
 of this year, because the number of wins Avas now equal, 
 and Cambridge had won for the last four years in 
 succession. The freshmen's match did not produce 
 much talent, Cochran of Loretto being the only fresh- 
 man to secure a place in the team, but there were plenty 
 of good men over from the year before, such as Percival, 
 Bromet, Kay, Coventry, and Clauss, to fill up the 
 vacancies in the team, and the committee spared no 
 effort to produce a good team. On the day of the match 
 both sides expected to win, but the Oxford forwards 
 carried all before them, and Coventry played better than 
 he had ever played in his life before. Percival scored a 
 try in the first half, from which Fleming placed a goal, 
 and De Winton scored another just before time; and 
 Oxford thus won a more decisive victory than her 
 keenest supporters had dared to hope for. The team 
 was : — 
 
 P. Cochran (Loretto) (back) ; C. J. N. Fleming (Fettes), P. R. Clauss 
 (Loretto), J. 8. Longdon (Brecon) (three-quarter backs); R. F. de 
 Winton (Marlborough), R. G. Coventry (Hereford) (half-backs) ; R. O. 
 B. Lane (Marlborough) (captain), R. I). Budworth (Brecon), E. H. G. 
 North (Blackheath), J. H. G. Wilson (York), R. S. Hunter (Fettes), L. 
 J. Percival (Clifton), W. E. Bromet (Richmond), A. M. Paterson 
 (Loretto), A. R. Kay (Fettes) (forwards). 
 
KUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 297 
 
 After the match Oxford started on a disastrous tour in 
 South Wales, which quite spoilt their record for the 
 season, as every single match of it was lost. Four 
 matches in a week is hard work for any team, and in 
 this case an exceptional number of the men were 
 injured, and Budworth and Lane had to go to Manchester 
 for the South v. North match. This tour should serve 
 as a warning to future secretaries not to arrange too 
 large a programme, and to avoid playing matches on 
 consecutive days. Apart from this tour Oxford lost 
 only two matches in the season (those against Black- 
 heath and the Harlequins), and won eighteen. 
 
 The Oxford men playing in the International matches 
 of the year were Budworth and Evershed for England, 
 Boswell for Scotland, and Evans for Wales. 
 
 In the ensuing season, 1890-1, the following officers 
 were elected : — C. J. N. Fleming (captain), E. H. G. 
 North (secretary), J. H. G. Wilson, R. S. Hunter, R. F. 
 C. de Winton (committee), and after Christmas, P. R. 
 Clauss (secretary). None of the men who played in the 
 Freshmen's match secured their Blue in this year, but 
 there were eleven Old Blues in residence and plenty of 
 good men amongst the seniors such as Bonham-Carter, 
 Rice-Evans, Wilson, and Caddell. 
 
 It soon became evident that the team of this year 
 was an unusually good one, and when the time came for 
 North v. South, the Rugby Union committee selected 
 no less than five of the Oxford forwards, viz., North, 
 Percival, Bonham-Carter, Kay, and Wilson, for the 
 South, and would have selected a sixth, Caddell, if he 
 had been an Englishman by birth. Of these, North, 
 Percival, and Bonham-Carter secured International caps, 
 whilst Rice-Evans played for Wales, and Clauss for 
 Scotland. Percival was injured at the time of the Scotch 
 match, in which Clauss scored the first goal for Scot- 
 land by a neat drop, and in which Fleming was to have 
 played if Gregor McGregor had been too unwell to turn out. 
 
 The 'Varsity match was not played until March 3rd, 
 as it had to be postponed no less than three times, on 
 account of the fogs which prevail at Queen's Club. On 
 one occasion we believe that Queen's Club was the only 
 ground in London from which the fog did not lift. The 
 match proved as uninteresting as it always has done when 
 postponed, and ended in an even draw of 1 goal each. 
 
298 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The team, for which Percival and Cochran were unable 
 to play, was as follows : — 
 
 F. J. Cowlishaw (Rugby) (back) ; C. J. N. Fleming (Fettes) (captain), 
 P. R. Clauss (Loretto), W. H. Parkin (Sedburgh) (three-quarter backs) ; 
 R. F. C. de Winton (Marlborough), R. G. Coventry (Hereford) (half- 
 backs) ; E. H. G. North (Blackheath), J. H. G. Wilson (York), A. R. Kay 
 (Fettes), A. M. Paterson (Loretto), E. Bonham-Carter (Clifton), W. 
 Rice-Evans (Llandovery), S. E. Wilson (Liverpool), P. R. Cadell (Hailey- 
 bury), and R. W. Hunt (forwards). 
 
 For the season 1891-2 the following officers were 
 elected : — P. R. Clauss (captain), L. J. Percival (secretary), 
 A. R. Kay, R. G. T. Coventry, and P. Cochran (committee). 
 
 There were seven Old Blues available, of whom three 
 were Internationals. Fleming's place was taken by 
 Conway- Rees, who became a W elsh International in the 
 course of the year, and De Winton's place was tilled by 
 Wilkinson, who succeeded at last in playing through the 
 season without getting injured. Carey, of Sherborne, was the 
 only Freshman to secure a place, though Robson, of Edin- 
 burgh Academy, played in most of the preliminary matches. 
 
 Wakefield, of Charterhouse, shares with Aldridge, of 
 Malvern, and Wooldridge, of Winchester, the distinction 
 of getting a Rugby football blue without having been at 
 a Rugby union school. 
 
 The season opened badly with defeats by the London 
 Scottish and the Old Merchant Taylors, who have always 
 proved a thorn in the side of Oxford ; but the form 
 shown in the Blackheath match at Blackheath was so 
 good that confident hopes were entertained of a victory 
 over Cambridge. The hero of the Blackheath match 
 was Percival, who played a first-class game throughout, 
 and wound up with a rush all down the ground, and a 
 punt over the full-back's head and a try. When the 
 'Varsity match came off, the Oxford forwards proved 
 themselves superior to their opponents in the first half, 
 but they played the wrong game and lost the match. 
 They wore themselves out by tight scrummaging, and 
 were unable to prevent Fforde and Neilson from running 
 in in the second half. Cambridge thus drew level with 
 Oxford once more in the score of wins, and in that 
 interesting position we must leave them to fight it out 
 in years to come. 
 
 The team was as follows : — 
 
 P. Cochran (Loretto) (back); P. R. Clauss (Loretto) (captain), J. Conway- 
 Rees (Llandovery), J. F. Cowlishaw (Rugby) (three-quarterbacks); R. G. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT OXFORD. 
 
 299 
 
 Coventry (Hereford), W. E. Wilkinson (Durham) (half-backs); L. J. 
 Pereival (Clifton), E. Bonham- Carter (Clifton), A. R. Kav (Fettes), F. O. 
 Poole (Cheltenham), G. F. Cookson (Clifton), C. G. Baker (Sherborne), 
 G. M. Carey (Sherborne), W. H. Wakefield (Charterhouse), E. Selby 
 (Sedburgh) (forwards). 
 
 We append a complete list of Oxford Internationals 
 in order of seniority of play : — 
 
 A. Davenport (Rugby). 
 
 W. 0. Moberly (Rugby). 
 
 F. W. Isherwood (Rugby). 
 
 H. Freeman (Marlborough). 
 
 C. W. Boyle (Clifton). 
 
 E. R. Still (Rugby). 
 
 W. R. B. Fletcher (Marlborough). 
 
 M. J. Brooks (Rugby). 
 
 C. W. Crosse (Rugbv). 
 
 A. T. Mitchell (Rugby). 
 
 E. H. Nash (Rugby). 
 
 E. C. Fraser (Blackheath). 
 A. H. Heath (Clifton). 
 
 F. H. Lee (Marlborough). 
 W. H. Bolton (Rugby). 
 H. Fowler (Clifton). 
 
 H. D. Bateson (Rugby). 
 
 C. Phillips (Rugby). 
 
 J. Ravenscroft (Rugby). 
 
 H. Vassall (Marlborough). 
 
 W. R. Richardson (Manchester). 
 
 E. Peake (Marlborough). 
 
 L. Watkins (Sherborne). 
 
 C. P. Lewis (Llandovery). 
 
 W. F. Evans (Sherborne). 
 
 P. A. Newton (Blackheath). 
 
 W. M. Tatham (Marlborough). 
 
 A. Walker (Loretto). 
 
 J. G. Walker (Loretto). 
 
 A. G. Grant-Asher (Loretto). 
 
 H. B. Tristram (Loretto). 
 
 A. M. Evanson (Oundle). 
 
 G. C. Wade (Paramatta). 
 
 A. Rotherham (Uppingham). 
 
 C. S. Wooldridge (Winchester). 
 
 E. J. Moore (Epsom). 
 
 R. S. Kindersley (Clifton). 
 
 E.L. Strong (Edinburgh Academv). 
 
 C. P. Allen (Rugby). 
 
 G. C. Lindsay (Loretto). 
 
 C. W. Berry (Loretto). 
 
 E. D. Court (Rugby). 
 R. E. Inglis (Rugby). 
 
 C. R. Cleveland (Fmchl 
 
 F. Evershed (Burton). 
 
 D. W. Evans (Llandove 
 J. D. Boswell (Loretto). 
 R. D. Budworth (Brecon) 
 P. R. Clauss (Loretto). 
 
 E. G. North (Blackheath). 
 W. E. Bromet (Bradford). 
 W. Rice-Evans (Llandovery). 
 P. Christopherson (Bedford). 
 L. J. Pereival (Clifton). 
 E. Bonham-Carter (Clifton). 
 N. F. Henderson (Dulwich). 
 J. Conway-Rees (Llandovery) 
 
 
 Also a list of those members of Rugby football teams 
 who have represented Oxford in any other branch of 
 sport : — 
 
 W. H. Game (Sherborne), cricket. 
 H. Russell, athletics. 
 M. J. Brooks (Rugby), athletics. 
 M. Shearman (Merchant Taylors), 
 
 athletics. 
 A. H. Heath (Clifton), cricket. 
 H. Fowler (Clifton), cricket. 
 E. T.. Hirst (Rugby), cricket. 
 A. H. Evans (Clifton), cricket. 
 R. L. Knight (Clifton), cricket. 
 N. Maclachlan (Loretto), cricket. 
 A. R. Paterson (Loretto), rowing. 
 J. G. Walker (Loretto), cricket. 
 C. F. H. Leslie (Rugby), cricket 
 
 and rackets. 
 
 R. S. Kindersley (Clifton), rowing. 
 A. M. Evanson (Oundle), athletics. 
 M. B. Peacock (Wellington), 
 
 athletics. 
 A. McNiel (Loretto), athletics. 
 A. G. Grant-Asher (Loretto), cricket 
 
 and athletics. 
 H. V. Page (Cheltenham), cricket. 
 A. S. Blair (Loretto), athletics. 
 G. C. Lindsay (Loretto), athletics. 
 C. R. Carter (Cheltenham), rowing. 
 K. J. Key (Clifton), cricket. 
 W. Rashleigh (Tonbridge), cricket. 
 
CHAPTER XVI, 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 By C. J. B. Marriott. 
 (Late Captain or Cambridge University F.C.) 
 
 IN 1861 a few old Rugby boys started their favourite 
 game at Cambridge, and were looked upon as little 
 less than madmen by the majority of Can tabs of that day. 
 This we have on the authority of an old Rugbeian, a 
 near relative, then resident at Cambridge, but now, 
 unhappily, deceased. The great athletic revival was 
 then beginning, to spread over the kingdom, and in spite 
 of the ridicule bestowed on it at Cambridge as being 
 only fit for boys (the same argument, by the way, was 
 urged against having Inter-' Varsity athletic sports), 
 football made considerable headway and the number ol 
 
 ? layers increased. In some of the first games played on 
 'arker's Piece the spectators, from a misapprehension 
 that the players were fighting, rushed on the ground 
 to part the contestants. Soon other old public school 
 men resident at Cambridge took up the sport, and in 1863 
 representatives of the different large schools met to 
 arrange rules which should unite them all under one 
 governing code. 
 
 Of the committee appointed to draw up these rules, 
 the Rev. R. Burn, of Shrewsbury School, was chairman. 
 Eton was represented by R. H. Blake-Humfrey and 
 W. F. Trench ; Rugby by W. R. Collyer and M. F. Martin ; 
 Harrow by J. F. Prior and H. R. Williams ; Marlborough 
 by W. P. Crawley; Westminster by W. S. Wright. From 
 Mr. Alcocks's admirable handbook on the Association 
 game we learn that these rules allowed a player touching 
 the ball down behind the opposite line a free kick twenty- 
 five yards straight out from the goal line. Though there 
 was no mention of running with the ball, there was 
 
BUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 301 
 
 a stipulation allowing charging; but holding, pushing 
 with the hands, tripping up, and running were strictly 
 forbidden. 
 
 These Cambridge rules were shortly afterwards dis- 
 cussed at a general meeting of football men in London, 
 and held by the metropolitan players to be, with a few 
 alterations, worthy of adoption as embracing the true 
 principles of the game with the greatest simplicity. As 
 is well known, however, the Blackheath Club would not 
 assent to the elimination of so many of the peculiar 
 features of their game, and it was mainly on account of 
 the Cambridge rules that they and their followers 
 seceded from the Football Association. 
 
 This led those educated under the Rugby code to 
 adhere to it at Cambridge, and the breach between the 
 two games was further widened by the Cambridge 
 Association being unable to get on a match with the 
 Football Association unless they adopted the rules of 
 the latter body. Things went on in this unsatisfactory 
 condition until 1872, when a meeting was held in the 
 rooms of the late R. P. Luscombe at Clare College to dis- 
 cuss the advisability of adopting the Rugby Union rules 
 and bye-laws by those players who followed the carrying 
 game at Cambridge. The outcome of this meeting was 
 the formation of the Cambridge Rugby Union Club, and 
 the adoption of the rules formulated by the Rugby 
 Union in 1871. Among others who attended the meet- 
 ing was R. S. Whalley, now a prominent member of the 
 Union executive, then an undergraduate. Whalley 
 played in several of the early matches for Cam- 
 bridge before the Oxford match was instituted, and was 
 instrumental with several others in obtaining possession 
 of the field still known as the Amalgamation Ground. 
 The University matches were, however, chiefly played on 
 Parker's Piece before a mere handful of spectators. 
 One of the first, if not the very first, matches 
 played by the Cambridge University Rugby Union 
 Football Club was against the United Hospitals. Un- 
 fortunately the books containing list of members, early 
 meetings, etc., have, in passing through so many different 
 hands, disappeared. This is much to be regretted. 
 
 Next season, 1873-74, the game had made such 
 progress at both Universities that a match was arranged 
 between them. This duly came off at the Oval on 
 
THE CAMBRIDGE UNIVERSITY RUGBY TEAM, 1886-87. 
 (From a Photograph by Hills & Saunders, Cambridge. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 303 
 
 December 3rd, and resulted in a draw, 1 try-all — a 
 surprise, as Oxford were expected to win easily. Twenty 
 aside took part in the game, an account of which we 
 reproduce from a contemporary report : — 
 
 "The play consisted chiefly in tight scrummages. For the first 
 quarter of an hour the Oxford men had the better of the game, and 
 A. T. Mitchell had a shot at goal from a fair catch after scrummaging 
 right on the Cambridge line. W. H. Game then all but got over after a 
 fine run, falling close to the goal post ; but at length a fine drop by 
 J. M. Batten, the Cambridge captain, who played back, relieved his side 
 from the Oxford attack. Cambridge then gradually gained ground and 
 got to the Oxford line, where Batten, having the ball passed to him, 
 scored a try ; his kick at goal, however, failed. After half-time Oxford, 
 with a very slight wind in their favour, carried the scrummages, and 
 by slow stages got to the Cambridge line. Here Mitchell got over. 
 Moberley took the place, but failed to register a goal — the ball rolling. 
 Nothing further was scored by either side, and the game ended in a 
 draw of 1 try each, Cambridge having touched down twice. For the 
 dark blues Moberley, Vecqueray, and Mitchell, back, and Still, forward, 
 played well. For Cambridge Riley at half was best ; while Lewthwaite, 
 Baxter, Wace, and Margerison played well forward. We append a 
 list of the Cambridge team :— G. W. Agnew, W. Lewthwaite, A. Baxter, 
 R. Margerison, D. Pearce, A. S. Forbes, E. R. Dalton, J. W, Chapman, 
 J. Hornby, G-. A. Lewis, J. Bonham-Carter, H. Wace, W. Fairbanks, 
 and another— for wards ; H. Riley and R. P. Luscombe, half-backs ; 
 A. F. Smith, three-quarter back ; H. A. Hamilton, W. G. Mitchell, and 
 J. M. Batten (captain) , backs. " (E. T. Gurdon's name always appears in 
 all accounts of this match as one of the team. This is an error, as, owing 
 to defective train service, Gurdon, though all ready dressed for play, ap- 
 peared on the ground too late to take part in the game. The name of his 
 substitute has not been handed dowm.) 
 
 In 1874 the Oxford match again resulted in a draw. 
 J. M. Batten, the old Haileyburian, for the second 
 season captained the Cambridge team. The team was 
 as under : — 
 
 J. M. Batten (captain), A. Jameson, and A. R. Lewis, backs ; J. W. 
 Loxdale and R. P. Luscombe, half-backs ; W. Fairbanks, three-quarter 
 back ; R. Bealey, H. A. Bull, E. R. Dalton, E. T. Gurdon, A. Hopkins, 
 J. Hornby, A. W. Moore, D. Pearce, W. Raikes, D. B. Roffey, A. F. 
 Smith, C. J. C. Touzell, H. Wace, and A. Williams. (Of these, J. M. 
 Batten obtained his International cap against Scotland, and was the first 
 Cambridge man to obtain this distinction.) 
 
 Next season, 1875-76, the Oxford men were too strong 
 for the Light Blues, and won the 'Varsity match by a 
 try to nil. Though the Rugby Union authorities still 
 adhered to 20 a-side in International matches, the 
 'Varsities, finding how much more open and interesting 
 the game became if played by 15 aside, took the initiative, 
 and this season reduced their teams to that number. 
 Only one three-quarter back was played, thus allowing 
 
304 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 10 men forward. E. T. Gurdon succeeded his fellow- 
 Haileyburian. J. M. Batten, as captain of the team, which 
 was constituted as follows : — 
 
 W. G. Mitchell, A. R. Lewis, "backs ; W. L. T. Dalton, three-quarter 
 hack ; L. T. Williams and D. B. Roffey, half-backs ; E. T. Gurdon, 
 (captain), G. A. Lewis, C. M. Agnew, W. J. Darch, H. H. Child, R. 
 Steward, W. H. Blake, C. J. C. Touzell, H. A. Bull, and J. Allen, 
 forwards. 
 
 In 1876-77 Cambridge had a powerful team. E. Tr 
 Gurdon again filled the position of captain. Another 
 
 conspicuous member of this 
 year's fifteen was R. T. Finch, 
 an old Sherborne boy. For 
 four successive years this 
 player was invaluable at 
 half-back, and his dodging 
 powers, which were especially 
 dangerous on a wet ground, 
 were long remembered by 
 habitues of Parker's Piece. 
 C. J. C. Touzell was the most 
 brilliant of the forwards, and 
 obtained his English cap. 
 The then powerful Ravens- 
 court Park were defeated by 
 a goal ; but Blackheath, by 
 kicking a goal, won by that 
 amount to 2 tries. The 
 Inter-University match was played at the Oval on 
 December 11th, and won easily by Cambridge by a goal 
 (kicked by Mitchell from a try by Finch) and 2 tries 
 (gained by Finch and Allen) to nothing. Oxford showed 
 but little dash, and the Light Blues were decidedly the 
 better team all round. Lee for Oxford played well, while 
 Finch's dodgy running, and Gurdon's forward play, were 
 conspicuous on the winning side. 
 
 Team.— W. G. Mitchell and P. H. Clifford, hacks; L. Dalton, three- 
 quarter -hack ; R. T. Finch, A. Williams, half-backs ; E. T. Gurdon 
 (captain), H. H. Child, C. M. Agnew, S. R. James, H. R Clayton, 
 J. Hornby, R. Steward, C. J. C. Touzell, W. L. Agnew, J. Allen, 
 forwards. 
 
 The team in 1877-78 was not nearly so strong as in 
 the previous season — no less than ten vacancies having 
 to be filled up. Among others, D. Q. Steel, the cricketer, 
 who also represented Cambridge in the Association match, 
 
 E. T. FINCH. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Witcome &• Son, 
 
 Salisbury.) 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 305 
 
 played, as did C. Gurdon, the oarsman. The match 
 with Oxford took place at the Oval on December 12th, 
 1877, the ground being in fair order for running and 
 dropping. Oxford had the better backs, and, playing up 
 harder, won by two tries — from runs in by H. Fowler 
 (the cricketer) and Springman — to nothing. Springman 
 showed good pace, and Bateson and Lee were well in 
 the van of the Oxford forwards ; for Cambridge, Finch, 
 behind the scrummage, and C. Gurdon and Agnew, 
 
 A LINE OUT. 
 (From an Instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 forward, played hard. Other matches resulted as fol- 
 lows : — Richmond were defeated by two tries ; Waltham- 
 stow by a try ; Clapham Rovers, a draw ; and Blackheath 
 were victorious by one goal and one try to nothing. 
 
 No resident Cantab obtained an International cap 
 this year. 
 
 The team v. Oxford was as follows : — 
 
 P. H. Clifford and C. E. Jeffcock, backs; C. S. Albright and D. Q. 
 Steel, three-quarter-backs ; J. A. Bevan and R. T. Finch, half-backs ; 
 S. R. James (captain), W. S. Agnew, H. R. Clayton, C. Gurdon, H. H. 
 Browell, C. M. Kennedy, C. P. Wilson, C. H. Coates, P. T. Wrigley. 
 
 In 1878-79, Cambridge had a stronger team. H. R. 
 Clayton filled the post of captain. Of the new men in 
 the team, two were afterwards destined to be famous in 
 the annals of Cambridge football ; we allude to the now 
 president of the Cambridge Rugby Football Club, H. G. 
 Fuller, who, in the position of half-back, made his first 
 u 
 
306 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 appearance against Oxford, and E. Storey, the first of 
 the long list of Cambridge footballers who have hailed 
 from that nursery of the game, Fettes College. 
 
 Before the 'Varsities match, the Light Blues defeated, 
 among others : — Walthamstow (1 goal and 1 try to 1 
 try), Gipsies (1 try to nothing), and King's College (by 
 1 goal and 3 tries to nil). They lost, however, to Black- 
 heath (3 tries to 2 goals). The Oxford match was played 
 at the Oval, on February 10th, 1879, having been post- 
 poned from the previous term through frost. The 
 ground was in bad condition owing to heavy rain, and 
 the attendance small. The match was very evenly con- 
 tested, and neither fifteen obtained any definite ad- 
 vantage. A. H. Evans, for Oxford, and K. T. Finch, for 
 Cambridge, were conspicuous. The number of scrum- 
 magers was this year reduced to nine, a second three- 
 quarter being played by both teams. 
 
 No resident Cantab played in the International 
 matches this year. 
 
 Team. — P. T. Wrigley and C. E. Boughton- Leigh, backs ; E. Storey 
 and P. H. Clifford, three-quarter-backs ; R. T. Finch and H. G. Fuller, 
 half-backs; H. R. Clayton (captain), W. S. Agnew, S. R. James, H. H, 
 Browell, C. H. Coates, C. P. Wilson, J. E. Jones, H. Y. L. Smith, C. M. 
 Kennedy, forwards. 
 
 In 1879-80, K. T. Finch was elected captain, and 
 closed his brilliant Cambridge career by winning the 
 match v. Oxford by dropping a goal. 
 
 J. H. Payne, afterwards well-known as the Lanca- 
 shire and English half-back, made his appearance in the 
 Light Blue team this season, as the associate of Storey 
 at three-quarter. The team was a strong one all round, 
 and proved their strength by drawing with Blackheath, 
 which club had not suffered defeat throughout the 
 season. 
 
 The 'Varsity match was played at the Oval, and won 
 by Cambridge by 2 goals to 1. Finch — who played 
 admirably throughout — dropped a goal and Smith 
 kicked another for the winners. McLachlan dropped 
 the Oxford goal. 
 
 Team.— P. T. Wrigley and A. S. Taylor, backs ; E. Storey and J. H. 
 Payne, three-quarter-backs ; R. T. Finch (captain) and E. S. Chapman, 
 half-backs j C. H. Coates, C. P. Wilson, H. G. Fuller, H. Y. L. Smith, 
 F. L. Cox, R. M. Yetts, J. J. Gover, J. T. Steele, C. H. Golightly, 
 forwards. Of these, C. H. Coates and R. T. Finch obtained well-deserved 
 places in the English team. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 
 307 
 
 In 1880 the writer commenced residence at Cam- 
 bridge, and though debarred by a severely sprained 
 ankle from playing football, he had the opportunity of 
 watching the University matches attentively. C. P. 
 Wilson, an old Marlburian, succeeded Finch as captain. 
 This year one of the most dashing, and certainly the 
 cleverest dodging half-back we have ever seen, appeared, 
 meteor-like, in the Cambridge football firmament. We 
 refer to the old Fettesian — A. R. Don Wauchope.'!- \ Our 
 first sight of this famous player was in this wise. When 
 crossing Parker's Piece one 
 day we noticed a considerable 
 crowd congregated round 
 one of the side pitches. Now, 
 as the minor games in those 
 days attracted little or no 
 attention (the trial matches 
 monopolising what spectators 
 there were), we were induced 
 by curiosity to learn what 
 the cause of the gathering 
 might be. And well were 
 we rewarded. The match 
 was between the Old Fet- 
 tesians and Old Cliftonians, 
 and Don Wauchope was 
 treating the latter team 
 to a taste of his quality. 
 
 How many tries he gained we cannot at this distance of 
 time recall, but the way in which he dodged through 
 his opponents, without their being able to lay a finger 
 on him, is indelibly impressed on our memory. The 
 following Saturday saw Don Wauchope in the University 
 fifteen for the first time. The match was played on the 
 John's ground, and the Old Fettes boy iully bore out 
 the high opinion formed of his running and dodging 
 powers. After a very successful season, the match with 
 Oxford resulted in a draw — 1 try each. Cambridge 
 unfortunately had a dropped goal disallowed. The scene 
 of the match was this year changed from the Oval to 
 Blackheath. 
 
 The following represented Cambridge : — 
 
 P. T. Wrigley and A. S. Taylor, backs ; E. Storey and J. A. Bevan, 
 three-quarter-backs ; A. R. Don Wauchope and E. S. Chapman, half- 
 
 u 2 
 
 C. P. WILSON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Francis It. ElwelL 
 
 M. A. .London.) 
 
308 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 backs ; C. P. Wilson (captain), H. G. Fuller, J. T. Steele, H. Y. L. 
 Smith, W. M. McLeod, E. Rice, R. M. Yetts, J. G. Tait, T. Pater, 
 forwards. C. P. Wilson played for England v. Wales, and A. R. Don 
 Wauchope represented Scotland in the match against England. 
 
 1881-82 showed a marked upward movement in the 
 popularity of football mainly owing to the acquisition by 
 the executive of the use of the Corpus ground for their 
 games and matches. This step was imperative, owing to 
 the action of the municipal authorities in debarring the 
 Rugby game from being played on Parker's Piece as 
 of old. It was alleged that the Rugby game damaged 
 the turf, and henceforth townsfolk and collegians, pos- 
 sessing no ground of their own, have been compelled 
 to play on the Piece under Association rules or not at 
 all. H. Y. L. Smith, an old Wellingtonian, acted as 
 captain, and a more painstaking one or a more con- 
 scientious player could not be found. The first match of 
 this season was against the London Scottish, which the 
 University won. The writer was a spectator of this 
 game, but in the next match — that against Blackheath 
 — he was lucky enough to get a place in the visiting 
 team, who scored 4 tries to the 'Varsity's goal. The 
 Blackheath forwards outplayed their opponents at all 
 points, and their style made such an impression on the 
 Cambridge authorities that they summoned a meeting 
 of the Light Blues to discuss the desirability of modelling 
 their forward play on that of the Blackheath men. To 
 this meeting the writer, though he had never played for 
 Cambridge, was invited to attend and give his opinion 
 on the reason for the superiority of the Blackheath 
 forwards. This was not a hard task, as the visiting 
 forwards owed much of their success to the clever way 
 in which, directly the ball was put down, they rushed it to 
 one side or other of the scrummage, and broke away with 
 it in a body. This style of play was new to the Cantabs, 
 who knew of no other forward play than that learnt in 
 the big side games at school, of pushing in the scrum- 
 mage whether on the ball or not, and never dreaming of 
 utilising the feet except to drive the ball through the 
 centre of the packs to the opposing half-backs. The 
 result of the match above-mentioned clearly showed 
 these old-fashioned tactics to be useless when op- 
 posed to forwards clever with their feet and adepts 
 at bringing the ball away at which ever side of the 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 309 
 
 scrummage they chose. Efforts were made with some 
 success, in the remaining matches of the season, to rely- 
 more on foot- work in the scrummage and on rushing the 
 ball to the open side than on mere blind pushing. 
 
 Oxford, under Vassall, were already bringing their 
 scrummage and passing play to perfection. This capable 
 leader, with as fine a body of athletes under him as ever 
 a captain led into the field, had revolutionised the style 
 of play at Oxford. Combination was the one thing 
 aimed at, and, as leader for two years of almost 
 identical teams, the old Marlburian brought the game 
 to a pitch of excellency and effect that has perhaps 
 never been attained by any other fifteen. The men were 
 taught to play a systematic game. At Cambridge, how- 
 ever, though there was plenty of individual excellency, 
 coaching was unknown ; each man played far too much 
 for his own hand, and great ignorance existed about the 
 fine points of the game. During this and the three 
 succeeding seasons Cambridge were influenced by the 
 Oxford movement, and attempted to assimilate their 
 play to that of their rivals. Four successive defeats 
 occurred before this end was attained, and Cambridge 
 had to begin de novo before they could master the 
 Oxford style. It was uphill work, but success at length 
 crowned their efforts, and the Light Blues have during 
 the past seven years onty once suffered reverse at the 
 hands of their rivals. 
 
 During the season under notice Don Wauchope was 
 again in splendid form at half, and received support in 
 the same position from J. L. Tern pier, who, though 
 playing a thoroughly old-fashioned half-back game, 
 possessed indiarubber-like qualities coupled with un- 
 deniable pluck. Of the other backs A. 8. Taylor alone 
 showed 'Varsity form ; C. E. Chapman at times played 
 well; but the other backs were weak and uncertain. 
 Cambridge suffered no defeat up to the Oxford match, 
 and there was really little to choose between the two 
 teams on the day. The superiority of the Dark Blue 
 three-quarters won the game for Oxford, the score at the 
 finish being 2 goals and a try to a goal. 
 
 Tonbridge School, by the way, had as many as five 
 candidates tried in the team, four of whom played in 
 the Inter-'Varsity match. 
 
 It should be mentioned that the match between the 
 
310 ItUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 combined Universities and London, which has ever since 
 had such an important bearing on the selection of the 
 South team, was instituted in this season. H. G. 
 Fuller obtained his English cap this year, and Wau- 
 chope again showed brilliant form for Scotland. 
 
 Team.— A. S. Taylor, H. F. Cooper, backs; C. E. Chapman, J. W. 
 Dickson, three-quarter-backs ; A. R. Don Wauchope, J. L. Templer, 
 half-backs : H. Y. L. Smith (captain), H. G. Fuller, R. M. Yetts, T. 
 Pater, E. Rice, C. J. B. Marriott, J. Hammond, R. M. Pattisson, R. 
 Threlfall, forwards. 
 
 Next season, 1882-83, saw A. R Don Wauchope 
 assume the reins of office, being the first Fettes boy to 
 occupy that position. Unfortunately, however, for Cam- 
 bridge, this strand player had been badly hurt in Scot- 
 land at the close of the previous season, and was unable 
 to play in many matches — notably that against Oxford. 
 In the 'Varsity match both sides were weakened by the 
 absence of several prominent players, Oxford suffering 
 most in this respect. The veteran H. G. Fuller cap- 
 tained the Cantabs in Wauchope's absence. The game 
 was a very even one, Oxford in the end winning by a 
 try. H. Vassall in this match closed his long and 
 valued leadership of the Dark Blue team. The season 
 was marked by a new development in the game, three 
 three-quarters and one back being played by both sides 
 for the first time. 
 
 H. G. Fuller and R. M. Pattisson represented England. 
 The team against Oxford was as follows : — 
 
 C. H. Sample, back; C. H. Ware, C. H. Newman, J. Gibbons, three- 
 quarter-backs ; J. L. Templer, E. A. Douglas, half-backs ; H. G. Fuller 
 (captain), R. M. Pattisson, C. J. B. Marriott, C. J. B. Mime, B. C. 
 Burton, P. M. Lucas, W. M. McLeod, H. F. Ransome. J. Gr. Tait, 
 forwards. 
 
 In season 1883-84 C. J. B. Marriott was elected 
 captain, in which position he received much assistance 
 from the old Rugbeian, B. C. Burton. Before the 
 University match the team carried all before them, 
 defeating, among others, Blackheath, Wakefield Trinity, 
 and the London Scottish. Our improvement was in 
 great measure due to the kindness of G. Rowland 
 Hill in coming down to Cambridge to coach the team, 
 and the writer will always remember with gratitude Mr. 
 Hill's help and instruction to him when leader of the 
 Light Blues. Our defeat by Oxford, in which match on 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 311 
 
 our previous performances we were favourites, was a 
 bitter pill, and never likely to be entirely forgotten. Up 
 to half time we were winners, but after changing over 
 our men fell away before the splendid play of the 
 Oxonians, conspicuous amongst whom may be mentioned 
 Tatham, Rotherham, and Wade. 
 
 Some idea of the strength of the Oxford team we 
 met that year may be gathered from the fact that 
 thirteen out of the fifteen players gained their Inter- 
 national caps. We may perhaps be pardoned for re- 
 producing the opinion of the hon. secretary of the Union 
 which appeared in the annual for the year : " Amongst 
 other clubs that Oxford defeated, the sister University 
 should be numbered. This match always creates a large 
 amount of interest. A close light was anticipated. It 
 was played early in December, and additional interest was 
 excited from the fact that neither University had been 
 beaten till the day of the match. Cambridge had just 
 before defeated Wakefield, and had shown surprising 
 good form during the term. Unaccountably on this occa- 
 sion they played far short of their proper form. The result 
 was a genuine surprise. The Cambridge men were all at 
 sea, whilst their opponents were playing their very best. 
 Previous to the match it was acknowledged that Oxford 
 were much stronger behind and a more scientific team, 
 but there was a suspicion of slackness amongst the 
 forwards ; whilst, on the contrary, the Cambridge team, 
 though rather weak behind, displayed such energy and 
 dash forward, that it was thought that the deficiency 
 in one respect would be made up by the other. Up till 
 this match no Cambridge team had ever done better." 
 
 The team was as under. The names, by the way, 
 are wrongly given in the volume entitled " Inter-Univer- 
 sity Records" : — 
 
 C. H. Sample, back ; C. H. Chilcott, G-. L. Colbourne, E. B. Brutton, 
 three-quarter-backs; E. A. Douglas, W. B. Salmon, half-backs; C. J. B. 
 Marriott (captain), C. J. B. Milne, H. G. FuUer, B. C. Burton, H. F. 
 Ransome, R. Threlfall, J. Lees, G. B. Guthrie, and W. P. Richardson, 
 forwards. From that year's team C. J. B. Marriott and H. G. Fuller 
 obtained places in the English team. 
 
 In 1884-85 the late C. J. B. Milne, of Fettes, succeeded 
 to the captaincy. The team was decidedly weak behind, 
 but the forward division contained good material, and 
 many of the scrummagers afterwards became prominent 
 
312 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 players. Up to the all-important Inter-University match 
 the team showed by no means good form, sustaining a 
 heavy defeat from Bradford, besides reverses from Black- 
 heath and Richmond. . Against Oxford the forwards 
 played up splendidly, and gave promise of future excel- 
 lence, which the next season confirmed. The splendid 
 outside combination of the Oxonians, however, gave 
 them the victory by 3 goals and a try to a try. 
 
 Team.— H. S. F. Adams, back; C. E. Chapman, C. H. Sample, J. 
 Le Fleming, three-quarter-backs ; E. A. Douglas, H. Neilson, half- 
 backs; C. J. B. Milne (captain), H. F. Ransome, G. L. Jeffery, V. C. Le 
 Fanu, W. J. Plews, H. W. Sample, F. G. Swayne, L. E. Stevenson, E. 
 P. Alexander, forwards. 
 
 No resident Cambridge man played in the Inter- 
 national teams this year. Some account of the diffi- 
 culties incurred in obtaining a full blue for the Association 
 and Rugby teams may not be out of place here. 
 
 Towards the close of 1883, the Oxford teams, both 
 Rugby and Association, having been granted their full 
 blues in the previous season, it was thought that the 
 Cambridge men selected to oppose them were worthy 
 of similar honour. With this object in view, the writer, 
 in company with H. G. Fuller and the Association 
 captain, F. W. Pawson, had a lengthy interview with 
 the presidents of the boat and athletic clubs and captain 
 of the cricket eleven. These gentlemen, though dead 
 against the football teams having a full blue, at length 
 offered the suggestion that a certain number of full 
 blues should be divided up among the two teams. This 
 suggestion could not be entertained by the football 
 authorities. Our delegates going out of residence 
 at the end of term, the matter was left in statu quo 
 until the next season, when negotiations were reopened 
 with no better result. At length the Rugby players 
 adopted the only course remaining open to them, viz., 
 to take their full blue for themselves ; and this they did, 
 appearing for the first time in blue coats in the Rectory 
 field, Blackheath, on December 10th, 1884. A great 
 deal of discussion on the rights and wrongs of this 
 course appeared in the public journals of the time. 
 Public opinion was, however, on the side of the foot- 
 ballers, most people considering the representative ex- 
 ponents of such a popular and national game equally 
 worthy of a full blue as a hammer thrower or weight 
 
H. d. FULLER. 
 
 ( From a Photograph by II. B. Salmon, 
 Winchester.) 
 
 JOHN H. DEWHURST. 
 
 {Trim a Photograph by 6. Glanville, 
 Tunbridge Wells. ) 
 
 CHARLES J. B. MARRIOTT. 
 (From a Photograph by H. E. Simpson, Toronto.) 
 
 W. R. M. LEAKE. 
 
 (From a Photograph by W. Host, • 
 Gipsy Hill, S.E.) 
 
 G. L. JEFFERY. 
 
 iFrom a Photograph bi/ II. Erns 
 St. Joint's Wood, N.W.) 
 
314 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 putter. The matter, however, was not done with yet. 
 At the end of the Lent term, when interest in football is 
 decidedly on the wane, the following motion was brought 
 forward at the Union by the boating authorities : — 
 " That this meeting regrets the resolution of the autho- 
 rities of the C. U. R. U. F. C. and the C. U. A. F. C. to 
 adopt the full blue against the decision of the committee 
 to whom they had submitted the question, and trusts 
 they will yet find it possible to bring themselves into 
 harmony with those unwritten laws by which the social 
 relations of this University are governed." The motion, 
 it will be seen, was cleverly worded, so as to include 
 amongst its supporters any who had a shadow of a doubt 
 about the propriety of the action of the Rugby men. 
 The result, however, was a grand triumph for foot- 
 ball, the motion being lost by three to two. The 
 scene and description of the meeting at the Union is 
 thus described in a contemporary report : — 
 
 " It was an amusing sight. Never has the Union heen so crammed 
 before. Benches, gallery, floor, tables, crowded with men. Nearly half 
 the 'Varsity recorded their votes. The appearance of Cobbold was the 
 signal for a grand outburst of cheers, showing that football had a strong 
 if not preponderating host of supporters. Milne, too, received quite an 
 ovation. F. E. Churchill arrived at two minutes to eight, and was 
 cheered, though less lustily, to his seat. The house were evidently curious 
 to know their own mind, but the cheers and counter-cheers soon proved 
 football to be in the ascendant. Lehmann made a rhetorical and 
 moderate speech, though his funny remarks about the ' cerulean warbler ' 
 fell flat on the ears of an unsympathetic house ; but he spoke well and 
 courageously, though a little baffled by the uproarious cheers which 
 greeted an accidental mention of Cobbold's name. ] He appealed to 'un- 
 broken traditions,' etc., and suggested a compromise, e.g. , a 'full blue 
 shirt ; ' but the general feeling was : ' This is too late ; why was that not 
 proposed before ? ' It would be dull to go through the pros and cons 
 which are set forth in the columns of the Field. J. F. P. Eawlinson was 
 throughout clear, good, and sensible ; he made a home thrust when he 
 remarked that the boat president had got his ideas of autocracy from his 
 similar position at Eton. There seems no doubt that through negligence, 
 or otherwise, the advice of committees was not fully taken. F. J. Pit- 
 man is not an orator, but he is justly respected, and his words were 
 attentively listened to ; he complained that one in thirty-three football 
 players should be 'blues.' R. Threlfall (of Caius), an old Rugby 
 Unionist, and also known as the ' Hercules ' in ■ The Birds ' last 
 summer, spoke with inimitable gruff good-humour, and time after time 
 brought the house down by his wit. The half-hour during which he held 
 the house was soon past. He was followed by a well-known athlete, 
 Rev. C. H. Coates, a true laudator tempcris acti. His views were 
 stigmatised as antiquated by M. J. Randall, of Trinity, who also stated 
 that the boating and football clubs had no antagonistic feeling. After 
 several other speakers, L. J. Maxse (of King's), who described himself as 
 a ' non-athlete,' made an exceedingly amusing and telling speech, which 
 he started by reading a copy of the ' boat captain's ' circular. One telling 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 315 
 
 argument was this : If twenty-six new Blues swamp the existent twenty- 
 nine, how is it that the eleven cricket Blues did not still more swamp the 
 nine boating ? " 
 
 Lehmann responded shortly, and confidently appealed 
 to the support of the house. Then, amid intense excite- 
 ment, the house divided, and returned to 
 motion lost by the large majority of 241, th( 
 being : — 
 
 For the motion ... 
 
 Against 7^)*<^ 
 
 Maj ority against ... 
 
 Thus ended this memorable discussion, and though, 
 from the foregoing account, it may appear that the 
 relations between the boating men and the footballers 
 were at the time somewhat strained, the most amicable 
 feelings have since existed between these two bodies of 
 Cambridge athletes. 
 
 Season 1885-86 saw E. B. Brutton, an old Durham 
 boy, elected to the post of captain. The team by no 
 means showed to advantage before the Oxford match, 
 suffering defeat from Blackheath, Richmond, and Wakefield 
 Trinity. They, however, fully atoned for these reverses 
 by at length turning the tide of Oxford victories. At 
 Blackheath, on December 14th, the Light Blues, after four 
 consecutive defeats, once more won the Inter-University 
 contest. Two tries to nil was the score obtained. 
 
 Team. — H. S. F. Adams, back; E. B. Brutton (captain), J. Le 
 Fleming, M. M. Duncan, three-quarter-backs ; W. R. M. Leake, M. T. 
 Scott, half-backs ; G. L. Jeffery, V. C. Le Fanu, E. P. Alexander, L. E. 
 Stevenson, F. G. Swayne, J. H. Dewhurst, F. W. Goodhue, W. P. Carp- 
 mael, J. A. Shirer, forwards. g 
 
 Eleven of this team have gained International 
 honours. Outside, the team was stronger than it had 
 been for some years. Duncan proved a great acquisition 
 at three-quarter, and played a capital game with Le 
 Fleming and Brutton. Scott at times played brilliantly, 
 and Leake was always cool and reliable. A glance at 
 the names of the forwards will show that the team was 
 a formidable one, and it is strange that they showed 
 such poor form in the earlier matches. 
 
 This year an important and salutary measure was 
 adopted by both 'Varsities, viz. — " a man may play for his 
 University for four years from matriculation, provided 
 
316 BUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 he is a bond-fide resident in the University." This rule 
 has effectually done away with an evil that had crept 
 in of residents acting as warming-pans in the term 
 matches for Old Blues who ousted them in the Oxford 
 match. 
 
 This season, also, it was deemed advisable to have 
 a president of the club who, by being in residence, 
 would be better able to guide and assist the fresh execu- 
 tive of each year. A meeting for this object was held 
 under the presidency of R. M. Pattisson (Fellow of 
 Emmanuel), an Old Blue. For the important post to 
 be filled a unanimous choice elected H. G. Fuller, 
 than whom no better or more qualified man could have 
 been picked. 
 
 In the following season, 1886-87, Brutton was re- 
 elected captain, being the first Cantab since the days 
 of E. T. Gurdon to captain the team for two years. 
 Brutton was fortunate in having, with one exception, 
 the same strong back team as in the previous season. 
 Very few vacancies also had to be filled up among the 
 forwards. The team, however, had to put up with 
 several defeats, Bradford, Richmond, and Dublin beating 
 them. The latter match was played at Dublin, being 
 the first appearance of the Cambridge team in the 
 sister isle. 
 
 At Blackheath, on December 15th, Oxford were 
 defeated by three tries to nothing. 
 
 Team.—W. G. Mitchell, back ; M. M. Duncan, E. B. Brutton, J. Le 
 Fleming, three-quarter-backs ; M. T. Scott, W. R. M. Leake, half-backs ; 
 V. C. Le Fanu, F. G. Swayne, E. P. Alexander, J. H. Dewhurst, F. W. J. 
 Goodhue, W. H. Thomas, A. Methuen, A. Robinson. A. A. Surtees, 
 forwards. 
 
 Of the above, no less than thirteen have at one time 
 or other played in the International teams of their 
 countries, thus equalling the number enjoying similar 
 distinction in the Oxford team of 1882. 
 
 In 1887-88 M. M. Duncan (Fettes) captained the 
 team, and by his play contributed much to their 
 success. Very in and out form, however, was shown, 
 as the result list shows. Dublin University, Liverpool, 
 and Blackheath were defeated, while reverses were 
 sustained from Leeds St. John's, Richmond, and Old 
 Leysians. The forwards were a powerful and hard- 
 working lot, while outside, such capital halves as Scott 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 317 
 
 and Leake, for the third year in succession, gave them 
 great advantage over most teams. Alderson and Morri- 
 son afforded their captain efficient aid at three-quarter. 
 It is perhaps worthy of note that of the six backs who 
 played this season live have at one time or other enjoyed 
 International honours, as have four of the forwards. 
 
 The Oxford match resulted in a victory for Cam- 
 bridge by 1 goal and 2 tries to nothing, being the first 
 time Cambridge had scored a goal since December, 1883. 
 After six years at Blackheath, the scene of play was this 
 year shifted to the Queen's Ground, Kensington. 
 
 Team. — E. Bromet, back; M. M. Duncan (captain), P. H. Morrison, 
 F. H. R. Alderson, three-quarter-backs ; M. T. Scott, W. R. M. Leake, 
 half-backs ; A. Methuen, A. Robinson, W. H. Thomas, E. H. Wynne, 
 J. W. Cave, F. J. L. Ogilvie, J. W. Fogg Elliott, W. Bevan, D. L. 
 McEwen, forwards. 
 
 Of the above, four hailed from Fettes. England played 
 no International matches this year, but A. Robinson 
 was chosen in the representative English team. 
 
 In 1888-89, A. Methuen, of Fettes, led the Light 
 Blues, who were again victorious over the Oxon- 
 ians. Their supremacy lay in their backs, who were 
 far and away superior to those representing the 
 Dark Blues, and played a clever combined game. 
 Forward they were much lignter than the generality of 
 Cambridge teams. Cave was the best of the scrum- 
 magers ; outside, Martin Scott and Wotherspoon made 
 a strong pair at half, while Alderson, Todd, and Morrison 
 were a thoroughly dangerous and capable trio at three- 
 quarter. Their finest display during the season was the 
 utter rout of Newport. Other victories were gained 
 over the Maoris, Richmond, and Dublin University, 
 while defeats were received at the hands of Bradford, 
 Blackheath, and Richmond in the return fixture. 
 
 Queen's Club was again the scene of the Oxford 
 match, and the Cantabs delighted their supporters by 
 winning for the fourth time in succession. The score 
 was identical with that of the previous year, viz., 1 
 goal and 2 tries to nil. Soon after the kick-off, 
 Alderson, backing up a good run of Martin Scott's, got a 
 try, but the place failed. Later on, Alderson made an 
 opening for Todd, and the latter, when near the Oxford 
 line, in turn transferred to Scott, who got in behind the 
 posts. His place resulted in a goal. Nothing more was 
 
318 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 scored during the first half. After changing over, a 
 brilliant run by Morrison added another try, but 
 Bowhill's place failed. Fettes, by the way, again sup- 
 plied four men to the Cambridge team, which was made 
 up as under : — 
 
 E. Bromet, back; P. H. Morrison, F. H. R. Alderson, T. Todd, three- 
 quarter -backs ; W. Martin Scott, W. Wotherspoon, half-backs ; A. 
 Methuen (captain), J. W. Cave, A. Trethewy, E. C. Langton, J. W. 
 Bowhill, W. N. Mayne, S. M. J. Woods, P. T. Williams, F. C. Bree 
 Frink, forwards. 
 
 Of these, Scott and Cave played for England against 
 the New Zealanders, and Methuen for Scotland in the 
 matches against Wales and Ireland. 
 
 1889-90 saw P. H. Morrison, Loretto, elected to 
 the post of captain. Morrison, by the way, is the first 
 Loretto boy to obtain his football blue at Cambridge. 
 Though defeated by Oxford, the team had a successful 
 season — only three out of twenty matches being lost. 
 At three-quarter the team was strong, as also at 
 half. Scott was, unfortunately, not able to play v. 
 Oxford, but his place was filled by an efficient and 
 well-tried performer in P. H. Illingworth. Of the 
 forwards, Woods was the best ; but more scrummage 
 work was needed among them, as Avas only too clearly 
 demonstrated in the Oxford match. The latter game 
 took place at the Queen's Club on December 14th, and 
 after four successive reverses the Oxonians gained a 
 well-deserved victory by a goal and try to nothing. 
 Coventry, after a tine run, passed to Percival, who got 
 over, and Fleming landed the goal. Then Cambridge 
 played up better, but good passing between Coventry, 
 De Winton, Fleming, and Clauss enabled the latter to 
 make a fine run, which De Winton consummated by 
 a try. 
 
 Three Cantabs — Aston, Morrison, and Woods — 
 figured in the English team this season, and Gregor 
 MacGregor in the Scotch. 
 
 Team. — Gregor MacGregor, back; P. H. Morrison (captain), R. L. 
 Aston, C. E. Fitch, three-quarter-backs ; W. Wotherspoon, P. H. Illing- 
 worth, half-backs; J. W. Bowhill, S. M. J. Woods, E. C. Langton, F. C. 
 Bree Frink, P. T. Williams, J. Smith, J. C. McDonald, A. L. Jackson, 
 T. W. P. Storey, forwards. 
 
 In 1890-91 W. M. Scott, Craigmount, was elected 
 
EUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 319 
 
 captain, but unfortunately was only able to play about 
 twice during the season. In the preliminary matches 
 the Light Blues did well, and were generally expected to 
 win against Oxford. After establishing a record in 
 the way of postponements, the match resulted in a 
 draw — one goal each. The better play of the Oxford 
 forwards neutralised the superiority Cambridge pos- 
 sessed outside. Neither side played its full strength. 
 Cochrane was incapacitated a few days previous to 
 the match, while Cambridge was without Wotherspoon 
 as well as Scott. Woods was far and away the best 
 Cambridge forward, but the scrummage work was bad 
 throughout the season. MacGregor always played 
 grandly, as did Aston when sound. 
 
 Team, — Gregor Macgregor, back ; P. H. Morrison, R. L. Aston, 
 C. A. Hooper, three-quarter-backs ; A. Rotherham, P. H. Illingworth, 
 half-backs ; S. M. J. Woods, T. W. P. Storey, F. C. Bree Frink, R. 
 Thompson, C. P. Simpson, W. J. Rowell, H. W. T. Patterson, C. B. 
 Nicholl, W. H. Thorman, forwards. 
 
 MacGregor and Woods played for Scotland and England 
 respectively, 
 
 For the season just over T. W. P. Storey (a half- 
 brother of E. Storey) was the captain, thus making the 
 fifth old Scotch schoolboy in succession who has filled 
 that position. Only three Old Blues were available to 
 take their places in the team — an unprecedented 
 paucity. As in the immediately preceding seasons, 
 Cambridge by no means showed consistent form in 
 the matches prior to the Inter-' Varsit}^ contest. De- 
 feats were sustained from London Scottish, St. Thomas's 
 Hospital, and Dublin University, while the form shown 
 in several other engagements was by no means 
 encouraging. Against Blackheath they did their best 
 
 ? performance, and displayed fine all-round play. Two 
 nternationals, Neilson (Scotland) and Montgomery 
 (Ireland), obtained places at three-quarter, the trio in that 
 position being made up by Fforde of Bedford. For 
 the third season in succession Martin Scott was unable 
 to take his place at half ; a heavy loss to the Cantabs. 
 A. Rotherham (a relative of the peerless A. Rotherham), 
 who formed one of the Cape team, was one of the half- 
 backs, the other being J. C. Orr. The Union authori- 
 ties, by the way, preferred the play of H. Marshall, who 
 was passed over by the Cambridge executive, and awarded 
 
320 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 him the position of half in the North and South match. 
 Two more cricket Blues, Wells and Douglas, took the 
 places of MacGregor and Woods. Forward the Cantabs 
 were by no means a good team. 
 
 Oxford were decided favourites for the match. Though 
 defeated early in the season by London Scottish and 
 Old Merchant Taylors, they had achieved some note- 
 worthy victories over Swansea, Blackheath, Edinburgh 
 Academicals, etc., and had, moreover, seven of the 
 previous year's winning team in their ranks, including 
 three Internationals. The result of the match was 
 contrary to expectation, for although in the early part 
 of the game Cambridge had much the worst of the 
 scrummage play, and it seemed as if Oxford must 
 win the match, yet, on changing ends, the Light Blue 
 forwards played in such improved form that their backs 
 were given a chance to demonstrate their capabilities. 
 Fforde and Neilson obtained tries, and thus the Cantabs 
 won by 2 tries to nil, making their record identical 
 with that of Oxford. In the series of matches 
 seven have been won by each University and five have 
 been drawn. Cambridge have scored 8 goals and 
 16 tries ; Oxford 11 goals and 13 tries. 
 
 The following constituted the team ; — 
 
 C. M. Wells, back ; A. B. Fforde, W. Xeilson, R. Montgomery, 
 three-quarter-backs ; A. Rotherham, J. C. Orr, half-backs ; T. W. P. 
 Storey (captain), C. B. Nicholl, E. Mayfield, H. Staunton, A. E. Elliott, 
 H. J. Craig, W. Cope, R. N. Douglas, B. F. Robinson, forwards. 
 
 Of the above, Nicholl and Neilson played this season 
 for Wales and Scotland respectively. 
 
 Before concluding this article, it has been suggested 
 to the writer to pick the strongest possible team to 
 represent his old University. This is a somewhat in- 
 vidious task. To make such a selection a feasible one 
 we have divided Cambridge football into two periods : 
 The first, from 1871 to 1880 ; the second, from 1881 to 
 the present time. 
 
 The strongest team that could be chosen from the 
 players in period one we select as follows • — 
 
 *A. S. Taylor, *J. M. Batten or P. T. Wrigley, backs ; E. Storey, 
 three-quarter-back ; *R. T. Finch, L. T. Williams, half-backs ; *E. T. 
 Gurdon, R. S. Whalley, *C. Gurdon, *A. Budd, *C. J. C. Touzell, *C. H. 
 Coates, *C. P. Wilson, C. M. Agnew, H. Y. L. Smith, S. R. James. 
 
 * Denotes the player also gained International Honours. 
 
RUGBY FOOTBALL AT CAMBRIDGE. 
 For period two: — 
 
 321 
 
 *C. H. Sample or *GregorMac Gregor, back ; *M. M. Duncan, *R. L. 
 Aston, *F. H. R. Alderson, three-quarter-backs ; *A. R. Don Wauchopo, 
 *W. Martin Scott, half-backs ; *H. G. Fuller, E. Rice, *R. M. Pattisson, 
 *G. L. Jeffery, J. Hammond, *J. H. Dewhurst, *F. W. J. Goodhue, 
 *S. M. J. Woods, *V. C. le Fanu. 
 
 Altogether Cambridge has furnished fifty-one International players. 
 
 We append a list of Cambridge Internationals : — 
 
 ENGLAND. 
 
 F. H. R. Alderson, Durham. 
 R. L. Aston, Tonbridge. 
 
 J. If. Batten, Haileybury. 
 
 E. B. Brutton, Durham. 
 
 A. Budd, Clifton. 
 
 J. W. Cave, Wellington. 
 
 C. E. Chapman, Stoney Stratford. 
 
 C. H. Coates, Finchley. 
 
 J. H. Dewhurst, Mill Hill. 
 
 R. T. Finch, Sherborne. 
 
 H. G. Fuller, Finchley. 
 
 E. T. Gurdon, Haileybury. 
 
 C. Gurdon, Haileybury. 
 
 P. F. Hancock. 
 
 G. L. Jeffery, St. John's Wood. 
 
 W. R. M. Leake, Dulwich. 
 
 J. Le Fleming, Tonbridge. 
 
 C. J. B. Marriott, Tonbridge. 
 
 W. G. Mitchell, Bromsgrove. 
 
 P. H. Morrison, Loretto. 
 
 R. M. Pattisson, Tonbridge. 
 
 J. H. Payne, Manchester. 
 
 A. Robinson, Cheltenham. 
 
 C. H. Sample, Edinburgh Academy. 
 
 M. T. Scott, Craigmount. 
 
 W. M. Scott, Craigmount. 
 
 A. S. Taylor, Merchant Taylors. 
 
 C. J. C. Touzell. 
 
 C. P. Wilson, Marlborough. 
 
 S. M. J. Woods, Brighton. 
 
 SCOTLAND. 
 
 A. R. Don Wauchope, Fettes. 
 
 M. M. Duncan, Fettes. 
 
 F. W. J. Goodhue, Merchiston. 
 
 A. Methuen, Fettes. 
 
 W. Neilson, Merchiston. 
 
 C. J. B. Milne, Fettes. 
 
 L. E. Stevenson, Edinburgh 
 
 Academy. 
 J. G. Tait, Edinburgh Acad em v. 
 W. M. McLeod, Fettes. 
 Gregor MacGregor, Uppingham. 
 W. Wotherspoon, Fettes. 
 
 E. P. Alexander, Brecon. 
 J. A. Bevan, Grossmont. 
 N. Biggs, Cardiff. 
 C. H. Newman, Newport. 
 
 WALES. 
 
 E. J. Lewis, Llandovery. 
 C. B. Nicholl, Llandovery. 
 W. H. Thomas, Llandovery 
 
 V. C. Le Fanu, Haileybury 
 J. C. Macdonald, Armagh. 
 
 IRELAND. 
 
 R. Montgomerv, Queen's College, 
 Belfast. 
 
 Also a list of those members of Rugby football 
 
 * Denotes the player also gained International Honours. 
 V 
 
322 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 teams who have represented Cambridge in any other 
 branch of sport. 
 
 E. B. Brutton (Durham), athletics. 
 
 G. L. Colbourne(Oundle), athletics. 
 
 A. R. Don Wauchope (Fettes), 
 athletics. 
 
 R. K. Douglas (Dulwich), cricket. 
 
 C. Gurdon (Haileybury), rowing-. 
 
 J. Le Fleming (Tonbridge), ath- 
 letics. 
 
 A. "R. Lewis (Blackheath), athletics. 
 
 G. McGregor (Uppingham), cricket. 
 
 W. G. Mitchell (Bromsgrove), 
 athletics. 
 
 C. B. Nicholl (Llandovery) .athletics. 
 
 D. B. Roffey, Association. 
 
 E. Storey (Fettes), athletics. 
 
 D. Q. Steel (Uppingham), Associa- 
 tion and cricket. 
 
 L. E. Stevenson (Edinburgh 
 Academy), athletics. 
 
 C. H. Ware (Hereford), athletics. 
 
 C. M.Wells (Dulwich), cricket. 
 
 C. P. Wilson (Marlborough), 
 cricket and bicycling. 
 
 S. M. J. Woods (Brighton), cricket. 
 
CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 
 By a Londoner. 
 
 THE best definition of Metropolitan county football 
 would furnish a very appropriate subject for a prize 
 competition. To call it " county football " is a misnomer ; 
 it is rather a travesty of it, which has been played for 
 so many winters that both the managers, performers, and 
 public are getting heartily sick of it, and are at the 
 eleventh hour beginning to consider whether it would 
 not be advisable to substitute something more realistic 
 in the place of this threadbare burlesque. Every species 
 of galvanism has been applied to the unfortunate 
 
 Eatients in the hope of restoring vitality, but the sufferers 
 ave failed to respond to the stimuli. Hard-working 
 secretaries have worn out their pens, boots, and energies 
 in the vain endeavour to collect a representative team of 
 Middlesex or Kent to journey to Yorkshire or Lancashire, 
 but their efforts have generally resulted in the scratching 
 of the match " through inability to raise a fifteen." 
 Middlesex, it is true, has been fairly successful when 
 opposed to Northern counties, but then without con- 
 sulting the archives of the past it is a tax on one's 
 memory to recollect when last she did meet a Northern 
 opponent. It must be recorded to the credit of Surrey 
 that she has always kept her engagements at home and 
 abroad, and has arranged yearly a representative list 
 of fixtures, while Kent and Middlesex have generally 
 contented themselves with the unambitious programme 
 of garden-party games between each other and Surrey. 
 As champion of the Sou th-Eas tern group last season Kent 
 did manage to take a team to Yorkshire, but came back 
 with an ignominious record of goals and tries scored up 
 against her. 
 v 2 
 
MIDDLESEX TEAM V. SOMERSET: WESTON-SUPER-MARE, 
 DECEMBER 28, 1889. 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 325 
 
 The reason of the failure of county football in the 
 Metropolis is not difficult to diagnose. It is simply 
 that Middlesex, Kent, and Surrey are not from 
 a football point of view counties per ae, but that 
 the three form an aggregate London. An old legal 
 maxim teaches us that the lesser estate is merged in 
 the greater, and in this instance the three counties 
 have become merged in the Metropolis. Here county 
 football is played by a hotch-potch of players sorted 
 out in accordance with the relation of their birth, or 
 domicile to Charing Cross, and until they are informed 
 by a county secretary, or have studied a map of London, 
 a great many of them would not be able to tell you 
 which county they were qualified to represent. As a 
 consequence, nobody cares a sixpenny -piece whether 
 Middlesex beats Kent, or Kent Middlesex — in fact, the 
 essence of London football may be said to lie in club 
 rivalry and county indifference. The keenness between 
 Blackheath and the London Scottish is intense, but when 
 in a Kent and Middlesex match, five or six Heathens or 
 five or six Scots find themselves representing Middlesex 
 against five or six fellow-clubmen with whom they play 
 every Saturday, but who are now opposed to them in the 
 Kent fifteen, the anomaly is too extravagant to permit 
 of the kindling of even the smallest spark of rivalry or 
 enthusiasm. The game, of course, resolves itself into the 
 purest farce, and only serves the purpose of bringing 
 Metropolitan county football into ridicule and contempt. 
 
 A great Kent enthusiast — a veritable vara avis — 
 formulated a scheme whereby, as in Yorkshire and 
 Lancashire, and other Northern counties, the county 
 was to have a first call on a player's services in prefer- 
 ence to his club ; but his proposals met with great 
 disfavour and scorn, and in some quarters indignation — 
 a fact which serves to illustrate how completely para- 
 mount is the esprit de corps for club rivalry in London. 
 
 Such, then, is the nature of the disease, and the 
 question remains as to what the nature of the remedy 
 snail be. 
 
 Two remedies suggest themselves : (1) Allow the 
 locus in quo of the ground of a club to confer a county 
 qualification ; (2) consolidate Middlesex, Kent, and 
 Surrey into a district, " the London counties." 
 
 Both of the above reforms were proposed many years 
 
326 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 ago by Messrs. Budd and Yassall, but were not received 
 with favour. It is possible, however, that the melancholy 
 experience of ten years may have modified the opinions 
 of those who were formerly so strongly opposed to a 
 change, and that when they have carefully studied the 
 humiliating records of their counties, these Rip Van 
 Winkles will awake to the reality that they must either 
 linger on in decrepitude, or submit to an operation of 
 some sort or the other. 
 
 Under the first of these schemes a man who played 
 for Blackheath, whose ground is situated in Kent, would 
 be eligible to play for that county ; and a Richmond, or 
 London Scottish, player, whose grounds lie in Surrey, 
 would be qualified to play for her. This proposal would 
 entail the extinction of Middlesex as a county, but as, 
 with the exception of Rosslyn Park, there is not, I 
 believe, any prominent club who has a ground in that 
 county, there can be no real objection to the scheme. 
 The enormous advantage of it is that it preserves the 
 club rivalry, which is the substratum of London football, 
 and gets rid of the anomaly of fellow-clubmen playing 
 against one another, when representing a different section 
 of the Metropolis. 
 
 I need not, of course, sa}^ that in working out the 
 details of such a scheme it would be necessary to 
 accurately define what constituted a player for a club — 
 i.e., what length of play could confer a qualification. 
 
 The second scheme, the consolidation of the three 
 into the London counties, would do a wonderful deal 
 towards infusing vitality into London football, which is 
 in none too vigorous a condition at present. There 
 would be no longer any difficulty in getting a team to go 
 afield, and, better still, it would put an end to the 
 monopoly which Lancashire and Yorkshire seem likely 
 to retain in the County Championship contest. 
 
 The scheme, I must admit, does not find favour with 
 most of the country counties on the ground that it 
 would furnish too powerful an organisation for them to 
 cope with ; but they should remember that not . one of 
 them, unless things greatly alter, will ever have a chance 
 of defeating Lancashire or Yorkshire in the County 
 Championship, the final for which, unless this scheme is 
 adopted, is likely to resolve itself into an annual duel 
 between these two to all time. Further, they have 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 327 
 
 admitted the precedent in the case of the Midland and 
 Eastern counties, the case of the former being an exact 
 analogy to that of the Metropolitan counties, the only 
 difference being that in one instance Birmingham and in 
 the other London is the centre of the counties. Oddly 
 and inconsistently enough, the Eastern counties, who are 
 consolidated on these same lines, are perhaps the 
 strongest opponents to the Metropolitan counties enjoy- 
 ing a similar advantage. After all, winning the cham- 
 pionship is a very secondary consideration. What we 
 want to do by these contests is to promote football, and 
 the good which would be done to, and the enthusiasm 
 which would be infused into, London football by the 
 acceptance of this scheme would be incalculable. The 
 fact must not be lost siglit of that, with the exception of 
 Yorkshire and Lancashire, there are more players in 
 London than in any other three counties combined, 
 and that, therefore, it is important that every attention 
 should be paid to the welfare of so large a body. 
 
 That something must be done is perfectly plain, and, 
 though either scheme has no doubt its objections and 
 faults, I respectfully submit them to consideration as 
 the only possible solutions of this very difficult question. 
 
 The London Football Clubs. 
 
 As it is impossible in a volume of this character to 
 review every London club, the more prominent ones 
 have been selected for detailed notices, which appear 
 elsewhere — I propose here merely to offer a general 
 criticism on London Club football considered as a 
 whole. 
 
 If we take the play of Northern clubs as a standard, I 
 am afraid that we have to confess that our average of 
 play is an uncommonly low one — in fact, Blackheath and 
 the London Scottish were the only Metropolitan fifteens 
 last season who could compete with a crack Northern 
 fifteen with any hope of success. 
 
 Now, the cause of failure of Metropolitan county 
 football is, as I have said, easy of diagnosis, but here the 
 mischief is a much more complex and obscure one. 
 
 I will, of course, admit that minor clubs are greatly 
 handicapped, when they come to recruit, by the gravita- 
 tion of the best players from the provinces and the 
 
SURREY COUNTY RUGBY FOOTBALL TEAM V. YORKSHIRE: WAKEFIELD, 
 
 DECEMBER 8, 1890. 
 
 (Yorkshire — 2 Goals 5 Tries. Surrey — nil.) 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 329 
 
 Universities to the most successful London club. A 
 man who plays on a really good side is bound not only 
 to gain a better chance of notoriety than one who plays 
 with an unsuccessful team, but he is bound also to 
 become the more scientific player. 
 
 Unfortunately, as we are situated in London, with a 
 huge mass of clubs belonging to one city, and veiy few 
 of them imbued with any local esprit de corios, it will be 
 found impossible to prevent this gravitation ; and, even if 
 you could do so, .1 believe that the standard of South 
 football would be lowered, for it is only in the best 
 London teams, where 3^011 get a collection of expert 
 recruits, that we see anything approaching scientific foot- 
 ball exhibited. But apart from this advantage, which I 
 admit the premier clubs enjoy, it is extremely difficult 
 to explain the mediocre form of the generality of London 
 clubs. 
 
 The majority of Yorkshire fifteens are composed of 
 working men, who have only adopted football in recent 
 years, and have received no school education in the art. 
 The majority of members of London clubs have played 
 it all their lives, yet when the two meet there is only one 
 in it — the Yorkshireman. 
 
 How is it, then, that the latter, despite his want of 
 school tuition in the game, can beat the former, who has 
 learnt it with his Latin grammar ? The only reason I 
 can assign is a want of keenness, a want of condition, a 
 want of pride in the record of one's club, and a want of 
 energetic club management, without which, neither of 
 the other three qualities are engendered. Football 
 rivalry in the North and in some clubs in the South has 
 reached such a pitch that if you hope to succeed you 
 must have three things : (1) An able and indefatigable 
 secretary ; (2) fifteen men who are keen for the club's 
 prestige ; (3) a captain who insists on his men getting 
 and keeping fit. 
 
 One reads with amazement of villages in Yorkshire, 
 whose names one cannot discover in Bradshaw, springing 
 up like mushrooms as formidable fifteens, and tussling 
 with the best for the cup. They receive no recruits from 
 without. How is it done ? Why, by converting the 
 indigenous talent into an enthusiastic machine, and by 
 insisting on the fact that that machine is always in 
 working order. 
 
330 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Is it not astounding that with our plethora of players 
 we have only two half-backs of any class in London, and 
 that both of these are University men ? 
 
 To all this a great many would answer, " Well, if 
 that's so, it must be so ; we can't be bothered with your 
 training — we play for pleasure, and if we get beaten, we 
 get beaten," and so on. 
 
 The man who makes this kind of remark has never 
 been, and never will be, of any service in building up or 
 sustaining the fabric of a football club. The day is at 
 hand when, if you play football at all, you must play it 
 in earnest. The sooner your masherclom is banished 
 from the game the better. 
 
 And after all, getting and keeping in condition for 
 young active men is a very small task. If you have not 
 time for prolonged exercise, condense it. Ten minutes 
 with a skipping-rope, and ten with the dumb-bells or 
 clubs daily, will suffice, with a modicum of walking and 
 two sprints of a hundred yards each to keep a man in 
 very fair trim. 
 
 I sincerely hope that in the coming season our 
 London clubs will shake off their lethargy. What can 
 be done in a Yorkshire village can surely be done here, 
 and if nothing else will, at least the Tyke yokel forging 
 further and further ahead ought to touch our pride and 
 galvanise our energies. 
 
 The Blackheath Football Club. 
 
 The Blackheath Club is the oldest of all Rugby football 
 clubs. Of this fact Blackheathens are justly proud. 
 But the traditions of the high-class football always played 
 by this club are still more honourable than the bare fact 
 of Blackheath being the tirst legitimate club organisation 
 to adopt the Rugby game. The president of a pro- 
 minent Northern club once designated Blackheath as 
 " the home of standard English football," and such title 
 rightly describes the principles that have guided its 
 players on the field of play, and its officials in the council 
 chamber. The influence of the Blackheath Club has been 
 enormous, and has been gained notably by the excellence 
 of its officers, by the success of the club, but also in no 
 small degree by the style of game played by the team. 
 
 The club was started in the year 1860 by four boys 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 
 
 331 
 
 of the "Blackheath Proprietary School. Their names were 
 W. Burnett, Frank Campbell, Gower, and Alexander Sin- 
 clair. The club was known as the " Old Blackheathen 
 Football Club," and consisted entirely of old Blackheath 
 Schoolboys. W. Burnett was the captain, but after 
 two years' trial, it being found impossible to get up 
 teams without the aid of boys who had not been to 
 Blackheath School, the name was altered to the 
 * Blackheath Football Club." The early matches seem 
 to have been played by just a few schools, Army- 
 crammer teams, and pick-up games. 
 
 The names of the captains since the formation of 
 the club are : W. Burnett, Moore, Cooper, W. C. Scott, 
 J. Paterson, F. Stokes, G. W. Pearson, A. Hill (1875-76), 
 L. Stokes (1876-81)', G. W. Burton (1881-83), P. A. 
 Newton (1883-84), H. Vassall (1884-85), C. J. B. Marriott 
 (1885-87), A. Budd (1887-88), G. L. Jeffery (1888-89), 
 A. E. Stoddart (1889-91), P. Christopherson (1891-92). 
 
 The most successful of these was Lennard Stokes. The 
 following is the record of the club during his captaincy. 
 
 
 Matches 
 Played. 
 
 Won. 
 
 Lost. 
 
 Drawn. 
 
 Goals for. 
 
 Tries for. 
 
 Goals Tries 
 against. , against. 
 
 1876-77 
 
 1877-78 
 1878-79 
 1879-80 
 1880-81 
 
 18 
 20 
 16 
 16 
 13 
 
 14 
 15 
 15 
 
 14 
 10 
 
 1 
 2 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 9 
 
 25 
 35 
 54 
 41 
 23 
 
 19 
 25 
 30 
 37 
 25 
 
 
 3 
 
 \ 
 
 3 
 
 5 
 
 1 
 
 i 
 
 ° 
 
 Total 
 
 83 
 
 68 
 
 6 
 
 178 
 
 136 
 
 9 | 11 
 
 With the exception of one of these eighty- three 
 matches, viz., that against the R. M. C. Sandhurst in 
 1880 (when he acted as umpire), Stokes played in all, 
 and during the period gained fifty-six tries for his club, 
 besides dropping many goals. He was well backed up 
 by such players as A. W. Pearson, who could both drop 
 and place a ball well, and as full-back was the most 
 deadly tackier who has played in London ; G. W. 
 Burton, who was very fast in the open and a great 
 scorer ; A. Budd, who was very similar in style to 
 Burton ; G. F. Vernon ; G. O. Jacob ; F. L. Pattisson ; 
 P. A. Newton, and Aubrey Spurling, among the for- 
 wards ; H. H. Taylor, A. H. Jackson, and H. Roberts 
 as half-backs ; with a selection from G. Stokes, H. 
 
332 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Bradley, A. Poland, W. N. Bolton, or W. J. Penny as 
 full-backs. At this period, and for some time later, the 
 Blackheath Club seldom played a match without a 
 Spurling or a Stokes in the team. As the Hewitts, the 
 Frys, and the Hills were the guiding spirits of Queen's 
 House, so the Spurling and the Stokes families are 
 intimately connected with the Blackheath Club. Aubrey 
 was the most famous of the Spurlings as a player, 
 being a genuine scrummager of the old-fashioned order, 
 and able to adapt himself to the passing system, when 
 
 that style came into fashion. 
 An enthusiast in the game, 
 a club patriot in his affec- 
 tion for the club, no mem- 
 ber of the same has worked 
 more enthusiastically, 
 earnestly, and unselfishly, to 
 further the interests of the 
 Blackheath Club. To him 
 the writer is indebted for 
 facts and statistics regard- 
 ing the club. A diligent 
 recorder of the game, Aubrey 
 Spurling has done good ser- 
 vice to the historian by pre- 
 serving accounts of the early 
 games played by the Black- 
 heath Club. 
 
 The record of the club subsequent to the captaincy 
 of Lennard Stokes is as follows : — 
 
 A. SPUELIXG. 
 (From a Photograph by T. Fall, Baker Street, W.) 
 
 
 
 GO 
 
 
 
 
 
 fi 
 
 
 
 
 Captain. 
 
 1 
 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 «2 
 
 OB 
 .22 
 
 ... S 
 
 O C3 
 
 El 
 
 1881-82 
 
 G. W. Burton 
 
 20 
 
 15 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 24 
 
 42 
 
 5 
 
 i 
 
 1882-83 
 
 G. W. Burton 
 
 18 
 
 14 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 17 
 
 25 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 1883-84 
 
 P. A. Newton 
 
 21 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 3 
 
 27 
 
 39 
 
 5 
 
 7 
 
 1884-85 
 
 H. Vassall 
 
 20 
 
 16 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 42 
 
 23 
 
 5 
 
 4 
 
 1885-86 
 
 C. J. B. Marriott 
 
 13 
 
 9 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 18 
 
 20 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 1886-87 
 
 C. J. B. Marriott 
 
 18 
 
 12 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 18 
 
 31 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1887-88 
 
 A. Budd 
 
 19 
 
 9 
 
 9 
 
 1 
 
 23 
 
 20 
 
 10 9 
 
 1888-89 
 
 G. L. Jeffery 
 
 22 
 
 11 
 
 10 
 
 1 
 
 36 
 
 25 
 
 24 14 
 
 1889-90 
 
 A. E. Stoddart 
 
 23 
 
 15 
 
 6 
 
 2 
 
 34 
 
 18 
 
 5 9 
 
 1890-91 
 
 A. E. Stoddart 
 
 20 
 
 12 
 
 8 
 
 
 
 29 
 
 34 
 
 19 13 
 
 1891-92 
 
 P. Christophersou 
 
 21 
 
 16 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 39 
 
 47 
 
 7 7 
 
 
 Total . 
 
 215 
 
 141 
 
 55 
 
 19 
 
 307 
 
 324 
 
 89 75 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. V \ 333 
 
 V I TV 
 
 When the club was formed they used to\nlay <>n 
 
 Blackheath, and continued playing there until tlio <-n<I 
 of the season 1876-77. The match against Richmond, 
 on January 20th, 1877, was the cause of the club 
 quitting the heath for a private ground. In this match 
 the spectators assembled in such numbers, and were 
 so unseemly in their behaviour, that the game was 
 brought to a premature conclusion. Towards the finish 
 the game might almost be described as the spectators 
 being in the centre and the players on the touch-lines. 
 
 The first private ground occupied by Blackheath was 
 Mr. Richardson's field, which he kindly lent to the club 
 for the nominal rent of £10, a sum believed to be 
 assigned for the benefit of the St. John's Schools, Black- 
 heath. The first match played on this field was against 
 Guy's Hospital, October 20th, 1877. The Oxford v. 
 Cambridge matches of 1880-81-82 were played there, 
 and it was the birthplace of the London v. Oxford and 
 Cambridge matches. On December 2nd, 1882, the North 
 v. South took place here, but the only International 
 match ever played on Richardson's field was the first 
 contest between England and Wales, February 19th, 1881. 
 It was in this match that L. Stokes threw the ball half- 
 way across the ground to R. Hunt, giving him an easy 
 run in, but the ball was ordered back by the umpires, their 
 decision being that such a long pass was not football. 
 
 In the winter of 1882-83 the field was bought by a 
 building society, but the club were fortunate enough to 
 obtain the use of the Rectory Field in January, 1883. 
 Guy's Hospital were again the first opponents on this 
 ground, January 17th, 1883. It has been the venue of 
 four International matches : — England v. Scotland, March 
 1st, 1884, in which the unfortunate dispute occurred; 
 England v. Wales, January 2nd, 1886 ; England v. 
 Ireland, March 15th, 1890 : and England v. Wales, 
 January 2nd, 1891. The following North v. South 
 matches have been played : — December 20th, 1884 ; 
 December 18th, 1886; February 4th, 1888; and 
 December 15 th, 1888. 
 
 The present Blackheath Cricket, Football and Tennis 
 Company was formed in 1885. The Morden Cricket Club 
 in 1884 found it was impossible to keep a decent wicket 
 on Blackheath as the heath authorities would not allow 
 them to re-turf and keep in order their own ground 
 
334 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 as they had done heretofore, so that M. J. Druitt, the 
 secretary, and A. Poland, the treasurer, negotiated with 
 Gr. W. Burton, the secretary, and Aub. Spurling, the 
 treasurer of the Blackheath Club, with the result that a 
 meeting of residents of Blackheath was called, the 
 present company formed, and a lease of the Rectory Field 
 obtained for twenty-one years. 
 
 It is impossible to give a detailed record of each 
 season of the club, but the following incidents in the 
 history of the games may be of interest. In the season 
 
 1880-81 only two matches 
 were lost, viz., against Man- 
 chester and against the 
 Marlborough Nomads. The 
 match with Manchester was 
 the first fixture with that 
 club, and was won by Man- 
 chester by 2 goals to 2 
 tries. One of the Man- 
 chester goals was dropped by 
 R. Hunt, and the ball just 
 touched the tips of the tinge rs 
 of a Blackheath back, who 
 said nothing about it till after 
 the game, so of course there 
 was no appeal. The back 
 did not know the rule, and 
 his only complaint was that 
 the ball had nearly taken his finger-nail off. The Marl- 
 borough Nomads won by a goal to 2 tries. H. Yassall 
 scored the try from which the goal was kicked ; the tries 
 for Blackheath were gained by W. N. Bolton and 
 L. Stokes. Bolton was playing full-back, and obtained 
 his try by taking the ball from a long throw-in from 
 touch by Stokes. 
 
 In the same season in the match v. Clapham Rovers 
 on Wandsworth Common, December 17th, 1881, the day 
 was so rough that it was impossible to keep the goal 
 posts standing up, so it Avas arranged to score by tries 
 only. A forward in dribbling the ball against the wind 
 kicked a little to the right, and the ball was blown back 
 twenty yards. There were eight spectators to see the 
 match. Twenty-one trees were blown down on Wands- 
 worth Common the same day. 
 
 JOHN F. HAMMOND. 
 (From a Photograph by Elliott <{• Fry.) 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 335 
 
 Against Guy's Hospital on the 19th October, 1878, 
 L. Stokes placed 10 goals from 1 1 tries. 
 
 Against the Royal Naval College on November 24th, 
 1877, P. Brunskill, playing for Blackheath, ran against 
 the goal-post, and although he knocked it over failed to 
 obtain a try. 
 
 John Hammond holds the record of appearances in the 
 Blackheath and Richmond fixtures, having played nine- 
 teen times. He commenced playing for Blackheath in the 
 season 1882-83, and up to the end of 1890-91 had played 
 135 times, and is still playing. He has represented the 
 South on four occasions, and has frequently been first 
 reserve for the English team, but, unlike many players 
 much his inferior, has not had the luck to obtain his cap 
 through one of the original choices falling out. He was 
 one of the Cape team in 1891, and played in every match 
 through the tour. Hammond has been a most con- 
 sistent player, as the above record will show. Had 
 he been taller, a large share of International honours 
 might have fallen to his lot. The same cry has always 
 been raised, " Oh, Johnnie Hammond is a real good man, 
 but he is not tall enough for the English team " ; and so 
 he has been passed over for men his inferior in every 
 way except stature. 
 
 The following were the officials and the rules of the 
 Blackheath Club in 1862 :— 
 
 Captain : W. Burnett. Treasurer : F. M. Campbell. 
 
 Secretary : W. L. Gower. 
 Committee : R. E. Gower, F. H. Moore, L. P. Sueur. 
 
 Rules : 
 1. That the ball be started from the centre of the ground by a place- 
 kick. 
 
 j£ 2. A fair catch is a catch direct from the foot, or a knock-on from 
 the hand of one of the opposite side ; when the catcher may either run 
 with the ball or make his mark by inserting his heel in the ground 
 on the spot where he catches it ; in which case he is entitled to a free 
 kick. 
 
 3. It is not lawful to take the ball off the ground, except in touch, for 
 any purpose whatever. 
 
 4. A ball in touch is dead, and the first player who touches it down 
 must kick it out straight from the place where it entered touch. 
 
 5. A catch out of touch is not a fair catch ; but may be run off. 
 
 6. Running is allowed to any player on his side if the ball be caught 
 or taken off the first bound. 
 
 7. Any player holding the ball unless he has made his mark after a 
 fair catch may be hacked ; and running is not allowed after the mark is 
 made. 
 
 8. No player may be hacked and held at the same time ; and hacking 
 above or on the knee or from behind is unfair. 
 
336 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 9. No player can be held or hacked unless he has the ball in his 
 hands. 
 
 10. Though it is lawful to hold a player in a scrummage, this does 
 not include attempts to throttle or strangle, which are totally opposed to 
 the principles of the game. 
 
 11. A player whilst running or being held may hand the ball to one 
 of his own side, who may continue to run with it ; but after the ball is 
 grounded it must be hacked through, not thrown or lifted. 
 
 12. When a player running with the ball grounds it, it cannot be 
 touched by anyone until he lifts his hand from it. 
 
 13. If "the ball goes behind the goal it must be kicked out by the 
 party to whom the goal belongs from in a line with the goals ; but a 
 catch off a kick from behind goal is not a fair catch, but may be run 
 off. 
 
 14. No player is to get before the ball on the side furthest from 
 his own goal ; out if he does he must not touch the ball as it passes him 
 until touched by one of the opposite side, he being off-side. 
 
 15. A goal must be a kick through or over and between the poles, 
 and if touched by the hands of one of the opposite side before or whilst 
 going through is no goal. 
 
 16. No one wearing projecting nails, iron plates, or gutta-percha on 
 the soles or heels of his boots be allowed to play. 
 
 Uniform. — Dark blue serge trousers, black and scarlet striped jerseys 
 and socks. 
 
 BLACKHEATH V. RICHMOND. 
 
 '80 
 
 •so 
 
 '82 
 '83 
 '83 
 
 Aubrey Spurling gives the following as the record of 
 
 the matclies between these famous clubs : — 
 
 Richmond Green Drawn : E., 1 try. 
 Blackheath Drawn: B., 1 try. 
 
 Richmond Green R. won. by a dropped goal to nil. 
 Richmond Green Drawn : R., 1 try. 
 Blackheath EL won by a goal to nil. 
 
 Richmond Green Drawn : A try each. 
 Blackheath Drawn : R., 1 try. 
 
 Richmond Green R. won by a goal to nil. 
 Richmond Green B. won by 1 goal, 2 punts-out to nil. 
 Blackheath B. won by a goal to nil. 
 
 Richmond Green R. won by a goal to nil. 
 Blackheath Drawn : B., 1 try. 
 
 Old Deer Park Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Blackheath Drawn : B., 1 try. 
 
 Old Deer Park Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Blackheath , B. won by a goal to nil. 
 Old Deer Park Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Blackheath B. won by 2 goals 4 tries to nil. 
 
 Old Deer Park B. won by a goal to nil. 
 
 Blackheath '. Drawn: Spectators stopped the game. 
 Richardson's Field Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Richardson's Field j B. won by a try to nil. 
 Old Deer Park Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Richardson's Field j B. won by a try to nil. 
 
 Old Deer Park \ Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 Richardson's Field B. won by a goal and a try to nil. 
 
 Old Deer Park . Drawn : One try each. 
 
 '84 Jan. 12 Rectory Field I R. won by a goal to a try. 
 
 Jan. 26 
 Feb. 9 
 67 Mar. 2 
 67 Dec. 14 
 Feb. 15 
 Nov. 21 
 Feb. 20 
 Dec. 4 
 Nov. 19 
 Mar. 4 
 Nov.— 
 Feb. 15 
 Nov. 8 
 Feb. 14 
 Dec. 12 
 Jan. 16 
 
 75 Nov. 13 
 
 76 Feb. 5 
 
 76 Dec. 16 
 
 77 Jan. 27 
 
 78 Jan. 19 
 Jan. 17 
 Dec. 11 
 
 '67 
 '67 
 
 '68 
 '68 
 '69 
 '6S 
 '70 
 '71 
 '72 
 '73 
 '73 
 '74 
 '74 
 '75 
 
 '82 Jan. 14 
 Dec. 9 
 Jan. 13 
 Dec. 7 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 337 
 
 Dec. 6 Old Deer Park 
 Jan. 19 Rectory Fiold 
 Dec. 5 Old Deer Park 
 Jan. 30 Rectory Field 
 Dec. 4 Old Deer Park 
 
 Jan. 29 j Rectory Field 
 Dec. 3 Old Deer Park 
 
 Jan. 28 i Rectory Field 
 
 Dec. 1 ', Old Deer Park 
 Jan. 26 Rectory Field 
 Nov. 30 Athletic Ground 
 
 Jan. 25 i Rectory Field 
 
 Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 Drawn : Nothing scored. 
 
 B. won hy a goal and a try to nil. 
 
 B. won hy a goal and a try to nil. 
 
 R. won hy a try to nil. 
 
 R. won hy a try to nil. 
 
 R. won hy a try to nil. 
 
 B. won hy a goal to nil. 
 
 B. won by 2 goals and a try to nil. 
 
 B. won by a goal and a try to nil. 
 
 R. won by a try to nil. 
 
 B. won by a goal and a try to nil. 
 
 Mar. 21 j Rectory Field B. won by 4 tries to nil. 
 
 '84 
 
 '85 
 
 '85 
 
 '86 
 
 '86 
 
 '87 
 
 '87 
 
 '88 
 
 '88 
 
 '89 
 
 '89 
 
 '90 
 
 '91 
 
 '91 Nov. 28 j Rectory Field i B. won by 3 goals and 2 tries to nil. 
 
 '92 Jan. 23 | Athletic Ground j B. won by 5 goals and 2 tries to 1 try. 
 
 Matches played, 43. Blackheath won 17, Richmond won 9, drawn 17. 
 Blackheath, 22 goals 28 tries; Richmond, 5 goals 10 tries. 
 
 The Richmond Football Club. — This club from its 
 early formation has a great history at its back, which its 
 progress and present position in the football world have 
 maintained. It was started by one who, in the year 1861, 
 found himself located in Richmond, after spending his 
 early days in a town in Surrey, where the old custom still 
 remained of playing football in the public streets on 
 Shrove Tuesday. Thus being inspired with a boyish love 
 of the game, nothing would suffice but that a football 
 club should be started in the town of Richmond, and 
 consequently the same was done in the above-mentioned 
 year. 
 
 The Richmond Club is unique in one respect, namely, 
 in having been guilty (like some of our greatest states- 
 men) of changing its creed — or in this case, its rules. 
 It was started, as perhaps few may know, under the rules 
 then known as the Harrow rules, which resembled some- 
 what the Association rules of the present day. Disaster 
 attended its early efforts, as the writer well remembers 
 when he himself took part in the games at Barnes, 
 Walthamstow, and elsewhere. 
 
 Later on, a change in the captaincy occurred, and a 
 suggestion was then made to alter the game to Rugby 
 rules, a suggestion adopted and pursued with marked 
 success. From this date the club went apace amazingly, 
 and its only formidable opponent at that time was the 
 older established Blackheath Club, and to these two clubs 
 the Rugby Union game, in a very great measure, owes 
 its present popularity and prosperity as a national pastime. 
 The first ground of the Richmond Club has a history in 
 w 
 
338 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 itself as well as being historical from a football point of 
 view. In the early days there was no other place 
 available for the game in the town, and consequently 
 the originator of the club, nothing daunted, duly haa 
 the goal posts erected on a village green. Hence it was 
 that the game was played there for many years after, to 
 the delight of the then village crowd of spectators, and 
 it is only in quite recent years that it has been found 
 out that all games but cricket and bowls were strictly 
 prohibited in this royal enclosure, by order of that all 
 important personage, the Ranger. 
 
 This incident is rather a singular one, as it was long 
 after the Richmond Club had migrated to its first ground 
 in the old Deer Park that the above-referred-to pro- 
 hibition of football on the Green was found to exist. 
 Referring to its first captains, it is recorded that F. 
 Morris held the reins of office in the field in its " Harrow 
 rule days " ; E. C. Holmes followed in its first days 
 under Rugby rules (pure and simple) ; then in the 
 following order, E. 0. Holmes, C. D. Heatley, the 
 Honourable H. A. Lawrence, F. R. Adams, E. T. Gurdon, 
 W. G. Clibborn, F. C. Cousins, and W. G. Mitchell, of 
 present day renown. 
 
 There seems to be no very accurate record kept of 
 the secretaries, but writing from memory the first 
 secretary and originator was Edwin Ash (and then W. 
 Wallace), and afterwards A. D. Melladew (one of the first, 
 strangely enough, to welcome the English team at the 
 Cape), H. P. Gardner and W. E. Clifton, J. C. Groome 
 and W. K. Arber filled the post at various times. 
 
 H. P. Gardner particularly did an immense amount 
 for the club, at a time when it was very difficult to pre- 
 serve financial equilibrium. 
 
 The Richmond Club lays claim to have done two im- 
 portant things in the interest of football ; the first being 
 on the occasion of a match with Blackheath on Rich- 
 mond Green, when on account of fog the game had to 
 be abandoned. Both teams were weakened through 
 many men being laid up from injuries received in 
 previous matches through the hacking system, and 
 there and then a resolution Avas unanimously passed in 
 favour of the abolition of hacking, which ultimately 
 resulted in its universal abolition. 
 
 The second important step accomplished was that 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 339 
 
 conjointly with the then Blackheath secretary, the Rich- 
 mond secretary of that day (E. Ash) wrote a letter to 
 the newspapers suggesting the formation of the present 
 Rugby Union. As recorded elsewhere, Ash was the first 
 hon. secretary to the Rugby Union. E. C. Holmes, the 
 Richmond captain of that day, and L. J. Maton took an 
 immense amount of labour in drafting the original rules, 
 which form the nucleus of the present code of laws. 
 
 As the game increased in popularity and Richmond 
 in population, the number of spectators at the matches 
 seriously interfered with the 
 game, and after a successful 
 career on the ." old Green " 
 a private ground had to be 
 sought for, and the Rich- 
 mond Club were extremely 
 lucky in obtaining so excel- 
 lent a one as the Old Deer 
 Park. Two years ago they 
 were in fortune's way once 
 more in securing a still bet- 
 ter ground, viz. — that of the 
 Richmond Athletic Associa- 
 tion. 
 
 It would take up too 
 much space to refer in detail w. g. clibboen. 
 
 to the past performances of {M)m ^ F ^^^ t ^i^f 0n9m ^ 
 the club, but mention must 
 
 be made of the brilliant regime of E. T. Gurdon, who 
 captained a fifteen in 1886-87 which was as strong as, 
 if not superior to, any club fifteen which ever entered 
 the field. This team, which was unbeaten for a season, 
 included such famous players as W. G. Mitchell (back), 
 G. C. Wade, A. J. Gould, and A. M. Evanson (three- 
 quarter), A. Rotherham and J. Roberts (half), J. H. 
 Dewhirst, W. G. Clibborn, J. S. Ward, and F. G. Swayne 
 (forward). Twynam and W. A Evanson, two of the 
 finest halves that ever played, and Frank Adams, thj 
 captain of the English team, were bulwarks of the club 
 in the past. At the present time Richmond is suffering 
 from one of those periods of depression which every 
 club has to face one day or the other. The retirement 
 of the Gurdons, Wade, Evanson, Rotherham, and Roberts 
 en masse was undoubtedly the cause of decadence, which 
 w 2 
 
340 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 everybody hopes will be but shortlived, and none more 
 so than its oldest friend, the writer. 
 
 The London Scottish Football Club. — The London 
 Scottish Football Club has now entered upon the four- 
 teenth year of its existence, and, considering its com- 
 parative youth, may be said to have made for itself a 
 very creditable position in Metropolitan football circles. 
 
 During the year or two before it sprang into life,, 
 the idea of forming such a club had been revolving 
 in the patriotic breasts of a few Scotsmen in London, 
 who, when they foregathered, were wont to deplore this 
 apparent aching void in London football. Suddenly, in 
 April, 1878, a more definite expression was given to 
 this feeling by the calling together of a few loyal Scots 
 to reasonably consider the important question. 
 
 At this meeting, convened, if memory is not at fault, 
 by Messrs. Neil McGlashan, D. Begbie Gibson, and 
 George Grant, the London Scottish Football Club was 
 enthusiastically founded. 
 
 The writer remembers the preliminary and most 
 burning question to have been that of the ground upon 
 which to play our matches. It was eventually placed in 
 the hands of a small committee to spy out the land, and 
 during the summer of 1878 that committee scoured the 
 environs of London with great ardour, but Avith so little 
 success that the club had to open its career on an odd 
 corner of Blackheath Common. It was there the team 
 played its first match, beating Ravenscourt Park, once 
 strong and well-known, but then rather on the decline. 
 This success rather intoxicated us, and we rushed the 
 following Saturday on to our fate in the shape of a beat- 
 ing from Queen's House ; Sydney Ellis, one of that 
 club's foremost players, being the first Sassenach to cross 
 our goal line. Since then the Scottish have won and 
 lost many matches, but our wild joy at our first win and 
 the despondency attending our first defeat are still fresh 
 on the writer's memory. At the beginning of its career, 
 and, indeed, for some short time afterwards, the club was 
 regarded by some as a venture which would die an early 
 death of its own accord, or be wiped out of existence in 
 a few years' time at the hands of its rivals. But the 
 maternal care and nurture of one or two of the com- 
 mittee did much to keep the little precious life in 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 341 
 
 its body, and now, in 1892, those of the original members 
 who are still to the fore affectionately regard the club as 
 an organisation with every symptom of health and 
 strength in it for years to come. 
 
 The club received a great fillip when W. E. Maclagan 
 came South and joined its ranks. It must be consider- 
 able satisfaction to him to know that his part in the 
 history of the club stands out by itself, and that his 
 services have been fully appreciated by everyone of his 
 fellow-members. His name off the field largely helped 
 to attract to the club any Celtic resident in Modern 
 Babylon who was worth a place in the team. Of his 
 merits as a player it would be waste of time and space to 
 write ; they are too well-known by everyone who has any 
 pretence to a knowledge of football, but it was always a 
 recognised fact among his fellow-players that when this 
 splendid three-quarter was on the field his team played 
 with a confidence and dash they never had were he 
 absent. Among those whose names figured for years in 
 the club records, D. J. Macfarlan, three-quarter, and 
 J. F. Smith, half-back, did much to bring honour and 
 glory to the club. Their loss to the Scottish when 
 the former left for India and the latter retired from 
 football was most keenly felt, more especially as they 
 were at their best when they left us. 
 
 The Scottish has had five captains during its career — 
 Messrs. D. Begbie Gibson, Robert Arnot, W. E. Maclagan, 
 D. J. Macfarlan, and G. C. Lindsay, who is still at his 
 post. 
 
 Among the past and present members of the club 
 a number have gained the Scottish national cap. This 
 fact reflects considerable credit and lustre on the London 
 Scottish, when it is considered how far the club is from 
 the Scotch official headquarters, and it also shows that the 
 talent here is fully recognised by our Northern brethren. 
 
 During the whole life of the club, and up till the 
 close of 1890-91 season, the London Scottish first team 
 have played in all 207 matches, with the following 
 results : — 138 won, 40 lost, and 29 drawn. 
 
 Against Bradford, the North of England cracks, we 
 have only played twice, both times on their ground ; the 
 first match we won and the second was left drawn. 
 
 It was a matter of general regret to all Metropolitan 
 football circles when the once famous Queen's House 
 
342 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 broke up and its name disappeared from the weekly 
 chronicles of matches played. Perhaps more regretful 
 to the London Scottish than to others, for in the five 
 matches played the " Canny Ones " were never able to 
 snatch a victory. 
 
 True, a draw was once obtained, but the wearers of 
 the white jersey with the blue crown finished oft' with 
 four matches against us. It may be that for a short 
 time after that club had ceased to exist some of us were 
 inclined to resent its decease from a personal point of 
 view, as we could never in consequence have a chance of 
 retrieving our losses. Had we even but once Avon a 
 match, it is probable we should have regarded the demise 
 still with regret for the disbanding of some good sports- 
 men, but with a chastened spirit containing " more of 
 sorrow than anger." 
 
 Unlike the leopard the London Scottish has fre- 
 quently changed its spots. Beginning with several 
 different sites on Blackheath Common we retired to a 
 more sequestered nook near Clapham Junction. From 
 this ground the rapacious appetite of London builders 
 ousted us and we took refuge at Lee. In some respects 
 this was a capital ground, but in wet weather a trifle soft, 
 and the writer remembers the surprise which made itself 
 apparent in the faces of our opponents when one wet 
 day before starting the game we had to chase from the 
 centre of our pitch some ducklings that were swimming 
 about in an unconcerned manner. 
 
 From here we tried Hampstead, but the heavy clay 
 soil made play impossible in damp weather, and, for a 
 fortunately short time, we had fears of a nomadic 
 existence. At this juncture the Old Deer Park Ground 
 at Richmond was offered to us, and it is unnecessary to 
 say that we joyfully accepted the offer. Here our lines 
 are cast in pleasant places, and we have hopes that the 
 cordial relations existing between our lessors, the Rich- 
 mond Cricket Club, and ourselves, will ensure a pro- 
 longed and comfortable tenancy. In closing this article 
 the writer would like to place on record the thanks of 
 the London Scottish Club for the courteous attitude 
 assumed by Southern rivals towards it, standing as it 
 does by itself in the heart of English football. It recog- 
 nises, of course, that keen rivalry will always exist 
 between good clubs, and this is rendered more striking 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 343 
 
 where some slight national feeling is unavoidably present. 
 It is, however, a fact, and happily so, that every prin- 
 cipal football club in the South of England is actuated 
 by the true English love of sport for sport's sake. 
 
 R. H. Hedderwick. 
 
 Two Famous Clubs of the Past. 
 
 The Gipsies Football Club. — During the summer of 
 1868, three "old Tonbridgians," F. Luscombe, J. A. 
 Body, and W. J. Parker, all very keen on football, and 
 who belonged to no London club, thought they knew a 
 sufficient number of men who would be pleased to play 
 the game if chance presented itself, and so they arranged 
 a card of matches for the season 1868-69. After the two 
 first matches had been played they called a meeting of 
 their friends on the 17th of October, 1868, when it was 
 decided to form " The Gipsies Football Club," F. 
 Luscombe being elected as hon. sec, and H. H. Batten, 
 J. A. Body, J. Brewer, W. J. Parker, and J. N. Streeten 
 as the committee. 
 
 The result of the first season's matches — 7 won and 
 11 drawn — showed that the founders were not wrong in 
 their ideas. During the next season, 1869-70, the club 
 continued to prosper, as the result of matches shows, 
 viz. : played, 18 ; drawn, 13 ; won, 3 ; lost, 2. 
 
 Subsequently the club continued its existence with 
 varied success, being at times one of the strongest 
 playing the running game, but unfortunately most of its 
 records have been mislaid, and it is not, therefore, 
 possible to furnish the details of each season. However, 
 many hard battles were fought with the leading clubs of 
 those days — to wit, Blackheath, Richmond, Oxford and 
 Cambridge Universities, Ravenscourt Park, Marlborough 
 Nomads, Woolwich, Sandhurst, Cooper's Hill, St. 
 Andrews Rovers, Clapham Rovers, West Kent, etc. 
 
 When strong behind the scrummage the Gipsies 
 were formidable opponents, for their forwards were 
 always a good lot. In December, 1872, BelVs Life 
 wrote : — " The Gipsies have played and beaten Guy's 
 Hospital, the Civil Service, Oakfield (Croydon), Ravens- 
 court Park, and have also fought a very hard and equal 
 game with the Marlborough Nomads, and are better 
 than ever this year, and are sure to win most of their 
 
344 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 matches " ; and further on in the same article referred to 
 Blackheath, the Gipsies, and Ravenscourt Park, as the 
 three crack clubs. The club can boast of such well- 
 known names as F. Luscombe, the two Shearmans, 
 Pickering, Clarke, Billy Barker, C. J. B. Marriott, W. B. 
 and R. M. Pattison, and J. T. Ward. The Gipsies Club 
 was disbanded twelve years ago. W. Parker. 
 
 Queens House. — At one time one of the most formid- 
 able clubs in London, and in its best day decidedly the 
 
 most difficult to beat, as the 
 London Scottish know to 
 their sorrow and chagrin. 
 It owed its creation to the 
 co-operation of the brothers 
 Hill, Rowland and his elder 
 brother Edward, and the 
 families of Hewitt and Fry, 
 who all lived in Greenwich, 
 and its name, " Queen's 
 House," to the domicile where 
 our present Rugby Union 
 secretary took his first breath 
 of life. Cameron Hewitt 
 played back, Tom and Fred 
 w. w. hewitt. Fry, three - quarters, and 
 
 {From a Photograph by FradeUe & Young, Sidne\ T , half. Forward, Wal- 
 
 Regeut Street, \\ .) tt • it • 
 
 ter Hewitt, the International 
 and famous oarsman, Malcolm, his brother, and Sidney 
 Ellis, were the most prominent of a physically powerful 
 lot; probably as strong a set of scrummagers as were 
 ever got together. They did not go in for a fast or 
 showy game, and were never great scorers, but their 
 defence was wonderfully strong, and it is doubtful 
 whether any team ever had a liner lot of tacklers. Their 
 great rivals were their neighbours, Blackheath, with 
 whom they played the closest and most exciting matches. 
 The emigration of Cameron Hewitt and Fred and Sidney 
 Fry to Canada, with the retirement of Tom Fry, took 
 away the nucleus of the team, and it was decided 
 to disband the club in the height of its prosperity 
 sooner than risk the probability of a decadence. 
 Tom Fry, Sidney Ellis, and Walter Hewitt played for 
 England. 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 345 
 
 Old School Clubs. 
 
 The Marlborough Nomads. — The Nomads were started 
 in the year 1868 by James Bourdillon, of the Indian 
 Civil Service, and the writer, who was the first secretary, 
 and after some two or three years became the captain. 
 The next secretary was H. Stanhope Illingworth, a sports- 
 man well-known in football as also on the running path, 
 but now, alas! dead for some years. The very first 
 match was played in 1868, at Richmond, v. Richmond, 
 when such old players as E. C. Holmes and the two 
 Rutters played against us, and we got a rather disappoint- 
 ing hiding by about three goals. We, however, took on 
 all the best clubs, and for many years used to have 
 really good matches with Blackheath, culminating in or 
 about 1882 by our beating them, thanks principally to 
 A. Kaye Butterworth and Harry Vassal! Amongst our 
 opponents, besides Blackheath and Richmond, we 
 counted West Kent, The Gipsies, Ravenscourt Park (all 
 now deceased), and it can fairly be said that we played 
 every good club. We progressed favourably, and in 
 1871 A. St. G. Hamersley played for England, at Edin- 
 burgh, v. Scotland. In 1872 we had four of our men in 
 the English team v. Scotland : Fred Mills, back ; Harold 
 Freeman, three-quarter ; and A. St. G. Hamersley and 
 F. I. Currey, forward. Hamersley, Freeman, and Mills 
 also played in 1873, and in 1874 Hamersley captained 
 England, and at the same time we had Sydney Moore 
 and W. H. Milton playing for England, while H. M. 
 Hamilton, one of our best three-quarters, played the 
 same year for Scotland. Besides the above men we have 
 had R, W. B. Fletcher, H. Vassall, and W. M. Tatham, all 
 Oxford Blues, the last two Internationals, and amongst 
 others A. Kaye Butterworth, C. M. W T ilkins, F. Thuresby, 
 who are pretty well-known, besides the present captain, 
 Rowell, and A. J. Hill, the Cantab cricketer, now playing. 
 Tatham captained us after leaving Oxford. We have (as 
 all school clubs must) had our ups and downs, at 
 one time being literally at the top of the ladder, and at 
 another very low down ; but up to the present we have 
 never desponded, and during the season just past we 
 have picked up very well (winning eight and losing eight 
 matches). Illingworth was followed in the secretaryship 
 by R. F. Isaacson, and he by the late J. D. Vans Agnew, 
 
346 ; RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 both in their time well-known men. We used for many 
 years to play on Blackheath, on the opposite side of the 
 road to the B.F.C., except when the latter had a match 
 away, when, like the magpie, we prigged their nest. Of 
 course, the ' ground was unenclosed, and the spectators 
 were a most accursed nuisance in the way they trespassed 
 on the ground. For several years past we have had a 
 private ground at Surbiton. We have played both our old 
 school, and also Haileybury College, for the last twenty- 
 four years without a break, which is about a record. 
 
 Hamersley, Freeman, A. K. Butterworth, Vans Agnew, 
 and F. I. Currey have been on the committee of the 
 Rugby Union, and the latter held the secretaryship in 
 1874, during Guillemard's temporary absence abroad. 
 
 Many well-known authorities rather disapprove of 
 old school clubs ; in this the writer does not agree, but 
 rather holds the opinion that they do much good to the 
 school, and are very useful in keeping men together 
 and inspiring esprit de corps. 
 
 I may add that with the exception of three clubs the 
 Nomads are one of the oldest Rugby clubs in existence, 
 and, except the Old Etonians, the oldest school club. 
 
 F. I. Currey. 
 
 Old Leysians. — This club — a comparatively modern 
 one — has in the last few years tasted the sweets and 
 bitters of fortune with a vengeance. Its members are 
 old boys of the Leys School, Cambridge, and three years 
 ago, when A. L. Brooke was at his best, with the two 
 MacArthurs, A. R. Richards, one of the best of modern 
 half-backs, J. H. Gould, and a hard-working team to help 
 him, the premiership of the Metropolitan clubs lay 
 between them and the London Scottish. During the 
 last two seasons they have experienced a series of 
 disasters. This has been due to two reasons : several of 
 the best men have been laid up with accidents, and 
 A. L. Brooke, their great scorer, has lost a good deal of 
 his brilliant form. They may, possibly, be able to 
 retrieve their losses, but the vicissitudes of Old Boys' 
 clubs, as we have seen them in London, leads to the 
 reflection whether after all they are good institutions. 
 
 The Old Merchant Taylors. — This club was formed 
 some ten years ago, and for several seasons has been very 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 347 
 
 steadily coming to the front, until to-day it is 
 certainly about the strongest of the Old Boys' clul>s, 
 its card including all the chief Metropolitan clubs, 
 the Universities, Gloucester, and the three leading 
 Welsh clubs. Its strength lies mainly in its forwards, 
 who are not afraid of hard work, and are, in addition, 
 clever with their feet. The club owes very much to the 
 hon. sec, L. H. Gunnery, who has worked very hard for it 
 since its formation. Among the more prominent backs 
 who have played for the Old Merchant Taylors may 
 be mentioned M. Shearman, Lockhart Ross, Wells, W. S. 
 Buck, and B. S. Cave. H. H. and A. S. Taylor are both 
 Old Merchant Taylors, but the club was hardly started in 
 their playing days. The Pearsons, Green, Prescott, Dis- 
 browe, and others, have been among their best forwards. 
 Mention should also be made of such Old Boys' clubs 
 as the Old Cheltonians and Old Paulines, but their 
 existence is chiefly with a view to the sentimental end 
 of playing football every Saturday with old school chums. 
 By thus having to represent the old school club Satur- 
 day after Saturday, a great many good players are 
 prevented from joining other clubs. 
 
 Kensington. — This club has for many years been able 
 to show r a respectable record, which it has maintained, 
 not so much by the brilliancy of its players as the 
 thoroughness of its forward game, albeit, of a rather 
 old-fashioned type. It has always been notorious as a 
 difficult club to beat. Last season they were the only 
 London club who defeated the London Scottish. The 
 forwards atoned for the lack of pace and style by honest 
 grit and hard work. Dix, a very dangerous runner when 
 he gets off', has been of inestimable value to the team, which 
 may be described as a stopping and not a scoring one. 
 The veteran Elliott, who still plays, Gardner, the brothers 
 Currick, all noted boxers, have contributed an immense 
 amount of muscle to the physically powerful team. 
 
 Harlequins. — One of the oldest of London clubs, 
 and numerically one of the strongest. Any Saturday 
 they can put three teams in the field, and with such 
 materials at hand they only require some Yorkshire 
 stingo to place them far higher in the scale of success. 
 They have always been able to take away teams to meet 
 
348 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 clubs out of London. A couple of years ago, when the 
 brothers Surtees were at their best, and Leake was at 
 command, the team was a really strong one. It is one 
 of the few London clubs which is endowed with a large 
 amount of esprit de corps, and can boast of having 
 evolved Stoddart and Jeftery, who afterwards migrated 
 to Blackheath. The great services of W. Burnand, now 
 in Russia, and Cipriani, who still plays, call for special 
 mention. 
 
 Middlesex Wanderers. — Originally founded by Trimmer 
 and others, from a nucleus of Old Rugbeians ; have had 
 a fairly successful career, but not an even one. A few 
 years back they had a very consistent forward team, but 
 have never had pace or style enough to rank in the first 
 class. With Hooper, Miller, and Orr behind the scrum- 
 mage they are still formidable, but until they can 
 command a regular set of forwards with a determined 
 and definite style, they will never obtain the success 
 which their straightforward style of play is entitled to. 
 
 St. 'Thomas's Hospital. — During the last five years this 
 hospital has played a prominent part in Metropolitan 
 football, and may be said to be the only hospital which 
 has so far mastered a scientific game, or which has been 
 able to hold its own in first-class company. For three 
 years they have carried off the Inter-Hospital Challenge 
 Cup, and amongst other notable achievements, beat 
 Cambridge in the past season. F. J. Goodhue and J. H. 
 Dewhirst, both International players, are the best known 
 of their forwards, while behind the scrummage, W. E. 
 Bromet, sen., and P. Northcote have contributed largely 
 to the successes of the club. 
 
 Coopers Hill. — Fifteen years ago the engineering 
 college at Egham was very nearly at the top of the tree. 
 In the past it has brought out such famous International 
 players as Finney, Price, Hutchinson, Macleod, Fowler. 
 At the present time the team is of medium strength, but 
 a long way behind the form of old days. It may be due 
 to boys leaving school earlier than they used to, but the 
 fact remains that their recent fifteens are composed of 
 very much smaller men than of old, and not to be com- 
 pared in physique to their predecessors. They have 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 349 
 
 lately been fairly successful against minor clubs, but 
 cannot hold their own in tirst-rate company. ^<T~ 
 
 The Clapham Rovers. — This club holds a imioJuA 
 record in the football world. From the foundatioVirj^ 
 1869 the club has been a leading organisation both t*C 
 the Association and in the Rugby games. Its prowess 
 under the Association code is evinced by the success of 
 the team in 1879 and in 1880. In the former year the 
 Clapham Rovers were the runners-up for the Association 
 Cup, and in the latter they won the trophy. This peculiar 
 feature in the constitution and history of the club 
 obtained for the Rovers the sobriquet of the " Hybrid 
 Club," a title bestowed somewhat in ridicule, but, as 
 events have turned out, destined to be the most honour- 
 able appellation that could have been selected for this 
 remarkable organisation. 
 
 The club was formed on the 10th August, 1869. The 
 circular calling the meeting was issued by W. E. Rawlin- 
 son, who, on the formation of the club, was elected hon. 
 secretary. It was agreed to play under both codes, 
 Association rules to be played one week, and Rugby the 
 other. The first match was played on the 25th Sep- 
 tember, 1869, against the Wanderers, at that time the 
 strongest Association playing club. The Rovers won by 
 one goal to none, and were much complimented on their 
 splendid organisation by C. W. Alcock, the Wanderers' 
 captain. 
 
 They were equally successful under Rugby rules, and 
 by January, 1870, the membership was sufficiently strong 
 to enable the club to play two matches every Saturday, 
 one under each code. At the close of the season only 
 two matches had been lost, one under each rules, and in 
 both instances the return match was won, viz., under 
 Rugby rules, with the Marlborough Nomads ; and under 
 Association, with Charterhouse School. 
 
 W. E. Rawlinson continued to hold the office of hon. 
 secretary and treasurer till the end of the season 1873, 
 and it is in a great measure due to his indefatigable 
 exertions that the club owe their successful start. For 
 many seasons they more than held their own with the 
 best clubs in the Metropolitan district, and though the 
 club has not in the last few seasons won so many of its 
 matches as heretofore, it still ranks as one of the best 
 
350 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 clubs. From 1870 to 1881 the club played 151 Rugby 
 games, winning 80, losing 30, and drawing 41. 
 
 In the second season, 1871-2, R. H. Birkett was captain, 
 and with the assistance of his brother, L. Birkett, 
 Crampton, and Walker made about the strongest com- 
 bination of the time behind the scrummage. C. C. 
 Bryden played this season, and, like R, H. Birkett, was 
 found playing the Association game almost as often 
 as Rugby. The club played Richmond for the first 
 time on the 21st October, 1871, and won the match by 
 1 goal and 2 tries. R. H. Birkett (2 tries), C. C. Bryden 
 (1 try). Three Birketts and two Brydens played in this 
 match. At the end of the season the club, who so far 
 had played on Clapham Common, moved to a field at 
 Balham, where they continued to play till 1876, when 
 they moved to Wandsworth, where they still play. 
 
 R. S. Whalley. 
 
 Rosslyn Park. — As a club which has been steadily 
 making its way to the front rank, Rosslyn Park deserves 
 a brief mention. Founded in 1879 with about a score 
 of playing members, and with the modest ambition of 
 vanquishing the second fifteens of such clubs as Hornsey 
 and the Arabs, the club is now able to get matches with 
 both the Universities and all the strongest Metropolitan 
 organisations. For this success it has mainly to thank 
 a succession of devoted officials, of whom C. C. H. 
 Miller was the first, and A. Reid, who has recently 
 resigned his post to J. B. Jackson, the last. It was 
 about two years ago that a third fifteen of Rosslyn Park 
 first boasted a regular fixture list and that Rosslyn 
 Park men found their way into the Middlesex fifteen. 
 Reid, who as secretary has been the life and soul of the 
 club, has also been of great use to his side in the field, 
 playing equally well at full-back and at three-quarter. 
 His Chief virtues as a player are the coolness and judg- 
 ment which are born of long experience, and a remark- 
 able amount of steady courage which is particularly 
 valuable in defence. This quality he has shown in 
 county matches, and by it he gained his Middlesex cap. 
 E. Figgis, a dashing and clean forward, C. Nicholas, a 
 hard worker of somewhat fine physique, and J. Lamont, a 
 fair half-back, have also been selected for similar honours. 
 The other regular half-back of the team, R. F. Chaldecott, 
 
METROPOLITAN FOOTBALL. 351 
 
 has frequently played for Surrey. Chaldecott is a sturdy 
 and fast player, who in anything below first-class com- 
 pany never fails to distinguish himself, and invariably 
 requires watching. He cannot be said to have a genius 
 for the passing game, but even in this respect is not 
 inferior to the average half-back of the best London 
 clubs. Among the three-quarters must be mentioned H. 
 C. L. Tindall, the champion quarter-miler, who two or 
 three seasons back rendered the club good service ; it 
 can also occasionally reckon on the assistance of D. G. 
 Anderson and G. C. Lindsay, the London Scottish players, 
 who are both on the roll of members. But it is prin- 
 cipally to sterling forward play and fair combination 
 throughout the team that the Rosslyn Park Club has owed 
 its success up to the present, and to search for " stars " 
 among its players is to render scant justice to the fifteen. 
 The ground of the club is now at Acton, but it is worthy 
 of note that it was originally a North London club play- 
 ing at Gospel Oak, whence, after draining the ground for 
 the benefit of its successors, it was in 1885 evicted 
 mercilessly. That football clubs are so few in the 
 Northern suburbs is doubtless due partly to the great 
 difficulty of renting fields at a reasonable price, and 
 partly to the outlay that is necessary to make a deep and 
 heavy clay soil suitable for use in winter. The clubs 
 which have triumphed over these obstacles have been 
 very few, and that Rosslyn Park has been one of them, 
 may be put down in no small measure to the activity of 
 A. Reid, the only surviving member who was among the 
 original founders. 
 
CHAPTER XVIII. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 THE COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP. 
 
 CURIOUSLY enough county football dates from an 
 earlier period than even the Rugby Union. The 
 first contest between two counties was the encounter 
 between Lancashire and Yorkshire at Leeds in the year 
 1870, whereas the Rugby Union did not come into 
 existence until the year 1871, and the first International 
 match was played in the same year. But whilst Inter- 
 national matches have been conducted with regularity 
 since their institution, county football has been of a 
 fluctuating nature. True, the Lancashire and York- 
 shire match has been an annual and regular fix- 
 ture, but as regards other counties there have been 
 periods of spasmodic vitality followed by cycles of 
 inactive torpidity. This has been pre-eminently 
 the case as regards Southern counties, and more 
 especially in respect of the Metropolitan counties. 
 The reasons are not far to seek. With reference to 
 football in and about London, the county fixtures do 
 not contain the same exciting elements as exist in 
 club matches. 
 
 But, notwithstanding many unfavourable influences 
 in the South, county football has been fostered and has 
 flourished. The Middlesex player, whilst having little 
 interest in an encounter with Surrey or Kent, has been 
 fired with the spirit of rivalry as between North and 
 South, when meeting the two great northern counties of 
 Lancashire and Yorkshire ; and the absence of annual 
 fixtures between these two counties and Middlesex 
 has been due to other causes than lack of enthusiasm 
 on the part of the Southern player. The gate-money 
 
DEKSHIKE (CHAMPION COUNTY) TEAM V ENGLAND: HALIFAX, 
 FEBKUARY 23, 1889. 
 
 (Enuland— 3 Goals. Yorkshire— Nil.) 
 
354 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 taken at Southern county matches is insignificant 
 compared with the ample funds at the disposal of 
 the Northern executives. Hence financial difficulties 
 have been a great factor in the inability of Southern 
 counties to meet their more fortunate (in a pecuniary 
 sense) rivals of the Northern counties on equal 
 terms. It is true, that grants have been made 
 by certain Northern counties to Southern teams to 
 enable them to carry out their fixtures, but this is 
 not a satisfactory method of conducting county foot- 
 ball. 
 
 Whilst thus alluding to the Metropolitan portion of 
 Southern football, it is satisfactory to note that the 
 Western counties have exhibited much more consistency 
 and regularity in bringing off county fixtures. Devon- 
 shire, Somersetshire, and Gloucestershire have been note- 
 worthy for managing their county clubs with much 
 greater enthusiasm than that evidenced in the London 
 district. The Midland counties, too, have not been 
 backward in turning out teams representative of foot- 
 ball in the Midlands. Naturally it has been impossible 
 for either the Western or Midland counties to meet 
 all rival counties, nor is it desirable that such should 
 be the case. It is not so in cricket. Nottinghamshire, 
 Surrey, Lancashire, Yorkshire, and other counties 
 would find it impossible to arrange cricket fixtures 
 with every other county in England. And if this is 
 the case in cricket, it is more so as regards football. 
 County football to a great extent calls upon clubs to 
 let off their players from club matches to assist their 
 county, and a plethora of county matches would lead 
 to either the formation of a county fifteen, the members 
 of which would play only occasionally for a club, 
 or the abandonment of county fixtures through 
 the unwillingness and inability of clubs to allow 
 their players to assist in the county fixtures. No 
 doubt a visit made by a Middlesex, Lancashire, or 
 Yorkshire team to the Western or Midland counties 
 is most attractive and exceedingly beneficial to football ; 
 but from the nature of the game in which club is the 
 principal factor, and which is fostered and developed 
 by club interests, it is manifestly impossible to arrange 
 such a series of county fixtures as would practically 
 compel a player to abandon the interests of his club, 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. &55 
 
 in order to place his services unreservedly at the dis- 
 posal of the County Committee. 
 
 It is in the North that county football reigns supreme. 
 Lancashire, Yorkshire, Cheshire, Northumberland, and 
 Durham have for many years kept up an unbroken series 
 of county matches, and of late years Cumberland has 
 been coming to the front. In these counties there is a 
 genuine and sustained interest in county games, and 
 the rivalry is both healthy and of great service to 
 the game. The County cap in Yorkshire is a coveted 
 honour, and players contend eagerly with one another 
 for a place in the ranks of the county fifteen. As 
 a rule, clubs are eager to place the services of their 
 players at the disposal of the county executive. Many 
 a member of the Yorkshire County Committee has 
 found himself in bad odour with his Club Committee, 
 because he has failed to obtain a place in the county 
 team for a player whom the supporters and enthusiasts 
 of his club consider to be far more skilful than some 
 who have been more fortunate than he in being selected 
 for the team. This is a healthy sign. Of course, in one 
 sense it is ridiculous. Very often it means calling a 
 goose a swan — in fact, the absurd one-sided partisan- 
 ship, which biases the judgment and colours the 
 opinions of the average club supporter in Yorkshire 
 and Lancashire, cannot be realised save by those who 
 have had the amusing experience of fraternising with 
 these enthusiasts and of hearing them (generally in 
 the vernacular of the particular district) express their 
 sentiments with respect to the player in question, and 
 also their flattering (?) opinion with regard to the selecting 
 body. But still that the feeling exists is a healthy sign. 
 The gentleman player may at times be inclined to regret 
 that the popularity of the game has resulted in the in- 
 troduction of a class of players who may not be the equal 
 socially of the player of former days. The working- 
 man has made the game his own, and has clearly de- 
 monstrated his ability and skill, and so has earned his 
 place in county and international teams. It is there- 
 fore greatly to be rejoiced at that such is the enthusiasm 
 and keenness of the workman player, that he is prepared 
 to sacrifice work and wages for the coveted distinction 
 of a County, Northern, or International cap. One, and 
 that not the least, of the benefits to the game by county 
 x 2 
 
356 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 football in the North has been the effect which it has 
 had in placing before the working-man a goal of ambition, 
 which requires for attainment high and lofty motives, 
 and which entails upon the successful aspirant a certain 
 amount of sacrifice. The opposite has been the case in 
 the Association game. There is no eager competition 
 for places in the North and South, County and Associa- 
 tion matches. On the contrary, the player being better 
 paid for a club match feels no inducement to quit the 
 club ranks in order to participate in a county match ; 
 whilst the club whose existence is dependent upon 
 success in order to obtain the public support necessary to 
 provide the funds to carry on club affairs is reluctant to 
 
 frant permission to the player to assist his county or 
 istrict association. This is very significant, and in 
 commenting upon any point of the Rugby Code and 
 comparing the same with the Association game it will 
 be found that there is one very safe rule to follow. Has 
 any particular feature shown a tendency to decline in 
 the Association game, whilst at the same time it has 
 continued to flourish and develop under Rugby rules ? 
 Then the observer may safely conclude that the fact 
 of decline in one case, and growth in the other, is 
 distinctly to the advantage of the Rugby game. And 
 on this point — viz., the eagerness of players and clubs 
 to support the county games — the Rugby Union may 
 rest the confident expectation of the advancement 
 of the best interests of the game in the Northern 
 counties. 
 
 But such support has not always been given to the 
 County Committee by clubs and players. The first 
 notable instance in Yorkshire was on the occasion of 
 the match with the Midland counties at Wakefield 
 on November 18th, 1882, when J. Dodd and A. Wood 
 ot the Halifax Club were retained by their own club 
 Avhen chosen to play for Yorkshire. On that occasion 
 the County Committee were content to apply moral 
 suasion only, and, in writing to the Halifax Club repri- 
 manding them for " assuming (what think ye of that 
 word, ye Southern Clubites ?) the right to keep men 
 at home to play in their own club matches when their 
 services are required for the county," went no further 
 than intimating " that in the future players so doing will 
 endanger their chance of being selected to play in any 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 357 
 
 subsequent county match." This threat proved sufficient 
 till November 22nd, 1884, when the Bradford Club, 
 being on tour in the South of England, and playing 
 a match with the Marlborough Nomads, declined to 
 allow their players to take part in the Lancashire and 
 Yorkshire match on the same day, and compelled them 
 to go South with the rest of the Bradford team. Such 
 conduct might have been passed over with a reprimand 
 had victory smiled upon Yorkshire, but smarting under 
 defeat at the hands of their ancient rivals, and in- 
 fluenced by the fact that Bradford, who scored against 
 the Nomads no less than seven goals and four tries 
 to nothing, would have won their match even without 
 the aid of the county selections, the Yorkshire Com- 
 mittee dealt with the offence in a decided and decisive 
 manner. As usual, punishment in future cases was to 
 be inflicted through the medium of the Challenge Cup 
 competition. 
 
 That such declarations and actions on the part of 
 the Yorkshire Committee have been possible and 
 effectual, conclusively shows in how different a light 
 county football is regarded in the North compared with 
 the South. Indeed, county football was organised for 
 years ere it received official recognition from the 
 governing body, and it was not till the season 
 1883-4 that rules of qualification for county players 
 were adopted. 
 
 The institution of the County Championship marks 
 a distinct era in county football, and may possibly 
 galvanise into life the torpid energies of the Metropolitan 
 counties. It is only since the season of 1888-9 that the 
 title has received official recognition from the Rugby 
 Union authorities. But the natural feeling of rivalry 
 has caused counties in the past to put forward their 
 claims to be considered the leading county of the year. 
 Practically only three counties have by their achieve- 
 ments been able to put forward a legitimate claim for 
 such distinction. Middlesex in the South, Lancashire 
 and Yorkshire in the North, have exhibited form so 
 markedly superior to other counties, that they only need 
 be referred to when discussing the subject of County 
 Championship during the years previous to the official 
 institution of the same. 
 
 Of these Middlesex are practically placed out of court 
 
358 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 by their own action in playing so few matches, and those 
 at irregular intervals. This county, though able at all 
 times to put a first-class team in the field, cannot for 
 any period advance any substantial claim to be con- 
 sidered champion county. Lancashire may, therefore, 
 be considered to have fairly established their pretensions 
 to the position during the first decade of county matches. 
 But in '81, '82, and '83, Yorkshire had a wonderful series 
 of successes, and during those years were not beaten by 
 any other county team, though in the spring of '84 they 
 succumbed to the powerful Oxford team, which defeated 
 them by a goal. For those years Yorkshire may fairly 
 be considered champion, especially so for the season 
 '83-'84, when Lancashire, Cheshire, Durham, Midland 
 Counties, and Northumberland in turn succumbed to 
 them. In '84-'85, Lancashire recovered their lost laurels, 
 for not only did they defeat Yorkshire, but were also 
 successful against Cheshire, Northumberland, and Dur- 
 ham. In '85-'86, Yorkshire, though defeating Lancashire, 
 lost to Middlesex, so that the championship for that year 
 may be considered in abeyance. In '86-'87, Lancashire 
 drew with Yorkshire and defeated Middlesex, losing 
 the match with Somerset. Middlesex defeated York- 
 shire and lost to Lancashire. Yorkshire drew with 
 Lancashire, lost to Middlesex, and defeated Somerset. 
 In this cross calculation the partisans of the respec- 
 tive counties may be allowed to settle the premier- 
 ship to suit their respective and special fancies. In 
 '87-'88, Middlesex won all matches, defeating Durham, 
 Yorkshire, Somerset, and Lancashire, thus establishing 
 themselves as unquestionably the champions of that year. 
 This season is also marked by the great advance of 
 Somerset, who, though defeated by narrow margins by 
 Lancashire and Middlesex, completely outplayed York- 
 shire at Weston-super-Mare. 
 
 In '88-'89, the Rugby Union officially recognised 
 the title of Champion County. Several causes conduced 
 to this step. The dispute with the L T nions of Scotland, 
 Ireland, and Wales had led to the abandonment of Inter- 
 national matches as far as the English Union was con- 
 cerned. And so in '89 there had been a huge blank as 
 regards the great matches of the year. England had been 
 boycotted by the other Unions, and that year presented 
 the unusual spectacle of an English International team 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 359 
 
 being selected, and caps awarded, without the players 
 having an opportunity of displaying their prowess against 
 the picked players of the other counties. The Rugby 
 Union depends for a main part of its funds upon the 
 profits made upon the International matches of trie year. 
 The committee therefore were faced by two difficulties : 
 on the one hand they were likely to have a deficit on the 
 year's working, and on the other English players 
 were deprived of the excitement and sport of the great 
 matches. How were these difficulties to be met ? It 
 was suggested that two additional matches should be 
 played, viz., a second North and South match, and that 
 the Rugby Union should declare a champion county, 
 which county should play the Rest of England. The 
 suggestion was eagerly received and accordingly carried 
 out. 
 
 The County Championship was inaugurated upon a 
 very simple principle. As soon as the county matches for 
 the year were played, the committee of the Union were 
 to examine results and declare the county which they 
 considered had the best record. In '88-'89 there was no 
 difficulty in arriving at a conclusion which met with 
 general approval. In that season Yorkshire had an 
 extraordinary record, and won all their six county matches 
 against Northumberland, Durham, Lancashire, Cheshire, 
 Surre}? - , and Somerset, with consummate ease and by over- 
 whelming scores. On Lancashire they inflicted a crush- 
 ing defeat by 4 goals and 2 tries to nothing, exactly the 
 great score obtained by Lancashire against them in '81. 
 So superior were the form and combination of the 
 Yorkshire players, that no less than eleven of them 
 found places in the North team against the South. 
 Further proof of the excellence of the Yorkshire 
 team was furnished in the match against the New 
 Zealand team at Wakefield, when the Maoris sus- 
 tained the most decisive defeat of their tour, being 
 vanquished by no less a score than that of 5 goals and 
 a try to a goal and a try. In treating of the champion 
 team a criticism of their play cannot be omitted, though 
 any praise of their achievements must not be construed 
 into neglect to appreciate the merits of their rivals and 
 opponents. Yorkshire in '88-'89 had a wonderful team, 
 and it is open to dispute if any county, at any time, put 
 a fifteen into the field which could have lowered the 
 
360 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 colours of the champions of that season. Eleven 
 members of the North team and seven Internationals is 
 a record without precedent in the modern days of the 
 Rugby Union, when clubs and players have so increased 
 in numbers. Vassall's Oxford team is the only combina- 
 tion that in recent times can boast of more brilliant 
 achievements in the gaining of International honours. 
 The forwards were exceptionally heavy and fast, and 
 their combined rush was almost irresistible. Their keen- 
 ness in following up and their quick play generally made 
 the "Yorkshire rush" almost proverbial. They had success- 
 fully developed the system of not going back to help 
 their backs, but of waiting to have the ball returned. In 
 this they were materially assisted by the marvellous 
 kicking of Sutcliffe, the centre three-quarter, who, by his 
 long and accurate drops and punts into touch, invariably 
 saved the forwards and rendered the system possible. 
 Bonsor, Stadden, and Wright, all Internationals, fur- 
 nished a trio of half-backs who, whilst scorers them- 
 selves, were thorough adepts at the passing game, and 
 thus enabled Sutcliffe, Lockwood, and Brooke, at three- 
 quarters, to make full use of their undoubted abilities. 
 But when pitted against the Rest of England, at Halifax, 
 on February 23rd, 1889, the Yorkshiremen failed to 
 maintain their reputation, and were easily defeated by 
 3 goals to nil. The credit of the victor} 7 lay mainly 
 with F. R. H. Alderson, A. E. Stoddart, and F. Evershed. 
 Alderson's display at centre three-quarter was a most 
 finished and scientific exhibition, and even the Tykes 
 were compelled to admit that on that day's form he 
 ought to have represented England against the Maoris 
 instead of J. W. Sutcliffe. The latter's play was tame in 
 the extreme, and his failure to exhibit his real form was 
 a main cause of Yorkshire's defeat. Frank Evershed had 
 every opportunity of breaking away in his own particular 
 style, and his play quite electrified the spectators, who 
 were unanimous in awarding the speedy Burton man the 
 palm as champion forward of the year. The defeat was 
 a great blow to the Yorkshiremen, who had regarded 
 victory as a certainty, but there can be no doubt 
 that the better team on the day won, and that the 
 champion county was not seen quite at its best. The 
 record for Yorkshire in the season 1888-89 was as 
 follows : — 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 361 
 
 Yorkshire Matches, 1888-9. 
 
 Yorkshire. Opponents. 
 
 Nov. 10. — v. Northumberland 
 
 Nov. 17. — r. Durham 
 
 Nov. 24. — r. Lancashire 
 Dec. 3. — v. Surrey... 
 Feb. 9.— v. Cheshire 
 
 Feb. 16. — v. Somerset 
 
 *Dec. 12. — v. New Zealand Team 
 Jan. 19.— v. New Zealand Team 
 Feb. 23.— v. England 
 
 o. 
 
 T. 
 
 a. 
 
 T. 
 
 4 
 
 3 ... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ... 3 
 
 1 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 3 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 3 
 
 3 ... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 ... 2 
 
 3 ... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 16 
 
 15 ... 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 , ; drawn, 0. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 3 ... 
 
 2 
 
 .] 
 
 ... 5 
 
 1 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ... 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 It is a matter of regret that Yorkshire in this season 
 did not meet Middlesex. 
 
 In 1889-90 Yorkshire were again to the fore, but, 
 though undefeated, they could not boast of the 
 brilliant record of the previous season, and draws 
 with Middlesex and Cheshire were unsatisfactory 
 items in the season's records. Lancashire, Durham, 
 Northumberland, Surrey, Kent, and Somerset were 
 defeated, but the great scores of the previous year 
 were conspicuous by their absence. As some explana- 
 tion of the draw with Middlesex it should be remem- 
 bered that early in the game M. Wise, of Otley, half- 
 back, was incapacitated by a strained knee. Middlesex 
 had far the best of the play, and Yorkshire, thus 
 handicapped, were exceedingly fortunate in making a 
 draw of the game. The Rugby Union had no difficulty 
 in awarding the championship, and the match was 
 played at Bradford on February 22nd, 1890, when, 
 contrary to expectation, the Rest of England were 
 defeated by 1 goal and 3 tries to a goal and 
 a try. Thus Yorkshire with a weaker team than 
 in the previous year completely reversed the verdict, 
 and not only won the match by so decisive a score, but 
 also had much the best of the game. England certainly 
 were not so strong as the year before, several men being 
 unable to take part in the match. Naturally, as the 
 match does not entitle a player to wear the England 
 cap, men are not so keen in getting off to play as they 
 would be were the match an International match 
 proper. But Yorkshire were weaker comparatively. 
 
 * This was only a second team of Yorkshire. 
 
YORKSHIRE (CHAMPION COUNTY) TEAM V. ENGLAND 
 
 BRADFORD, FEBRUARY 22, 1890. 
 
 (Yorkshire— 1 Goal, 3 Tries. England— 1 Goal, 1 Try.) 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Aulaby Road, Hull.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 363 
 
 Lockwood was unable to play through illness, and 
 Lowrie, damaged, was also compelled to stand down, 
 the place of centre three-quarter being taken by S. 
 Eastwood, of the Brighouse Rangers. D. Jowett, who 
 had been placed on the reserve, the result of slack play 
 in previous matches, took the place of Lowrie, and right 
 well did the giant justify his right to form one of 
 Yorkshire's premier fifteen. England early took the 
 lead, and with a goal, dropped by Crompton, and a try 
 to the good, it seemed as if the result of the match 
 would be as in the preceding year, but the Yorkshire 
 forwards pulling themselves together gave a most 
 finished exhibition of determined forward play. Time 
 after time the England backs made ground by kicking 
 or running, only to see their forwards lose the advantage 
 through the irresistible rush of the Yorkshiremen. The 
 Yorkshire forward play was a revelation to the Rugby 
 Union magnates who were watching the game, and 
 though Stadden at half passed well, and Dyson of Hud- 
 dersfield ran brilliantly, their efforts would have been of 
 no avail had not the forwards so completely routed the 
 opposing forces. But the Yorkshire victory was of more 
 than passing or of local moment. Gratifying as it was to 
 the champion county to find its representatives capable 
 of defeating the Rest of England, the result of the match 
 was most important to the interests of the English team. 
 The match between the Champion County and the Rest 
 of England was sandwiched between the International 
 matches with Wales and Scotland. '89-'90 saw the 
 renewal of International fixtures, and the Saturday 
 previous to the champion match England had met 
 Wales at Dewsbury and been defeated. Consternation 
 had seized upon the Rugby Union Executive. Scotland 
 was to be met in a fortnight. How were the English 
 forwards who had been routed by the Welshmen to be 
 depended upon to meet the sturdy, strong play of the 
 Scotsmen ? If ever England desired to win the Scotch 
 match it was on this occasion when the International 
 dispute was arranged. On the evening after the Welsh 
 match everything pointed to the victory of the Scots- 
 men. The Yorkshire triumph of the succeeding Satur- 
 day was like a gleam of sunshine breaking through the 
 lowering clouds. As rush succeeded rush bearing back 
 the England forwards with irresistible onslaught, it was 
 
 Am**\ 
 
364 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 apparent that in the Yorkshire team were to be found 
 the men capable of stemming the Scotch forwards, and 
 if Scotland could be held in check forward the English 
 backs could be depended upon to win the day. Accord- 
 ingly Yorkshire furnished no less than live of the 
 forward brigade ; Dyson, of Huddersfield, being chosen 
 as three-quarter, and Bonsor as half-back, the champion 
 county thus supplying seven of the International fifteen 
 in the match of all International matches. And right 
 well did the Yorkshiremen acquit themselves, though 
 Bonsor, through a sprained knee, was unable to play. 
 How magnificently the Scotch forwards strove in the 
 last twenty minutes to gain a point to reverse the 
 verdict, and how sturdily the English forwards met these 
 mighty efforts ! England were leading by a goal and a 
 try to nothing, yet so persistently did the Scotsmen 
 keep up the attack in English quarters that hope did 
 not desert the Northmen, nor anxiety depart from the 
 Englishmen till the call of time. Had there been any 
 flinching on the part of the English forwards, the stern 
 determination of the Scotsmen would have triumphed 
 and have altered the issue of the match. The defeat of 
 England by Yorkshire, March, 1890, will always be 
 remembered as having resulted in the victory over 
 Scotland by revealing the merit and determination of 
 the forward contingent of the Yorkshire team. 
 
 The record of the champion county for the season 
 '89-'90 was as follows :— 
 
 Yorkshire Matches, 1889-90. 
 
 Yorkshire. Opponents. 
 
 Nov. 
 
 9. — v. Durham 
 
 G. T. 
 
 4 1 ... 
 
 G. 
 
 
 T. 
 1 
 
 Nov. 
 
 16. — v. Northumberland 
 
 1 4 ... 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 Nov. 
 
 23. — v. Lancashire 
 
 1 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 9. — v. Middlesex 
 
 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Dec. 
 
 16. — v. Surrey... 
 
 2 4 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 Jan. 
 
 4. — v. Somerset 
 
 1 .. 
 
 
 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 6. — v. Kent ... 
 
 2 2 ... 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 8. — v. Cheshire 
 
 Played, 8 ; won, 6 ; lost, 
 
 4 ... 
 
 ] 
 
 1 
 
 
 10 16 
 drawn, 2. 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 22. — v. England 
 
 1 3 ... 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 In the season '90-'91, Yorkshire was deposed from the 
 place of proud pre-eminence. But ere this took place a 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 365 
 
 change had taken place in the conditions of the County 
 Championship. 
 
 Yorkshire submitted a scheme for the regulation of 
 the County Championship which was unanimously 
 accepted at the October meeting of the Union. Of 
 course, the simplest and easiest method would have 
 been to declare so many counties first-class counties 
 and to leave them to enter the contest for the 
 championship ; but this plan met with the expressed 
 disapproval of so many counties who saw themselves by 
 it entirely cut off from any chance of championship 
 honours that it had to be abandoned, and so the problem 
 to be solved was rendered somewhat complex, the three 
 main principles being as follows : — First, it was abso- 
 lutely necessary for a genuine competition which should 
 guarantee that, as far as possible, the best county should 
 come to the front, that no arrangement should be arrived 
 at which would give any advantage to any particular 
 county. Secondly, such was the eagerness evinced by 
 different counties to enter the competition that provision 
 for all counties must be made. Thirdly, the geograph- 
 ical position and financial condition of the counties had 
 to be considered, whilst at the same time an enormous 
 increase of county matches would practically render the 
 scheme impossible. Keeping these three principles in 
 view, Yorkshire proposed the division of the counties 
 into four groups : the North-Eastern, North- Western, 
 South - Eastern, and South - Western, and that the 
 counties in each group should play amongst themselves 
 to decide the leading county of the group. This was to 
 be the first stage of the competition. The second stage 
 was then to be fought out between the respective group 
 winners, the most successful of which was to be declared 
 champion county. 
 
 In 1890-91, Lancashire were indisputably the 
 champion county, and their record was almost without 
 precedent. This year, the first season under formal 
 rules for the championship, was marked by surprises. 
 Middlesex, defeated by Surrey, were unexpectedly 
 deprived of the position of group winner in the South- 
 Eastern section. Gloucester, after playing an undecided 
 match with Somersetshire, by defeating that county were 
 returned winners for the South- Western group. Lanca- 
 shire and Yorkshire were the winners of the North- 
 
366 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Western and North-Eastern groups respectively. Prac- 
 tically the championship was decided by the defeat 
 of Yorkshire by Lancashire at Whalley Range on 
 November 29th, 1890, for with only Surrey and 
 Gloucester to meet in the other groups, the success 
 of the Red Rose was a matter of almost absolute cer- 
 tainty. In their encounter with Lancashire, Yorkshire 
 were undoubtedly unfortunate in very early losing the 
 services of their full-back, S. Mawson, who broke his 
 collar-bone in tackling Valentine, but this accident 
 cannot be quoted as accounting for the Yorkshire de- 
 feat. The Lancastrians won by superior combination, 
 especially amongst the forwards and in the half-backs 
 as a link between the forwards and the three-quarters. 
 The Yorkshire eight fought manfully against the 
 opposing nine in the first half of the game, at the 
 conclusion of which Yorkshire were leading by a try ; 
 but numbers and combination told at the finish, and 
 Lancashire won handsomely by 2 goals 1 try, to 1 try. 
 The record of the competition for the County 
 Championship for the season is appended. 
 
 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIPS, 1890-91. 
 PRELIMINARY SERIES. 
 
 Lancashire 
 Westmorland . . . 
 Cheshire ... 
 Cumberland 
 
 (1) 
 
 North-Western Grouj 
 
 Lan. dies. Cum. West. 
 
 — W. W. w. 
 
 L. "W. — 
 
 w. 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 L. 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 P. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Points. 
 F. A. 
 .. 35 2 
 .. 4 16 
 ..0 7 
 .. 2 16 
 
 Yorkshire 
 
 Durham 
 
 Northumberland 
 
 (2) 
 
 North-Eastern Group 
 Yks. Dur. North. 
 — W. w. > 
 
 L. — W. 
 
 L. L. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 .. 14 1 
 ..3 6 
 .. 1 11 
 
 Surrey ... 
 Middlesex 
 Kent 
 
 Sussex ... 
 
 (3) 
 
 South-Eastern Group. 
 
 Mid. Sur. Kent. Sus. 
 W. — W. — 
 
 L. W. 
 
 L. L. — 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ..8 4 
 .. 11 5 
 .. 1 11 
 ..0 
 
 Gloucestershire 
 Somersetshire . . . 
 Midland Counties 
 Devonshire 
 
 (4) 
 
 South- Western Group 
 Som. Dev. Glou. M. C 
 D.AV. — — W. 
 
 — W, D.L. — 
 
 AY. L. — 
 
 L. L. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 1 
 2 
 
 6 
 6 
 
 
 
 ..8 
 .. 7 3 
 .. 13 8 
 .. 3 20 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 367 
 
 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 
 
 
 Points*. 
 
 
 
 Lane. Yks. 
 
 Sur. Glou. 
 
 W. 
 
 L. 
 
 D. 
 
 F. A. 
 
 1. 
 
 Lancashire 
 
 w. V. 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 35 1 
 
 2. 
 
 Yorkshire ... ... l. 
 
 w\ — 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ... 12 7 
 
 :;. 
 
 Surrey 
 
 L. L. 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 ... 25 
 
 •». 
 
 Gloucestershire ... l. — 
 
 — — 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 ... 14 
 
 
 
 Lancashire Matches, 1890-91. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Lancashire. 
 
 Opponents. j^Z 
 
 
 
 
 a. 
 
 T. 
 
 
 a. 
 
 T. / X 
 
 
 Nov. 
 
 8. — r. Cheshire 
 
 ... 2 
 
 1 . 
 
 
 
 
 of r 
 
 
 Nov. 
 
 15. — v. Northumberland 
 
 ... 3 
 
 6 . 
 
 
 
 
 l V L 
 
 
 Nov. 
 
 22. — v. Westmorland 
 
 ... 4 
 
 4 . 
 
 
 
 
 o V 
 
 
 Nov. 
 
 29. — v. Yorkshire 
 
 ... 2 
 
 1 . 
 
 
 
 
 l X 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 10. — v. Devonshire 
 
 ... 2 
 
 5 . 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 Jan. 
 
 24. — v. Durham 
 
 1 
 
 4 . 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 15. — v. Surrey ... 
 
 ... 3 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Feb. 
 
 28. — v. Cumberland ... 
 
 ... 3 
 
 3 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 Mar. 
 
 14. — v. Gloucestershire 
 
 4 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 24 
 
 31 
 
 
 
 6 
 
 
 
 Flayed, 9 ; won, 9 ; lost, 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Mar. 
 
 9. — v. Ulster ... 
 
 ... 3 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Apr. 
 
 18.— v. England 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 ?$£ 
 
 c A 
 
 fd^ORh 
 
 Such figures speak for themselves, and conclusively 
 show that the championship was fairly earned by 
 Lancashire in 1890-91, and yet only three Lancastrians, 
 J. Berry, R. P. Wilson, and T. Kent played for England, 
 though D. GAvynn and W. McCutcheon figured as Welsh 
 Internationals. Lancashire's strength in 1890-91 lav in 
 their combination and evenness. Though only Wilson 
 and Kent, as forwards, were selected for England, it is 
 doubtful whether their play was much superior to the 
 worst forward of the nine. A more hard-working, 
 evenly-balanced set of forwards has rarely been com- 
 bined in the same county team. Berry and Cross 
 behind them were an excellent pair of halves in a 
 winning game, and by feeding Gwynn in the centre 
 enabled the Lancashire three-quarters to indulge in the 
 modern scientific passing game to perfection. The 
 advent of Berry and Cross from Westmorland, and 
 the happy circumstance that caused Gwynn and 
 McCutcheon to locate themselves in Oldham, furnished 
 Lancashire with the needed addition to the strength 
 of their team, and caused that county to be represented 
 in 1890-91 by the most finished combination amongst 
 county teams in recent times. 
 
 The match v. the Rest of England, played at Whalley 
 
LANCASHIRE (CHAMPION COUNTY) TEAM V. ENGLAND: 
 
 MANCHESTER, APRIL 18, 1891. 
 
 (England— 1 Goal, 1 Try. Lancashire— 1 Try.) 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 369 
 
 Range on April 18th, 1891, was confidently looked upon 
 by Lancastrians as likely to result in a win for the 
 county. Nothing would have better suited the partisans 
 of the county team than to record a success against 
 England, and by that to put themselves on a par with 
 their rivals of Yorkshire the season previous. The 
 result of the match was a severe blow to their aspira- 
 tions. For England Mitchell was unable to appear as 
 full back, whilst Christopherson, three-quarter, and Leake, 
 half, were also absentees ; but, despite these defections, 
 England put a strong team into the field, comparatively 
 much stronger than the one which opposed Yorkshire 
 in 1889-90, so, had the Lancastrians been successful, 
 their victory would have been specially meritorious. 
 The Lancashire combination told at the start, and they 
 early obtained a goal from a try by Valentine. Pressing 
 England strongly, there were but few who anticipated 
 the defeat of the county. But the England forwards 
 getting more together as the match proceeded gave their 
 backs more opportunities, and at the close England had 
 won by a goal and a try to a goal. The feature of the 
 match was the ubiquitous character of the game played 
 by Alderson, the English captain, who, but for a decided 
 tendency to press the wing three-quarters near touch ere 
 passing to them, gave a perfect exposition of centre 
 three-quarter play. Lancashire may attribute their 
 defeat to sheer hard luck, for McCutcheon, dropping 
 at goal, kicked the ball over the bar, but to his 
 mortification found that the officials decided that it had 
 touched Alderson in its flight. Then some informality 
 in taking the ball out for the second England try was 
 also overruled. Had either of these points gone in 
 Lancashire's favour, as they well might have done, the 
 verdict of the match would have been reversed. 
 
 The season'of 1891-92 saw Yorkshire recover her lost 
 laurels. The group winners were Lancashire, Yorkshire, 
 Midland Counties, and Kent, the latter county overcoming 
 Middlesex in a close match, remarkable for the plucky 
 manner in which the Kent men pulled the game off in 
 the last few minutes. Had Middlesex won in the South- 
 Eastern group the second stage would have been more 
 interesting, as the Kent team proved to be no match for 
 Yorkshire when these counties met at York, and so, as in 
 1890-91, the County Championship was virtually decided 
 
YORKSHIRE (CHAMPION COUNTY) TEAM V. ENGLAND : LEEDS, 
 FEBRUARY 20, 1892. 
 
 (Yorkshire— 2 Tries. England— kil.) 
 
 J. Toothill. E. Dewhirst. W. Nichol. D. Jowett. F. Wood. W. Goldthorpe. 
 H. Bradshaw. H. Varley. W. E. Bromet. A. Broadley. E. Redman. Barron Kilner (President). 
 A. Briggs. J. Dyson. R. E. Lockwood. A. Goldthorpe. 
 
QOUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 371 
 
 by the Lancashire v. Yorkshire match. For the first 
 time a county match was decided by a penalty kick, the 
 Yorkshiremen having the good fortune to kick a goal 
 from a free kick allowed for an infringement of the rules 
 by the Lancashire full-back delaying to play the ball 
 when tackled. As Lancashire had had two free kicks 
 allowed them, both of which had failed, it would seem 
 that the fortune of war was rather in favour of Yorkshire. 
 The weather was unfavourable, and the ground very 
 heavy, but despite all these disadvantages the game was 
 fast and open, and most evenly contested, though the 
 Tykes were slightly the better team. At this period of 
 the season Lancashire and Yorkshire were very evenly 
 matched, but as the season progressed the Yorkshire 
 team, through judicious changes and constant practice, 
 improved considerably, and when . England were met at 
 Leeds outplayed their opponents, and won by 2 tries 
 to nil, a score which does not adequately represent 
 their superiority over the Rest of England. As a conse- 
 quence, eight Yorkshiremen played against Scotland, viz., 
 Dyson and Lockwood, three-quarters ; Varley and Briggs, 
 half-backs ; and Bromet, Toothill, Nichol, and Bradshaw, 
 forwards. This selection is proof of the all-round calibre 
 of the Yorkshire team. Again, as in 1890, were the 
 Yorkshiremen the backbone of the England team v. 
 Scotland, and once more after Yorkshire had beaten the 
 Rest of England, did England score a victory against the 
 Scotsmen. In the four years that the championship has 
 been instituted Yorkshire have been successful three 
 times, and have twice beaten the Rest of England. 
 The following is the record for the year : — 
 
 COUNTY CHAMPIONSHIP, 1891-92. 
 PRELIMINARY SERIES. 
 
 Lancashire 
 Westmorland . . . 
 Cheshire 
 Cumberland 
 
 (1) North -Western Group. 
 Lan. Ches. Cum. West. 
 
 — w. w. — 
 
 — W. L. — 
 
 L. W. L. 
 
 L. L. W. 
 
 (2) North-Eastern Group 
 
 w. 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 L. 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 D. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Points. 
 F. A. 
 ... 19 5 
 ... 7 27 
 ... 11 25 
 ... 35 25 
 
 Yorkshire 
 Durham 
 
 Northumberland 
 Y 2 
 
 Yks. Dur. North. 
 — w. w. 
 
 L. L. 
 
 L. W. 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 ... 49 7 
 ... 7 21 
 ... 4 32 
 
372 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Surrey ... 
 Middlesex 
 
 Kent 
 
 Sussex 
 
 Eastern Counties 
 
 (3) 
 Mid. 
 L. 
 
 w. 
 
 L 
 L. 
 
 (4) 
 
 South-Eastern Group. 
 Sur. Kent. Sus. E.Cts. 
 
 L. W. AV. 
 
 W. L. AV. W. 
 
 W. — w. w. 
 L. L. W, 
 
 L. L. L. 
 
 South- Western GROtiP 
 
 w. 
 
 2 
 3 
 
 4 
 1 
 
 
 L. 
 
 2 
 1 
 
 3 
 4 
 
 D. 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 Points. 
 
 y. a. 
 
 .. 42 22 
 
 .. 58 17 
 .. 46 18 
 .. 7 32 
 .. 7 71 
 
 Gloucestershire 
 Somersetshire . . . 
 Midland Counties 
 Devonshire 
 
 
 Som. Dev. Glou. M. C. 
 I). w. — L. 
 W. D. L. 
 
 w. w. w. — 
 
 L. L. L. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. 
 
 1 
 1 
 3 
 
 o 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 1 
 1 
 
 
 
 ..9 9 
 ... 16 2 
 
 .. 18 2 
 ... 2 32 
 
 1. Lancashire ... 
 
 2. Yorkshire ... 
 
 3. Kent 
 
 4. Midland Counties 
 
 
 Lan. Yks. Kent. M.C. 
 L. — w. 
 w. — W. W* 
 
 L. L. 
 
 3 
 
 
 1 
 (i 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 ..4 3 
 ... 38 5 
 ... 5 27 
 ... 12 
 
 Yorkshire Matches. 
 
 e?. Durham 
 
 v. Northumberland 
 
 v. Lancashire ... 
 
 v. Somerset 
 
 v. Devon 
 
 v. Kent 
 
 v. Cheshire 
 
 v. Midland Counties 
 
 Yorkshire. 
 a. T. pts. 
 
 17 
 32 
 3 
 19 
 Ifi 
 ■2 7 
 12 
 
 England 
 
 18 23 133 
 Played, 8; won, 7; lost, 1. 
 2 4 
 
 Opponent?. 
 
 T. TTS. 
 
 1 
 
 II 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 4 
 8 
 
 6 32 
 
 
 
CHAPTER XIX. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL: LANCASHIRE. 
 
 By A. M. Crook. 
 
 NO work on Rugby football would be complete with- 
 out some record of the important part played by 
 this County Palatine in the history of the game, and 
 although it is very little more than a quarter of a cen- 
 tury since the introduction of the Rugby Code into Lan- 
 cashire, its rise and progress have been of so remarkable 
 a character that space will only allow a passing reference 
 to the principal events and topics of interest during that 
 period. Under the circumstances, attention is drawn 
 more particularly to county and early club football. 
 
 Lancashire County. 
 
 In dealing with this subject it is necessary to refer 
 back to the year 1870, when the first match arranged 
 for the county of Lancashire took place, at Leeds v. 
 Yorkshire, and this fixture, which has been arranged 
 annually ever since that time, has done more to 
 encourage and advance the popularity of the Rugby 
 game in the North than any other combination of 
 circumstances, for to-day the " Battle of the Roses " is 
 considered the " blue ribbon " of Northern football, and 
 to be included in the team of either county is the ambi- 
 tion of young players, for it is looked upon as the high 
 road to International honours. 
 
 In the earlier matches from 1870 to 1881 the govern- 
 ment and arrangement of county matches in Lancashire 
 were vested solely in the hands of the committee of the 
 Manchester Football Club, who constituted themselves 
 the recognised authorities for the selection of players, 
 etc., although there appears to have been a mutual 
 understanding between themselves and the Liverpool 
 
374 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Club. It is true that the management of county affairs 
 had been attended with conspicuous success, but as new 
 clubs sprang into existence and county matches became 
 more frequent, it was soon apparent that the easiest 
 and most effectual way to obtain county fame was by 
 membership and obligation created by playing for the 
 club who had these honours at their disposal ; and com- 
 plaints were loudly raised by younger organisations that 
 they were powerless to prevent the migration of their 
 players into the ranks of the premier club. Nor could 
 
 the player be altogether 
 blamed, for if he wished to 
 gratify his ambition and ad- 
 vance himself in the football 
 world, it was the soundest 
 policy he could adopt. Such 
 was the position of affairs 
 in 1881, when this monopoly 
 of power in the opinion of 
 many had become so intoler- 
 able, that in the early part 
 of that year an agitation 
 was commenced by W. Bell, 
 the hon. secretary of the 
 Broughton Football Club, 
 with the object solely in the 
 first instance of securing for 
 some of the leading clubs a voice in the selection 
 of county teams. Although W. Bell initiated the 
 movement, he was assisted and supported in the pre- 
 liminary stages of the agitation by an informal com- 
 mittee consisting of the following gentlemen : — G. C. 
 Lindsay (Manchester Rangers), A. M. Crook (Free 
 Wanderers), F. C. Hignett (Swinton), Hunter (Birch). 
 These representatives met the representatives of the 
 Manchester Club by arrangement, and appealed through 
 them to the Manchester Committee to take the in- 
 itiative in forming a representative committee. The 
 Manchester authorities, however, declined, and on the 
 10th March, 1881, the Manchester secretary wrote 
 stating " that it was the opinion of his committee that 
 the interests of county football would not be better 
 served by forming a general committee and disturbing 
 the existing arrangement." From the very commence- 
 
 WM. BELL. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 375 
 
 ment the movers in this matter had been careful to 
 avoid even the appearance of opposition to the Manchester 
 Club. Doubtless the motives which actuated the Man- 
 chester Committee in opposing the movement were a 
 natural disinclination to transfer the government of 
 county football (of which they were undoubtedly the 
 founders) to an elected and representative body without 
 being fully assured of its ultimate success. Be this as it 
 may, after the refusal of the Manchester Club to co- 
 operate a general meeting was called, and the following 
 extract from a local newspaper of May 4th, 1881, will 
 best describe the progress of affairs: — "Last Tuesday 
 evening a meeting was held at the Mitre Hotel in this 
 city, the purposes of which gathering are fraught with 
 concerns of the utmost interest and importance to the 
 Rugby Union game of football in the county of Lancaster. 
 The meeting was called by five gentlemen (referring to 
 those whose names have been mentioned) officially con- 
 nected with the Manchester Rangers, Birch, Free 
 Wanderers, Swinton, and Broughton, to take into con- 
 sideration whether or not it is desirable to form a 
 County Committee for the Palatinate, and all organisa- 
 tions which are affiliated with the Rugby Union received 
 invitations to send a couple of delegates." 
 
 At this meeting a deputation was appointed to again 
 wait upon the Manchester Club, and discuss the pro- 
 posals which had been submitted, but the delegates met 
 with little or no encouragement, and the interview was 
 considered so unsatisfactory that it was determined to 
 call another general meeting of Lancashire clubs for 
 the 17th May, 1881. At this meeting the following 
 clubs were represented : — Manchester Rangers, Free 
 Wanderers, Broughton, Swinton, Walton, Rossendale, 
 Oldham, Manchester Athletic, Rochdale Hornets, Chorley 
 Birch, Cheetham. W. Bell reported that the deputation 
 appointed at a previous meeting had met the Man- 
 chester Committee with a view to securing the co- 
 operation of the Manchester Club, and a letter was 
 read from J. MacLaren, declining on behalf of the 
 Manchester Club to take part in the movement. 
 
 It was then moved by W. Bell, seconded by G. C. 
 Lindsay — 
 
 That a Lancashire Football Union he, and hereby is, formed, the 
 Union to consist of the clubs represented at this meeting, together with 
 
376 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 any other clubs, members of the Rugby Union, who may signify their 
 intention of joining the Lancashire Union within three months from 
 this date. 
 
 Carried unanimously. 
 
 The following gentlemen were subsequently elected 
 officers of the Lancashire Football Union : — 
 
 Oo\f \f TTTF'T' 1 " 
 
 T. S. Farr, A. Collier, H. Wyles, J. A. Berrington, H. Sheriff. 
 W. Bell, hon. secretary. G. C. Lindsay, hon. treasurer. 
 
 A code of rules was adopted, and two county 
 matches were actually arranged altogether apart from 
 the Manchester Club, viz., versus the Midland Counties 
 and Lanarkshire (Scotland). 
 
 The hearty response to the movement and the deter- 
 mined attitude shown by a majority of the Lancashire 
 clubs ensured its success, for shortly afterwards the 
 Manchester Committee recognised that opposition Avas 
 useless; they bowed to the inevitable, opened negotia- 
 tions, and issued a circular inviting the different clubs to 
 send " a representative " to meet their committee to 
 consider a scheme which they had prepared for the 
 formation of a county club. This Manchester proposal 
 did not appear, however, to satisfy the Lancashire Union, 
 for W. Bell was instructed to issue a circular "recom- 
 mending the clubs not to send a representative to the 
 meeting which had been called without the knowledge 
 or consent of the Lancashire Football Union," and point- 
 ing out " that as the Manchester Executive consist of 
 fifteen gentlemen, and the other clubs are asked to send 
 one representative each, the Manchester Club would have 
 practically the control of the meeting, even if every club 
 responded to the invitation." 
 
 The circular concluded as follows : — 
 
 As the Lancashire Union has been in existence upwards of six months, 
 and has taken over the management of the county affairs on a representa- 
 tive basis, the action of the Manchester Club in this matter seems to be 
 unreasonable. Although I do not wish to go into the matter of the pro- 
 posed scheme, I must call your attention to Rule 6, by which the Manchester 
 representatives would have power to elect the entire County Committee 
 from their own club. 
 
 (Signed) W. Bell, hon. secretary. 
 
 As might have been expected, the clubs in the Union 
 intimated their intention of absenting themselves from 
 the meeting. 
 
 The following letter from James MacLaren, who 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 377 
 
 had taken an active part in the negotiations, will be read 
 with interest, as it signalises what may be appropriately 
 called the closing scene in the controversy : — 
 
 [Copy.] 
 Lancashire County Football. 
 
 . December 19th, 1881. 
 My dear Sir, — You will have heard no doubt of the meeting in con- 
 nection with above on Wednesday evening last. 
 
 To this meeting your Union, as an organisation subscribing to the 
 Rugby Union, was invited. You declined on behalf of the Union, and 
 also issued notices to the different clubs belonging to your Union asking 
 them not to be present. 
 
 As the Union and the Manchester Football Club are supposed to be 
 working to the same end — the success and efficient management of county 
 football — do you not think it would have been better to come to the 
 meeting and hear what was said and allowed the other clubs to do 
 the same ? You could then have decided whether to join the county club, 
 which, I am glad to say, is in a fair way to be established. 
 
 On behalf of the club we again ask your attendance on Thursday. 
 And as the avowed object of your Union is now accomplished — the 
 formation of a county club — we hope to see you, as representing the 
 Union, and the other clubs belonging to your Union at the meeting on 
 Thursday evening. 
 
 I am, dear Sir, 
 On behalf of the Committee of the Manchester Football Club, 
 
 (Signed) James MacLaren. 
 Wm. Bell, Esq., hon. secretary, Lancashire Football Union. 
 
 It is perhaps hardly necessary to state that after 
 having received this conciliatory letter, together with a 
 draft scheme, the clubs were advised to attend a meeting 
 on December 22nd, 1881, at which meeting the scheme 
 as proposed by the Manchester Club was discussed, and, 
 after some alterations and amendments (particulars of 
 which are given in the following copy), was finally agreed 
 to, and Lancashire for the first time had a duly consti- 
 tuted and representative governing body. 
 
 Copy of Scheme agreed to by the Manchester Football Club 
 and the Lancashire Union, December 22nd, 1881. 
 
 1. That the name of the club shall be The Lanca- 
 shire County Football Club. 
 
 2. That the officers shall be president, vice-president, 
 hon. secretary, hon. treasurer, and a committee of ten, 
 five to form a quorum. 
 
 [This law was amended so as to read, "That the officers shall be 
 president, two vice-presidents, hon. secretary and treasurer (to be held by 
 one person), and a committee of ten, five to form a quorum."] 
 
 3. That any Lancashire club member of the Rugby 
 Union shall be eligible for membership, having been 
 
378 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 duly proposed and seconded by two other clubs members 
 of the County Club. 
 
 4. That the annual subscription shall be 10s. 6d., 
 with an entrance fee of 10s. 6d., etc. etc. 
 
 5. That general meetings be held in October and 
 March of each year. 
 
 6. The president, vice-president, treasurer, and secre- 
 tary shall be elected from the Manchester Club, and also 
 two members of committee, and the remaining eight 
 names shall be elected by ballot. 
 
 [This law was amended so as to read, " The president, a vice-president, 
 the hon. secretary and treasurer shall be elected from the Manchester 
 Football Club, a vice-president and a member of committee from the 
 Liverpool Club, the remaining eight names to be elected from clubs other 
 than the Manchester and Liverpool clubs."] 
 
 7. That all Home County matches shall be played on 
 the ground of the Manchester Football Club. 
 
 8. That in consideration of the Manchester Football 
 Club having handed over the management of the affairs 
 to the County Club, Laws 6 and 7 are not to be altered 
 for the next three seasons without the consent of the 
 Manchester Football Club. 
 
 [This law was amended so as to read, " That in consideration of the 
 Manchester and Liverpool Clubs having handed over the management of 
 the affairs to the County Club, Laws 6 and 7 are not to be altered for the 
 next two seasons, etc. etc."] 
 
 The remaining Laws, 9, 10, and 11, simply referred to 
 matters of detail. 
 
 The following is a list of the first officers and clubs 
 elected to represent the newly-formed Lancashire County 
 Football Club :— 
 
 President : 
 
 James MacLaren, Esq. (Manchester). 
 
 Vice-Presidents : 
 
 W. Brierley, Esq. (Manchester) ; E. Kewley, Esq. (Liverpool). 
 
 Hon. Secretary and Treasurer : 
 
 W. Grave, Esq. (Manchester). 
 
 Committee : 
 
 Manchester, Liverpool, Broughton, Cheetham, Preston, Manchester 
 
 Rangers, Rochdale Hornets, Oldham, Swinton, and 
 
 Free Wanderers. 
 
 The new committee cancelled the fixture with 
 Lanarkshire, but confirmed the match with Midland 
 Counties, which was played at Coventry on March 26th, 
 1882. On December 27th, 1881, the following team 
 (the first under the auspices of the County Club) was 
 
LANCASHIRE TEAM V. MIDDLESEX: OVAL, MARCH 12, 1887 
 (CHARITY MATCH). 
 
 (Lancashire— 1 Try. Middlesex, ml.) ■ 
 
 (From a Photograph by E. Hawkins & Co., Brighton. 
 
380 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 chosen to represent Lancashire v. Northumberland on 
 December 31st : — 
 
 W. W. Higgln (Cheetham), full-back; E. Beswick (Swinton), T. 
 Farr (Swinton), H. C. Rowley (Manchester), three - quarter - backs ; 
 J. H. Payne (Broughton), W. R. Richardson (Manchester), half-backs ; 
 T. Blatherwick (Manchester), E. Wood (Cheetham), W. S. Hulse (Free 
 Wanderers), J. T. Hunt (Manchester), C. Horley (Swinton), J. A. Brodie 
 (Walton), W. S. Butterworth (Rochdale Hornets), J. B. Rye (Oldham), 
 A. B. Rowley (Manchester), forwards. 
 
 This match was subsequently cancelled. 
 
 Under the management of the new club, county 
 affairs worked smoothly and successfully ; and nothing 
 of any great importance occurred until October 17th, 
 1883, when W. Grave resigned the position of hon. 
 secretary and treasurer, and J. H. Payne was elected 
 his successor. On October 1st, 1884, James MacLaren 
 resigned the office of president, and W. Brierley that 
 of vice-president. A. N. Hornby as president, and R. 
 Walker as vice-president, were unanimously elected their 
 successors. 
 
 On October 1st, 1886, E. Kewley was succeeded in 
 the office of vice-president by F. A. Grover, of the 
 Swinton Football Club. 
 
 In the year 1887, a movement was set on foot in 
 London for two popular matches under Rugby and 
 Association rules to be played upon the same day 
 at Kennington Oval, to commemorate the Jubilee of 
 Her Majesty's reign, the proceeds to be devoted to 
 charities. Lancashire was specially honoured upon 
 this occasion, for the matches ultimately arranged 
 were between Middlesex and Lancashire (Rugby), and 
 Corinthians v. Preston North End (Association). Both 
 games were played upon the afternoon of the 12th of 
 March in the presence of a vast concourse of spectators, 
 and under the immediate patronage and presence of 
 H.R.H. the Prince of Wales. The Rugby match will 
 always be looked back upon as a red letter day in 
 the annals of the county, for although opposed by a 
 team composed almost entirely of English, Scotch, and 
 Welsh Internationals, contrary to all expectation, after 
 a most remarkable and desperately fought game, Lanca- 
 shire won by a try, gained by V. Slater (Salford), to their 
 opponents' nil. At the conclusion of the game both 
 teams were invited to the front of the royal enclosure, 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 381 
 
 when J. H. Payne and E. T. Gurdon, the respective 
 captains, had the honour of being presented to the 
 Prince. 
 
 Although the now all - important official the 
 " Referee " was established by the Rugby Union in 
 the year 1885, it was not until the year 1888 that a 
 formulated scheme for the appointment of referees 
 under the direct management of the County Committee 
 was adopted. Previous to the adoption of this scheme, 
 the difficulties which secretaries of clubs experienced in 
 obtaining referees were enormous, and added greatly to 
 the labours of those self-denying gentlemen who, when 
 all goes right with a club, get scanty praise ; but if the 
 slightest hitch occurs in the most trivial arrangements, 
 well, woe betide them — " a secretary's life is not a happy 
 one." It was the energetic secretary of the Warrington 
 Football Club (E. Warren) who at a general meeting 
 suggested that the honorary secretary of the county 
 might relieve club secretaries by sending some well- 
 known authority to act as referee when requested by a 
 club. To this J. H. Payne replied, " That's rather a large 
 order, but I will endeavour to frame a scheme to submit 
 to the committee." The outcome of this was that 
 a " Referees' Committee " was formed which to-day is 
 one of the most useful and important branches of the 
 County government. 
 
 In April, 1888, the sum of £100 was voted from the 
 club funds to the medical charities of Manchester and 
 Liverpool — viz., £75 to the Manchester and Salford 
 Hospital Saturday Fund, and £25 to the Liverpool 
 Hospital Saturday Fund. 
 
 In February, 1889, a very important proposal was 
 made by W. Lees, of Mossley, involving a change in the 
 constitution of the club. Hitherto the Lancashire 
 County Club had been governed by a president, two 
 vice-presidents, hon. secretary and treasurer (held by 
 one' person), and a committee of ten — five forming a 
 quorum ; all past presidents and vice-presidents being 
 ex-officio members of the committee. It was now pro- 
 posed to substitute for this rule the following : — 
 
 That the officers shall be president, two vice-pre- 
 sidents, secretary and treasurer (one person), and a 
 committee of fifteen, nine to form a quorum ; that the 
 county shall be divided out into five districts with three 
 
382 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 representatives each, and that such districts be Man- 
 chester, Liverpool, South-East Lancashire, West Lanca- 
 shire, and North Lancashire. 
 
 It was resolved, " That a sub-committee of repre- 
 sentatives of five clubs outside the members of the 
 County Committee should consider the constitution of 
 the County Club, along with the committee and the 
 secretary, J. H. Payne, and submit the result of their 
 deliberations to the general meeting in September." 
 The following five gentlemen were appointed a sub- 
 committee by the meeting : — Lees (Mossley), Warren 
 (Warrington), Broomhall (South-East Lancashire), Clegg 
 (Wigan), and W. G. Thomson (St. Helen's Recreation). 
 
 This sub-committee appointed J. H. Payne chairman, 
 and after a friendly discussion requested him to prepare 
 a scheme, which was subsequently accepted by them, 
 and being approved by the general committee was 
 passed at a special general meeting of the club held 
 26th day of August, 1889. 
 
 The principal alteration effected in the constitution 
 of the club was a scheme of district instead of club 
 representation on the committee. For this purpose 
 Lancashire is divided into four divisions. The north 
 comprising all clubs north of and including Preston ; 
 the south comprising all clubs south of the Manchester 
 Exchange; the north-east comprising all clubs north- 
 east, and the north-west all clubs north-west of the 
 Manchester Exchange. The committee is composed of 
 twelve representatives — the north having one, the south 
 four, the north-east three, and the north-west four. In 
 addition to the new rules passed at this meeting, a new 
 code of rules was passed enlarging the powers of the 
 Referees' Committee. This committee meet every week 
 for the purpose of appointing referees, also for the pur- 
 pose of adjudicating upon disputes, etc., and have certain 
 powers delegated to them by the Rugby Union and the 
 County Committee which relieve these bodies from an 
 immense amount of labour. 
 
 This brings us down to the season of 1890-91, when 
 under an elaborate scheme carefully prepared by York- 
 shire, and passed by the Rugby Union, for regulating 
 the County Championship, Lancashire had the satisfac- 
 tion of lowering the colours of every county they met, 
 their record being exceptionally brilliant, not a goal 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 383 
 
 being scored against them in any of the county matches 
 
 aving thus gained the position of champion county, 
 a match was arranged v. the Rest of England, on the 
 18th of April, 1891, the popularity of which fixture 
 may be imagined when it is stated that tickets corres- 
 ponding to the accommodation of the ground were all 
 sold beforehand, and not one single penny was taken 
 at the gates. The proceeds, after deducting expenses, 
 amounted to nearly £600, which amount was distributed 
 amongst the medical charities of the county. The 
 match itself is alluded to elsewhere. 
 
 In the season of 1891-92 the good fortune which 
 attended the efforts of the county team in the preceding 
 season appeared to have deserted the Red Rose, for 
 Lancashire having somewhat easily disposed of all 
 opponents, were unluckily defeated by Yorkshire, who 
 placed a goal from a penalty kick allowed by the referee 
 for an infringement of the rule which deals with players 
 who when tackled with the ball do not immediately put 
 it into play. Such are the fortunes of war ; this proved 
 to be the only point scored in the match, and Yorkshire 
 (who had upon more than one occasion been penalised 
 during the game), by a successful place kick, won a hard- 
 fought game, and so wrested the championship of Eng- 
 land from Lancashire. 
 
 The following clubs are members of the Lancashire 
 County Football Club : — Aspull, Askam, Barrow-in- 
 Furness, Blackley Rangers, Blackley, Boothstown, Brough- 
 ton, Broughton Rangers, Bury Broughton Park, Cromp- 
 ton, Failsworth Free Wanderers, Leigh, Liverpool, 
 Liverpool Old Boys, Lancaster, Manchester, Manchester 
 Rangers, Morecambe, Mossley, Oldham, Owens College, 
 Pendleton, Radcliffe, Rochdale Hornets, Rochdale St. 
 Clements, Salford, Stalybridge, St. Helen's, St. Helen's 
 Recreation, South - East Lancashire (Rugby Union), 
 Southport, Swinton, Tottington, Tuebrook, Tyldesley, 
 Ul vers ton, Walk den, Warrington, Werneth, West Lanca- 
 shire (Rugby Union), Widnes, Wigan. 
 
 In the foregoing list of clubs reference is made to two 
 affiliated Unions, viz., West Lancashire and South-East 
 Lancashire and Border Towns Rugby Union. These 
 organisations have been the means of bringing several 
 players and junior clubs into prominence, and have 
 
384 BUG BY FOOTBALL. 
 
 proved a useful auxiliary to the Lancashire County 
 Club. 
 
 The West Lancashire Union was formed in 1884, and has 
 a membership roll of twenty-three clubs, whose interests 
 are watched by a representative committee, of which 
 F. T. Parry is the hon. sec. During the season of 1890-91 
 and 1891-92, clubs within this Union have furnished four 
 International players, viz., J. Berry (Tyldesley), J. Pike 
 (St. Helen's Recreation), T. Coop (Leigh), and E. Bullough 
 (Wigan). A Challenge Cup has been instituted to be 
 competed for on similar conditions to the Yorkshire Cup, 
 and since the formation of this Union upwards of £700 
 have been presented to charitable institutions. 
 
 The South-East Lancashire Union was formed in 
 1877, and consists of forty-one clubs. It has now two cups, 
 senior and junior, the competition being worked on 
 similar lines to the Yorkshire competition. This Union, 
 like its rival in the West, has been successful in 
 stimulating Rugby football, particularly amongst second- 
 class clubs, and much of its success is due to the efforts 
 of the hon. sec, Win. Broomhall, Manchester. 
 
 The first thought likely to strike a casual observer 
 is the comparatively small number of clubs in member- 
 ship with Lancashire County as compared with the 
 Yorkshire Union. This, however, is easily explained. 
 There are scores of junior clubs in Lancashire who 
 would become members of the county if they held out 
 the same advantages as Yorkshire. In Lancashire the 
 membership is entirely optional ; whereas in Yorkshire, 
 in order to be eligible to compete for the Challenge Cup, 
 it is necessary to become enrolled as members of the 
 Rugby and County Unions ; and as cup ties are ex- 
 ceedingly popular and profitable, young clubs are only 
 too anxious to join, for there is the possibility of being 
 drawn against a first-class or leading club, and whatever 
 the result of such match may be, a large gate and con- 
 sequent acquisition of funds is assured. The Lancashire 
 authorities have always opposed a County Challenge 
 Cup ; but whatever arguments are advanced against this 
 policy, one thing is certain — it has had a stimulating 
 influence on Rugby football in Yorkshire. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 385 
 
 CLUB FOOTBALL. 
 
 In reviewing club football it is necessary to revert 
 in thought to about the year 1870, when properly 
 constituted organisations in Lancashire could almost 
 have been counted upon the ringers of the hand, and 
 when in many instances, with a free and open gate, 
 fiercely contested matches were often played before a 
 mere handful of spectators, these being for the most 
 part friends of the combatants. Gate-money, the most 
 demoralising factor of modern football, in those days was 
 
 A PLACE KICK. 
 (From an instantaneous Photograph by E. Airey, Bradford.) 
 
 almost an unknown quantity, and members, in addition 
 to their annual subscriptions, were expected to pay the 
 whole of their expenses when playing home or foreign 
 matches, and it was no uncommon occurrence for an 
 extra call to be made at the end of a season to make up 
 a deficit caused by the inevitable " balance due to 
 treasurer." Some of the minute books of the earlier 
 clubs would be a revelation to those of a more recent 
 date ; the question then was not as to how much a member 
 could get out of a club, but rather as to how much the 
 privilege of being a member would cost him. Omni- 
 buses, for instance, were looked upon as luxuries to be 
 provided for outside the club funds, and although the 
 deliberations of the committees at the time referred to 
 would be looked upon by our modern clubs as absurdly 
 trivial, they were subjects of importance to those who 
 z 
 
386 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 had to provide the "wherewithal." Nor could the busi- 
 ness of our earlier clubs be said to have been con- 
 ducted in a careless or flippant manner, for an extract 
 from the minutes of a meeting of one of the leading 
 clubs records, " That the news that the farmer from 
 whom they rented the field had destroyed himself 
 was received by the committee with due decorum " ; 
 also, " That a certain well-known player having promised 
 to play in a match and having failed to put in an 
 appearance was severely reprimanded by the chairman " 
 — a somewhat depressing kind of meeting, one would 
 imagine. It is not recorded in what terms the repri- 
 mand was administered by the chairman; but those 
 who have had the misfortune to take part in an im- 
 portant match where perhaps their best player has failed 
 to turn up can imagine the expressions of feeling 
 indulged in by the remainder of a short-handed team. 
 If the player in question is not suffering " eternal com- 
 bustion," the momentary hopes and wishes of the dis- 
 appointed ones have not been fulfilled. 
 
 Space will only permit a short sketch of some of the 
 earliest " Rugby " clubs in Lancashire, of which the 
 following are selected : — Manchester, Liverpool, Free 
 Wanderers, Manchester Rangers, Birch, Rochdale Hornets, 
 Swinton, Preston and Broughton Wasps, for what little 
 interest was manifested in the game by the public was 
 chiefly centred in these clubs. To obtain a notice in 
 the daily newspapers was a special favour, for hitherto 
 the press could not be described as having looked with 
 favour or given encouragement to this now popular 
 branch of sport. 
 
 Manchester. 
 
 This club, whose founders may justly be described as 
 the pioneers of the Rugby game, not only in Lancashire, 
 but also in the North of England, was organised about 
 the year 1867, although it could not be considered to be 
 in full operation until two years later. Still, from that 
 time until the present, unlike other organisations with 
 which it is surrounded, a certain amount of prestige 
 has always been attached to the club, doubtless owing 
 to its representative title, for there are amongst the 
 supporters of the Rugby code those who consider the 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 387 
 
 honour of the city is at stake when " The Manchester " 
 is opposed by any other city or town club. 
 
 The city of Manchester has a reputation as a sport- 
 loving community, but the following resolution from 
 the Manchester Lete Roll, dated October 12th, 1608, will 
 come as a surprise to many who imagine the popularity 
 of football is of recent date. 
 
 [Copy.] 
 "That whereas there has heen heretofore great disorder in our toune 
 of Manchester, and the inhabitants thereof greatly wronged and charged 
 with makinge and amendinge of their glasse windows broken yearrye and 
 spoiled by a company e of lewd and disordered psons vsing that unlawful 
 exercise of playing with the ffote-ball in ye streets of ye s d toune, 
 breakinge many mens windowes and glasse at their pleasures and other 
 great enormyties, Therefore wee of this Jurye doe order that no manner 
 of psons hereafter shall play or use the footeball in any street within the 
 said toune of Manchester subpoened to evye one that shall so use the 
 same for evye time XII tl " 
 
 It is an extraordinary thing how history repeats 
 itself,. for in 1892 in almost every bye-street in Man- 
 chester during what is known as the " dinner-hour," the 
 youth of the city is engaged in playing some kind 
 of football, generally without a ball, but with a handful 
 of rags tied up with string, which makes a suitable 
 substitute. Our business, however, is not to deal with 
 ancient history, but to compare the popularity of Rugby 
 football in Manchester twenty-five years ago and the 
 position it holds to-day. Originally commenced by 
 public schoolmen and confined to a select few, Rugby 
 football has gradually become a " people's game," and is 
 probably more popular amongst the working-classes of 
 this great city than any other branch of national sport. 
 
 In order to give our readers an idea of the Rugby 
 game at its commencement in Manchester and the 
 opinions of the public, some extracts from the press 
 at this period will be read with interest. 
 
 In the early part of 1872 a local newspaper describes 
 a match between Manchester and Liverpool as follows : — 
 " A struggle for superiority of the two strongest clubs in 
 the North of England. The Manchester Club on this 
 occasion made a charge of sixpence for admission to the 
 ground, which was staked round with rope, and kept 
 the spectators from crowding upon the players. The 
 committee generously left one end of the ground open 
 so that anyone who did not feel disposed to pay for 
 admission could see the game from the road." On the 
 z 2 
 
388 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Manchester side Grave, Wooley, MaeLaren, Burbury, Greg, 
 Pilkington, and " Roger " (referring to Roger Walker), are 
 singled out for special recognition, whilst Hay Gordon 
 and Tobin appear to have done the lion's share of 
 the work for Liverpool. Referring to the game, the 
 report proceeds to relate " how the pack rushed up, and 
 a line is formed, the ball is thrown in, C. Pilkington 
 catches it, and rushes over the Liverpool goal-line amidst 
 loud applause. A punt-out is resorted to, and a shout 
 was heard of ' Now, Roger, look out,' but Roger had 
 evidently forgotten to use his napkin at luncheon, and 
 would you be surprised to hear, let the ball slip to 
 the ground, which was eagerly picked up by Tobin," 
 etc. etc. 
 
 Another match which caused considerable excitement 
 in the football world was Manchester v. District, and 
 was the first big side match ever played in the locality 
 of Manchester. The game was arranged for fifty players 
 on each side, and nearly that number put in an appear- 
 ance. One report describes two runs made by C. W. 
 Blacklock (Free Wanderers), one of the best half-backs 
 in Lancashire, who on this occasion assisted the District, 
 and winds up by stating " that a big side is not the 
 game to show the abilities of half-backs, as there are 
 too many ' stragglers ' on the look-out for them to get 
 very far away ; also that the bell rang for hostilities to 
 cease, and a rush to the pavilion announced the game 
 over, a game which was a grand sight ; but for show- 
 ing the quality of players commend us to witness a 
 twenty -aside match." 
 
 In the early days of Rugby football it was no un- 
 common occurrence to hear of a match being played 
 under what was called " Strict Rugby " rules, which 
 meant " full hacking," but, thanks to the Rugby Union, 
 this barbarous fashion of enjoying a " friendly game " 
 has been ■ prohibited. An account of a match between 
 the Manchester Club and the Free Wanderers will serve 
 to show one style of play which was indulged in at this 
 period : — 
 
 " The Rugby game was played, which means of course that each side 
 may kick his opponents whenever he gets the chance, and judging from 
 the play we should think there would be some sore shins, although the 
 Manchester Club were the heaviest and appeared to have an advantage in 
 the shin-kicking department. We could distinctly hear the heavy thuds 
 of the meeting of leathers and shins, and thanked our stars we were 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 389 
 
 merely spectators without assisting at the ceremony. A spectator cried 
 out, ' Go it, Roger,' as that individual was pegging away right and left 
 and seemed to smack his lips at the kicks he got in return, not very sweet 
 things we should imagine." 
 
 Another graphic description of a match, Manchester 
 v. Preston Grassnoppers, relates 
 
 " how at times all the pack were down, which elicited roars of laughter as 
 they "began to sort themselves out, and a few claret-dyed noses were 
 plainly visible during the play. A. N. Hornby, by his fine play, 
 proved a tower of strength to his brother Grasshoppers, as also did 
 C. G. Hulton." 
 
 Again, in a match, Manchester v. Clarendon, 
 
 " the friends of each side can be heard shouting, ' Go in, Reds,' ' Knock 
 him over, Blues,' ' Take it through, Reds,' ' Oh ! ' « Well played,' etc. 
 All the pack can be covered with a sheet so close are they, and the steam 
 rises in clouds from their midst whilst the players are puffing and blow- 
 ing like so many porpoises. The palm must be awarded to D. B. 
 MacLaren for his real sterling play, although Jackson, Burbury, ' Catch 
 me quick,' Grey, and J. Maclaren for the Reds distinguished themselves, 
 as also did Ward, Inchle, Mellor, and Wooley for the Blues." 
 
 Although in 1871 county matches had been played 
 between Lancashire and Yorkshire, a match was arranged 
 in that year, and was played at Whalley Range, with the 
 unassuming title of Lancashire v. The World. The 
 world, however, does not appear to have extended far 
 beyond the municipal boundary of Manchester at this 
 period. Describing this game, one newspaper reports 
 that 
 
 "each side continued to struggle for supremacy, and with such spirit 
 that one would think their existence depended upon their success. Here 
 there would be a severe collision between two antagonists, and one or, 
 other would surely come to grief. Surely no electrician's services are 
 required, as the shock is so great as to loosen every joint. Here was a 
 player who had omitted to put on the tight-fitting jersey of the club and 
 was playing in his woollen shirt, or rather part of it, for his enemies 
 soon found out where a good handful was to be had, and before the game 
 was over that gentleman was minus half a shirt. Another cried out, 
 4 This is lively,' as he exhibited a front tooth which had just parted 
 company from his gums ; he had evidently experienced a collision." 
 
 These extracts of the early Manchester matches 
 which have been furnished by J. Turner, who was for 
 many years a familiar figure in connection with the 
 Manchester Club, serve to show the first impressions of 
 the Rugby game upon the public. To-day the numerous 
 and intricate points are watched with the keenest in- 
 terest by thousands of spectators every Saturday. To 
 
390 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 attempt to detail the history of the Manchester Club 
 would in the small space at disposal become an im- 
 possibility. Suffice it to say that after an honourable and 
 successful career, extending over a quarter of a century, 
 the " Manchester Club is still regarded as the premier 
 club " ; its roll of membership never was stronger, and 
 in these days of veiled professionalism it can be con- 
 fidently asserted that nowhere is the Rugby game played 
 more for the love of sport in its purity than in the ranks 
 of this time-honoured club. What list of celebrated 
 players from one organisation will compare with the 
 " old warriors " who have passed through the ranks of 
 the Manchester Club? Amongst the foremost ex- 
 ponents of the game, the names of such men as Grave, 
 J. Hulton, Openshaw, Richardson (half-backs), A. N. 
 Hornby, " Bob Hunt " (as he was familiarly known, and 
 who will be remembered as one of the finest drop- 
 kicks in the country), Campbell Rowley, and more 
 recently E. Storey, as three-quarter backs ; also in other 
 departments of the game, the MacLarens, R. Walker, 
 Marriott, Fowler, Genth, Bulteel, Greg, Todd, Thorp, 
 Schofield, Ait ken, Blather wick, Bleackley, the Cieg^s, 
 the Macnivens, and scores of others, are amongst the 
 number who have contributed in no small degree -to the 
 present successful and proud position of the club. 
 
 Liverpool. 
 
 This club enjoys the distinction of a long and 
 honoured career, dating its origin to about the same 
 time as its oldest rival, the Manchester Club. Allusion 
 is made elsewhere to the interest taken in the annual 
 encounters between these old opponents; also to the 
 part which Liverpool took in the formation of the Lanca- 
 shire County Club, for any history would be incomplete 
 that did not recognise the invaluable services which this 
 club has rendered to Rugby football, especially during 
 the earliest stages of the game. Despite all the changes 
 that have taken place in the conditions under which the 
 Rugby game is now played, it is with no small degree of 
 pleasure that we chronicle the fact that the Liverpool 
 Club still occupies a foremost position amongst the 
 organisations of Lancashire. Space only permits of a 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 391 
 
 passing reference to a few of the most prominent players, 
 of whom the name of E. Kewley stands out most pro- 
 minently, although A. Lyon, C. W. H. Clarke, the 
 Hon. S. Parker, J. R. Hay Gordon, Tobin, C. L Verelst, 
 C. W. Carver, H. Springmann, and more recently 
 A. T. Kemble, have done yeoman's service for their 
 club. 
 
 Free Wanderers. 
 
 One of the oldest clubs in the county dates its exist- 
 ence previous to the year 1.870, when matches were 
 arranged and played by a team under the above title, 
 and these players, principally " Old Boys " of the Victoria 
 Park and Chorlton High Schools, formed the nucleus of 
 the present club, which may be said to have been incor- 
 porated in the year 1870. I or many years the Wanderers 
 held a position in the very front rank, though latterly 
 they appear to have been gradually going down, and are 
 now making a hard struggle for existence. The club 
 appears to have been unfortunate in locating themselves 
 on the southern side of Manchester, for here the Lacrosse 
 champions hold undoubted sway, and since the introduc- 
 tion of that game the popularity of Rugby football has 
 steadily declined. This club has produced some promi- 
 nent exponents of the Rugby game, notably the Brothers 
 Massey, C. W. Blacklock, who at one time was considered 
 one of the best half-backs in the North of England, A. 
 M. Hammerton, R. Mellor, F. Williams, the brothers 
 Adams, W. H. and J. Young and F. and E. H. Inchle, the 
 latter an old Rugby boy and an exceptionally line drop- 
 kick, J. W. and W. S. Hulse, the Ledwards, and C. 
 Anderton. A singular fact is recorded by a local news- 
 paper in connection with this club — viz., that in 1876 
 twelve out of the original team in 1870 had played 
 regularly that season. 
 
 In the year 1880 the Free Wanderers amalgamated 
 with a neighbouring club, the Fallowfield Rovers, 
 which brought them a large acquisition of playing 
 members. 
 
 As Rugby football is undoubtedly the popular game 
 throughout Yorkshire (Sheffield excepted), the following 
 account, copied from a Sheffield newspaper, may perhaps 
 
392 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 to some extent account for the success of the Association 
 game in that district : — 
 
 Free Wanderers v. Sheffield (Garrick). 
 
 This match was played on Saturday afternoon on the Garrick Ground 
 at Machon Bank. The Manchester Club played Rugby rules, and it was 
 arranged that each club's rules should be played on its opponent's 
 ground, so that a novelty was provided for the lovers of football in 
 Sheffield, the Rugby rules being played here for the first time. In about 
 a week's time three distinct sets of rules have been exhibited in the town 
 — viz., the Sheffield Association, the Football Association (London), and 
 Rugby. "With the merits or demerits of the two former codes our foot- 
 ball readers are doubtless cognisant, the two rules providing against the 
 use of the hands, and making it foot-h'dll in a literal sense of the word. 
 Penalties are also imposed for foul play, such as charging behind, hack- 
 ing, tripping, etc., and everything done to promote skill and judgment 
 in preference to brute force. In the rules played on Saturday, however, 
 a marked contrast to this is shown, as the heaviest and roughest side will 
 invariably have the advantage. What little skill is required is good 
 drop-kicking and ability to dodge through your opponents with the ball 
 to secure a touch down. The peculiarity of these rules is that it is next 
 to impossible to give a foul, as a player can pick up the ball and run 
 with it, knock it on, kick it, or throw it to another when likely to be 
 tackled. If, however, he has the ball in his possession, an opponent 
 seizes him round the neck, legs, or any portion of clothing that first 
 presents itself to his grasp. Others then come up, and unless he cries 
 out " Have it down," he is quickly prostrated and rolled on or sat on, as 
 the case may be. Several cases of deliberate hacking, or, in other words, 
 kicking at an opponent's shins as he is running with the ball, did not 
 convince either us or the spectators of the superiority of the Rugby over 
 Association rules. They are quite suitable for schoolboys, who are pro- 
 verbially impervious to accident, but we should have thought adults 
 would prefer a game with more skill and less roughing. The above 
 remarks may look prejudicial, and might be modified if two first-class 
 teams were witnessed contending together, but certainly on Saturday a 
 decidedly unfavourable opinion of the Rugby rules was formed by the 
 spectators. Play was commenced at 3.30, Garrick having won the toss 
 and kicking down hill, the wind also favouring them. It was quickly 
 apparent that the Sheffielders were ignorant of the rules, and before they 
 had time to obtain an insight into them a goal was scored by Manchester. 
 To effect this a touch-down must be obtained behind the enemy's 
 goal line, no easy matter with even sides, as the strict off-side rule is 
 played, and a player has to run the gauntlet of his opponents before this 
 consummation can be reached. From this they have virtually a free kick 
 for a goal, the ball being taken some distance in the field and the defend- 
 ing side stationed behind the goal line. The ball is placed by one and 
 kicked by another player, and a goal is scored when it is sent directly 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 393 
 
 over, not under tho bar as in Association rules. Hammerton obtained 
 the try or touch-down, and F. Inchle kicked the goal. Ends were then 
 changed, and a detailed account of the play is simply impossible, consist- 
 ing as it did of wrestling, strangling, running with the ball under one 
 arm and striking opponents in the face with the disengaged hand, 
 splendid drop-kicking by Manchester, and plucky but utterly futile 
 efforts by Garrick to turn the tide in their favour, although they showed 
 a marked improvement towards the latter part of the game. B. Tingle 
 was particularly useful in the tackling department, and W. Horton 
 played pluckily and dodged his opponents surprisingly. T. Buttery also 
 played well. The ball was almost continually at the Garrick end of the 
 field, and after playing about forty minutes the resisting teams were 
 credited with three goals, the try for the second of which was obtained 
 by C. Smith, and Blacklock kicked the goal. The third try was excel- 
 lently obtained by Chamberlain, and the goal kicked by Young. No 
 side was called at five o'clock, Manchester being victorious by 4 goals 3 
 tries and 17 rouges to 0. 
 
 Manchester Rangers. 
 
 Although at the present time an entirely new organi- 
 sation have adopted the name of " Manchester Rangers," 
 the club above referred to has unfortunately passed out 
 of existence. The club was first formed about 1870 by 
 Messrs. C. W. Smith, T. R. Sutton, and a few members 
 of St. Michael's Church, Hulme, who became the 
 leading spirits of the then unknown St. Michael's 
 Choristers Football Club. In 1872 the name was 
 changed to the " Moss Side Rangers " ; and in 1873, 
 having to change their ground, they again changed 
 their name and assumed the title of " Manchester 
 Rangers." This alteration seems to have been coeval 
 with the advanced influence and popularity of the club, 
 for they had an amount of success which brought them 
 prominently before the public. The names of E. T. 
 and C. W. Smith, the Suttons, Colliers, Markendale, 
 StanclifTe, Lindsay, Fletcher, and the Andrews, will long 
 be associated with what once was one of the strongest 
 combinations in the North of England. 
 
 Rochdale Hornets. 
 
 The Rochdale Hornets must certainly be included 
 amongst the early pioneers of the game in Lancashire, 
 and are to be congratulated to-day in occupying a front 
 place amongst the chief clubs in the county. Twenty 
 
394 ItUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 years ago in this densely populated county of Lancashire 
 the only towns outside Manchester and Liverpool that 
 could boast of anything like strong clubs were Preston 
 and Rochdale, and the Rochdale Hornets worked honour- 
 ably and industriously to obtain this position, and many 
 clubs in the neighbourhood of Manchester have reason 
 to remember the struggle for supremacy in those early 
 days. Of individual players, Andrew Irving, Wilfred 
 Butterworth, J. Sellars, C. M. Taylor, Goulbourne Davies, 
 and E. Healey, are amongst those who have upheld the 
 honour and reputation which the club has so justly 
 acquired. 
 
 Swinton. 
 
 This wonderful club, although previously playing 
 Association football, dates its existence as a Rugby club 
 from about the year 1870, and certainly no organisation 
 in England has enjoyed a more singularly uninterrupted 
 run of success. The game is exceedingly popular in the 
 " colliery village," and is not likely to languish from 
 want of recognition by the inhabitants of its own locality. 
 Nothing succeeds like success, and probably their con- 
 tinued success makes the natives so proud of the achieve- 
 ments of their club. The height of the ambition of 
 Swinton was gratified when they met the premier club 
 (Manchester) at Whalley Range in the year 1878, and 
 after a memorable game retired the victors by a try to 
 nil. 
 
 Referring to individual players, it is extremely 
 difficult to particularise where all have done so well ; 
 one curious fact, however, may be mentioned — viz., that 
 at one time four of the Brothers Earr played with the 
 club, H. J., better known as "Buck," Farr perhaps 
 being the most prominent. The names of W. Longshaw, 
 the Dornings, Ogden, Barker, Beswick, C. Honey, S. 
 Roberts, J. Marsh, and last, but not least, Joe Mills and 
 Jim Valentine, will long remain associated with an 
 organisation which to-day occupies the foremost position 
 in the list of Lancashire clubs. Swinton may assuredly 
 contemplate with satisfaction the career of its very 
 plucky club, which has worked so successfully for so 
 many seasons, for it must not be overlooked that the 
 annual fixtures are arranged with the strongest oppo- 
 nents in the country. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 395 
 
 Birch. 
 
 This club, now defunct, was one of the earliest estab- 
 lished in Lancashire, and, like several others, it originated 
 by playing Association football for one or two seasons, 
 ultimately adopting the Rugby code. 
 
 For many years the Birch occupied a very high posi- 
 tion amongst the principal clubs, and the match v. 
 S win ton was regarded as one of the most attractive and 
 popular fixtures in the Manchester district. Quoting 
 from an article which appeared in a football annual 
 in 1876, the writer states, " That the Birch Club, one 
 of the most successful in the North, is entirely composed 
 of young fellows who have had to acquire what they 
 know of the game within the last two or three years, 
 and so rapidly and thoroughly have they become pos- 
 sessed of the knowledge as to be a fit match for 
 any club in the country. Their list of members will 
 number nearly 200, and if necessity arose they could 
 place four teams in the field with a great chance of 
 each being successful against opponents of average 
 strength." 
 
 Unfortunately, this club, which appeared to have 
 such bright prospects, is now broken up, still the names 
 of Nicholson, Cass, the brothers Heggs, J. Glossop, W. 
 Emery, T. Hunter, R. and W. Macfarlane will live in the 
 memory of those who remember the Birch Club in its 
 palmy days. 
 
 Preston Grasshoppers. 
 
 Established in 1869, and at one time one of the 
 strongest organisations playing Rugby football in the 
 North of England, is now unhappily dissolved. This 
 club bid fair to have a long run of success, including 
 amongst its players such names as A. N. Hornby, R. 
 Hunt, J. T. Hunt and W. H. Hunt, C. Hulton, etc. By 
 some means or other these gentlemen found their way 
 into the ranks of the Manchester Club, and having, in 
 addition to desertion by their members, to struggle 
 against the growing popularity of the Association game, 
 the interest in Rugby football began to wane, and 
 although the Preston Club made a gallant effort to 
 retain the amateur code of football in the town they 
 were unsuccessful, and, all things considered, it is not 
 
396 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of the club. 
 
 surprising that we have to chronicle the extinction 
 
 Broughton Wasps. 
 
 This club, now known as the Broughton, was 
 originally formed by members of a club known in 1869 
 as Broughton College. After .playing two or three 
 seasons on the Brougnton Cricket Ground they changed 
 their title to the Broughton Wasps, under which name 
 they played many a hard-fought game and won many 
 a well-earned victory against some of the strongest 
 opponents in the North. In 1877 the Wasps amal- 
 gamated with a very smart club of schoolboys, which 
 established itself in the Broughton district, called the 
 Wellington, who were the first club to introduce the 
 passing game into Lancashire, and brought it to such 
 perfection, that, in spite of their youth, they succeeded 
 in beating many of the principal clubs of the district. 
 Since that period the Broughton Club has continued 
 on its prosperous career, and whilst several of their 
 old opponents have been compelled to dissolve, it is 
 a pleasure to record the fact that this club is in a 
 nourishing condition. 
 
 Amongst the many prominent players hailing from 
 this club the names of the brothers Sawyer, J. H. Payne, 
 H. Mallalieu, F. Moss, T. Deane, Sockett, the Den- 
 netts, E. Jordan, and E. H. Flower are the most con- 
 spicuous. 
 
 Thus, as has already been stated, space only permits 
 of a brief history of the introduction of Rugb}' football 
 into Lancashire and a reference to the first few clubs. 
 To attempt to do justice to those of a more recent date 
 would exhaust the pages of this volume ; suffice it then 
 to say that clubs such as Salford (with its upwards of 
 2,000 subscribers), Wigan, Oldham, Warrington, Barrow- 
 in-Furness, Liverpool Old Boys, Lancaster, St. Helens, 
 St. Helen's Recreation, Widnes, etc., to-day form the 
 " backbone " of the Rugby game in Lancashire. 
 
 In this review of Lancashire Rugby football no 
 reference has been made to the rival code, " the Associa- 
 tion game," of which this county is undoubtedly a 
 stronghold. Both codes are extremely popular, although 
 the conditions under which they are played are supposed 
 to be as wide as the poles. In short, the Football 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 397 
 
 Association have legalised professionalism, whilst the 
 Rugby Union declare it to be illegal. Notwithstanding 
 the combined efforts of the governing body, by means of 
 special legislation, etc., to preserve the amateur con- 
 ditions of the Rugby game, the dark shadows of pro- 
 fessionalism have latterly unmistakably manifested 
 themselves, and the all-absorbing topic at the present 
 time amongst those who have the welfare of the old 
 game at heart is, What is to be the future of Rugby 
 football ? To some minds it may be questionable 
 whether there can be any reason why remuneration for 
 playing should not be permitted to football players as 
 well as to cricketers and others who pursue for profit the 
 numerous and varied forms of popular sport. All we can 
 reply in Lancashire is that the lesson taught by the 
 legalisation of professionalism in the Association game is 
 not encouraging, for not only does club patriotism appear 
 to be destroyed by talent becoming a marketable article, 
 but the richest clubs become the strongest, and betting, 
 with its accompanying evils, is the inevitable result of 
 a system which it is extremely improbable will ever 
 receive the approval or sanction of the Rugby Union as 
 at present constituted. 
 
 James Maclaren. — There is no more prominent per- 
 sonage in Northern Rugby football circles than J. Mac- 
 laren. Since his connection with the Manchester Football 
 Club, of which he was one of the founders, he has taken 
 the liveliest interest in the game, both as a player and 
 an official, and much of the prestige and success of 
 Lancashire as a football county must be attributed to 
 his indefatigable efforts. Maclaren was one of the 
 earliest Northern members elected on the Rugby Union 
 Committee, where his services were recognised by his 
 election as president in the season of 1882-1 883. His 
 elevation to this important position marked a new 
 departure from the traditions of the Union, for hitherto 
 this honour had only been conferred upon Southern 
 members. In his capacity as a past-president of 
 England, Maclaren is an ex-ojfjficio member of the 
 Union, and occupies a seat on the International Board. 
 Maclaren has filled the position of president of the 
 Manchester Football Club, and was the first president 
 of the Lancashire County Football Club, his interest in 
 
398 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the latter body being as keen as ever. He is also 
 
 hon. treasurer of the 
 Lancashire County 
 Cricket Club, in 
 which he takes a 
 great interest. 
 
 A. N. Hornby, 
 the popular presi- 
 dent of the Lanca- 
 shire County Foot- 
 ball Club, was born 
 at Blackburn on 
 February 10th, 1847, 
 and was educated at 
 Harrow School. As 
 a youth he was an 
 ardent lover of held 
 sports, showing at a 
 very early age ex- 
 ceptional proficiency 
 as a cricketer. He 
 ultimately became 
 associated with his 
 native county club, and has for over twenty years 
 rendered invaluable service to the Lancashire eleven, 
 during the greater part of 
 which period he has been 
 the " skipper." In the foot- 
 ball held he has been equally 
 successful, and has figured in 
 innumerable County, North 
 and South, and International 
 matches, and has not only 
 captained his County, but he 
 occupies the unique position 
 of having captained England 
 in International engage- 
 ments both at cricket and 
 Rugby football. 
 
 Hornby is one of the Lan- 
 cashire representatives on 
 the English Rugby Union, 
 and at the present time there 
 is no more enthusiastic supporter of the Rugby game. 
 
 A. N. HOENBY AND W. H. HUNT. 
 
 (From a Photograph btj J. Moffat, Edinburgh."* 
 
 B. WALKEB. 
 
 (From a Photogruphby Burraiul, Liverpool.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 399 
 
 E. KEWLEY. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Robinson & 
 Thompson, Liverpool.} 
 
 Roger Walker. — Amongst the many distinguished 
 Lancastrians, probably no old player is more popular or 
 better known in connection 
 with Northern Rugby foot- 
 ball than this gentleman. 
 His connection with the 
 Manchester Club (of which 
 for seven years he was 
 captain) has been of such 
 long standing that in the 
 oldest football records his 
 name is continually in evi- 
 dence. Walker was a most 
 useful and hard-working for- 
 ward, and in addition to 
 playing in many county 
 matches, he has played live 
 times for the North v. the 
 South, and has been in- 
 cluded in the English Inter- 
 national fifteen on five occasions — viz., against Scotland 
 in 1874, 1876, 1879, 1880, and against Ireland in 1875. 
 
 Walker's retirement from football as a player has not 
 prevented him from taking an active interest as an offi- 
 cial in all that appertains to 
 the welfare of the game. He 
 is at the present time presi- 
 dent of the Manchester, Bury, 
 and Southport Football 
 Clubs. He is a Lancashire 
 representative on the English 
 Rugby Union, of which body 
 he is a vice-president, and 
 is also a vice-president of 
 the Lancashire County Foot- 
 ball Club. 
 
 William Grave Avas born 
 at Manchester, in the year 
 1848, and is the second son 
 of the late Mr. Alderman 
 Grave, ex-Mayor of Manches- 
 ter. He was one of the first 
 members of the Manchester Football Club, for which 
 he played for several seasons. As a half-back he was 
 
 (From a riiotor/raph by X. McNeil, 
 Blackburn.) 
 
400 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 possessed of great trickiness and wonderful drop-kicking 
 powers, as many old opponents of the Manchester Club 
 nave reason to remember. He was one of the twenty 
 who played in the rirst County v. Yorkshire, in 1870. 
 He has also been included in the North team v. the 
 South. Grave was for many years hon. secretary of the 
 
 Manchester Football Club, 
 and was also the first hon. 
 sec. of the present Lancashire 
 County Football Club. 
 
 E. Kewley. — This cele- 
 brated player was born at 
 Farnham Royal, Bucks, on 
 the 20th June, 1852, and was 
 educated at Marlborough 
 College, where he was in- 
 cluded, in the XL and XVI. 
 of the club. After complet- 
 ing his education, Kewley 
 identified himself with the 
 Liverpool Football Club (of 
 which he has always been 
 a staunch supporter), and 
 played for Lancashire in 
 several of the early county jnatches v. Yorkshire, making 
 his first appearance for the county in 1871. In addition 
 to North and South matches Kewley has played in no 
 less than seven International engagements — viz., v. Scot- 
 land in 1874-75-76-77-78 (captain, 1877-78), and v. Ire- 
 land in 1876-77 (captain, 1877). Kewley was best 
 described by a Southern annual of 1878 as follows : — 
 "For the second year captain of the English fifteen, and 
 a most successful and popular leader. An admirable 
 forward, always playing on the ball with the greatest 
 pluck and spirit ; one of the best dribblers and followers- 
 up in the three Kingdoms, and can also run well." 
 
 On the formation of the present county club Mr. 
 Kewley was elected a vice-president, and although now 
 retired from the active list, as a past-president of Lanca- 
 shire he still retains a connection with the governing 
 body as an ex-ojficio member. 
 
 William Henry Hunt, who may appropriately be 
 styled " one of the boys of the Old Brigade," was born 
 on May 11th, 1854, and is a native of Preston, for which 
 
 J. T. HUNT. 
 
 (rrom a Photograph bij Arthur Wintet 
 
 Preston.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 401 
 
 club he played for many seasons. Possessed of great 
 strength, which he knew how to use to advantage, he 
 proved himself an exceptionally useful forward, his 
 weight telling in the scrummages, whilst his height 
 (6 feet 3 inches) gave him exceptional facilities for secur- 
 ing the ball when thrown out from touch. He first played 
 for Lancashire v. Yorkshire in 1876, and was selected the 
 same year for the North v. the South, and so well did 
 he acquit himself in that match that he was included 
 in the International Twenty v. Scotland. In 1877 he 
 played against both Ireland and Scotland, and again 
 v. Ireland in 1878. He is the eldest of the four brothers, 
 who have all distinguished themselves at the Rugby 
 game, viz., R. Hunt and J. T. Hunt (Lancashire County 
 and International), and Thomas Howard Hunt (Lan- 
 cashire County in 1884). W. H. Hunt was a prominent 
 supporter of the " Preston Grasshoppers " and Manchester 
 Football Clubs, and, as the representative from Preston, 
 occupied a seat on the Lancashire County Committee for 
 several seasons. Since retiring from football W. H. Hunt 
 has devoted his spare time to 
 Volunteer Artillery, and at 
 the present time has the 
 honour to be in command of 
 the strongest position corps 
 of Volunteer Artillery in 
 the United Kingdom, viz., 
 the Fifth Lancashire Artil- 
 lery Volunteers. At the 
 Royal Military Tournament, 
 open to the whole of the 
 British Forces, held at Is- 
 lington on June 26th, 1889, 
 Hunt won : — 
 
 C. M. SAWYEE. 
 {From a Photograph by Kay, Southport.) 
 
 First prize, Lance v. \ 
 
 Sword . . . f Mounted 
 Second prize, Sword ( Competitions. 
 
 v. Sword . . ) 
 
 Robert Hunt. — This sterling three-quarter back was 
 born at Preston, on January 12th, 1856, and was educated 
 at Preston Grammar School and Owens College, Man- 
 chester. During his brilliant football career he has played 
 for the "Preston Grasshoppers," Manchester, and one 
 season with the Blackheatn Football clubs. He was a 
 
 A A 
 
402 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 splendid tackier, with great pace, and as a drop-kick was 
 unrivalled ; measures 6 feet in height, and when playing 
 scaled 12st. 4lb. R Hunt made his first appearance 
 for Lancashire in 1878 v. Yorkshire. In the following 
 years, 1879-1880, he was selected to play for the North v. 
 the South, and in 1880 gained International honours, 
 
 playing v. Ireland. In 1881 
 he played for England v. 
 Scotland and AY ales (the 
 latter match being the lirst 
 International match between 
 the two countries), and again 
 in 1882 for England v. 
 Ireland. He is now in 
 practice as a medical man at 
 Blackburn. 
 
 James Thomas Hunt, a 
 brother of W, H., Robert, 
 and T. H. Hunt, originally 
 hailed from the " Preston 
 Grasshoppers," but, as a mem- 
 ber of the Manchester Club, 
 to which he also belonged, 
 he first played for Lancashire 
 v. Yorkshire in 1880, when he scored one of the tries 
 obtained in the match. He also played for the North v. 
 the South in 1880 and 1881, and obtained International 
 honours in the match v. Ireland on February 6th, 1882, 
 and so far justified his selection as to be included in the 
 English fifteen v. Scotland. In 1883 he again played for 
 the North v. the South, also appearing in the Inter- 
 national fifteen v. Wales in 1884. On this latter occasion 
 J. T. Hunt had the distinction of being the only 
 Northerner selected for a place in the team. 
 
 C. M. Sawyer, one of the most powerful three-quarter 
 backs that Lancashire has produced, was born in Man- 
 chester, in the year 1856. Early in his football career he 
 became associated with the Broughton Wasps, which, 
 after amalgamation with the Wellington Club, was known 
 as the Broughton Club. To this latter organisation he 
 was a "tower of strength," and, lor a man of his physique, 
 was exceptionally fast, a strong tackier, and, with the ball 
 in his opponents' "25," was considered almost irresistible. 
 He first played for Lancashire in 1877, and in this and 
 
 H. C. ROWLEY. 
 (From a Photograph by J. Huff, Penrith.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 403 
 
 many subsequent county matches he rendered valuable 
 assistance. In 1880 he was selected in the North team 
 v. the South, in which match he created such a favour- 
 able impression that he was the same year included in 
 the International fifteen v. Scotland. In the following 
 year (1881) he also played for England v. Ireland. 
 
 Hugh Campbell Rowley (born March, 1854). — Those 
 who remember this celebrated player will agree that 
 he was one of the best all-round men who ever played 
 the Rugby game. He was originally a member of the 
 Bowdon and Lymm Club, where his value was speedily 
 recognised, and he was selected to play for Cheshire v. 
 Lancashire in the first match between the two counties 
 (February 24th, 1877), and was fortunate enough to 
 score the first try. Cheshire had thus the satisfaction 
 of scoring the first point of importance against their 
 formidable opponents. Subsequently, Rowley became 
 a member of the Manchester Club, and in 1879 played 
 for Lancashire, and it would be impossible to* over- 
 estimate the efficient services which for several years 
 he rendered to that county. 
 He also played in several 
 North v. South matches, and 
 has been included in the 
 English International fifteen 
 on no less than nine oc- 
 casions — viz., v. Scotland, 
 1879-80-81-82; Ireland, 1879- 
 80-81-82 ; Wales, 1881. 
 
 Campbell Rowley was one 
 of the most useful of foot- 
 ball players, very strong and 
 fast, was never done with, 
 could play any position in the 
 field equally well, and had his 
 whole heart in the game. 
 
 Hermann Henry Spring- 
 mann. — In the long list of 
 
 Lancashire representatives there have been few more 
 consistent players than Springmann, who was born 
 at Liverpool in the year 1859. He was educated at 
 Craigmount, Edinburgh, and eventually associated him- 
 self with the Liverpool Football Club. His abilities 
 were speedily recognised, and in 1879 he was selected 
 A a 2 
 
 H. H. SPRINGMANN. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Howll & Morrison 
 Liverpool.) 
 
404 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 
 to play in the Lancashire fifteen, and acquitted 
 himself so creditably that in the same year he played 
 for the North v. the South, and again for England v. 
 Scotland. Shortly afterwards Springmann left for 
 America, only to reappear again upon the scene in 1886, 
 when it was soon discovered that he had lost none of his 
 
 old form, for in that year 
 he assisted the county team 
 v. Cheshire and Yorkshire. 
 Once more he was selected 
 to play for the North v. the 
 South, and finally was in- 
 cluded in the English team 
 v. Scotland, which match was 
 played at Manchester, March 
 5th, 1887. One journal, 
 commenting on the merits 
 of the different players 
 in this match, stated that 
 " Of the Northern forwards 
 Springmann was the pick, 
 and most creditably in this 
 great match closed his bril- 
 liant career." 
 John Henry Payne, the popular honorary secretary 
 and treasurer of the Lancashire County Football Club, 
 was born at Broughton, in the year 1858, and is the 
 eldest son of the late Mr. J. B. Payne, who will long 
 be remembered as a prominent cricketer and supporter 
 of the Broughton Cricket Club. J. H. Payne was 
 educated at the Manchester Grammar School and 
 St. John's College, Cambridge, where in 1881 he 
 took his degree as Bachelor of Arts. In early life 
 it was apparent he inherited a love for field sports, 
 more particularly cricket and Rugby football. He first 
 played for his school and the Wellington Football 
 Club, which was absorbed by the present Broughton 
 Club, and it was during his connection with the latter 
 that he obtained International honours, playing half-back 
 p. Scotland in 1882. In 1883 he played against Scotland, 
 Ireland, and Wales ; in 1884 against Ireland ; and in 1885 
 against Ireland, and Wales. In the Football Annual of 
 1885 he was appropriately described as " A most scientific 
 half-back, good at every department of the game ; picks 
 
 J. H. PAYXE. 
 (Fiom a Photograph by La/orre, Manchester.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 405 
 
 up pluckily, and passes unselfishly and with great judg- 
 ment." J. H. Payne also obtained his Blue for Cambridge 
 University, and captained Lancashire County successfully 
 for many seasons. 
 
 As a cricketer he has rendered efficient service to the 
 Broughton Club, where having shown exceptional pro- 
 ficiency as a wicket-keeper, he was selected to play in 
 the Lancashire County eleven. In his official capacity, 
 both as county secretary and as a Lancashire representa- 
 tive on the English Rugby Union, he has rendered 
 valuable service, and has taken a leading part in many 
 reforms introduced into legislation for the purification 
 and improvement of Rugby football. 
 
 Alfred Teggin, a native of Manchester, was born in 
 the year 1860. He was a member of the Broughton 
 Rangers F. C, and was one of the most sterling forwards 
 in England. In 1883 he played for Lancashire and for 
 the North v. the South. In 1884 he played for England 
 v. Ireland ; in 1885 he appeared for England v. Wales ; 
 and in 1886 and 1887 he was included in the English 
 International teams against 
 both Scotland and Ireland. 
 
 Edward Beswick, a 
 prominent Sw^intonian, who 
 rendered efficient service to 
 his club as a three-quarter 
 back, was included in the 
 Lancashire County team 
 which played v. Cheshire, 
 Nov. 29th, 1879. He also 
 played in many subsequent 
 county matches, and was 
 selected in 1881 in the 
 North team v. the South. 
 In 1882 he obtained Inter- 
 national honours, playing for 
 
 England in that year against (From a Photograph by Bradshaw, Hastings 
 
 both Ireland and Scotland. 
 
 Arthur Twiss Kemble was born in Cumberland in the 
 year 1862, and is the third son of the Rev. N. F. G. Kemble, 
 of Allerton, Liverpool. He is prominently identified with 
 the Liverpool Cricket and Football clubs, and has held 
 official positions in both organisations. As a football for- 
 ward he soon made his mark, being particularly smart in 
 
 A. T. KEMBLE. 
 
406 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 JAMES VALENTINE. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Brown, Barnes d' Bell, 
 Liverpool.) 
 
 the open, and always on the ball. He was first chosen to 
 play for Lancashire in 1883, and for several seasons 
 
 rendered valuable aid to the 
 
 county, of which at one 
 
 period he was the captain. 
 
 In 1884 he played for the 
 
 North v. the South, and 
 
 gained his International cap 
 
 in 1885, playing against 
 
 1 Wales and Ireland. He also 
 
 ■ *-■■< I played v. Ireland in 1887. 
 
 W gJ? Not only in football circles 
 
 has Kemble distinguished 
 himself, for he is probably 
 more widely known in con- 
 nection with the cricket field, 
 having succeeded the late 
 Richard Pilling as wicket- 
 keeper for Lancashire county. 
 It is well known how suc- 
 cessfully this popular sportsman has acquitted himself 
 in this department of the game. 
 
 James Valentine, another player who hails from the 
 football stronghold of Swinton, near Manchester, was 
 born on the 29th July, 
 1866. As a three-quarter 
 back he soon proved him- 
 self a worthy successor of 
 his noted predecessors, the 
 Brothers Farr and E. Bes- 
 wick. He was first selected 
 to play for Lancashire in 
 1884, and has taken part in 
 most of the county engage- 
 ments since that time. Al- 
 though a most proficient 
 player, it was not until 1890 
 that he actually played for 
 England, although in 1888, 
 when International matches 
 were suspended, a team of 
 
 England was selected, and International caps were 
 presented to the fifteen, J. Valentine being amongst 
 the number. It was in no small degree owing to his 
 
 \Jy 
 
 TOM KENT. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 407 
 
 fine play in the season of 1890-91 that Lancashire 
 obtained the distinction of champion county, for, in 
 addition to scoring sixteen tries in county matches, he 
 captained the team with great judgment. 
 
 Thomas Kent was born at Nottingham on June 19th, 
 1864. He became associated with the Salford Football 
 Club in the season of 1887-88, and proved himself to be 
 such a strong, sterling, hard-working forward that he was 
 promptly recommended for county honours, which he 
 obtained in the match Lancashire v. Somersetshire, on 
 the 21st January, 1888. Since that time he has figured 
 conspicuously in almost every county match. He was 
 selected in the North team v. the South which was 
 played at Richmond, February 1st, 1890. In 1891 he 
 gained his International cap, and played against Wales, 
 Ireland, and Scotland, a distinction which he also 
 achieved in the season of 1891-92. 
 
CHAPTER XX. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL : YORKSHIRE. 
 
 "^TOUR Yorkshire County Committee is a wonderful 
 _L creation." So writes one of the leading spirits 
 of the Rugby Union. But "creation" is not the right term 
 to apply to the continuous phases of development which 
 have led to the establishment of the present Yorkshire 
 Rugby Union, an institution of which the followers of 
 Rugby football in Yorkshire are justly proud. To trace 
 the inception and development of this powerful organisa- 
 tion may be interesting, as exhibiting, in the successive 
 stages of the progress of the committee, a history in 
 miniature very similar to that of this nation perfecting 
 its constitution and always maintaining its freedom. At 
 first governed by five clubs, all independent, owing no 
 allegiance save that of their own will, and bound by no 
 ties save their desire to promote county football, this 
 period, that may well be termed the Pentarchy of York- 
 shire football, has been followed by vicissitudes that may 
 be likened to the successive periods of agitations in the 
 history of our own land as the " Wars of the Barons," 
 " The Rise of the People," and the admission of all 
 classes to the franchise. In no county has there been 
 presented the spectacle of oligarchic rule developing into 
 democratic government in any manner to compare with 
 the history of the Yorkshire County Committee. 
 
 It has often been stated that the original executive 
 was self-elected, but the term is rather wide of the mark. 
 The origination of any committee (if the managers of 
 Yorkshire football could at that time be termed a com- 
 mittee) arose out of the match with Lancashire in 1870. 
 J. G. Hudson, then secretary of the Leeds Club, has the 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 409 
 
 honour of being the leader of the movement. It was he 
 who conceived the idea of Yorkshire playing a match 
 with Lancashire. The first match was played at Leeds, 
 and Howard Wright, the captain of the Leeds Club, led 
 the Yorkshire team. From this crude beginning dates 
 the foundation of the Yorkshire committee. Leeds, 
 Bradford, Huddersfield, and Hull took up the manage 
 ment of county affairs, simply because there was none to 
 dispute their right to govern. But the only work to be 
 done was in connection with picking the teams, and this 
 task devolved almost entirely on the captain, who was 
 always the representative of the club whose ground had 
 been selected for the match. Thus Howard Wright led 
 the team at Leeds, Alfred Bradley at Huddersfield, and 
 Harry Garnett at Bradford ; and when the matches took 
 place out of the county, Hutchinson of Hull held the 
 reins, and decided pretty much his own way as to who 
 should play or be left out. 
 
 It is generally supposed that H. W. T. Garnett was 
 the first to call a proper committee meeting together 
 prior to the Lancashire fixture of 1874 at Bradford, but 
 Garnett's own version of his joining the committee is 
 somewhat different. " My first match with the York- 
 shire team was against Durham at Darlington in 1873. 
 It was the first match we played with that county, and 
 we played a return match the same season (on March 21, 
 1874). When we went to Durham they neither met us 
 at the station nor gave us a luncheon. When the return 
 match was to come off at Leeds, I wrote to J. G. Hudson, 
 the secretary, asking for a seat on the committee. I 
 was invited to attend, and proposed the following resolu- 
 tion, ' That we should entertain Durham to luncheon at 
 the Queen's Hotel, drive them to the ground in a four- 
 in-hand, entertain them to dinner afterwards, and send 
 them all home drunk.' We successfully carried out the 
 
 Erogramme with the exception of the latest clause. We 
 ad to guarantee the expenses amongst ourselves, and I 
 can remember I undertook to guarantee £5, and actually 
 had to pay £3 10s. as my share of the deficit." 
 
 From 1874 the committee began to meet fairly 
 regularly, and this again at the instigation of Garnett, 
 who called the captains of the Leeds Athletic, Bradford, 
 Hull, York, and Huddersfield clubs to meet at the 
 Queen's Hotel, Leeds. The first members were B. Cariss 
 
H. W. T. GABNETT. 
 
 President, 1876-1S84. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Appleion & Co. 
 
 Bradford.) 
 
 A. E. HUDSON. 
 
 President, 1884-1886. 
 (.From a Photograph by Slater, Llandudno.) 
 
 BABBON KILNEB. 
 
 President, 1891-1S92. 
 
 (From a Photograph by G. and J. Hall, 
 
 "'<> I:, field.) 
 
 M. NEWSOME. 
 
 President, 1888-1890. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Valentine Blanchard 
 
 J. A. MILLER. 
 President, 1892-1893. 
 (.From a Photograph by HosJcku, Leeds.) 
 
 ewsbury.) 
 
 THE YORKSHIRE PRESIDENTS 
 
 EEV. F. MARSHALL. 
 
 President, 1890-1891. 
 
 (From a Photograph by J. E. Shaw, 
 
 H udders field.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 411 
 
 (Leeds Athletic), H. W. T. Garnett (Bradford), W, 
 Hodgson (Hull), Christison (York), and H. S. Brook 
 (Huddersfield). In 1877 Garnett was formally appointed 
 captain of the team, and held the post till his retirement 
 in 1880. Garnett and Arthur Hudson were virtually 
 the founders of the present Yorkshire committee. To 
 Arthur Hudson Yorkshiremen owe the origination 
 of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup. His influence on 
 Yorkshire football was very great, and the late successes 
 of Yorkshire players in the field are mainly due to the 
 wise counsels and far-seeing legislation of one whose 
 memory will ever be venerated by all Yorkshire football 
 enthusiasts. 
 
 Arthur E. Hudson never was a football player, and 
 his enthusiasm for the game dated from his stay in 
 Manchester in 1874-75, when he took an interest in the 
 Manchester Club. On his return to Leeds he took an 
 active part in Yorkshire football. Whilst in Manchester 
 he had observed that the Lancashire county players 
 were selected mainly from the Manchester Club. He 
 came to the conclusion that the combination in the team 
 arising from this circumstance was a great factor in the 
 run of success which fell to Lancashire in the matches 
 with Yorkshire, for up to that time Yorkshire could 
 claim only one victory in eight matches. Accordingly, 
 he conceived the idea of founding a club which should 
 play the same part in Yorkshire as Manchester was 
 doing in Lancashire, and hence arose the Yorkshire 
 Wanderers Club. This was raised on the ashes of the 
 Leeds Athletic Club and Potternewton, or perhaps it 
 would be kinder to say on the ashes of the former and 
 the amalgamation of the latter. Originally it was termed 
 the Leeds Club, but it afterwards became known as the 
 Yorkshire Wanderers, for whom such noted players as 
 the following appeared: Rev. E. H. Dykes, C. W. L. 
 Fernandes, Ben Cariss, C. H. Coates, A. J. Forrest, T. A. 
 Naylor, R. H. Fowler, A. R. Atkinson, Cecil Atkinson, 
 Gilbert Harrison, E. T. Hirst, C. Scharf, H. W. T. Garnett, 
 and others. 
 
 But Arthur Hudson had further ideas for the develop- 
 ment of football in Yorkshire, and, in conjunction with 
 H. W. T. Garnett and F. Schutt, originated the Yorkshire 
 Challenge Cup. This was the real basis of the com- 
 mittee's rule in Yorkshire. The idea thus mooted by 
 
412 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the gentlemen named above was taken up by the five 
 clubs, who formed themselves then and there into a 
 business-like assembly for conducting the entire affairs 
 of the county. Nothing could have been more fortunate, 
 as things have turned out, than the idea of the Cup 
 being made the pivot round which the whole machinery 
 of state had to turn. It has held the fabric together 
 ever since in a manner that could not have been achieved 
 any other way. The refractory, the rebellious, and the 
 wavering have all been brought to their senses by having 
 the Cup dangled before their e}^es by the committee as 
 occasion required, and to-day finds the spell just as 
 potent as ever. The names of the executive at the 
 period of the institution of the Cup in 1876 were as 
 follows : H. W. T. Garnett (Bradford), who became 
 president, A. E. Hudson (hon. sec), F. Schutt (Leeds), 
 E. Glaisby (York), H. Huth (Huddersfield), W. H. H. 
 Hutchinson (Hull). It is popularly supposed that the 
 Cup was presented and paid for by the five clubs. Such 
 idea is erroneous. The names of the five clubs founding 
 the competition are engraved upon the Cup, but the 
 Cup was purchased out of the proceeds of the final tie 
 in the first year of the competition. 
 
 It will be seen that at the origination of the Cup 
 contests the quintette of clubs that had had the manage- 
 ment of county football formed the first committee. 
 But the numbers and method of election of the com- 
 mittee soon underwent changes. The first great agita- 
 tion for reform arose at the end of the season 1879-80, 
 when general dissatisfaction was expressed at the ex- 
 clusive constitution and management of the then existing 
 committee, which was composed as follows : H. W. T. 
 Garnett (Bradford), president ; H. Huth (Huddersfield), 
 G. Harrison (Hull), G. T. Thomson (Halifax), and 
 A. E. Hudson (Leeds), hon. secretary and treasurer. 
 York had lost its seat, and Harrison, though coming 
 from Hull, did not sit as a representative of that town. 
 The Huddersfield Club, though directly represented on 
 the committee, took the initiative. The movement was 
 supported by the Wakefield Trinity, Dewsbury, Halifax, 
 Huddersfield, Leeds St. John's, Bradford Rangers, and 
 Kirkstall Clubs. B. Schofield, of Huddersfield, acted 
 as secretary to the "agitators." The agitation was' 
 vigorously conducted, and excitement was great in the 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 413 
 
 county. Seats on the committee were offered to the 
 Wakefield Trinity and Dewsbury clubs. The former 
 accepted the offer and, along with the Halifax Club, 
 retired from the agitation, but the Dewsbury Club, having 
 pledged themselves to " united action," refused the 
 proffered seat unless the invitation was further extended. 
 Feeling ran high, and the committee further increased 
 the strength ot the opposition by refusing to receive a 
 deputation on the subject. But wiser counsels pre- 
 vailed, and ultimately the following gentlemen — J. 
 Watkinson (Hudderstield), B. Schofield (Huddersheld), 
 H. H. Doe (Leeds St. John's), M. Newsome (Dewsbury), 
 and W. Peat (Kirkstall) — attended at a meeting of the 
 committee on the 11th August, 1880, to explain the 
 views and state the grievances of the agitators. John 
 Watkinson was chief spokesman on behalf of the depu- 
 tation, and preferred the case in moderate language but 
 with strong argument. 
 
 After full discussion the committee decided to 
 invite representatives from the Dewsbury and Leeds St. 
 John's clubs to join their body. They also departed from 
 the principle of absolute self-election, by proposing " to 
 submit the names of their nominees to the approval of 
 the clubs to which such nominees individually belong." 
 These concessions gave temporary satisfaction, and 
 matters were amicably settled. Subsequently the York 
 Club was asked again to send a representative, and at the 
 commencement of the season 1880-81 the committee 
 consisted of the following members : — H. W. T. Garnett 
 (Bradford), president; H. Huth (Huddersfield), G. T. 
 Thomson (Halifax), G. Harrison (Hull), C. T. Baldwin 
 (Wakefield Trinity), A. Newsome (Dewsbury) ; J. B. 
 Ogden (Leeds St. John's), hon. sec. ; and A. E. Hudson 
 (Yorkshire Wanderers, late Leeds), hon. treasurer. J. B. 
 Ogden thus took the place of A. E. Hudson as hon. secre- 
 tary, who was compelled to resign that office through press- 
 ure of business. " Joe " Ogden was one of the leading 
 spirits of the Leeds St. John's Club from its formation in 
 1869 by his brother, T. J. Ogden. Though a county player, 
 he achieved greater fame at the game of " La Crosse," in 
 which he gained International honours, being a member 
 of the English La Crosse team against Ireland at Belfast 
 in 1881. No more genial or more popular fellow 
 exists than the facetious " Joe," who is all sport, and a 
 
414 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 J. B. OGDEN. 
 From a Photograph by Dinnie, Leeds.) 
 
 Yorkshireman to the backbone, relieved with Leeds trim- 
 mings, for his attachment to the Leeds St. John's — now 
 
 the Leeds — Club is pre-emi- 
 nent. He took a leading 
 part in the great agitation in 
 London in 1882. 
 
 Ogden was succeeded at 
 the end of 1881-82 by his 
 club mate, T. Glover. Like 
 Ogden, Tom Glover was a 
 Leeds St. John's man, and, 
 curiously enough, he also 
 was more famous at La 
 Crosse than at Rugby foot- 
 ball. In 1881 he was chosen 
 in the English La Crosse 
 team which met Ireland at 
 Belfast, and scored two goals 
 out of the four obtained by 
 the Englishmen. 
 But though the agitation of 1880 was not successful 
 in obtaining all the points claimed, the committee were 
 evidently cognisant of the feeling in the county, and 
 proceeded to frame a constitution for the government of 
 Yorkshire football. The con- 
 stitution was published on 
 January 15th, 1883, and 
 though a great advance on 
 the previous system of elec- 
 tion of the committee, re- 
 tained the management in 
 the hands of certain clubs, 
 and left the selection of re- 
 presentatives practically in 
 the power of the retiring 
 committee. 
 
 And so, on the publication 
 of the constitution/ the York- 
 shire clubs commenced to 
 agitate for the election of the 
 committee at an annual meet- 
 ing of Yorkshire clubs in the 
 
 Rugby Union. A requisition to this effect was drawn up, 
 and a deputation attended a meeting of the Yorkshire 
 
 T. GLOVER. 
 {From a Photograph by Brown, Barnes and 
 Bell, Regent Street, »'. I 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 415 
 
 committee on May 7th, 1883, but the committee decided 
 they could not accede to the wishes of the requisitionists, 
 though they would at an early date take into considera- 
 tion the advisability of increasing the number of repre- 
 sentatives on the committee. Accordingly, on May 21st, 
 the committee decided to accord a seat to the Hull Club, 
 W. J. Close being elected their first representative. 
 
 In August, 1883, the Thornes Club was elected to 
 membership in the place of the Yorkshire Wanderers. 
 It is generally supposed that Thornes earned their seat 
 under the rule that " the holders of the Challenge Cap, 
 if not already represented, shall have a seat on the 
 committee," but this is not the case ; the Thornes club 
 was elected on August 8th, 1883, whereas the rule having 
 reference to the Cup holders was not adopted till August 
 30th. It was under this rule that the Batley Club were 
 received after winning the Cup in 1885 ; that club is the 
 only club that has been accorded a seat under the rule 
 referred to, though doubtless the circumstance that the 
 Thornes club were the winners of the Cup in 1882 was 
 the chief cause of the election of that club to a seat on 
 the committee in 1883. No further change took place 
 iii the constitution of the committee for a considerable 
 period (though the decadence of Thornes caused that 
 club to be voted off the committee in 1886), "for the 
 simple reason that, the principal clubs in Yorkshire being 
 all represented, any agitation would necessarily fail for 
 lack of leadership. Guided by past experience, the 
 committee were inclined to voluntarily include any 
 rising club ; indeed, the rule referring to the holders of 
 the Challenge Cup was expressly intended to afford an 
 opening by which a club could, through merit, earn 
 representation on the executive. So, with the exception 
 of according a seat to the Spen Valley clubs at the end 
 of the 1886-87 season, no further change took place till 
 1888, though Arthur Hudson advocated the claims of 
 the Manningham Club to representation when that club 
 rose to prominence. The next change came from 
 circumstances outside the committee, and not from any 
 action by the Yorkshire clubs. But previous to this 
 there were alterations in the personnel of the committee. 
 In 1884 Garnett retired from the presidency, and was 
 succeeded by Arthur Hudson, who held the office till his 
 death in 1888. Mark Newsome then became president, 
 
416 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and has the honour of being the last president of the 
 Yorkshire County Committee, and the rirst president of 
 the Yorkshire Rugby Union. In November, 1884, T. 
 Glover resigned the secretaryship, and his seat on the 
 committee was accorded to J. A. Miller, who was also 
 elected to the office of secretary, a post which he held 
 till June, 1892, when he was elected president in succession 
 to B. Kilner, who had succeeded the Rev. F. Marshall 
 in 1891. 
 
 The season 1887-88 saw the great change from the 
 Yorkshire County Club to the Yorkshire Rugby Union, 
 and, with this change, the placing of the election upon a 
 popular basis. And June, 1888, saw the hrst meeting 
 of a representative body, comprising the clubs in 
 Yorkshire, members of the Rugby Union. By the new 
 constitution adopted at that meeting, it was specifically 
 enjoined that all clubs joining the Yorkshire Union 
 thereby became members of the Rugby Union, and were 
 admitted without further subscription to take part in the 
 competition for the Yorkshire Challenge Cup. Thus the 
 bait of the Cup was made use of by the Yorkshire com- 
 mittee to obtain votes at the general meetings of the 
 Rugby Union. And now the Yorkshire Union is the 
 most powerful organisation in the country. It has a 
 membership of 150 clubs, or about three-sevenths of 
 the entire number in affiliation with the Rugby 
 Union. At first clubs were indiscriminately elected to 
 seats on the committee, but latterly the Union has been 
 divided into districts, a seat being assigned to each 
 district, and this is the present arrangement. 
 
 The future legislative problem is the relationship 
 between the Yorkshire Union and the Rugby Union. 
 The latter representative of the varied interests in the 
 different districts in which the Rugby game is played is 
 threatened with the undesirable contingency that one 
 district by its preponderate voting power may arrogate 
 to itself the control of the destiny of the game. Such 
 contingency can be averted only by increased interest 
 and vigilance in other districts, by well- advised con- 
 cessions on the part of the Rugby Union to the legiti- 
 mate proposals of Yorkshire, and by the Yorkshiremen 
 adopting wiser counsels and more moderate methods. 
 But the history of the Yorkshire committee, with its 
 serious agitations and club interests so markedly manifest 
 
CUURTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 417 
 
 in every discussion, does not give much hope that 
 Yorkshiremen will be moved from their steadfast purpose 
 of claiming what they consider their just right according 
 to their voting power. 
 
 Yorkshire Clubs and Players. 
 
 Sheffield is certainly the oldest football town in York- 
 shire. The dribbling game was being played there in the 
 "fifties," and the Sheffield Football Association was 
 formed long before the 
 Londoners assumed their 
 authority over the sport in 
 1863. The Sheffield Club 
 claims to be the oldest foot- 
 ball organisation in the king- 
 dom. It was started in 1855. 
 Its minute book for 1857 is 
 still in existence. There 
 were some excellent Rugby 
 players living in Sheffield 
 about 1869, and they were 
 asked to play for Yorkshire 
 in the first county match 
 arranged with Lancashire on 
 March 28th, 1870. These 
 men probably hailed from 
 the Sheffield Association, as 
 
 there cannot be found a trace of a separate Rugby club 
 existing in the cutlery town at that time, anyhow there 
 was none in membership with the Rugby Union, when 
 that body sprang into existence a year later. Sheffield 
 had five men in the Yorkshire county team, but even 
 that impetus failed to establish Rugby principles in the 
 town as against the overwhelming influence of the 
 Associationists, and Sheffield, as a Rugby centre, never 
 had any existence at all. 
 
 The institution and progress of clubs has been carried 
 out in two opposite ways. There have been clubs 
 founded by public school boys anxious to play Rugby 
 football after their school career had closed, and there 
 have been clubs founded in a general way by the sport- 
 loving public in the various towns. Of the former, 
 Bradford, Hull, and Huddersfield are notable examples, 
 
 B B 
 
 J. G. HUDSON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Boxley, Leeds.) 
 
418 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 whilst the Leeds Athletic Club is an instance of a club 
 taking its beginning from an appeal to the sportsmanship of 
 the general public in a large town. One of the principal 
 leaders in the movement was J. G. Hudson, of Leeds, 
 whose attention was drawn to the following advertise- 
 ment appearing in the Leeds Mercury of March 7th, 
 1864 :— 
 
 "Football. — Wanted a number of persons to form a football club 
 for playing on Woodhouse Moor for a few days a week from 7 to 8 o'clock 
 a.m. Apply K 99, Mercury Office." 
 
 K 99 turned out to be Henry Irwin Jenkinson, then 
 a clerk at the North Eastern Railway Goods Department. 
 He will be better known as the writer of a " Guide to the 
 English Lake District." Hudson and Jenkinson, along 
 with R. 0. Berry, now a carting agent in Leeds, and W. 
 Dickenson, now manager of a savings bank in Sheffield, 
 were the founders of the club and formed the committee. 
 Their first proceedings were to buy a ball and provide 
 themselves with boundary flags and goal posts, these 
 latter consisting of broom handles with pieces of cotton 
 nailed on as flags. Their ground was Woodhouse Moor, 
 and they arranged to play at half-past six every morning 
 of the week. Games also took place in the evening. 
 The head-quarters of the club were at Manor House 
 Hotel, kept by one Strickland, who undertook to take 
 charge of the goal posts and the ball. The hour, 6.30, 
 was somewhat early both for Strickland and the players, 
 but punctuality was ensured by the infliction of a tine 
 of sixpence, rigidly enforced, upon a late player. 
 
 The rules of the game were on a par with the 
 primitive posts. They called it Rugby football, but the 
 players were not allowed to run Avith the ball, though 
 they could handle it, make a fair catch, and were com- 
 pelled to observe the law of on-side. A goal was scored, 
 however, whenever the ball passed between the posts, irre- 
 spective of height, there being no cross-bar. Their ideas 
 of the size and shape of the ball were similarly crude. 
 They seem to have experimented with the balls, imagining 
 that the bigger they had them the better, and at one 
 time actually played with one fourteen inches in 
 diameter. 
 
 The initiation of members proceeded upon a simple 
 but effective plan. If an individual came upon the Moor 
 and took an interest in the play, Hudson would accost 
 
E. HOLMES — 1S91. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Robinson and .Storey 
 Bradford ) 
 
 B B 2 
 
 W. E. BROMET — 1S91-1892. 
 
 (From a Photograph htj Oilman & Co., 
 Oxford.) 
 FIVE YORKSHIRE CAPTAINS. 
 
420 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 him and ask, " Will yon be a member ? " If the reply was 
 " Yes," there followed a demand for a shilling as a sub- 
 scription, and if he paid he became a member, and was 
 put to play on one side or the other. The club grew and 
 soon numbered about 500 members, and the morning 
 and evening practices became the sight of Leeds. There 
 were any quantity of players on a side, and 150 players 
 in an evening and sixty in a morning was no 
 unusual thing. In a month or two some fairly good 
 players joined the club, and it was dubbed the " Leeds 
 Athletic Club." The tirst captain was Howard Wright, 
 afterwards captain of the Yorkshire team in the first 
 match against Lancashire at Leeds in 1870. The first 
 match was in the year 1864 against Sheffield. It was 
 played at Sheffield, and must have been under the Sheffield 
 code of rules, which at that time admitted of a player 
 being on-side, so long as the goal-keeper was between 
 himself and the goal. These tactics nonplussed the 
 Leeds men, who suffered a severe defeat, though they 
 managed to turn the tables in the return match at 
 Leeds. 
 
 In 1865 Manchester was challenged and a match 
 arranged which took place at Fieldhouse, near Hudders- 
 field, on a ground lent by Edward Brooke. The goal- 
 posts and flags were taken over to Huddersfield, and the 
 match was played under Rugby rules. The club con- 
 tinued to play its games on Woodhouse Moor for about 
 two years, and then took a ground in the Horticultural 
 Gardens, where it flourished for some time under the 
 name of the " Leeds Athletic Club." 
 
 As has been already stated, the five clubs inaugurating 
 the Yorkshire Challenge Cup were Hull, Leeds, Bradford, 
 Huddersfield, and York. These were practically the 
 only organisations existing in the county at the end of 
 1869, when the sport was beginning to be publicly 
 recognised. For several years after this period Hull was 
 looked upon as the premier club in Yorkshire, and was 
 the first Yorkshire club to join the Rugby Union 
 immediately after the foundation of the same. Bradford 
 was the next to become a member, viz., in 1874, following 
 which a number of clubs joined simultaneously. Doubt- 
 less there were two or three additional organisations 
 being founded at the beginning of the year 1870, but 
 they had no sort of standing beside the quintette 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 421 
 
 mentioned above, who comprise the " early clubs " of 
 Yorkshire football. It may be of interest to mention 
 the names of a few minor local clubs, that followed 
 pretty closely in the wake of these early pioneers, viz., 
 Chapel Allerton, Chapeltown, Doncaster, Harrogate, 
 Ripon, Ravensthorpe, Mirfield. This list does not, of 
 course, include the whole of the second division existing 
 at the period referred to, but it about comprises the list 
 of those which were known to the five elect, beyond which 
 there could be hardly any existence to speak of. 
 
 The Hull Club. 
 
 The first Hull club was formed in the autumn of 
 1865. The chief promoters were W. H. H. Hutchinson, 
 C. B. Lambert, F. A. Scott, E. Waltham, and H. J. Wade, 
 all of whom played in the early Yorkshire teams against 
 Lancashire. The club soon had a membership of forty to 
 fifty members, and played on the Rifle Barracks parade 
 ground. The game played was neither the regular 
 Rugby nor the Association game, but one something 
 resembling Rugby, though running with the ball was 
 only permissible after a catch. The first matches were 
 in 1867, against Lincoln, both of which were won, and 
 until 1870 three or four matches were generally played 
 in each year with Bramham College, St. Peter's School, 
 York, Louth (Lincolnshire), Newark, and perhaps one 
 or two others in which the Hull Club was usually 
 victorious. 
 
 In 1870 a ground was taken at Ferriby. Here Leeds 
 were met twice, each club winning one match, but 
 owing to the distance between Hull and the West 
 Riding clubs in 1871 aground was rented at Selby, where 
 the Hull men met Leeds, Bradford, and Huddersfield, 
 and beat them all, though the win against Huddersfield 
 was a very lucky one. Club colours were commenced, 
 at that time pink and white stripes. About this time 
 the three Hodgsons, William, Richard, and Edward, 
 joined the club, and also some good men from the public 
 schools — viz., E. A. Hollingbery and F. 0. Moss from 
 Rugby, and E. W. Harrison from Cheltenham, all of 
 whom played for the county. 
 
 Until 1877 the club continued to play the chief of 
 the Yorkshire clubs with fair success on the whole, 
 
422 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 though often let down through being short of men when 
 playing from home. The ground during that time was 
 first at Newland, near Hull, and afterwards on the 
 Anlaby Road, Hull. In 1877 the Hull Club, after beat- 
 ing Mirfield and Heckmondwike, was defeated in the 
 Challenge Cup ties by York, and at the end of the season 
 virtually broke up, almost all the old players, the Hodg- 
 sons, Wade, Walter Harrison, Hutchinson, Moss, and 
 others dropped out, and there were veiy few young ones 
 to take their places. The club continued under different 
 
 management for three or 
 four years longer, when it 
 became amalgamated with 
 the Hull White Star Club, 
 and has since continued 
 under its present manage- 
 ment. The first captain was 
 Edward Waltham, who was 
 followed b}^ Beevor Lambert, 
 but the man best known in 
 the early days of Hull and 
 Yorkshire football was 
 W. H. H. Hutchinson, a fine 
 strapping forward familiarly 
 known to all his friends as 
 hutchinsox « t he Baron." He was con- 
 
 (*rom a P, t oto„ra P k l V Sar any, Scar bar ourjl^ sidered ft g feat aut h rity On 
 
 the game in his day, and as 
 a scrum mager he had certainly no superior. Up to 1876 
 he was the recognised captain of the Yorkshire team in 
 matches played outside Yorkshire, and was the first 
 Yorkshireinan to gain the distinction of being selected 
 to play for England. He retired from the captaincy of 
 the Yorkshire team in 1876. 
 
 Gilbert or " Gillie " Harrison was another famous 
 player who hailed from Hull, and like Hutchinson acted 
 as captain for Yorkshire. He commenced playing for 
 the county in 1875, and from that date formed one of 
 the Yorkshire team in almost every match up to the 
 end of the season 1887-88. In 1878-79 Harrison played 
 against Scotland and Ireland, and in the following 
 season played against Scotland, but was unable to take 
 the journey to Ireland. His name does not again appear 
 in an International team till 1884-85, when he played 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL, 423 
 
 against Wales. This selection after so long a gap is a 
 wonderful testimony to the ability and staying powers of 
 the Hull player. His connection with his county team 
 extended over no less than fourteen seasons. Harrison 
 was a lithe forward, an honest scrum mager, but specially 
 notable for coming through the pack and dribbling in a 
 very clever manner. The honour of captaining York- 
 shire came late in the day, when Harrison was beginning 
 to slow down after ten years' hard service. Amongst the 
 later Hull players may be mentioned the Calverts, 
 Jacketts, Iveson, Bell, and Oxlade. 
 
 The Bradford Club. 
 
 The Bradford Football Club is given in the Football 
 Annual as founded in 1868, but it is really an offshoot 
 of the Bradford Cricket Club, which was founded in 1836, 
 and is still one of the best known clubs in the North. 
 It is recorded, on the authority of " Nomad," a local 
 writer on sporting topics, that for many years prior to 
 1868, a party of young men, who had been initiated 
 into the game in their school days at Steeton Hall and 
 Bramham College, were in the habit of playing football 
 in the winter months on the Bradford cricket ground, 
 which was then situated in Horton Boad, about a quarter 
 of a mile from the present enclosure, now known in all 
 cricket and football circles as " Park Avenue." The 
 football meetings of the young men can be traced back 
 to 1863, and they framed a code of rules for themselves, 
 the Rugby Union not having then come into existence. 
 The game played was a cross between the present Asso- 
 ciation and Rugby rules. Oates Ingham was the earliest 
 leader. This was the foundation of the B. F. C. Shortly 
 after the commencement of the club leave to play on the 
 Bradford ground was withdrawn on account, it is assumed, 
 of damage done to the cricket pitch ; and the club then 
 went through various vicissitudes, occupying various 
 grounds in succession, such as Manningham, Peel Park, 
 and Girlington, and finally settled at Apperley Bridge, a 
 few miles out of Bradford, until Park Avenue became 
 available. 
 
 In or about 1875 the cricket club had to leave the 
 ground in Horton Road, and took a lease of a larger area 
 of land in Park Avenue. Shortly after this negotiations 
 
424 
 
 •RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 were commenced with the object of amalgamating the 
 cricket and football clubs, and the end was successfully 
 attained in 1881, when on the new field a special en- 
 closure was prepared and reserved for the football section 
 of the club. It was a long time before fixtures could be 
 arranged with other teams, Leeds being the first to meet 
 Bradford, then Huddersfield, Hull, and York in the 
 order named. Some members of the team in 1 (SO 9- 70 
 were A. Haley, A. Firth (captain), A. Holmes, W. Haley, 
 F. Hargreaves, A. Lassen, C. Lonsdale, F. Adcock, G. 
 
 Bateman, 0. Ingham, M. 
 Dawson, Greenwood, and 
 Bateson. 
 
 The Bradford Club can 
 point to two particular 
 periods of success, and 
 curiously those periods are 
 separated by the space of 
 ten years. 1873 - 75 saw 
 Bradford at the top of 
 Yorkshire football. At that 
 period Garnett, F. Schutt, R. 
 Mills, F. S. Tetley, and J. 
 Richardson were picked to 
 play against Lancashire. 
 Reggie Mills was the half- 
 back for Bradford of his day. 
 Tetley played either half- 
 back or three-quarter, and filled either position equally 
 well. He was a hundred yards' runner and often 
 competed at athletic sports. His speed combined with 
 his weight made him an awkward customer to tackle. 
 His handing-off was very powerful, and he was also a 
 fair drop, but he is best summed up in the words 
 " speed and strength." He gained his England cap 
 against Scotland in 1876. 
 
 Harry Garnett, pre-eminently connected with the 
 Bradford Club, is the man above all others who has 
 founded County football in Yorkshire. Captain of the 
 Bradford Club from 1874 to 1881 ; captain of the 
 Yorkshire Fifteen from 1877 to 1880 ; a member of the 
 County Committee for some eighteen years, for seven of 
 which he filled the post of president ; an International 
 player, and president of the Rugby Union 1889-90, no 
 
 F. S. TETLEY. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Appleton & Co., 
 Bradford.) 
 
BRADFORD : 
 WINNERS OF THE YORKSHIRE CHALLENGE CUP, 1884. 
 
 (From a Plwtograph by R. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
426 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 man has done more service for his club, his county, and 
 his country than Harry Garnett, of Otley, and the clubs 
 of Yorkshire perpetrated an act of ingratitude when they 
 deprived past presidents of the Yorkshire Union of the 
 right to sit on the committee as ex-officio members, and 
 thus severed Garnett's official connection with Yorkshire 
 football. As a player he was always conspicuous on the 
 field as playing barelegged, without stockings or shin 
 guards, having whilst a schoolboy learnt to despise a 
 hack. He had mam' sides, for he was the heavy forward, 
 the fast dribbler, and the long kicker by turns. He could 
 also play a fair game at three-quarter, and was a 
 splendid coach to young players, whose blunders were 
 always treated by him from the humorous side. He had 
 a perfect knowledge of the game and was a stickler for 
 having it played " according to Cocker." 
 
 " The second period, 1883-84-85, saw Bradford at 
 the zenith of their fame, and at that time their 
 successes over the strongest clubs in England and 
 Scotland, combined with the efficient management ot 
 the club, raised Bradford into the position of being in 
 many ways the premier club of England. Much of 
 the credit of these achievements is due to the capable 
 captaincy in 1882-83 of A. B. Perkins, of flag-wielding 
 fame and Yorkshire Committee and Rugby Union 
 renown, who was a born general, and knew exactly 
 how to keep a team together. He was fortunate to be 
 captain at a time when the team was acquiring 
 strength almost weekly. Fred Bonsor had become a 
 regular member of the team in 1881-82, which season 
 also was the beginning of Frank Ritchie's connection 
 with the club. Edgar Wilkinson, Laurie Hickson, and 
 Herbert Robertshaw joined in 1882-83; the following 
 season saw Rawson Robertshaw develop as a centre 
 three-quarter. Individual brilliancy, combination, and 
 scientific passing caused the Bradford team of this period 
 to be the most accomplished fifteen that has ever done 
 duty for any single club in Yorkshire. 
 
 Fred Bonsor and J. Wright were the half-backs, and 
 both men gained International honours. The latter was 
 a sturdy, safe, defensive player, and a much better man 
 than many more showy players who were supposed to be 
 his superiors. Bonsor w r as without doubt the best half- 
 back that Yorkshire has produced. Limby, with a 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 427 
 
 clutch like that of an octopus, he always grassed his 
 man, whilst possessed of weight, speed, and strength, 
 combined with dodging powers, he was a most dangerous 
 player on the attack. His feeding of the backs and 
 judgment in play were of the highest order. Fred 
 Bonsor at his best was the half-back of an age. He is 
 the only Yorkshireman who has acted as captain of an 
 England team. 
 
 Edgar Wilkinson was a brilliant forward in the open, 
 
 £ f 
 
 
 4m 
 
 I 
 
 
 liawson. Percy. He 
 
 THE BROTHEES EOBEBTSHAW. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Bridges & Son, Bradford.) 
 
 but not much of a scrummager. He and Herbert 
 Robertshaw were the two flying men of the Bradford 
 forward division, and the most dangerous men near the 
 goal line. A good dribbler, a fast follower up, and 
 always at hand to take a pass, Edgar Wilkinson had a 
 share in most of the many brilliant victories gained by 
 the Bradford Club during the period that he was in the 
 ranks of its team. In 1886 he played in all the Inter- 
 national matches of the season, scoring a try against 
 Wales, and in the following month obtained the only try 
 scored in the Irish match at Dublin. In the following 
 season Wilkinson played against Wales and Scotland. 
 Rawson Robertshaw first appeared in the Bradford 
 
428 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 team as a forward, but on being placed at centre three- 
 quarter he speedily evinced such peculiar talent for that 
 special position that he became the acknowledged 
 " centre " of his time. His style is often referred to as 
 the perfection of centre three-quarter play, and by 
 common consent he has been dubbed " the Prince of 
 Centres," a title which he fairly earned, for he can claim 
 the distinction of being the initiator of modern centre 
 play. He possessed all the physical qualifications for 
 the post with which his name is thus associated. 
 Strong, active, fearless, and decisive, he was unsurpassed 
 in his ability to stop a dribble or a forward rush. But it 
 was in attack chiefly that he revolutionised back play. 
 He linked the three-quarters into harmony and made 
 them a component part of the machinery of the game. 
 He could take or give a pass with the greatest ease, and 
 his picking up and dropping into touch were notably 
 clean and accurate. 
 
 His brothers, Herbert and Percy, worthily upheld the 
 lamily name. Herbert was the first to earn fame as a 
 forward, and was quite the most brilliant man in the 
 Bradford team, and it was only because he had the 
 misfortune to shine in a year remarkable for a plethora 
 of fast forwards that he failed to secure an England cap. 
 
 Percy Robertshaw was the youngest of the three 
 brothers, and played full-back for Bradford, occasionally 
 appearing as centre. On the retirement of Rawson he 
 was elected to fill the vacancy at centre. He was a 
 sound player, his kicking being especially good. He was 
 awarded his England cap in the season 1888, when 
 England played no International matches owing to the 
 dispute. 
 
 John Lawrence (Laurie) Hickson came from the 
 Bingley Club to Bradford in 1882 and immediately came 
 into prominence. In addition to being a regular glutton 
 for scrummage work, Hickson was always a fair kicker 
 both at drop and place and had good pace into the 
 bargain. He was a rare scorer, and used to beat the 
 best backs of the day whenever a chance presented 
 itself near the goal line. Laurie succeeded Gillie 
 Harrison in the captaincy of the Yorkshire team, and it 
 used to be his boast that he had never been on the losing 
 side against Lancashire in seven years of fixtures (he 
 was on tour with Bradford when the Red Rose won in 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 429 
 
 1884), but his record was spoilt at Whalley Range in 
 1890, when Squire Mawson had his collar-bone smashed. 
 
 Another Bradford crack and English International 
 was J. J. Hawcridge. In 1876, along with others, he 
 formed the Manningham Albion Club, and already his 
 dodging powers had become noticeable. Then playing 
 amongst the forwards, he was known as the " Waddling 
 Duck," and his sinuous runs were described as "the 
 trail of the serpent." Later on, when playing at three- 
 quarters, he came to be styled " the Artful Dodger," and 
 certainly few backs were 
 more difficult to stop. Run- 
 ning with a peculiarly stealthy 
 stride, and a marvellous 
 swerve, he seldom failed to 
 elude the grasp of the 
 would-be tackier. In 1878 
 the Manningham Albion 
 took the name of Manning- 
 ham, and the present Mann- 
 ingham Club is the result, 
 so the credit of bringing 
 Hawcridge out belongs to 
 the Manningham Club, 
 whose prominence as a club 
 really dates from the period 
 Joe Hawcridge began to 
 play with them. It was in 
 
 1884-5 that Hawcridge joined Bradford. He had two 
 magnificent props in Fred Bonsor and Rawson Robert- 
 shaw, and with their assistance and his own inimitable 
 dodging he totalled 38 tries that season. In the 
 famous match between Oxford and Bradford in this 
 season, which ended in a draw, the Oxford back team 
 included H. B. Tristram, A. S. Blair, G. C. Lindsay, 
 A. G. Grant- Asher, and A. Rotherham, and yet opposed 
 to these players Hawcridge made a sensational run 
 which nearly won the match for Bradford. It is be- 
 lieved that his play in this match earned him his 
 England cap, for he appeared in the teams against Wales 
 and Ireland, scoring a try in each match. 
 
 Among the later players J. Toothill, who also came 
 to Bradford from the Manningham Club, is a forward of 
 the old type, and has been for some years the centre of 
 
 J. J. HAWCRIDGE. 
 
 (From a Photograph by B. C. Clifford, 
 
 Bradford.) 
 
430 HUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the Bradford pack, and one of the mainstays of the 
 Yorkshire scrummage. A determined player, with no 
 undue roughness, and with any amount of pluck and 
 capacity for hard work, Toothill is a grand specimen of 
 a Yorkshire forward, and has done great service for 
 England against Scotland in 1890 and 1892. J. Richards, 
 a speedy forward, A. Briggs, and C. Emmott, half-backs, 
 have been the latest addition to England teams from the 
 Bradford Club, which club has in all furnished thirteen 
 International players. E. Holmes, a genuine forward, 
 always working, and playing a most unselfish game, hails 
 from the Manningham Club. 
 
 Leeds. 
 
 This club must not be mistaken for the Leeds Athletic 
 Club already described in this chapter, nor for the 
 present Leeds Club playing at Headingley. It is the club 
 founded by the late Arthur E. Hudson. It was afterwards 
 known as the Yorkshire Wanderers. The present Leeds 
 Club, which had nothing to do with the promotion of the 
 Challenge Cup competition, is. in reality the old St. 
 John's Club, which was founded in 1870 in connection 
 with the Leeds St. John's Sunday School, and for the 
 first year membership was confined exclusively to the 
 scholars. The founder was T. J. Ogden, now at Malvern, 
 who was the first captain ; and who was succeeded by John 
 Gordon, now a vice-president of the Leeds Club. J. B. 
 Ogden, T. Glover, and J. A. Miller, successive county 
 secretaries, were all prominent members of Leeds St, 
 John's. The first ground of the Johnians was in the 
 Militia Barracks, where they played on the cinders for 
 several seasons. They subsequently migrated to Cardigan 
 Fields, the scene of many notable conflicts for the York- 
 shire Cup. Some three years ago several Leeds gentlemen 
 conceived the idea of securing a first-class ground for 
 cricket, football, and other pastimes. The present un- 
 rivalled enclosure at Headingley was the result of their 
 efforts, and the Leeds St. John's Club was invited to join 
 and supply the football team. The " Saints " generously 
 decided to abandon the name under which they had 
 won fame, and to throw in their lot with the new 
 undertaking, and to take the name of the Leeds Football 
 Club. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 431 
 
 R. H. Fowler, of the old Leeds Club, was the first 
 Leeds man to gain International honours in the year 
 1877. He was a heavy, powerful forward, ran straight 
 and pushed men out of the way — the usual style of 
 heavy-weight forwards in his day. Charles Hutton 
 Coates, an old Cambridge player, was a member of the 
 Yorkshire Wanderers in 1880-81. He was an energetic 
 and hard-working forward, and was especially good at 
 the line-out. He gained International honours in 1879, 
 1880, and 1881. He played for the South in 1879, and ft 
 the North in 1881. Charles /$& 
 
 Walker Luis Fernandes, of 
 W^akeneld, was also a mem- 
 ber of the Yorkshire Wan- 
 derers. Some good judges 
 consider Fernandes to have 
 been the best forward who 
 ever played for Yorkshire. 
 He was very fast, tackled 
 splendidly, and never tired. 
 He obtained his county cap 
 in 1879, and played against 
 Scotland, Ireland, and Wales 
 in 1881. Fernandes is con- 
 stantly to be seen at the big 
 matches, and in connection 
 with this played for the 
 North at Blackheath on 
 
 December 15th, 1888. The Yorkshiremen had to pass 
 through Wakefield on their way to London. Fernandes 
 was on the platform to see the " boys " off. Garnett 
 and Kilner insisted on his accompanying them, 
 and literally hauled him into the carriage, and he 
 was landed in London with neither scrip nor bag- 
 gage. A. L. Brooke was delayed by a fog, so that 
 after the match had proceeded^ some twenty minutes, 
 Fernandes was pressed into the forward ranks. 
 His condition was so good that he was able to Ho 
 his full share of the work, and his tackling was as 
 keen and effective as ever. Thus, after having retired 
 from football seven years, Fernandes once more be- 
 came entitled to a North cap, a distinction gained by 
 accident, but genuinely merited by the form he displayed 
 in the match. 
 
 C. W. L. FERNANDES. 
 
432 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL, 
 
 HUDDERS FIELD. 
 
 The Huddersfield Athletic Club was founded in 1864 ; 
 but the earliest records of football date no further back 
 than 1869, when a few football enthusiasts agreed to have 
 
 Frauk. Harry. 
 
 THE BEOTHEES HUTH. 
 {From a Photograph by Sellman &• Co.. Huddersfield.) 
 
 a little practice at the game, and as Percy Learoyd of 
 * The Grove " was one of their number, he suggested that 
 the practices should take place in the extensive grounds 
 attached to that residence. This was acted upon. Fred 
 Learoyd was appointed president, and H. B. Dransfield 
 secretary. The meetings used to be held in the saddle room 
 at " The Grove." After a few weeks Edward Brooke, of 
 Edgerton, originated a match, Liberals v. Conservatives, and 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 433 
 
 E. WOODHEAD. 
 
 this took place at Fieldhouse in 1869. A return match was 
 
 played in March, 1870. At that time the organisation could 
 
 scarcely be called a club, as 
 the teams were* of a scratch 
 character, but the above 
 mentioned matches caused 
 so much interest that it was 
 decided to arrange a match 
 or two with other clubs. 
 Before long Leeds Grammar 
 School was met, and after- 
 wards Hull. Thus a proper 
 playing team was got to- 
 gether. To defray sundry 
 small expenses a subscrip- 
 tion of 2s. 6d. was levied be- 
 cause the Athletic club did 
 not see its way to take over 
 the management of such a 
 section, although most of the 
 
 players were members of the club; but when later on it was 
 
 evident that the game was becoming more popular, and 
 
 that it was necessary to have a proper organisation, the 
 
 committee of the Huddersfield Athletic Club decided to 
 
 have football teams, to rent 
 
 the field at Trinity Street, 
 
 (the Rifle field) for winter 
 
 as well as summer, and to 
 
 provide players with goal 
 
 posts, etc., all other expenses 
 
 being defrayed by the players 
 
 themselves. This state of 
 
 affairs existed until the amal- 
 gamation with St. John's 
 
 Cricket Club at Fartown in 
 
 1879. The following are 
 
 some of the early players 
 
 who attended the practices 
 
 at " The Grove," and these 
 
 formed about the first team : 
 
 A. Bradley, who afterwards 
 
 captained Yorkshire, H. S. 
 
 Brooke, Yorkshire captain, G. S. Brooke, H. Beardsell, 
 
 C. W. Beardsell, Thomas Holt, Percy Learoyd, Edwin 
 c c 
 
 (From a Phatofjraph bii F. Brndleu, 
 Jluddersjlehl.) 
 
HUDDERSFIELD. 
 
 WINNERS OF THE YORKSHIRE CHALLENGE CUP, 1890. 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Hvll.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 435 
 
 Learoyd, George Brooke, J. B. Vickerman, C. Steward 
 A. Calvert, H. B. Dransfield, John Riley, H. Sheard 
 Conacher, W. Wimpenny, George Beaumont, Whiteley 
 Tolson, C. E. Freeman. Later on at the Rifle field came 
 E. Mallinson. T. P. Crosland, R. Welsh, Harry and Frank 
 Huth, C. M. Sharpe, A. Schofield, R. P. Savery, B. 
 Schorield, F. and H. Watkinson, Frank Walker, and 
 others. C. E. Freeman, A. Bradley, and H. Beardsell 
 were the Huddersfield stars of the early period, the first 
 named being a wonderfully clever all-round player, who 
 was always worth watching; Harry Beardsell, since so 
 well known in connection with athletics, scored the first 
 goal obtained against Lancashire in 1871. Yorkshire did 
 not score a goal again till 1883. 
 
 Harry Huth was the first member of the Hudders- 
 field Club to play for England. He and his two brothers, 
 Fred and Frank, all three played for Yorkshire, appear- 
 ing in the same team against Cheshire in 1878. The 
 time of the Huths forms a distinct epoch in the history 
 of the Huddersfield Club, and is often styled " the palmy 
 days of the Huths." Certainly upon the retirement of 
 the three brothers, the fortunes of the Huddersfield 
 team were under a cloud until the recent resuscitation 
 culminating in the winning of the cup in 1890. The 
 characteristics of Harry's play were his wonderful 
 dodging powers. He was a very powerful runner, and 
 handed a man off in a peculiar way, with a jerk back of 
 the shoulder, and a thrust of the body, eluding the tackle. 
 He played against Scotland in 1879. Frank and Fred 
 both played either as forwards or backs, and there can be 
 little doubt that the latter, a powerful, clever forward, 
 did not gain the honours to which his merits entitled him. 
 
 Ernest Woodhead, who played against Ireland in 1880, 
 was a tall, clever forward. At Edinburgh LTniversity he 
 plaj^ed as a three-quarter, but subsequently as a forward. 
 He was essentially a dribbler, and from his practice at 
 three-quarter was very dangerous as a runner when he 
 got possession of the ball. He shone particularly in 
 loose play, but did not earn the reputation of being a 
 genuine scrummager. 
 
 J. Dyson obtained his cap in 1800, appearing against 
 Scotland in the famous match of 1890, and scored a try. 
 He did not play again till 1892. Dyson is an exceed- 
 ingly fast and strong runner, being verv difficult to stop, 
 c c 2 
 
436 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and is the most dangerous scoring three-quarter of the 
 present day. At one time he was regarded as a mere 
 sprinter, but he has shown that he can dodge, kick, and 
 tackle in the most finished manner. He has yet to rid 
 himself of two defects in order to become a model 
 three-quarter. He is inclined at times to wait for work 
 to be given him, and to be slack in making openings for 
 himself. He is also apt to fumble a pass, and knock the 
 ball forward if the ball comes to him low. 
 
 York. 
 
 The football club of this ancient city dates its 
 foundation about the year 1872-73, and at that time the 
 ground was on the historic Knavesmire. Afterwards 
 arrangements with the Yorkshire Gentlemen's Cricket 
 Club secured the use of their ground. Amongst the 
 early players in the York team, the name of Charlie 
 Wood, of county fame, stands out most prominently, and 
 that player is still remembered by the old school of players 
 as the champion half-back in Yorkshire of his time. 
 There may be mentioned the brothers Christison, Dr. 
 Nicholson, E. Glaisby, T. Jolly, MacKenzie, Singleton, 
 Harris, J. B. Shaw, Maugham, and Braithwaite. In 1884 
 the York Club and the York Melbourne Club were 
 merged into one under joint management. At this time 
 the fortune of the York team was on the wane, and it 
 was thought by the infusion of new blood the prestige of 
 the old York Club might be upheld. York has suffered 
 much through lack of a grood ground, and from the loss 
 
 O Oct' 
 
 of good players, whose term of service to the club has 
 been brief, either owing to injury or migration. It was 
 about 1875-76 when York were at their best, and it was 
 in that season thev commenced playing matches with 
 Bradford and Leecfs regularly. They were defeated in 
 the final round of the first year of the Challenge Cup by 
 Halifax, jthe score being 1 goal 1 try and 9 touch-downs 
 to nil. ' 
 
 Halifax. 
 
 On November 1st, 1873, the following advertisement 
 appeared in the Halifax Guardian : — 
 
 " Persons desirous of joining a football and athletic club are 
 requested to meet on Thursday next, November 6th, at 8.30 p.m. at the 
 Upper George Hotel." 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 437 
 
 The advertisement was due to S. Duckitt, late 
 vice-president of the Yorkshire Rugby Union, M. 
 Brown, and J. Pearson, who have since held prominent 
 positions amongst the officers of the Halifax Club, Alfred 
 Walsh, the first captain, and A. Nicholls, who was 
 chosen as hon. secretary. The above gentlemen were all 
 present at the first meeting, which was attended by two 
 others, truly not a very encouraging beginning. With a 
 membership of ten the first game was played on the 
 Trinity cricket ground on December 6th, 1873. The 
 following season, 1874-75, was commenced with a member- 
 ship of sixteen, and with this small number Leeds Athletic, 
 Wakefield Trinity, and Wakefield, amongst others, were 
 met. The record at the end of the season showed that 7 
 matches had been played, of which 3 had been won, 1 
 lost, and 3 drawn. 
 
 The following season, 1875-76, however, may fairly 
 be said to have laid the foundation for future success of 
 the club, for having been deprived of the use of the 
 Trinity cricket ground, the club, after playing one or two 
 matches at Ovenden, had recourse to Skircoat Moor (now 
 known as Savile Park.) This was open to the public free 
 of charge, and great crowds used to assemble to watch 
 the play. There can be little doubt that the opportunity 
 of seeing the Halifax Club play their matches there was 
 the beginning of the interest taken in the play which has 
 caused the Rugby game to be so popular in Yorkshire. 
 Halifax was the first club who could claim to have any 
 considerable number of supporters. At Skircoat Moor 
 it was that George Thomson, residing near the ground, 
 first watched the play, and then made his debut as a 
 player. In 1876-77, an amalgamation was entered into 
 between the cricket and football clubs, and a new ground 
 opened at Hanson Lane, Avhere the club had their head- 
 quarters till they purchased and laid out the present 
 ground at Thrum Hall. 
 
 The Halifax team has always taken a prominent part 
 in the tussle for the cup. By winning in the first year 
 of the competition, when they defeated Bradford at 
 Apperley Bridge, they demonstrated that the enthusiasm 
 and energy of the self-taught player was sufficient to 
 successfully cope with the scientific knowledge of the 
 school trained expert in the game. 1886 again saw 
 Halifax winning the cup, and the club repeated the 
 
438 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Q. T. THOMSON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by J. F. Beaumont, 
 
 Jleywood.) 
 
 performance in 1888. Amongst the early players were 
 S. Duckitt, M. Brown, and A. Walsh, but the accession 
 
 of Thomson to the team was 
 greatly instrumental in rais- 
 ing the standard of play, 
 and in waking enthusiasm 
 among the followers of the 
 game. George Thomas 
 Thomson was a strong, slash- 
 ing player, especially good 
 at the line-out and in the 
 open, being a very strong 
 runner, and generally going 
 straight, and having but few 
 tricks ; he was a most diffi- 
 cult man to stop, handing 
 an opponent off well. The 
 match against Wakefield 
 Trinity in 1877, in the first 
 season of the cup, is still re- 
 membered for the manner in which he literally ran over 
 the two Hayleys and scored the winning try. Of a most 
 genial disposition, he was the idol of Yorkshire up 
 to his removal to the south of England in 1885. His 
 
 frand physique, and kind 
 andsome face, but above 
 all, his winning manners, en- 
 deared him to all alike, no 
 matter whether friends or op- 
 ponents. His popularity in 
 Yorkshire has never been ex- 
 ceeded, and his name is still 
 the subject of veneration 
 amongst all footballers of his 
 generation. Joining Halifax 
 in 1875, he played for York- 
 shire in 1877, and for Eng- 
 land in 1878, appearing in 
 nine International matches. 
 On the retirement of H. W. T. 
 Garnett, in 1880, Thomson 
 was elected captain of the 
 Yorkshire team, and filled the post till 1884. For 
 many years he was a prominent member of the Yorkshire 
 
 H. WILKINSON. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Davis tC Son, 
 Halifax.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 439 
 
 Committee. He became a member of the Rugby Union 
 Committee in 1882, and was elected as vice-president, but 
 was compelled to resign in 1888, being ordered abroad 
 for the sake of his health ; but it was too late, the voyage 
 had been put off' too long, and Thomson arrived in 
 Australia only to die within a few days from landing. 
 
 Albert Wood, the most celebrated of a numerous 
 family, who all did good service for the Halifax Club, was 
 also an International, taking part in the match against 
 Ireland, in 1884. He was a dashing forward of great 
 speed. Later on Harry Wilkinson gained his cap against 
 the New Zealand team in 1890. He was a quick, 
 energetic forward, a sterling worker in the pack, from 
 which he broke quickly away, and an excellent dribbler. 
 T. L. Scarborough and E. Buckley were also Halifax 
 stars, but Halifax's most serviceable player was James 
 Dodd. Joining the club in 1876, he continued to be a 
 regular playing member of the team till the close of 
 1890-91, and has played in every position in the Held for 
 his club, and also as half-back, three-quarter, and full- 
 back for his county and the North, but Avas never 
 fortunate to get his International cap. 
 
 Wakefield Trinity. 
 
 The Trinity Club was formed in the year 1873, from 
 among the members of a Young Men's Society in 
 connection with Holy Trinity Church, of which T. 0. 
 Bennett was the secretary. The club was for the first 
 few years confined to members of the society only, but 
 immediately before the institution of the Yorkshire Cup 
 this restriction was removed. Heath Common was the 
 first scene of their play. The field in the borough 
 market was then obtained; later the club migrated to 
 Belle Vue on the opposite side of the road to the present 
 field, and where the first cup ties were played. In the 
 following year a move was made to the present field. 
 The first captains were T. O. Bennett, 1873-74-75-76-77, 
 A. Hayley, 1877-78-79, C. T. Baldwin, 1879-80, and B. 
 Kilner, 1880-81. 
 
 The best team that Trinity ever put into the field was 
 probably that beaten in the cup ties of 1884 by Heck- 
 mondwike in a mud hole on the Heckmondwike ground 
 by a goal to 2 tries. The first year, 1879, that Trinity 
 
WAKEFIELD TEINITY, WINNERS OF THE YORKSHIRE CUP, 1879. 
 (From a Photograph ly G. and J. Hall, 26, Westgate, Wakefield.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 441 
 
 won the cup they had only three touch-downs registered 
 against them. 
 
 Trinity arc noted for playing a cup tie game. They 
 have brought to perfection the science of obtaining little 
 advantages and keeping them. They have developed a 
 most clever method of working the ball steadily towards 
 their opponents' goal by scrummage work and the use of 
 touch. The style is not pretty but it is very clever, and 
 nonplusses the opposing side. Their victims are loud 
 in their outcry against the style, but repeated defeat 
 may somewhat colour the spectacles through which 
 envious rivals view the Trinity performances. 
 
 Of the early players may be mentioned T. 0. Bennett, 
 J. Longbottom, Harry and Arthur Hayley, E. J. Spink, 
 J. W. and Barron Kilner, and C. T. Baldwin. Later on 
 G. Steele, C. E. Bartram, Herbert Hutchinson, J. Latham, 
 H. Fallas, and J. H. Jones have been prominent in up- 
 holding the fame of the club. Barron Kilner was a 
 sturdy scrummager, and a very fast forward for 40 yards. 
 He was a most dangerous man when close to the line, 
 for then he used to put his head down and go straight 
 for goal at full speed, when his weight and speed, com- 
 bined with his sturdy build, rarely failed to carry him over. 
 In the year 1883 he scored 26 tries for the Wakefield 
 Club, a wonderful record for a forward. In this he was 
 assisted by his clubmates, who invariably gave him 
 chances when near the goal line. Wakefield Trinity are 
 best known in connection Avith the Yorkshire Challenge 
 Cup. Out of the first 25 rounds played in the cup ties 
 Kilner played in 23, for during the first six years of the 
 competition, Wakefield were in the final round no less 
 than five times, and won the cup on three of those occa- 
 sions. The object of his ambition at that time was to 
 have his name engraved on the Yorkshire Cup as the 
 captain of the winning team. He captained Wakefield 
 in the years 1881 and 1882, when they worked their way 
 into the final round, only to be defeated by Dewsbury in 
 1881 and Thornes in 1882, and it was exceedingly tan- 
 talising to Kilner to find his hopes thus dashed to the 
 ground, especially as in 1883, when George Steele was 
 captain, Wakefield easily defeated Halifax in the final. 
 Kilner's record in cup matches is however exceeded 
 by that of his clubmate Herbert Hutchinson, a clever 
 half-back whose merits did not receive just recognition, 
 
442 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 who played in no less than six final ties — viz., 1880-81- 
 82-88-87-88, and wore the same jersey on all occasions. 
 In the later matches the faded jersey was a conspicuous 
 object on the field. 
 
 Kilner played live years for Yorkshire, and played 
 against Ireland in 1880. He was early elected a member 
 of the Yorkshire Committee, and also served on the 
 committee of the Rugby Union. At one time he re- 
 signed his connection with both, declining to serve as a 
 mere delegate of his club. In 1887 he again became a 
 member of the Yorkshire Committee, and in 1889 once 
 more joined the Rugby Union. He was elected vice- 
 president of Yorkshire in 1888, and President in 1891. 
 
 Herbert Fallas, the only other Trinity man who has 
 obtained his cap, was a dodgy three-quarter of good 
 kicking powers, but Trinitarians always aver that the 
 best man who played for the club was C. E. Bar tram, 
 who in his day attracted much attention in Yorkshire. 
 He will be best remembered for his inventive genius in 
 discovering loopholes in the laws, especially as regards 
 the trick of picking up and dropping at goal after a try 
 obtained in an unfavourable position He was a speedy 
 man and an exceedingly fine and accurate kicker. When 
 tried in the North team he was past his best form. 
 
 Dewsbury. 
 
 The Dewsbury Club, the club of the Newsomes, was 
 established October, 1875, the founders being W. B. 
 Atkins and W. H. Heys, both of whom played for the club 
 for several seasons ; the former was secretary for over 
 seven years, resigning in 1884; the latter has gained 
 considerable notoriety in Yorkshire as a handicapper. 
 The club dates its rise from the time of the Newsomes 
 joining the club. Accident had somewhat to do with 
 this fortunate episode in the club's history. The Leeds 
 Caledonians appeared at Crown Flats short-handed, and 
 Mark Newsome, then just leaving school, who happened 
 to be present as a spectator, was pressed into service for 
 the visitors. This was practically the beginning of his 
 football career and subsequent success. He was elected 
 a member of the Dewsbury Committee and offered the 
 captaincy of the club, and it is not too much to say that 
 it is almost entirely due to the splendid play of the 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 443 
 
 brothers Newsome in the field, and their abilities as 
 legislators, along with C. Marsden, that the Dews- 
 bury Club has attained its present hi^h position. Mark 
 Newsome was a splendid captain, always keeping his 
 men well to their work. His running powers were 
 above the average, as his numerous prizes testify. He 
 was a safe tackier, picked up cleanly, and was in his best 
 day the longest drop-kick in Yorkshire. He became 
 President of the Yorkshire Committee on the death of 
 A. E. Hudson in 1887, and was the first President of the 
 Yorkshire Rugby Union, 
 being elected in the seasons 
 1 888-89, 1 889-90. For some 
 years he has served on the 
 Rugby Union and as a mem- 
 ber of the International 
 Board. Alfred Newsome 
 was a strong dashing runner, 
 never going out of his way 
 when making for the goal 
 line, but handing off right 
 and left and changing the 
 ball accordingly. He never 
 had his equal, at least in 
 Yorkshire, at this style of 
 play ; he certainly was a 
 terror. He was also a good 
 kicker, excelling in punting. 
 
 His clever left foot drop won the cup for Dewsbury in 
 1881, his brother Mark having put the club into the final 
 tie by dropping a goal against Halifax in the previous 
 round. C. Marsden, a clever, unselfish half-back, par- 
 ticularly good at passing, H. Purdy, W. K. Fisher, E. 
 Wolstenholme, J. Garforth, Joe Nay lor, and W. Stadden, 
 the Welsh International, have all done yeoman service 
 for the Dewsbury Club. 
 
 It is manifestly impossible in the present work to 
 allude in detail to the clubs that have risen into promin- 
 ence of late years, such as Manningham, Batley, Castle- 
 ford, Liversedge, Brighouse, Hunslet, Otley, Pontefract, 
 Holbeck, Leeds Parish Church, and others. Indeed, to 
 do any justice to Yorkshire football and the clubs and 
 players of that county would require a special volume. 
 It may be that this may be done in the future, but in 
 
 A. XEWSOXE. 
 
 {From a Photograph by Brown. Barnes 
 and Bell, Regent Street, IP.) 
 
444 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 the present chapter the writer cannot go further than 
 allude to one or two notable Yorkshire players who have 
 earned the England cap, and have not been members of 
 the clubs referred to above. Foremost of these is 
 Richard Evison Lockwood, formerly of Dewsbury, and 
 now of the Heckmondwike Club, and unquestionably the 
 finest all-round wing three-quarter of the present day. 
 
 E. E. LOCKWOOD. 
 {.From a Photograph by J. E. Shaw, Huddersfield.) 
 
 Comparisons with the veterans of old, who played under 
 different conditions, cannot well be made, but all good 
 judges admit the superiority of Lockwood over all the 
 players of his time, as combining in one person in the 
 highest degree all the essential qualities of a wing three- 
 quarter. One of the smallest men who ever played for 
 England, Lockwood may be best described as a " big 
 little one," being powerfully built, and one mass ol 
 muscle. Taken at every point of the game he is in the 
 first class. A speedy runner, a good dodger, an accurate 
 kicker, both place and drop, an unfailing tackier; both 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 4*5 
 
 on attack and defence, he is equally ahead of any 
 contemporary. Of almost infallible judgment, always 
 turning up at the right time, and invariably being at 
 the right spot, he always does the ri<jht thing, whether in 
 passing, running, or kicking. Whetner seeking work for 
 himself or being at hand to take a pass, or it may be 
 in getting back to assist the defence, Lockwood's play 
 for the past few seasons has been the theme of admira- 
 tion of his friends, and has called forth the eulogiums and 
 encomiums of critical observers. By common consent he 
 is regarded as the player of 
 his time. Lockwood first 
 played for England in 1887. 
 His clubmate, Donald 
 Jowett, is a good-tempered, 
 easy-going fellow, who, when 
 he cnose to exert himself, 
 was a terror amongst the 
 forwards, and possessing 
 good pace in the open, was 
 a dangerous scorer. It was 
 no unfrequent sight to see 
 him careering along grasping 
 the ball in one huge hand, 
 whilst with the other he 
 brushed would-be tacklers 
 aside as if they were so many 
 flies in his path. He is a 
 
 huge kicker, and the manner in which he landed the ball 
 over the bar in the Scotch match of 1890 will always be 
 regarded as a feature of that memorable game. Fred 
 W. Lowrie, of Wakefield Trinity, and then of Batley, was 
 a rare good forward, possessing speed, strength, and 
 dash. Injured against Wales in 1890, he seemed to drop 
 out of first-class fixtures prematurely, as in club matches 
 he displays all his old cleverness and resource. He 
 made a good companion to Harry Bedford, of Morley, 
 and the pair brought off many a try in conjunction. 
 Bedford was a heavy, dashing forward, and no more 
 genuine, honest, hard-working player has appeared for 
 England ; but the fast game of the present has somewhat 
 displaced such players as Harry, who, though only 
 twenty-six, has increased in bulk, and cannot live the 
 pace with the more active of his fellows. 
 
 DONALD JOWETT. 
 
 {From a Photograph bi/ J. E. Show, 
 
 Huddertticld.) 
 
446 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 W. E. Bromet, of Tadcaster, an old Oxford player, and 
 the present captain of Yorkshire, is an ideal forward. In 
 the season 1890-91 his play was almost perfect, for hard- 
 working and untiring in the scrummage, and fast as a 
 three-quarter in the open, he approached the acme of 
 perfection as a forward. Like most of the Cape team his 
 play in the season 1891-92 showed signs of deterioration, 
 but he was still one of the leading forwards of England. 
 The latest additions to International ranks from York- 
 shire have been A. Briggs and C. Emmott, of Bradford, 
 already alluded to, with W. Nichol, of Brighouse, and H. 
 Bradshaw, of Bramley ; the former a clever, tine, forward, 
 and the latter a thorough bulldog in determination, and 
 a glutton for work. Lastly, H. Varley, of Liversedge, 
 playing against the Rest of England at Leeds, was 
 chosen to partner Briggs at half-back against Scotland. 
 In all, nine Yorkshiremen played for England in the 
 season 1891-92. 
 
 Since the institution of the Yorkshire Challenge Cup 
 £11,816 10s. has been distributed in charity, principally 
 amongst the medical charities. The sum is thus made 
 up :— 1879, £100 : 1880, £180 ; 1881, £300 ; 1882, £350 
 1883, £552; 1884, £760; 1885, £900; 1886, £1,000 
 1887, £800; 1888, £1,200 ; 1889, £903 10s. : 1890, £2,000 
 1891, £650; 1892, £2,121. 
 
 The Winners of the Yorkshire Cup. 
 
 1878 
 1879 
 1880 
 1881 
 1882 
 1883 
 1884 
 
 Halifax ... 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Dewsbury 
 Thornes .. 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Bradf ord ... 
 
 1885 Batley 
 
 1886 Halifax 
 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Halifax ... 
 
 Otley 
 
 Huddersfield 
 
 1891 Pontefract 
 
 1892 Hunslet 
 
 1887 
 1888 
 1889 
 1890 
 
 G. 
 
 T. 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 6 
 
 1(d) 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 3 
 
 3 
 
 T. D. 
 
 9 
 
 7 
 
 7 
 
 
 
 5 
 11 
 
 5 
 
 8 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 1 
 
 4pts. 
 21 pts. 
 
 G. T. T. D 
 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 i beat 
 beat 
 beat 
 
 York 
 
 Kirkstall ... 
 Heckmondwike . . 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Halifax ... 
 
 Hull 
 
 Manningham 
 Bradford... 
 Leeds St. John's... 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Liversedge 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Wakefield Trinity 
 Leeds 
 
 
 
 
 
 2 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 3 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 2 
 
 1 
 
 4 
 
 3 
 
 l\lpt. 
 Opt. 
 
CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL: RECOLLECTIONS OF 
 NORTHUMBERLAND FOOTBALL. 
 
 By William Call. 
 
 MY first recollection of football was Yorkshire. My 
 grandfather had a place in the North Riding, where 
 we went during the summer months for several years ; each 
 year my father invited the chief inhabitants, from the 
 vicars downward, of two neighbouring villages, and 
 chief of the afternoons' entertainments was football, one 
 village against the other ; that was long before the days 
 of either Rugby or Association, and all of one village 
 kicked down a large field, while those of the other 
 kicked up ; and if the ball hit the hedge at either end 
 a goal was scored, and ample time for refreshment 
 allowed. 
 
 My recollections then carry me to the valley of the 
 Neckar, where many of us English lads, some from 
 public schools finishing their education at Stuttgart, 
 some at the schools at Cannstadt, used to meet weekly 
 and play our Rugby game. From there the scene 
 changed to North Germany, where about a dozen 
 English had taught sufficient Germans to play to make 
 up two teams, and regularly we had our game followed 
 by a row on a neighbouring lake ; these always took 
 place on the Sunday mornings, so easily do we learn to 
 do as the Romans when in Rome. I mention all these 
 points to show that even before the game was organised, 
 reported upon, lunched, saloon-carriaged, and dinnered, 
 it was beloved 
 
 On my return to Newcastle I found one football club, 
 the Northumberland, Avhile our neighbour Durham had 
 Sunderland, still to the fore, Darlington — since given up 
 to Association — and soon afterwards Bensham, afterwards 
 
448 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 partly merged in North Durham ; against these we had 
 many a fine game, games played in the best of spirit, 
 where the dressing-room was often a hedge side and the 
 spectators someone disappointed of a place in one of 
 the teams. 
 
 In those days two county matches were played 
 annually by the combined forces of Northumberland 
 and Durham ; one played in the name of Durham, and 
 was v. Yorkshire, wherein Yorkshire generally had to be 
 content with defeat ; the other in the name of Northum- 
 berland and was v. Cumberland, which latter never 
 scored a win against us. The last of these was played at 
 Hexham about 1875 or 76, when Northumberland ran 
 up a big score ; Lowthian Bell being simply unholdable, 
 going through the Cumberland team, time after time, 
 with his peculiar teetotum-like motion. 
 
 After this new clubs rapidly sprang into being. The 
 Tynemouth commenced playing in October, 1874 ; the 
 Elswick — changed some three years later to Northern, 
 and chiefly an offshoot from the Northumberland — about 
 Christmas of the same year ; Tynedale later on in the 
 same season, and Gosforth early in the next. 
 
 At first the old Northumberland club more than 
 held its own ; at length it was beaten by Gosforth, the 
 week following by Northern, and from that time ceased 
 to be prominent in play. Towards the end of 1879 the 
 ire of the county was raised when a match which the 
 old club lost to York City was reported in the papers 
 as Northumberland County ; after letters in the 
 public press the committee of the old club was induced 
 to take the initiative, and call a meeting for the purpose 
 of forming a county club. This meeting was held in 
 Newcastle on 1st March, 1880, the six leading clubs — 
 Northumberland, Tynemouth, Northern, Gosforth, Tyne- 
 dale, and Percy Park — being represented. Mr. J. F. 
 Ogilvie, of Tynemouth, was appointed chairman, and my- 
 self ad interim secretary. The first general meeting was 
 held in the following April at which rules were passed ; 
 Sir M. W. Ridley, Bart., M.P., was elected president, and 
 Messrs. Joseph Cowen, M.P., and T. E. Smith, M.P., vice- 
 presidents ; I being elected hon. secretary and treasurer. 
 The former post was held by me until 1887, when I was 
 elected president in succession to Sir M. W. Ridley. 
 The latter office I still hold. 
 
NORTHUMBERLAND TEAM V. YORKSHIRE, NOVEMBER 
 21st, 1891: NEWCASTLE. 
 
 (Yorkshire— 4 Goals 6 Tries. Northumberland— Nil.) 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Anlaby Road, Hull). 
 
 D D 
 
450 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 In 1880 I proposed that a Challenge Cup should be 
 instituted, and this was at once accepted and acted on. 
 An old hundred-guinea racing cup, weighing over 
 100 ounces, was bought and nearly paid for by private 
 subscription, the County ultimately paying £23, while 
 the members of the Northern subscribed £16, and those 
 of Northumberland £8. 
 
 The match list for the first season showed fixtures v. 
 Durham, Cumberland, and Dumfriesshire — all won. The 
 selected team to play v. Cumberland at Whitehaven was : J. 
 Cowper andS. F. Prest, backs ; J. Lowthian Bell and W. Farr, 
 three-quarter-backs ; J. V. Rutherford and J. McConnell, 
 half-backs; W. Ridley, D.Fawcus,W. Dickenson, S. Oliver, 
 J. G. Burden, J. H. Richardson, D. M. Dodd, W. Pattin- 
 son, and C. Gibson, forwards ; R. H. Robb, one of our 
 present vice-presidents, ultimately getting his place in 
 the team. Our second match was v. Dumfriesshire. 
 Again we played two full backs. This match we won 
 by 4 goals to nil, not a single minor being scored on 
 either side. Ridley, now Dr. Ridley, again got his place, 
 as also did Coward, and perhaps no two of our forwards 
 have been better known outside their county than these ; 
 both kept their places and played regularly for years, 
 and both ultimately captained the team. J. S. Crawford, 
 our present senior vice-president, played among the 
 forwards in the match. 
 
 The first match in which we played three three- 
 quarters was v. Edinburgh University in February, 1881. 
 
 In November, 1881, we played our first match v. 
 Yorkshire, when they beat us by 1 goal to nil, we having 
 to play half the game with fourteen men, Jack, now Dr., 
 Rutherford, getting a couple of ribs broken in stopping 
 one of the Yorkshire rushes. 
 
 In the season 1881-82 Symington first played for 
 Northumberland, and a more honest and hardworking 
 player never donned jersey. There will doubtless be 
 many Yorkshiremen who remember his superb collaring 
 at Bradford in February, 1885, while playing v. York- 
 shire. When at full speed he collared a player with one 
 arm, just as that player had given a short pass to a 
 neighbour. Like lightning he caught the second player 
 with his other arm, hugged the two to his breast, his 
 momentum carrying him and them several yards. The 
 cheers from all parts of the ground I shall never forget. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 451 
 
 But how the mighty fall ! Shortly after this he got a 
 good appointment as manager of an Indian tea-garden. 
 After some years' residence there he caught the Indian 
 paralysis, and is now to be seen at Eastbourne wheeled 
 about in a bath-chair. Poor Symington ! 
 
 In March, 1883, the first special train ever run 
 in Northumberland or Durham in connection with 
 football was run from Hexham to Newcastle, Tyne- 
 dale playing in the final for the Challenge Cup. 
 About this time I, on behalf of my County, took a 
 great interest in attempting to arrive at a definite 
 qualification for County players, and in the November 
 attended a meeting of County representatives. L. Stokes, 
 as representing Kent, was voted to the chair, and, after 
 discussion, the laws, nearly as they are now, were framed 
 I afterwards proposed in the Rugby Union Committee 
 that the Rugby Union should adopt them, but the ther 
 committee thought it was outside their jurisdiction, and 
 it was not until a couple of }^ears ago that they were 
 adopted by the Union. How different now, when the 
 Rugby Union have the whole supervision of County 
 championship ! 
 
 On the 26th January, 1884, we first played Cheshire, 
 the match becoming an annual one until this season, 
 when Cheshire had to give it up owing to the new 
 engagements forced on to her by the championship. The 
 first two matches were played at Leeds at a half-way 
 house, Mr. Glover, the then Yorkshire secretary, making 
 the arrangements. Since then they have been home- 
 and-home fixtures. The first match we won by 3 goals 
 and 2 tries to nil, I think. 
 
 In the spring of 1884, I, in the joint names of the 
 Durham County secretary and of myself, called a meeting 
 of all club secretaries in Northumberland and Durham, 
 to arrange fixtures for the next season. This has 
 since been an annual gathering held alternately in 
 Durham and here. 
 
 In 1884 we first paid the rail fares of our players ; 
 before then every man not only paid his own, but also 
 his share of any entertainment given to visiting teams. 
 This latter was continued two years longer, since which 
 the County, like all others, has undertaken all expenses 
 in connection with their matches; and the present 
 generation of players have to thank the self-sacrifices of 
 
 D D 2 
 
452 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 those of the past, that the County is in its present 
 hnancial position. 
 
 In this season we instituted a Junior Challenge Cup, 
 and had 17 entries from junior clubs having a member- 
 ship of 645. Also in this season Dr. Ridley first cap- 
 tained his County ; and E. A. Bainbridge, a most pro- 
 mising young three-quarter, first played for the County ; 
 he appeared to have a brilliant football future before 
 him, but after his first term at Cambridge started on a 
 trip round the world, and was killed by the memorable 
 volcanic eruption at the hot wells in north New 
 Zealand. 
 
 In November, 1885, Finney and Gill, two three-quarter 
 backs, who in future years did good service for the 
 County, and who both afterwards captained their club 
 teams, first played for the County. At one time Gill 
 used to be both a sure place and drop ; when he first 
 played for Northern II., there was seldom a match 
 without a dropped goal from him. I remember one 
 Wednesday match, when Northern II. turned up weak 
 and short at Sunderland to play the II. team of that 
 club — reinforced for the day by several of their first 
 team — Sunderland scored 9 tries, three behind the posts ; 
 but failed at each attempt at goal. Just before the call 
 of time, Northern got a try close to the touch line ; Gill 
 took the place, landed a goal, and won the match. 
 
 In November, 1885, Mason Scott, who is now touring 
 round the world to recruit after his severe illness of last 
 winter, was first elected to play for us. For one match — 
 that v. Cheshire — playable that winter, we had a grand 
 back team : Sample, back, Brutton, V. Rutherford, and 
 C. Gill, with Mason Scott and W. R. Gray at half. Un- 
 fortunately frost stepped in. Gray was a very reliable 
 half; when at Cambridge he played off and on for 
 the 'Varsity, but never got his blue. In this I very 
 decidedly think the 'Varsity captain was at fault in his 
 judgment. 
 
 In 1885 our present County secretary got a seat on 
 the committee, but lost it the following year when the 
 number was reduced. 
 
 In February, 1887, in the Durham match Alderson 
 first played at half-back for Northumberland, and did 
 much towards winning. Durham had just previously 
 played up well v. Lancashire, and came confident of 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 453 
 
 success, very long odds being offered by their more 
 ardent admirers ; however, they retired beaten by 1 goal 
 and 1 try to nil. We Northumbrians felt very keenly 
 when Alderson left the county of his birth and first 
 played for Durham in 1890, and were inclined to think 
 the Durham rule, which prevented him playing in the 
 cup ties for his new club (Hartlepool) if he played for 
 his own County, a very unsportsmanlike one. 
 
 In 1887-88 we changed our jerseys from green to 
 black and white ; we affiliated the junior clubs to our 
 Union. In this season, Willie, or — as the majority of 
 players other than Northumbrians know him — Martin 
 Scott was first chosen for the County ; and during the 
 same season Coward first captained the County. In that 
 season we had to play Northamptonshire, but they put 
 the match off. We had a hot back team ready for them, 
 including Alderson, Morrison, Gray, Mason and Martin 
 Scott — four Internationals. 
 
 I think this brings my records within the memory of 
 the youngest of our " futters " ; but, as a summary, I may 
 say we are a County without internal quarrels. Our 
 rivalries between clubs are not so keen as in places 
 where big gates are the order of the day ; we have not a 
 trace of professionalism among us — this is probably 
 because all our efforts have been in vain to give the 
 Rugby game a root among the working classes. Turn- 
 ing to the game itself, up to this season our forwards 
 have always been able to hold the scrummage against 
 all comers, although undoubtedly not so clever in the 
 open nor so fast — though able to use their feet, they 
 have never learned to use their hands, and the short 
 passing game — so deadly on a dry day — appears yet a 
 thing beyond their comprehension ; in fact, they have a 
 too sincere admiration for one another, and if one gets 
 the ball and attempts a run, the others, instead of 
 backing him up and spreading out for chances, stand 
 with open mouths to admire the prowess of their 
 confrere. At least, this was the experience of our last 
 match — that disastrous one against Yorkshire. 
 
 Turning to our backs, we have been successful in 
 producing some of the best men of recent years, but 
 owing to the lengthened sojourn of many at the Uni- 
 versities — Cambridge in particular — we could seldom 
 get them to play for us except in the holidays, when 
 
W. M. SCOTT. MASON T. SCOTT. 
 
 (Fnnn Phntorrrnphs by 7?. H. Lord, Cambridge.) 
 
 C. H. SAMPLE. E. B. BRUTTON. 
 
 (From a Photogruph by L. Sawyer, (From a Photograph bu Debenham d- Gould, 
 Newedttit .) Bournemouth.) 
 
 FIVE NORTHUMBRIAN INTERNATIONALS. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 455 
 
 a County fixture was rare. When they left the 
 Universities they either left off playing, as Sample and 
 Brutton ; took to other sport, as Morrison is now doing, 
 by sailing up the Mediterranean in his yacht; broke 
 down, as the Scotts have done ; or deserted us, as Alderson. 
 I think there yet remains one whom we think will 
 gain International honours: I allude to Taylor, who 
 last season played half for the Rest of England v. 
 Lancashire. 
 
 Before concluding, a short sketch of our Inter- 
 nationals may be interesting. 
 
 J. Lowthian Bell, the crack Northern half-back of 
 the "'seventies," is a Northumbrian, though from playing 
 so frequently with Durham County his name has been 
 associated, though not quite correctly, with the latter 
 County. Like all half-backs of his day, he played for his 
 own hand, and was very difficult to stop, for whilst being 
 a clever dodger, he ran with a peculiar teetotum-like 
 motion, seeming to spin out of the clasp of the tackier, 
 and rendering it exceedingly difficult to accurately gauge 
 the exact whereabouts of his person. For Durham v. 
 Yorkshire in 1873, a match memorable as being the first 
 occasion of " fifteen a-side " in County fixtures, Bell ran 
 in the only three tries scored during the game, a per- 
 formance which has seldom been beaten in a great 
 match. He obtained his England cap against Ireland 
 in 1878. 
 
 C. H. Sample played twice for the Universities v. 
 London — in 1882 at back, and in 1883 at three-quarter ; 
 three times for Cambridge v. Oxford, twice at back and 
 in 1884 at three-quarter ; three times in North and South 
 matches — in 1883 back for the South at Manchester, in 
 1884 at three-quarter for the North at Blackheath, and 
 in 1885 back for the North at Bradford (the first Union 
 match where flags and whistle were used); and three 
 times for England at back : in 1884 v. Ireland in Dublin, 
 in 1885 v. Ireland in Manchester, and in 1886 v. Scot- 
 land in Edinburgh. Two brothers of his, William and 
 Harold, played forward for Cambridge and Northumber- 
 land. 
 
 E. B. Brutton— now the Rev. E. B. — having a year 
 previous played for Northumberland, went to Cambridge 
 in October, 1883, and in his first college match (Jesus v. 
 Trinity Hall) scored 5 tries, and was at once put in the 
 
456 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 'Varsity team. In his first match he scored 5 tries out 
 of 7 — rather a brilliant start. In 1883 he was chosen 
 for Oxford and Cambridge, but could not play on account 
 of a broken bone ; but in that season he played for 
 Cambridge v. Oxford. In 1884 he did not play in the 
 'Varsity match, but at Christmas went on tour in York- 
 shire with his college team and scored every point the 
 team got, namely, 1 goal and 1 try v. Leeds St. John, 
 2 goals and 1 try v. Hudddersfield, and 1 dropped goal 
 and 1 try v. Bradford. In 1885 he captained both his 
 college and his 'Varsity, and in that year played v. 
 Oxford, when Cambridge won after six successive de- 
 feats. In 1885 he was selected both for the South and 
 North, but, of course, played for his native heath. In 
 1886 he again captained Cambridge, and played for 
 England v. Scotland at Edinburgh — about his last 
 appearance on a football field. 
 
 Mason Scott was, in his day, one of the safest and 
 most unselfish of halves. Went to Cambridge in the 
 autumn of 1884, and played v. Oxford in 1885, 1886, 
 and 1887 ; three times for England, namely, v. Ireland in 
 Dublin in 1886, v. Wales in Dewsbury in 1890, and in 
 the same year v. Scotland in Edinburgh ; one of his best 
 days out, as it was also for two other Northumbrians, 
 was in 1889 for the Rest of England v. Yorkshire, when 
 he and his brother Martin at half and Alderson at centre 
 three-quarter fairly smothered the Yorkshire backs. 
 
 F. H. R. Alderson did not go to Cambridge till 
 October, 1886, and did not play v. Oxford till 1887, 
 when he played wing-three-quarter, which place he 
 retained till he left. In 1887 he played half for the 
 North at Manchester, and in 1889, as above mentioned, 
 for the Rest of England. In 1890 he was not elected in 
 the North team, but was subsequently chosen centre 
 three-quarter and captain for England, which position 
 he kept all through the season, playing v. Wales, Ireland, 
 and Scotland. 
 
 P. H. Morrison, after leaving Loretto in 1887, went 
 to Cambridge and at once got his place in the 'Varsity 
 team, which he retained for four years, captaining it in 
 1889. In both 1889 and 1890 he played for the South 
 v. North, in latter year in all three International 
 matches and for Rest of England ; in 1891 he played v. 
 Ireland. 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 457 
 
 W. M. Scott played for Northumberland in 1887 ; in 
 October, 1888, went to Cambridge, and, like Morrison 
 and Brutton, at once got his place in the 'Varsity team, 
 and captained it the next season. In 1889 he played 
 v. Yorkshire for the Rest, and in March of the same 
 year for England v. New Zealand ; this is the only time 
 he has played for England, as since the resumption of 
 International matches he has always been the victim of 
 some accident when his country required his services ; 
 thus the most brilliant half who ever played has, from 
 an International point, or, perhaps, from an English 
 point, been useless. 
 
 Durham. 
 
 It is a matter of some difficulty to fix upon the exact 
 date when Rugby football was introduced into the County 
 of Durham. The first recorded County match between 
 teams representing Durham (including some Northumber- 
 land players) and Yorkshire, dates as far back as 1873, 
 and at that time the number of clubs playing in Durham 
 would not exceed half-a-dozen. Darlington claims to 
 be the oldest club under Rugby rules in Durham County. 
 In the seasons 1865-66 and 1866-67 the team of that club 
 played on the present Feetham's Ground, but then called 
 the New Cricket Field. Before that time they used to 
 play at Woodside Park, in the grounds of Mrs. Gurney 
 Pease. Tom Watson was one of the founders of the 
 club. The Football Club amalgamated with the Cricket 
 Club in 1865, and as the football matches were played on 
 the Woodside ground for at least two seasons before 
 the amalgamation, the Darlington Club dates as far back 
 as 1863, if not earlier. At present the Association game 
 is the popular form of football at Darlington. Sunder- 
 land, one of the oldest constituted clubs, was formed 
 about 1870, and for at least ten years subsequently they 
 continued to take the lead in all football matters. They 
 formed the nucleus of the first so-called County teams 
 which held their own, and for, a time more than their 
 own, against Yorkshire. They were the first club in the 
 district to inaugurate annual tours into the neighbour- 
 ing County of Yorkshire, whilst at home they found 
 themselves at least the equals of all opponents. They 
 supplied the first president of the County Union, in the 
 person of Arthur Laing, and the late C. Kidson, of the 
 
458 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Sunderland Club, was the first gentleman in the far 
 North to have a seat on the Rugby Union of that day. 
 He was mainly instrumental in establishing the Durham 
 County Challenge Cup in 1880, and it was the Sunder- 
 land Club who first held possession of the much-coveted 
 trophy. Among the chief players in the Sunderland 
 Club in its early days may be mentioned Henry E. 
 Kayll, one of the finest back players of his day. Kayll, 
 Lowthian Bell, and Kidson were prominent in the early 
 band of players who assisted Durham County to defeat 
 Yorkshire, in the first years of the matches with that 
 County. Playing for the North in 1877, he represented 
 England against Scotland in 1878. He was a very fine 
 runner and jumper, winning prizes at 100 yards, quarter- 
 mile, 220 yards, and over hurdles. His best perform- 
 ances as a jumper were 19ft. 3in. for the long jump, 
 and 5ft. 7in. for the high jump at Sunderland in 1876. 
 In the same year he won the championship for pole 
 jumping at Lillie Bridge, clearing 10ft. 3in. This height 
 he exceeded at Ilkley in 1877, getting over the bar at 
 lift. lin. In later years Charles Henry Elliot, of the 
 Sunderland Club, played against Wales in 1886. Edu- 
 cated at Repton in the Association code, he excelled as a 
 dribbler. He was a very keen player, and captained 
 the County for several seasons. In the Welsh match he 
 specially distinguished himself by a foolish piece of play 
 which luckily proved to be the winning point of the 
 match. Following hard up, he caught the ball from a 
 bad screw kick of the Welsh full-back and made his 
 mark, instead of going for the try. That style of play 
 might win applause in Durham, but it met with 
 emphatic and forcible expressions of disapproval from 
 the English captain and the " finished " players of the 
 South. Stoddart took the place kick and scored a goal, 
 so the laugh at the finish was on Elliot's side. 
 
 About the years 1873-74 we find several other clubs, 
 which afterwards obtained notoriety in the County, spring- 
 ing up. Durham School (already noted for its oarsmen) 
 was playing the old 20 a- side game, and the University was 
 following suit. A natural consequence was the formation 
 of a " Town " club, and to this day the City F.C. (as it 
 is known throughout the County) holds its own amongst 
 the foremost clubs of the North. Westoe, Houghton, 
 Darlington, and Bensham all sprang into existence about 
 
DURHAM TEAM V. YORKSHIRE, NOVEMBER 14th, 1891 : 
 HULL. 
 
 (Yorkshire— 3 Goals 1 Try : 17 Points. Durham— 1 Goal 1 Try : 7 Points). 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Anlaby Road, Hull). 
 
 : M 
 
 
 
 ■ N ' Jifl Ek 
 
 m m 
 
 
 IH 
 
 In ^S Hk 
 
 ct^MlH 
 
 Li^J |W| 
 
 c^1j!M 
 
 
 
 
 » - 
 
 K a: 
 
 *° 
 
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 g« 
 
 J 5 
 
 B^t< 
 
 b* 5 
 
 O w a 
 CQ oq < 
 
 fad . 
 
 > 5 3 
 
 ■1 
 
460 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 this time. Westoe and Houghton still survive, though 
 they have fallen to a second-rate position. Darlington 
 has gone over to Association, whilst Bensham, which 
 collapsed about 1875-76, supplied the materials which 
 afterwards helped the North Durham Club, formed in 
 1875, to come to the front. With this club is associated 
 the name of T. M. Swinburne, the present president of the 
 County, who was the first captain of the club, and who 
 attained the height of his " club " ambition when he 
 captained the team which won the Challenge Cup in 
 1882-'83. Swinburne still takes an active part in the 
 management of the club. 
 
 A season or two later a club was formed at Hartle- 
 pool, and a second club, Sunderland Rovers, at Sunder- 
 land. Both these clubs are now extinct. In 1874 P. B. 
 Junor, of the Glasgow Academicals, came into Durham, 
 and his advent marked a new era in local football. 
 Junor played as half-back, and during his career the 
 Durham County team was at its best, compared with 
 Yorkshire. A fine player, his influence on the game 
 has been most marked, and also most varied. He first 
 commenced to play with the Glasgow Academicals, 
 assisting in the foundation of that club. Then removing 
 to Edinburgh he was chosen for Scotland in 1873, but 
 could not play owing to business engagements. In 1873 
 he went to Houghton, and established the club there. 
 In the following season he was at Durham, where he 
 captained the Durham City Club. Later on in 1883 he 
 removed to Spennymoor, where his genius for founding 
 clubs was exercised in the formation of the Tudhoe 
 Club (of which he is president), which has won both 
 the first and second County Challenge Cups in the season 
 1891-92. In his days the Durham County team, with 
 himself, Lowthian Bell, the late R F. Boyd, Tom Watson, 
 the master of the Darlington Harriers, the Kaylls, the 
 Laings, and Kidson were more than a match for York- 
 shire. 
 
 About 1877 the various clubs of the County com- 
 bined, and formed themselves into the present Union, 
 with A. Laing, of Sunderland, as president. In this 
 movement Dr. Sanday, principal of Hatfield Hall, 
 Durham, now of Cambridge, J. H. Brooks, Kidson, and 
 Junor were the leading spirits. The only County matches 
 played then were those against Yorkshire, but about 
 
T. M. SWINBURNE. 
 
 (.From a Photor/mph by Mcnflelsaohh 
 
 H. E. KAYLL. 
 
 otniirtipli by Mmdelsaolui^ f 
 iirriistU-on-Tinic.) /y^U^JC- t 
 
 F. H. E. ALDERSON. 
 
 (From a Photor/raph by T. Braybrook 
 Went Hartlepool). 
 
 P. B. JUNOR. 
 
 W. YIEND. 
 
 (Front a Photoyraph by T. Braybrook, West 
 Hartlepool) 
 
462 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 1878-79 Northumberland County was met for the first 
 time. The institution of the Challenge Cup in 1880 
 marked a notable change in the history of football in 
 Durham. Before a couple of years had passed clubs 
 were springing up all round, and each year saw increased 
 interest in the game. About the year 1881-82, a club 
 was formed which was destined to play an important 
 part in Durham football. " The Hartlepool Rovers " 
 only ranked as a junior club at the outset of their career, 
 but they gradually gained ground, and in the year 1883 
 an amalgamation with the old Hartlepool Club was 
 effected, whereby the groundwork of the strongest and 
 most powerful club the County has ever owned was 
 established. Sunderland had won the Challenge Cup 
 in 1880-81, only to be defeated by their old rivals 
 Houghton the following year, whilst the latter were 
 ousted by North Durham in 1882-83. In the final tie 
 of 1883-84 the Hartlepool Rovers, after a memorable 
 struggle, wrested the cup from the holders, and since 
 then have lost possession of it only on three occasions, 
 twice succumbing to Durham City, and the third time 
 being beaten by Tudhoe in 1891-92 after a drawn game. 
 The success of the Hartlepool Rovers during the past 
 few years has been most marked, and they rank at the 
 present moment amongst the foremost clubs of the 
 North of England. Amongst their prominent players, 
 F. E. Pease, W. Yiend, and F. H. R. Alderson have gained 
 International honours. Pease, who played originally 
 with the old Darlington Club, obtained his cap against 
 Ireland in 1887. He was a fast forward of the modern 
 school, and having learnt his football at Harrow became 
 a thorough master of the art of dribbling, and carried 
 the lessons learnt at the famous school into effect in the 
 Rugby game. W. Yiend, a Gloucestershire man by birth, 
 has played for both North and South. One of the 
 gamest and most hardworking of forwards, he has 
 earned the sobriquet of " Pusher " from his ability to 
 do the hard work of the pack. He tries to map out the 
 course of tactics to be followed by the forwards in a 
 most elaborate and scientific manner, holding the theory 
 that combination and method are as essential among 
 the forward brigade as among the back division. He 
 can theorise eloquently and with knowledge, and can 
 put his theories into practical effect. He was one of the 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 463 
 
 English team against the Maories in 1889, and played in 
 all the International matches of 1891-92, being selected 
 in a rather singular manner. Yiend was not selected for 
 the North team, and, much to the surprise of the public, 
 his name was afterwards included in the Southern list. 
 This was to many the first intimation that he was a 
 Southerner by birth. The South were weak in forwards, 
 and the Southern members of the Rugby Union, finding 
 Yiend left out of the North team, chose him to strengthen 
 the forward rank. In the match he not only shone as 
 the centre of the pack, but exhibited a turn of speed 
 hitherto unappreciated in one of his size and weight. 
 In the Welsh match of 1892 he was responsible, along 
 with Evershed, for the prettiest try of the day. 
 
 F. H. R. Alderson, a Northumbrian by birth, has 
 done much for Durham County. He is a great advocate 
 for the four three-quarter system, and has introduced it 
 into his club and into the County team. So far the 
 experiment has not met with the success prophesied for 
 it, probably because the system is not yet thoroughly 
 understood, nor is Durham sufficiently rich in back 
 players to give it a fair chance ; though when the eight 
 Durham forwards held the Yorkshire nine at Hull in 
 November, 1891, it seemed as if the new arrangement 
 would give the Durham men their longed-for victory 
 over their powerful rivals. The calibre of the Yorkshire 
 three-quarters saved their County from defeat. 
 
 Amongst other noted players may be mentioned 
 B. Cox, C. T. B. Wilkinson, the Crowes, J. Sowerby, H. 
 Brooks, W. H. Bell, and Arthur Hill. For several 
 seasons the Rev. C. H. Newman, the famous Welsh 
 International and Cambridge "half-back," who came 
 into the County in 1874, captained the team with signal 
 success, and lately Durham has been honoured in having 
 her captain, F. H. R. Alderson, who came from Cam- 
 bridge in 1888, chosen to captain the English team in 
 the matches in which he has played. 
 
 The most notable features of late years have been 
 the rise of the Tudhoe Club, already alluded to, and the 
 introduction of the four three-quarter system. Should 
 this arrangement of players be generally adopted, 
 Durham will then be able to fairly claim to have had 
 a large share in introducing it into English football. 
 
CHAPTEE XXII. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL : CHESHIRE. 
 By J. W. H. Thorp. 
 
 CHESHIRE was one of the earliest of the smaller 
 Counties to form a Union under Rugby rules: 
 Macclesfield and Crewe had joined the Rugby Union be- 
 fore the season 1875-6, the same year as Bradford, and 
 only two seasons after Manchester, Liverpool and Hull. 
 In 1874 S. Fynney of Crewe had played in the first 
 North v. South match at Rugby, and Sale claimed to have 
 a club under Rugby rules in 1861. In 1875-6 J. W. H. 
 Thorp attempted to get up a County team from old 
 'Varsity and public-school players who, although resident 
 in Cheshire, had naturally been drawn into the powerful 
 clubs of Liverpool and Manchester ; but it was not until 
 the end of the season 1876-77 that, by the energy of 
 H. M. Blythe (Birkenhead Park), the tirst president, and 
 A. E. Ward, of Sale, the first County match was played 
 against Lancashire at Sale, a trial match between East 
 and AVest Cheshire having first been played. Lancashire 
 won by 1 goal 2 tries to 1 try, the latter being obtained 
 for the home County by H. C. Rowley, the International 
 player. E. C. Kendall was captain, and W. H. Wallace 
 and J. W. H. Thorp, the present secretary and presi- 
 dent, played in the match. E. Kewley was the Lanca- 
 shire captain, and Hulton, Knowles, Hunt, and Greg 
 were in the team. 
 
 In February, 1878, when the two Counties met for the 
 second time, Lancashire won easily by 3 goals and a try to 
 nil. A. N. Hornby was captain of the Red Rose team, with 
 R. Hunt three-quarter back, and that wonderful dribbler 
 Openshaw at half. Cheshire wore the Avheatsheaf jersey 
 for the first time, Kendall, Thorp, and Middleton playing 
 again ; but in March, when Cheshire met Yorkshire for 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 465 
 
 the first time at Sale, the home County won by 3 tries to 
 a try, chiefly by the aid of Percy Shaw, Kendall, and 
 Stewart. All the Huths played for Yorkshire, with 
 Garnett, captain, and that sterling forward Fernandez, 
 and E. Mann, the old " Rug," in the team. At the 
 autumn meeting of the Rugby Union in 1878, the 
 Cheshire president was elected to a seat on the com- 
 mittee. In the season of 1880-1 West Cheshire had 
 beaten the Manchester Club, and the County had beaten 
 Oxford University, but meeting Lancashire at Broughton, 
 Cheshire were beaten by 2 goals and a try to nil. The 
 Internationals Phillips and Ravenscroft were among the 
 Cheshire forwards. In March, 1881, Cheshire beat York- 
 shire at Dewsbury by 1 goal to nil. At a meeting of the 
 Cheshire County Committee in April, 1881, it was resolved 
 " That the cup ties be discontinued as detrimental to the 
 best interests of the game in Cheshire, and tending to 
 promote bad feeling between clubs '■ — the valuable silver 
 Challenge Cup being left in the custody of Birkenhead 
 Park Club, the winners for that season. 
 
 In September, 1881, W. H. Wallace was elected hon. 
 sec. for the County in succession to G. Stewart. At the 
 annual meeting in September, 1883, H. M. Blythe re- 
 signed and J. W. H. Thorp was elected president. After 
 the season 1885-6 the sum of £40 was voted to Cheshire 
 charities, and £50 to the same purpose in the next year. 
 In November, 1884, at the ninth meeting of the two 
 Counties, Cheshire obtained the summit of their ambition 
 by beating Lancashire at Liscard, chiefly by the aid of a 
 dropped goal from Marsland ; by a coincidence Thorp, 
 the captain, who had played in every previous match, 
 gave up active part in the game just before this success. 
 Cheshire arranged a fixture with Durham for the 
 first time in December, 1887, at Birkenhead Park, which 
 the home County won by 2 goals and a try to 1 try. 
 The later matches with Yorkshire have been unusually 
 interesting, and no County has a record against the 
 mighty Tykes that can compare with that of Cheshire 
 since 1888. In that year Yorkshire were smartly 
 beaten by a goal to a try. In. 1889 we suffered a 
 crushing defeat at Dewsbury. The match in 1890 
 was drawn under circumstances of great excitement. 
 Close upon time Cheshire were leading by one point, 
 when Kaylor for Yorkshire scored between the posts. 
 
 E E 
 
466 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The place-kick failed, and thus the match ended in 
 a draw. The like result occurred at Huddersfield in 
 1891, when two cleverly- dropped goals caused the 
 Cheshire score to equal the goal and 3 tries ob- 
 tained by Yorkshire. 1892 saw Cheshire win at Bir- 
 kenhead after another exciting game, the Cheshire men 
 obtaining a try just on call of time, and thus converting 
 what looked like a defeat into an unexpected victory. 
 In justice to Yorkshire it should be mentioned that on 
 several occasions prominent Bradfordians have been 
 absent from the team selected to meet Cheshire in order 
 that their club might meet Blackheath with their full 
 strength. 
 
 The chief feature of late years in Cheshire football 
 has been the rise of the Runcorn Club, composed chiefly 
 of working men, who by combination and keen interest 
 in their practice games have reached first class rank, 
 beating Bradford in 1892. Stockport Club also has 
 made great progress lately. The County kept on the 
 even tenor of its play, losing to Midlands and Lancashire 
 but winning its matches with Durham, Yorkshire, and 
 Cumberland. Nine clubs compose the Union. 
 
 Cumberland. 
 
 By R. Westray. 
 
 As a County, Cumberland has always enjoyed a high 
 reputation in the world of athletics. The dalesmen in 
 this part of northern England have for a long period 
 practically held their own against all comers in most 
 held sports. Such men as Steadman, Jamieson, Lowden, 
 Clark, Rickerby, Wright, and a host of others whose feats in 
 the wrestling ring have gained them a reputation that 
 extends to the Antipodes, being but the type of a class 
 who possess all the muscle and physique necessary to 
 a successful career in any department of athletics. 
 We believe that so far back as 1870 the Carlisle Club 
 claims to have been devotees at the Rugby shrine, 
 having played nearly twenty-two years under the code 
 laid down by the Rugby Union. In the year 1876 
 Whitehaven appears to have formed a Rugby Club, 
 followed a year later by Workington, after which several 
 in different parts of the County followed in rapid 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 467 
 
 succession. In the early part of 1882 a few of the 
 principal adherents of the game in the western division 
 of the County determined upon an effort to give it an 
 impetus, and in a very snort time a subscription, 
 amounting to about £30, was invested in a handsome 
 silver Challenge Cup, for which some half-dozen clubs 
 were induced to compete. The organisation which, under 
 the title of a " County Club," was formed for the 
 purpose of promoting and conducting this competition, 
 must therefore be accredited with having laid the basis 
 of what has now developed into a well-ordered and 
 successful County Union. Amongst those who took an 
 active part in the initiatory work of this period must be 
 included J. E. Birkett, of Workington, ana E. G. Mitchell, 
 of Maryport, both of whom have up to the present time 
 given a support which Cumberland must ever recognise 
 with gratitude. Having appointed as its first president 
 the Kev. J. W. Wainwright, of Aspatria, the newly- 
 formed club set about establishing a relationship with 
 other Counties, the result of which was an arrangement 
 of fixtures with Northumberland, Furness, Durham, 
 and Westmorland. From a record of its proceed- 
 ings at that time we find that the County Union 
 consisted of about seven clubs — viz., Carlisle, Aspatria, 
 Eden- Wanderers, Maryport, Workington, Whitehaven, 
 and Cockermouth, who were, in consequence, the only 
 competitors for the Challenge Cup and the sole con- 
 tributors to the County team. In 1885 Millom, Wigton 
 Penrith, and others appear to have cast in their lot with 
 the County club, but in the following year (1886) the 
 withdrawal, amongst others, of Carlisle, Eden-Wanderers, 
 and Whitehaven, representing three of the best organisa- 
 tions in the County, caused a difficulty, which for a time 
 was the source of much anxiety. 
 
 With only a small credit balance in each of the 
 preceding years, the County Executive had also to accept 
 a series of defeats in the field — a circumstance that is 
 not to be wondered at considering the narrow limit of 
 their playing resources. 
 
 This unfortunate state of affairs it was hoped would 
 find a satisfactory solution at the annual meeting of 
 May, 1887, when mutual explanations would enable the 
 County body to resume their work under more promising 
 conditions. 
 
 E E 2 
 
CUMBERLAND COUNTY V. LANCASHIRE: WHITEHAVEN, 
 FEBRUARY 27, 1890. 
 
 Lancashire— 7 Points. Cumberland— nil. 
 
 E. G. Mitchell. C. J. Lewthwaite. J. E. Birkett. W. Selkirk. 
 
 R. Westray (President). W. Holmes. 
 J. Simpson. J. Buckett. J. Hylanp. J. J. Mitchell. 
 W. Armstrong. G. Cuthel. 
 
 D. X. Pape. J. Murchie. J. Moore. J. Pender. 
 G. Lowrie. W. Davidsox. M. Humphreys 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 469 
 
 In this, however, they were to be disappointed. The 
 time appointed for the holding of the annual meeting 
 having passed over without any sign of its being held, 
 an old supporter and friend of the cause (C. J. 
 Lewthwaite) summoned an informal meeting of those 
 interested in the Rugby game to consider what step 
 ought to be taken towards carrying forward the work of 
 the County club. The necessity of some effort being made 
 was still further emphasised by an intimation that owing 
 to feeble health the president (Rev. J. W. Wainwright) 
 had tendered his resigna- 
 tion, while for other reasons 
 (which need not be referred 
 to here) the hon. sec, J. 
 C. Nicholson, had also re- 
 linquished the duties of his 
 office. This meeting was 
 held in September, 1887, 
 the result of which was the 
 appointment of R. Westray, 
 Carlisle, as president ; and 
 C. J. Lewthwaite, of Cocker- 
 mouth, as hon. sec. ; with J. 
 E. Birkett, of Workington, 
 and E. G. Mitchell, of Mary- 
 port, as vice-presidents. 
 
 This meeting happily 
 proved the turn of the tide 
 
 in Cumberland football. The new Executive not only 
 realised the importance of immediate and vigorous action, 
 but instituted the policy by themselves entering ener- 
 getically into the work. From this time the advance of 
 the Rugby game has not only been rapid but substantial. 
 Having succeeded in getting the local operations of 
 the County Union upon a sound footing, attention was 
 next turned to Cumberland's claims for recognition by 
 other Counties, and an exhaustive research into the 
 position and strength of those Counties yielded a some- 
 what unexpected result. Taking the recognised clubs of 
 the various Counties as a standard of claim to representa- 
 tion, it was found that Cumberland possessed an equal 
 (and in some instances a greater) number than the great 
 body of Counties already enjoying representation on the 
 Rugby Union, and that two Counties only — Lancashire 
 
 R. WESTRAY. 
 (.From a Photo by White, Carlisle.} 
 
470 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and Yorkshire — were numerically stronger. Upon these 
 statistics, representations were made to the Executive 
 of the Rugby Union, setting out the claim to ad- 
 mission into the fraternity of Counties appearing at 
 their board. That the appeal was complete and well- 
 founded may be inferred by the prompt and generous 
 action of the Rugby Union in communicating their 
 intention of recommending the admission of Cumberland 
 to the National Council. In September, 1888, just one 
 year after the appointment of their new Executive, 
 Cumberland had, therefore, the satisfaction and the 
 honour of being for the first time acknowledged as a 
 member of the Rugby parliament. 
 
 Since then Cumberland has steadily improved her 
 position ; the system of management and discipline 
 observed by the Executive being not only effective, but 
 receiving a ready and hearty support from the clubs 
 generally, while the ambition ana enterprise of her 
 players rind ample scope in the fixtures now established 
 with Lancashire, Cheshire, Northumberland, South of 
 Scotland, Westmorland, and Cambridge University, and 
 an annual " Colts " engagement with South -East Lanca- 
 shire. 
 
 The meagre list of members composing the County 
 organisation in 1887 has been increased to twenty-six ; 
 while the scanty purse from which the County's expendi- 
 ture had to be met has given place to a reserve fund of 
 nearly £200, with a margin in addition sufficient to 
 meet current expenses. 
 
 In dealing with the marked advance of the Rugby 
 game in Cumberland during the past four years, it is 
 impossible to overlook or over-estimate the assistance 
 rendered by Lancashire. Without a name or prestige 
 to recommend her, at the very outset of a new career, 
 when a conquest over her could give no promise of 
 honour to the victor, Lancashire generously responded 
 to her appeal for a fixture, and to this unselfish display 
 of true sportsmanship Cumberland must largely ascribe 
 the advantages she has since reaped in that improvement 
 of her players by contact with a County who has so 
 worthily held the position of champion County. 
 
 The Challenge Cup around which the interests of the 
 County were first centred has steadily gained in import- 
 ance, until the number of the competitors is now more 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 471 
 
 than double that of earlier years. In 1889 a Challenge 
 Shield was introduced for the encouragement of junior 
 players, with the most satisfactory results, no less than 
 twenty teams having entered the competition for the 
 present season. Altogether it must be agreed that the 
 Executive of the County, who received their appointment 
 under the cloud of 1887 and have continued to hold 
 office up to the present time, have faithfully discharged 
 the duties with which they were entrusted, in doing a 
 lot of hard and valuable work, and if the policy initiated 
 by them is continued by those who follow in their 
 footsteps, Cumberland may with confidence look forward 
 to a promising future. With a view of strengthening 
 their position still further, the Executive appointed for 
 1892-93 has received two additions, the officers now being: 
 R. Westray, president ; E. G. Mitchell (Maryport), C. J. 
 Lewthwaite (Cockermouth), Watkinson (Millom), J. 
 Twiname (Broughton), vice-presidents ; Dr. Dudgeon 
 (Workington), treasurer ; and J. E. Birkett (Working- 
 ton), hon. secretary. The following is the result of the 
 challenge competitions up to date, viz. — 
 
 CUP. 
 
 Aspatria 
 
 1883 
 
 SHIELI 
 
 Millom 
 
 ... 1889 
 
 "Whitehaven... 
 
 1884 
 
 Egremont ... 
 
 ... 1890 
 
 Aspatria 
 
 1885 
 
 Millom 
 
 ... 1891 
 
 Carlisle 
 
 1886 
 
 Millom 
 
 ... 1892 
 
 Millom 
 
 1887 
 
 
 
 Millom 
 
 1888 
 
 
 
 Millom 
 
 1889 
 
 
 
 Egremont ... 
 
 1890 
 
 
 
 Aspatria 
 
 1891 
 
 
 
 Aspatria 
 
 ... 1892 
 
 
 
 
 Westmorland. 
 
 
 
 By G. 
 
 Webster. 
 
 
 Westmorland County football is of comparatively 
 recent date. The County club was formed at a meeting 
 held at Windermere on March 2nd, 1886, which meeting 
 was promoted and attended by representatives of Amble- 
 side, Kendal, Kendal Hornets, and Windermere clubs. 
 At the present time, Kirkby Lonsdale takes the place of 
 the Windermere club. With such a scarcity of clubs, it 
 is much to the credit of the Westmorland officials that 
 
472 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 they have been able to organise and successfully carry 
 out a series of County matches with the neighbouring 
 Counties of Lancashire, Cumberland, and Cheshire. They 
 have had to encounter many difficulties, not the least 
 being the inability at times to put a representative team 
 into the field, owing to an important club fixture taking 
 place on the same date. In a County where the clubs 
 are numerous such incident may not materially weaken 
 the fifteen ; but when the choice of players is limited to 
 four clubs, it is evident that the defection of one club 
 may cause the County fifteen to be seriously weakened. 
 The history of the County of Westmorland presents 
 an instance of the difficulty under which the less impor- 
 tant Counties labour in their inability to put forward the 
 claims of their best players to higher honours than those 
 of club or County. It would be absurd to advance the 
 theory that the minor Counties should always furnish a 
 contingent of players to the North, South, or England 
 teams. Manifestly in the North the two great Counties 
 of Lancashire and Yorkshire must always provide the 
 bulk of the northern team. But Westmorland being 
 unrepresented on the North Selecting Committee, and 
 in consequence not on the Rugby Union Committee, are 
 placed at a great disadvantage in having no represen- 
 tative to urge the merits of any of their players. The 
 geographical position prevents the Manchester authorities 
 from obtaining personal knowledge of the abilities of the 
 Westmorland players ; and so whilst R. Westray for 
 Cumberland has been able to obtain places in the North 
 team for such players as J. Holmes of Millom, and 
 Davidson of Aspatria, there is no record of a Westmor- 
 land player, whilst a member of a Westmorland club, 
 being selected on a North team. Two Kendal men, viz., 
 J. Berry and W T . Cross, have played for the North, and 
 Berry played in all three International matches in the 
 season 1890-91 ; but they were then members of Lanca- 
 shire teams, Berry living at Tyldesley, and Cross at St. 
 Helens. Directly these two players qualified for Lanca- 
 shire their merits were recognised. They were equally 
 expert in the game whilst in Westmorland, but their 
 capabilities were not appreciated because there was no 
 representative for Westmorland County who could press 
 their claims to the notice of the selecting body. The 
 Westmorland authorities argue very forcibly that it is 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 473 
 
 impossible for a County unrepresented on the Rugby 
 Union to develop its resources to the fullest extent, inas- 
 much as that County is being continually robbed of good 
 players, who naturally prefer to play for a County (if 
 they are qualified) in a position to bring their merits 
 before the Rugby Union. In the season 1886-7 West- 
 morland played four matches, defeating West Lanca- 
 shire, Cumberland, and North Lancashire, and drawing 
 with West Lancashire ; a most satisfactory inauguration 
 of the County club. In 1887-8 four matches were 
 played, North Lancashire were defeated ; drawn games 
 were played with Cumberland and W T est Lancashire, and 
 the first match with West Lancashire was lost. The 
 season of 1888-9 was disastrous, the County being 
 defeated both by Cheshire and Northumberland, and 
 also by the Maori team, the latter winning by a dropped 
 goal to a try. In 1889-90, though losing to Cheshire 
 and Cumberland, Westmorland were enabled to defeat 
 Lancashire by the score of a goal and 2 tries to 2 
 tries, a feat of which they are justly proud. The team 
 that achieved this signal distinction were : — 
 
 Westmorland Team v. Lancashire. 
 Back: W. G. Hoggarth (Kendal). Three-quarter Backs: J. Arm- 
 strong (Kendal Hornets) ; J. Berry (Kendal Hornets) ; J. K. Robinson 
 (Kirkby Lonsdale). Half -Backs : W. Cross (Kendal Hornets); W. Ewan 
 (Kendal). Forwards : R. Nicholson (Kendal) ; R. Moreton (Kendal) ; 
 P. Ireland (Kendal) ; G. Graham (Kendal) ; G. Maehell (Kendal) ; J. 
 Carradus (Kendal) ; R. C. Beard (Kendal Hornets) ; E. Wilson (Kendal 
 Hornets) ; R. Winskill (Kendal Hornets). 
 
 Berry and Cross were both playing for Westmor- 
 land. In the following season when the two famous 
 Kendalmen were enrolled in Lancastrian ranks, the 
 Lancashiremen inflicted a crushing defeat upon the 
 Westmorland players — 4 goals and 4 tries to no- 
 thing being the score. Lancashire were the victors 
 in the County championship that season, and there 
 can be little doubt that the defection of Berry and 
 Cross from Westmorland and their joining Lanca- 
 shire clubs, was a main factor in the success of 
 Lancashire. Sorry consolation, however, for the poor 
 Westmorland men to see the men, who should have 
 been assisting Westmorland, thus contribute to raise 
 Lancashire to the proud position of champion County ! 
 Though it was Westmorland men who were doing it. 
 
KENDAL HOKNETS. 
 
 WINNERS OF THE NORTHERN COUNTIES CHALLENGE CUP. 
 COMPETED FOR AT BARROW-IN-FURNESS, 1888. 
 
 Players: — J. Allen, J. Armstrong, G. Battersby, R. C. Beard, J. Berry, W. Cross, 
 W. J. Walker, J. Wilkinson, E. Wilson. 
 
 (From a Photograph by F. Armstrong, Kendal.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 475 
 
 it was Lancashire who were claiming and receiving the 
 credit. 
 
 The season 1891-92 saw an extraordinary incident. 
 Westmorland began badly by being severely defeated 
 at Maryport by Cumberland ; a fortnight later they 
 surprised the football world by defeating Cheshire. They 
 had then only Lancashire to meet in the North- Western 
 group. The Kendal Hornets had an important fixture 
 in the North Lancashire League on the same day as the 
 Lancashire match. The County Committee selected four 
 only of the Hornets' Club, but from one cause or another 
 none of them were able to play. Suddenly the Kendal 
 Town Club withdrew their players from the team and 
 their club from the County club, and with a fifteen 
 thus weakened the Westmorland authorities decided 
 to abandon the match. 
 
 The future of Westmorland County football rests in 
 the loyalty of its few clubs. It may be very interesting 
 to enter into a League, and exceedingly profitable to the 
 exchequer of the clubs that take part in League matches ; 
 but the interests of the County should be superior to 
 the League contests, which, though they may be inter- 
 esting, are selfish in their nature and, inasmuch as gate- 
 money is their avowed and foremost object, destructive 
 of the main principle — viz., amateurism, that is at the 
 foundation and root of Rugby Football. At the present 
 moment County football in Westmorland is passing 
 through a crisis. If the clubs stick manfully together 
 and insist upon the League fixtures not interfering with 
 County matches, Westmorland may yet occupy a fairly 
 good position in the North-Western group. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIII. 
 
 COUNTY FOOTBALL : THE MIDLANDS. 
 By E. B. Holmes. 
 
 BURTON can claim to be the oldest Rugby football 
 club in the Midland Counties, being instituted in 
 the year 1870. Thus the Rugby game has been played in 
 the Midlands for about twenty years. It has not taken 
 such a hold upon the public as the Association game, and in 
 consequence the clubs have been comparatively few in 
 number, though for the past few years Coventry, 
 Leicester, Burton, Rugby, and Moseley have all been 
 able to put fairly strong teams into the field. In the 
 'seventies Handsworth, The Crusaders, Old Edwardians, 
 and Wolverhampton were all well-known clubs playing 
 under Rugby rules. But in the early days so difficult 
 was it for the Moseley Club to obtain fixtures without 
 having to travel a long way from home, that they 
 arranged matches with the Wednesbury Strollers, an 
 Association club of some repute, on the understanding 
 that a game under Association rules should be played 
 at Wednesbury, and that in the return match at Moseley 
 Rugby Union rules should be adhered to. 
 
 The Burton Club, founded in 1870, has supplied 
 such players as S. H. Evershed, who gained a place in 
 the North team, and was on the reserve for England, 
 Erank Evershed, J. L. Mayger, who has played for the 
 South, and Ward ; whilst Coventry has been the club 
 of the Ratliffs and the Rotherhams. 
 
 Coventry is one of the oldest clubs in the Midlands. 
 As early as 1870-71 a club was started by some gentle- 
 men at Stoke, near Coventry, playing originally only 
 scratch matches under Association rules, but after a 
 season or two the handling code was preferred. In 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 477 
 
 1873-74 a ground was taken in Coventry in the Old 
 Bull field, and the Coventry Football Club came into 
 active existence. Under the able captaincy of the late 
 Harry Ratliff, who at three-quarters was a host in him- 
 self, great success attended the early efforts, so much so 
 that in the season 1875-76 only one match was lost, and 
 in the two following seasons every match was won. Of 
 late years the Rotherhams have been the prominent 
 players for Coventry. 
 
 But the club that has attained the highest renown 
 in the Midlands is the famous Moseley Club, and had it 
 not been for their extraordinary and well-deserved 
 success it is more than probable that the interest in the 
 Rugby game in the Birmingham district would have 
 declined considerably. The club was formed in October, 
 1873, by certain members of the Havelock Cricket Club 
 with the object of keeping their members together during 
 the winter months. In the season 1873-74 a few matches 
 were played under the name of the " Havelock Football 
 Club," but in the following season the name was altered 
 to the " Moseley Football Club," and the colours " red 
 and black " were chosen. Among the earliest members 
 were S. H. Deakin (the first captain), D. Gibson (his 
 successor), T. A. Burt, and W. J. Chatwin, but the most 
 successful period was that under the captaincy of Albert 
 Smith. With him were associated A. S. Tyler, W. 
 Breedon, F. Tyler, F. Fowler, G. B. Jones, and others. 
 Albert Smith had much to do with the successes of 
 Moseley in the early part of the " eighties." He was a 
 strong runner, an excellent tackier, and combined good 
 drop-kicking with accurate place-kicking. The club 
 record from 1879-82 is worthy of record. For three out 
 of these four seasons Moseley were undefeated. They 
 played 54 matches, won 48, and drew 6, scoring 81 goals 
 118 tries, as against 2 goals and 7 tries. At that period they 
 were without doubt the champion club of the Midlands. 
 
 In later years J. H. Rogers and his brother, A. Rogers, 
 have conferred further distinction on the Moseley Club. 
 J. H. Rogers is a strong, sturdy forward, working hard 
 in the scrummage, and displaying plenty of dash in the 
 open. He is a good stayer, working hard throughout 
 the game, and is always to be found in the thick of the 
 fight, but often mars his play by coming blundering 
 through without the ball. 
 
478 
 
 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The inauguration of the Midland Counties Football 
 Union is due to E. H. Richards, of the Derby Wanderers, 
 a club long since defunct. It was formed in September, 
 1879, and comprised the Counties of Derby, Worcester, 
 Warwick, Stafford, Northampton, and Leicester. 
 
 Sydney E vershed , M. P. , of Burton (father of Frank Ever- 
 shed), Avas the first president, 
 E. H. Richards, hon. secre- 
 tary, and G. Gill, of Leam- 
 ington, hon. treasurer, which 
 post the latter gentleman 
 has filled to the present time. 
 On the departure of E. H. 
 Richards to Africa, he was 
 succeeded by the present 
 secretary, C. A. Crane, then 
 of Wolverhampton, now of 
 Pershore. In the year 1889, 
 E. B. Holmes was president, 
 followed two seasons later 
 by H. Yassall, the old Ox- 
 ford captain, now holding a 
 mastership at Repton School. 
 Of late years S. E. Herd 
 has officiated as hon. match secretary. It Avas H. 
 Vassall Avho suggested the match London v. Mid- 
 land Counties. He also spotted Frank- Evershed's 
 talents Avmilst that player \\~as acting at three-quarter, 
 remarking " what a good forward he would make ! " The 
 great Oxford captain's judgment Avas correct, for at the 
 present day Frank Evershed ranks as the most dangerous 
 forward playing. He cannot be described as a scrum- 
 mager, though he does more Avork in the pack than he 
 is given credit for, but as a try-getter, and as a player 
 quick to snap opportunities, Evershed is unrivalled. 
 Amongst his most brilliant achievements are a try ob- 
 tained against Yorkshire in 1889, and one against 
 Scotland in 1890. In 1892 Evershed repeated the feats 
 against Ireland and Wales. He attains full speed almost 
 in an instant Avith a peculiar stride that disguises his 
 pace, and Avith a quick swerve he appears to get past 
 opponents before they are aAvare that he is off. He 
 makes straight for the goal line, and every yard traversed 
 is so much ground gained. 
 
 J. H. EOGEES. 
 
 (From a Photograph By H. J. Whjtlock, 
 
 Birmingham.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 
 
 479 
 
 The newly constituted County Union immediately 
 
 commenced playing County matches. The history of 
 those matches may be divided into three stages, charac- 
 terised by ambition, consolidation, and development 
 respectively. In the early days Yorkshire, Lancashire, 
 Oxford University, and Wales were encountered, and 
 though the first match against Yorkshire, who sent a 
 weak team, was won, the subsequent reverses were of so 
 decisive a character that the vaulting ambition of the 
 young Union received such a check that in 1885 the 
 authorities considered it wise to abandon these fixtures 
 till their players had obtained greater experience in the 
 game. In these matches the Union were often without 
 the services of the Moseley players, who in consequence 
 of important club fixtures or for other reasons, held 
 aloof from the Union's matches. H. Ratliff, of Coventry, 
 was the first captain of the Midlands team, and was suc- 
 ceeded in 1881 by S. H. Evershed, of Burton. During 
 this period the game was but scantily attended and 
 poorly supported by the public, and for some years the 
 Union were practically with- 
 out funds. On the second 
 occasion that Yorkshire 
 visited Birmingham the 
 committee resolved that, as 
 the Midland players had 
 been treated so well in York- 
 shire, a dinner should be pro- 
 vided for the visitors on this 
 occasion. As the balance 
 brought forward from the 
 previous season was 6s. 2d., 
 and the gate money taken 
 at this match was just 
 over £8, the dinner could 
 not be provided out of 
 the funds at the disposal 
 of the Union, so four com- 
 mitteemen held themselves responsible for £10 each. 
 
 During the next few years the Midlands confined 
 their efforts to meeting such Counties as Surrey, 
 Northampton, and Gloucestershire ; occasionally matches 
 have been played with Middlesex and the Universities 
 of Oxford and Cambridge. In these the balance of success 
 
 F. EVERSHED. 
 
 (From a Photograph by II. J. Whitlock, 
 
 Birmingham.) 
 
480 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 has been fairly even. Surrey have been defeated thrice, 
 and have won one match. Against Northamptonshire 
 the record is four to three in favour of the Midlands ; 
 the Gloucestershire matches are evenly divided with 
 three victories, three defeats, and one drawn match. 
 Only one match has been played with Middlesex, when 
 the Midlands won by 1 try to nil. The Universities 
 have generally been too strong for the Midlanders. 
 
 During this, the consolidation period of the Midland 
 Union, the cup competition had roused the enthusiasm 
 of the public and the players. More clubs joined the 
 Union, and the play of the different teams improved. 
 Moseley no longer held a position pre-eminently superior 
 to the other clubs ; Burton, Leicester, Coventry, Rugby, 
 and the old Edwardians had raised themselves till they 
 were on a par with the famous Birmingham Club, if, 
 indeed, they were not superior to them. But it was 
 reserved for H. Vassall to propose the scheme which has 
 had such an effect in developing the resources of the 
 Midland clubs. Formerly the Midland player's road to 
 distinction was through the North team to International 
 honours. But such was the supply of strong candidates 
 from Yorkshire and Lancashire that there was little 
 chance of a good Midlander gaining the favourable 
 notice of the Northern selectors, for the failure of the 
 Union to play matches with the two great Northern 
 counties was a step fatal to the chance of any Midland 
 player catching the eye of the Selecting Committee. 
 S. H. Evershed has been the solitary representative of 
 the Midlands chosen for the North team. Accordingly 
 it was suggested that the Midlands should be transferred 
 from the North to the South, and that Midland players 
 should henceforth be eligible to play in the Southern 
 teams instead of for the North. Then in 1889 a match 
 was arranged between the Midland Counties and London. 
 To the surprise of the Londoners they were defeated by 
 a goal to a try, and after the good front shown by the 
 Midlanders several of their men were chosen to play in 
 the Southern trial matches. Finally, J. H. Rogers, of 
 Moseley, F. Evershed, and J. L. Mayger, of Burton, were 
 selected to play for the South against the North, Rogers 
 and Evershed obtaining their International caps, whilst 
 Mayger played for England against the champion County, 
 Yorkshire. A. Rogers, a younger brother of J. H. Rogers, 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 481 
 
 also played centre three-quarter for the South in Decem- 
 ber, 1891, and rilled the same position for England 
 against the champion County, Yorkshire, at Leeds, in 
 February, 1892. 
 
 The contest for the County championship has also 
 had a great effect on the game in the Midlands. In 
 the grouping of Counties the Midlands jyere assigned to 
 the South-Western division. A defeat by Gloucester 
 effectually extinguished their chance of being re- 
 turned the winner of that division for the season 1890-91. 
 But in 1891-92 the Midlands, under the captaincy 
 of J. H. Rogers, exhibited form indicative of such 
 marked progress, and excited such interest with the 
 public as to warrant the anticipation of a still further 
 growth of the increasing popularity of the game, even in 
 a district so devoted to the Association code. They 
 commenced the season by defeating Cheshire by 4 
 goals (eighteen points) to a try (two points). Following 
 this up by a victory over the Western Counties they 
 defeated Devon, Somerset, and Gloucester, in succession, 
 and were returned the winners in the South- Western 
 division. But these successes, though, most gratifying, 
 did not furnish so decisive a testimony to the advance in 
 play amongst Midland clubs as was evinced by the close 
 contests with the two great football Counties, Yorkshire 
 and Lancashire. True, the Midlands suffered defeat in 
 each match, but they made so good a fight and displayed 
 sucb excellent all-round form as to warrant their 
 enthusiasts in expecting a still further improvement in 
 the position they have now attained. Much of this 
 advance has been due to the Midland Counties' 
 Challenge Cup, which was instituted in the season 
 1881-82. During the eleven years of the competition 
 the cup has been won six times by Moseley, twice by 
 Burton, once by the Old Edwardians, and twice by 
 Coventry. The records of the final ties are as follows : — 
 
 March 14, 1882, at Coventry, Moseley beat Leamington by 3 goals and 
 
 3 tries to nil. 
 April 3, 1883, at Coventry, Burton beat Moseley by 2 goals to 1 goal and 
 
 2 tries. 
 
 March 22, 1884, at Rugby, Moseley beat Coventry by 1 dropped goal to 
 
 3 tries. 
 
 March 28, 1885, at Coventry, Moseley beat South Warwickshire Rovers 
 
 by 4 goals, 1 try to nil. 
 April 10, 1886, at Coventry, Moseley beat Rugby by 3 touch-downs 
 
 to nil. 
 F F 
 
MIDLAND COUNTIES TEAM 7'. YORKSHIRE: MOSELEY, 
 FEBRUARY, 10, 1892. 
 
 Yorkshire— 1 Goal 2 Tries (S Points). Midland Counties— nil. 
 
 W. A. Marrls. J. P. Ward. *- A/Sulley. W. P. Nichol. 
 
 H. Staunton. H. W. T. Patterson. E. R. Lycett. .-£A. H. Frith. A. Rotherham. 
 
 L. J. Percival. F. Evershed (Captain). J. H. Rogers. 
 
 A. Gorton. A. Rogers. W. Rice. 
 
 (From a Photograph by R. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 483 
 
 April 2, 1887, at Coventry, Moseley beat Rugby by 2 goals 1 try to nil. 
 April 7. 1888, at Rugby, Burton beat Coventry by 2 goals to nil (after 
 
 having played a drawn game the previous week). 
 March 23, 1889, at Coventry, Moseley beat Leicester by 2 goals to nil. 
 M.uvh 22, 1890, at Coventrv, Old Edwardiuns beat Burton bv 1 goal 
 
 to 1 try. 
 March 28, 1891, at Rugby, Coventry beat Leicester by 2 goals 2 tries 
 
 to ml, 
 April 2, 1892, at Leicester, Coventry beat Moseley by 2 goals 2 tries 
 
 (13 points) to nil. 
 
 2nd Team Cup (instituted 1890). 
 March 29, 1890, at Moseley, Rugby beat Coventry by 1 try to nil. 
 April 4, 1891, at Leamington, Coventry beat Rugby by 2 tries to nil. 
 April 9, 1892, at Moseley, Coventry beat Burton by 2 goals (9 points) 
 
 to 1 try (2 points). 
 
 Gloucester. 
 
 Gloucester County football has been dependent mainly 
 upon two clubs, viz., Clifton and Gloucester City, for the 
 supply of players. The Clifton Club was founded in 
 1872, and for several seasons in the early days of Rugby 
 football was a very strong organisation, being acknow- 
 ledged to be the strongest club in the South, outside the 
 London district, with the exception of the two Univer- 
 sities. In the season 1875-76, the Clifton Club supplied 
 both full-backs (J. D. Miller and E. J. Taylor), and two 
 forwards (J. A. Bush and M. Curtis), to the South team 
 that played at Whalley Range. Their motto might now 
 be " Quantum mutatus ab illo." Evidence of their pris- 
 tine influence on the game in Gloucestershire is furnished 
 by the fact that up to the close of the season 1889-90 
 the Clifton Club had supplied all the County captains. 
 
 But it is to the Gloucester Club that the County is most 
 indebted for the successful manner in which the County 
 engagements have been carried through. Founded in 1874, 
 this club has for many years played an important part in 
 the history of the County Union, so much so that during 
 the last few years the very existence of the Union has 
 depended upon the support of the City Club, and for 
 this reason its progress is a matter of interest in Glouces- 
 tershire football. In its early days the club was 
 exceedingly fortunate in possessing an admirable captain 
 in J. F. Brown, who for seven seasons held the post, 
 and under whom in 1882-83 the club was able to boast 
 of an unbeaten record. An almost equally brilliant 
 record was that of the following season, when H. J. 
 Boughton (now president of the County Union) was 
 captain, when of 20 matches played 18 were won. A 
 f f 2 
 
484 BUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 slight falling off was noticeable during the next few 
 seasons. This was due to the loss of many of the old 
 players, but in 1888-89, under the captaincy of T. Gr. Smith, 
 the club regained its high position, for out of a total of 
 23 matches, only 3 were lost, while the crack Welsh 
 clubs, Newport, Cardiff, and Swansea, were amongst 
 those defeated. The record of the season 1890-91, when 
 23 matches were won out of a total of 27 played, 2 being- 
 lost and 3 drawn, and the performances of the team 
 during the past season are the best proofs of the excel- 
 lence of the team now captained by T. Bagwell. 
 
 The Gloucestershire County Rugby Football Union 
 was formed at a meeting held at Gloucester in September, 
 1878, the clubs represented being Clifton, Gloucester, 
 Royal Agricultural College, Cirencester, Rockleage, 
 Stroud, and Cheltenham Wnite Cross. The first officers 
 and committee were : captain, J. I). Miller (Clifton) ; 
 hon. secretary and treasurer, J. H. Dunn (Clifton) ; com- 
 mittee, J. F. Brown (Gloucester), A. J. Denison(R. A. C), 
 M. Cartwright (Stroud), G. G. Prnen (Cheltenhan), T. R. 
 Pakenham (Cheltenham). 
 
 The Union owed its formation mainly to the efforts of 
 J. D. Miller, J. H. Dunn, and J. F. Brown ; while its 
 playing strength depended almost entirely on the Clifton 
 and Gloucester Clubs. The newly-formed Union dis- 
 played great vigour in its early days, and in the first 
 live seasons lost only 2 out of 17 fixtures in Inter-County 
 matches. Its merits were early recognised by the Rugby 
 Union Committee, and in 1880 J. 1). Miller was elected 
 to represent the West of England on the central 
 executive. 
 
 But the early successes were not followed by a con- 
 tinued effort, for the game gradually degenerated in the 
 Bristol division, and from 1883 to 1889 the Gloucester- 
 shire record was very poor and the outlook somewhat 
 gloomy. During that period, extending over six seasons, 
 only 10 Inter-County matches were played, and of these 
 6 were lost, 3 drawn, and only 1 won. With only one 
 first-class club in the County such variableness is easily 
 explainable. The strength of the Gloucester City team 
 is the estimate of the strength of the County team, and 
 success of the County is regulated by the success of the 
 Gloucester Club. Reverting to the doings of that club 
 as already recorded, it will be found that its palmy days 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 485 
 
 in the olden times culminated in the season 1882-83, and 
 so for that season the record of Gloucester County was 
 most favourable. As the City Club deteriorated so the 
 fortunes of the County Union declined, and as, again, the 
 City Club improved its record, so once more did victory 
 grace the efforts of the County fifteen, for in the seasons 
 1889-90, 1890-91, 1891-92, Gloucestershire lost two 
 matches only. Those seasons have been the period of the 
 revival of the strength of Gloucester Citv, and the figures 
 quoted prove most conclusively that the City Club has 
 been the main-stay of the Union for years, and that 
 without its support the Avhole scheme must have 
 collapsed. It has been no uncommon occurrence to find 
 the City Club represented in the County fifteen by twelve 
 or thirteen players, including all the backs. 
 
 It should always be remembered in estimating the 
 strength of this Union that where, through illness or 
 accident, any of the chosen team cannot play, it is 
 almost impossible to get any adequate substitute, except 
 perhaps among the forwards. A notable instance of this 
 occurred in 1891, in the match v. Lancashire, when 
 A. F. Hughes, the Gloucester full-back, had to play for 
 the County, although in extreme ill-health. If a substi- 
 tute is now needed outside the scrummagers he has 
 usually to be taken from the City second fifteen. 
 
 Somerset, Devonshire, and the Midland Counties have 
 been the regular opponents of Gloucestershire, and those 
 Unions now form the South- Western group in the 
 Championship scheme. In the first year of the County 
 Championship (1890-91) Gloucestershire were the winners 
 in the South- Western group ; but in the match against 
 Lancashire in the second series they met with a crushing 
 defeat, being vanquished by the score of 4 goals and 2 
 tries to nil. In the past season they succumbed to what 
 one of their officials designates " the huge combination 
 entitled the Midland Counties." Much of this later 
 success has been due to the efforts of H. V. Page, the 
 old Oxford University forward, now captain of the 
 Gloucester City Club. 
 
 At the end of the season 1890-91, a successful 
 attempt was made to improve the standing of the Union, 
 the prime mover in the matter being H. J. Bough ton 
 (Gloucester), the present president" of the Union. New 
 rules were drawn up, and all clubs of any note were 
 
486 
 
 MUGBY FOOTBALL.* 
 
 General Meeting 
 
 HIATT C. BAKER. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Elliott and Fry, 
 
 Baker Street, W.) 
 
 invited to join. The new constitution was ratified at a 
 held in November, 1891. The Union 
 now consists of ten clubs, viz., 
 Gloucester, Clifton, Royal 
 Agricultural College, Ciren- 
 cester, Bristol, Cheltenham, 
 Lydney, Sharpness, Dursley, 
 Stroud, and Gordon Wan- 
 derers (Gloucester). The 
 weakness of the Union con- 
 sists in the paucity of first- 
 class clubs, for of the above- 
 mentioned, only Gloucester 
 can be classed in the first 
 rank. This is most conclu- 
 sively shown by the fact that 
 last season the Gloucester 
 City second team beat the 
 first teams of Bristol and 
 Clifton. But with the Union 
 now on a better footing, increased interest is being 
 manifested by the smaller clubs, and better things may be 
 expected ; while the great improvement shown this year 
 by the Bristol team gives great encouragement to all 
 well-wishers of Rugby foot- 
 ball in Gloucestershire, and 
 may be a sign of increasing 
 vigour and interest in that 
 part of the County. 
 
 Of Gloucestershire play- 
 ers, J. A. Bush, W. O. 
 Moberly, and H. C. Baker 
 played for England, whilst 
 S. H. Nicholls, J. Watts, and 
 G. Rowles are Welsh Inter- 
 nationals, H. L. Evans 
 (Clifton) and H. F. Chambers 
 (Cheltenham) have worn the 
 Scotch Jersey. James Arthur 
 Bush was educated at Clifton 
 College, and afterwards 
 played with the Clifton Club, 
 
 for which he often figured at three-quarters, though his 
 place was forward. He was a tremendously strong worker 
 
 J. D. MILLER. 
 
 (From a Photograph by Villiera and 
 
 Quick, Bristol.) 
 
GLOUCESTER COUNTY TEAM V. LANCASHIRE: MANCHESTER, 
 MARCH 14, 1891. 
 
 Lancashire— 4 Goals 2 Tries (14 Points). Gloucestershire— mi.. 
 (From <> Photograph by It. T. Watson, Hull.) 
 
488 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 and runner, and his tackling was terrific. He journeyed 
 rive times to London to play in small matches before being 
 selected to play for England, so difficult was it in those 
 days for a provincial player to gain the favourable notice 
 of the selecting body. Bush played for England against 
 Scotland in 1872, 1874, 1875, 1870, and against Ireland 
 in 1875. In 1873 he was in Australia playing cricket with 
 W. G. Grace's team. 
 
 W. 0. Moberly was educated at Rugby and Oxford. 
 He alwa}^s played three-quarter. In it was picked as a full- 
 back for England. He was a clever runner, could drop 
 with either foot, and was a good shot at goal. 
 
 Hiatt C. Baker was a huge forward, doing a power ol 
 work in the scrummage, and took the ball excellently 
 out of touch. A very strong runner, he led a pack of 
 forwards admirably by direction and example. He 
 played against Wales in 1887. 
 
 J. D. Miller was somewhat of Lockwood's build, a 
 very short but excellent full-back. Very long and 
 certain kick, and could stand any amount of wear and 
 tear. He was the first representative of the Western 
 Counties on the Rugby Union Committee. 
 
 Somerset. 
 
 Somerset County matches date back as far as the year 
 1875-76, but the present organisation was not inaugu- 
 rated till the year 1881-82. The first match was played 
 against Devon in the season of 1875-76, when Willmott, 
 of Weston, acted as captain. The match was won by 
 Devon, the score being 1 try. As a proof of the 
 slight beginning of the County organisation, it may be 
 mentioned that the " gate " taken at the matches during 
 the first season amounted to £5 3s. 9d. ; that the travel- 
 ling expenses paid out of the County funds were 
 14s. 3d., and that the total income from all sources 
 was £22 5s. Id. 
 
 Of the second season there appears to be no record. 
 In the third season, 1877-78, the late H. Fox acted as 
 captain and hon. secretary. During this season the 
 names of H. Yassall and H. G. Fuller appear in the 
 teams. 
 
 In 1880-81, H. Fox was succeeded in the posts of 
 

 SOMERSET TEAM J\ YORKSHIRE: BRADFOR] 
 JANUARY 24, 1892. 
 Yorkshire- 2 Goals 1 Try (7 Points). Somkkskt— mi.. 
 (From a Photograph hy 11. T. Watton, Hull.) 
 
 C^LIFOR^; 
 
490 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 hon. secretary and hon. treasurer by A. A. Michell, of 
 Bridgwater, under whose guidance the present organisa- 
 tion was started. At present the following clubs are 
 members of the Somerset Union, viz. : — Bath, Bridg- 
 water, Taunton, Wellington, Weston, Wiveliscombe, 
 Yeovil, Wells, Highbridge, Cheddar Valley, and Crew- 
 kerne. In 1883-84 F. H. Fox was elected hon. 
 secretary and treasurer. He retired in 1891, and was 
 succeeded by his brother, G. Fox. 
 
 The claims of the Western Counties to representation 
 on the Central Executive were early admitted, and in 
 1882-83 J. D. Miller, of Clifton, was elected a member of 
 the Rugby Union Committee. He continued to serve 
 until the season 1886, when H. Fox, of Wellington, 
 was appointed. On the melancholy death of the latter 
 in the Caucasus in 1888, he was succeeded by his cousin, 
 F. H. Fox, also of Wellington, who still represents his 
 County and the West of England. 
 
 The earlier matches were played against the neigh- 
 bouring Counties of Gloucester and Devon, and it was not 
 till the formation of the County Union in 1881-82 that 
 matches were arranged with Counties outside the 
 western district. In that year Middlesex was en- 
 countered, and the West-countrymen had the satisfac- 
 tion of defeating the powerful London combination by 
 2 goals and a try to a goal. Indeed, the recently 
 established Union had the satisfaction of winning all 
 the County matches in that season, defeating Devonshire, 
 Middlesex, and Gloucestershire. Matches were also 
 arranged with the London Hospitals, and the Uni- 
 versities of Oxford and Cambridge. The first of the 
 series was won, but against both Oxford and Cambridge 
 defeats were incurred. At that period both L^niversities 
 were exceptionally strong, and would have been doughty 
 opponents for even the crack County of the season — 
 viz., Lancashire. Hence defeat by the Dark and Light 
 Blues respectively was no discredit to the rising County. 
 
 The four following seasons contained nothing eventful, 
 the matches, with the exception of a solitary fixture with 
 Blackheath, consisting simply of fixtures with the neigh- 
 bouring Counties of Devon and Gloucester. Of these 
 matches Somerset won all three against Devon, and beat 
 Gloucester twice, suffering defeat once from that County. 
 In the season 1886-87, Somerset began to take a leading 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. M 
 
 position among the Counties, and by her achievements 
 in that and the two following seasons established her 
 claims to rank with Middlesex, Lancashire, and York- 
 shire as the four leading Counties in the football 
 world. 
 
 The season began in a startling fashion. Devon were 
 met and completely routed by the crushing score of 
 goals and 6 tries to nil. Curiously, exactly the same 
 score was made in the same match in the following 
 year, and this extraordinary coincidence may well rank 
 among the curiosities of football. Lancashire were 
 then defeated by 1 goal and 2 tries to 3 tries. A 
 defeat w r as incurred in the Yorkshire match, and the 
 match with Gloucester was drawn. This progress was due 
 partly to the energetic management of the committee, 
 and to the inclusion in the teams of many players much 
 above the average. 
 
 In 1887-8 Somerset ventured upon a much enlarged 
 programme, and this season marks an epoch in the 
 history of Somerset football. The two western Counties 
 were defeated in a ridiculously easy fashion, for neither 
 Gloucester nor Devon scored a point against the 
 Somerset men, who ran up a large score on each 
 match, Gloucester being defeated by 2 goals and 
 4 tries to nil, whilst Devon had the mortification 
 of seeing the gigantic score of 6 goals and 6 tries 
 of the previous season again recorded. Lancashire 
 just pulled oft' the match by 1 goal to 1 try, but 
 Yorkshire were completely overthrown at Weston-super- 
 Mare. Superior forward play, aided by the speed of Glass, 
 Ashford, and Smith at three-quarters, completely beat 
 the Yorkshiremen, who on the day were decidedly the 
 inferior team. This victory revealed the merit of the 
 West-countrymen, and clearly established the calibre of 
 their style, exhibiting their players as good individually 
 and also as united in combination. So favourably were 
 the Rugby Committee impressed by the play of the 
 Somerset team that no less than seven Somerset men 
 were chosen for the South team in the second 
 North and South match, viz., B. W. L. Ashford, 
 S. C. Smith (selected but could not play), and R. A. 
 Glass, three-quarter backs, F. H. Fox, half-back, 
 and P. F. Hancock, S. M. J. Woods, and R. M. Parsons, 
 forwards. The result was that the South won by a 
 
492 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 goal and a try to a try, the previous match having been 
 drawn, 1 try each. The match will long be remem- 
 bered for the wonderful play of F. H. Fox. If it be 
 a merit in a half-back to be always in possession of the 
 ball then Fox can claim that merit in the highest 
 degree, for it seemed as if he, and he alone, was the 
 player to get possession. For quickness and snapping 
 of the ball his play in this match has never been 
 surpassed. With Allan Rotherham as his companion, 
 and opposed by F. Bonsor, of Bradford, and J. Mills, of 
 Swinton, the little Somerset man shone out con- 
 spicuously for the ubiquity by which he seemed always 
 to be able to obtain possession of the ball. His play was 
 the feature of the match. 
 
 In addition to their County fixtures the Somerset 
 men also paid a visit to London to meet the two crack 
 clubs, Blackheath and London-Scottish. They lost to 
 Blackheath by the narrow margin of a try to nil, but 
 defeated the London- Scottish by the large score of 3 
 goals and 1 try to nil. So remarkable a performance 
 was followed by the honour of the invitation to take 
 part in the Charity Festival at the Oval, the match being 
 arranged with Middlesex. The West-countrymen gave 
 a grand exhibition of football and were defeated by the 
 narrow margin of a try, the actual score being Middlesex 
 1 goal and 2 tries to Somerset's 1 goal and 1 try. 
 Somerset lost a forward early in the second half, after 
 which Middlesex scored twice. Their goal was a 
 penalty one. 
 
 The season of 1888-89 saw a slight diminution in the 
 strength of Somerset. Devon and Gloucester were again 
 defeated, Devon by the substantial score of 4 goals 
 and 3 tries to nil; but Gloucester made a better 
 fight, being defeated by a goal only, and thus gave 
 promise of the reversal of the tables at an early date. 
 Lancashire were defeated at Manchester by a goal to 
 nothing, but at Wakefield the Yorkshiremen completely 
 outplayed Somerset, scoring 2 goals and 3 tries to 
 a try. Lock wood for Yorkshire was in very fine form, 
 and to him more than any other player did Somerset 
 owe her defeat. Blackheath, twice, and London-Scottish 
 were also met, with the result of two defeats and one 
 victory. The New Zealandershadno difficulty in polishing 
 off a weak team of the County by scoring 4 goals and 5 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 493 
 
 tries to a goal and a try. Reviewing this season, it was 
 evident that though the Somerset record was excellent 
 there were not wanting signs that the County team Was 
 retrograding. These prognostications were borne out by 
 the results of the succeeding season, when with live lost 
 games and two drawn Somerset could not lay claim to 
 a single victory. Three of the matches were, however, 
 lost by narrow margins. Blackheath succeeded in win- 
 ning by 1 goal to a try, whilst Gloucester and York- 
 shire, respectively, scored 1 try to nil. The Yorkshire 
 match was a very close contest, and will be memorable 
 for the successful efforts of the Somerset Executive to 
 cope with the frost and thus to render the ground at 
 Wellington lit for play. 
 
 In 1890-91, the County Championship scheme was 
 formally adopted, and it was generally anticipated that 
 Somersetshire would be returned as group winner in the 
 South- Western division. Though the Somerset men 
 were successful in defeating Middlesex and Devon, they 
 were doomed to be disappointed, and being defeated by 
 Gloucester, after having played a drawn game, were 
 compelled to relinquish the honour of champion of the 
 South-west — a position which they had held for several 
 seasons. 
 
 The characteristic of Somerset football is the 
 thorough sportsmanship of the followers of the game. 
 No County, considering the few clubs in membership 
 with the Union, and the scattered nature of the popula- 
 tion, combined with the difficulty of railway communi- 
 cation, has attained so high a position in the football 
 world. The performances against Yorkshire, Middlesex, 
 and Lancashire have affixed the hall stamp of merit on 
 the teams playing in the seasons of 1886-7-8-9. Eager 
 to fulfil their engagements, they have journeyed to 
 Lancashire, Yorkshire, and London, to keep their fixtures 
 with those distant centres, and have invariably been 
 able to place a representative team in the field. Such 
 enthusiasm and zeal on behalf of County football are in 
 strong contrast with the apathy and languor of the 
 Southern counties, in the Metropolitan district. Much 
 of , the enthusiasm displayed, and the punctuality 
 exhibited in the fulfilment of engagements entered 
 upon, are due to the energy and business manage- 
 ment of their admirable secretary, F. H. Fox, who, in 
 
F. H. FOX. 
 
 (From a Photograph i>h Van iter weyde, 
 Regent .Street, II'. | 
 
 H. FOX. 
 
 (From a Photograph b.n Man'i and Fox, 
 Piccadilly.) 
 
 S. M. J. WOODS. 
 {From a Photograph by K. Htnekbu d- Co.. Brighton. 
 
 F. E. HANCOCK. 
 
 (From a Photograph b>i W. D. Dighton, 
 Cardiff.) 
 
 P. F. HANCOCK. 
 
 (From a Photograph by the Stereoscopic 
 
 Company, Begem Street, W.) 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 495 
 
 addition to having rendered valuable service in the 
 field, has been a model official. 
 
 At the present time, no less than three Somerset 
 players have seats upon the Rugby Union Committee. 
 Harry Vassall, the famous Oxford captain, and possibly 
 the best football general that ever appeared on the 
 field of play, assisted Somerset County on several 
 occasions. He last played for the County v. Devon, 
 in 1880-81, when he obtained the only 3 tries 
 scored by Somerset. The West-country is famed for 
 its big men, but even in a County which can boast of 
 its "John Ridd," the mighty Vassall was an object 
 of interest and wonder, and in his passage to and from the 
 tield of play he used to be followed by a small crowd of 
 boys, intent on gazing on the massive limbs of the Ajax 
 of the football field. Another prominent Somerset 
 man — prominent both in the field" of play and in the 
 council chamber of the Union — is H. G. Fuller, 
 of Bath, and now the representative of Cambridge 
 University on the Executive. Fuller was captain of 
 the team in 1875 and 1876. He first played for Somerset in 
 1877-78, and in 1878-79 obtained his blue at Cambridge 
 as half-back, but in 1879-80 he played forward for his 
 'Varsity. He took part in the North v. South match 
 in 1881-82, and obtained his England cap in 1881-82, 
 appearing against Ireland and Scotland. In the season 
 1882-83, he played in all three International matches, 
 and also against Wales in 1883-84. In that year he left 
 England and did not return till 1886, when he continued 
 playing for Somerset for two or three years. He was a 
 very fine forward, possessing both pace and weight ; but 
 in his latter years was inclined to play wing forward. 
 His bald head was a familiar object in the football field, 
 and the writer can remember overhearing a spectator 
 remark : " How well that old gentleman does play ! " 
 It may be that such prominence was distasteful to 
 the sensitive mind of the stalwart Cantab, or that 
 his modesty prompted him to screen himself from 
 public view, and so he invented and patented an 
 " ear-cap." 
 
 F. H. Fox is the last of the trio of committee- 
 men. He succeeded his cousin, the late H. Fox, 
 in 1888. He captained England against Scotland in 
 1890. 
 
496 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Besides the above, the following Somerset men have 
 gained International honours, viz. : — F. E. Hancock 
 (Wales), P. F. Hancock, S. M. J. Woods, and E. L. 
 Strong. S. M. J. Woods, as a forward, has a style pecu 
 liarly his own. If given a " roving commission," Woods 
 is one of the most dangerous of forwards. His strength, 
 pace, and dash cause his individual play to be of a most 
 determined character, and though he cannot be termed 
 a scrummager, he has been selected for England on 
 account of the extraordinary pieces of play he is con- 
 tinually bringing off. His tackling is wonderfully sure 
 and exceedingly severe, and in International matches, 
 notably against Wales in 1891 and against Scotland in 
 1890 and 1892, he has frequently been brought out as 
 an extra three-quarter to strengthen the defence when 
 England have been pressed on their goal-line. His 
 cricket abilities are well known, and he enjoys, with A. 
 N. Hornby and A. E. Stoddart, the fame of being equally 
 prominent at cricket and football. His best individual 
 performances in big matches have been for Somerset 
 against Yorkshire in 1892 ; and for England against 
 Wales in 1891 ; against Scotland in 1892 ; and for the 
 Rest of England v. Yorkshire in the same year. 
 E. L. Strong will best be known as a member of 
 the " Vassall Oxford team, and his connection with 
 Somerset was limited to playing against Gloucestershire 
 in 1881-82. His football career is more particularly 
 connected Avith Oxford football. But the Hancocks 
 are essentially Somerset men, and it is with Somer- 
 set particularly that they are known in football 
 circles. 
 
 P. F. Hancock, known familiarly as the " Baby," is one 
 of a family of ten brothers, of whom five have played for 
 Somerset County. He was never at any public school, and 
 learnt his football in playing for the local club of Wivelis- 
 combe, Avhich through the exertions of the Hancock 
 brothers was for many years about the strongest in Somer- 
 set. He and his brothers used to play football constantly 
 in a large garden, where they had rare keen games, though 
 perhaps not very scientific. He has played for Somerset 
 regularly from 1882-92. He has also appeared in the 
 ranks of the Blackheath Club, beginning in 1884, but 
 has not been able to play regularly in consequence of 
 the distance. In order to play with the great Kent Club, 
 
COUNTY FOOTBALL. 497 
 
 Hancock frequently travelled from Somerset to London 
 and back (170 miles each way) in the day, and has been 
 known to walk home a distance of ten miles after the 
 double journey. He obtained the England cap in 1886-87, 
 appearing against Wales and Ireland. He formed one 
 of the Rest of England team against Yorkshire in 1889 
 and again in 1890, in which last year he also played 
 against Wales at Dewsbury. He was, too, one of the 
 team that took part in the late tour to the Cape. As a 
 forward, though not very fast, he is a clever dribbler, and 
 difficult to stop. His height and weight make him a 
 most useful man in the line-out. Woe betide the man 
 he falls on ; but, with all his weight and strength, he is 
 a most gentlemanly player, without the slightest sus- 
 picion of roughness. Unlike most big men, he can 
 last through a long and hard-fought match, being 
 always in good condition, owing principally to the 
 constant exercise taken in stag-hunting, and in follow- 
 ing the beagles. 
 
 F. E. Hancock, an elder brother of P. F., first 
 played for Somerset as a forward, in 1879, but soon 
 afterwards took the position of three-quarter-back, 
 and was captain of the county for two seasons. 
 He went to Cardiff in 1883, and was elected cap- 
 tain of the Cardiff Club in 1885. He was the main 
 instrument in introducing the four three-quarter system 
 into Wales, and under his leadership the Cardiff team 
 were almost invincible. He was a brilliant runner, 
 wonderful dodger, and an excellent captain. He 
 gained his Welsh cap playing against Ireland in 
 1884, against England and Scotland in 1885, and 
 also played in 1886. He is best known in connec- 
 tion with Welsh football. 
 
 In connection with the Hancock brotherhood, it may 
 be remarked that not only have five Hancocks played 
 for the county (all brothers), but that three Smiths 
 (brothers), also three Glasses (all brothers), and three 
 Foxes (two brothers and a cousin), have appeared in the 
 county teams. Another remarkable fact is the number 
 of years that several of the members of the team have 
 played for the county. This is a wonderful testimony 
 to the healthy, vigorous effect of the quiet life and the 
 country air of the West. But may there not from it be 
 deduced the probable cause of the decline in the county 
 
 G G 
 
498 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 fortunes ? May it not be that, now the old hands are de- 
 clining in their skill, there is not being found the young 
 blood to take their places ? But, whatever may be the 
 cause of the present cloud of ill-success that has 
 descended upon Somerset football, it is to be hoped that 
 a speedy resuscitation may take place, and that the 
 county may regain that position in the football world 
 which the sportsmanship and energy of its executive 
 entitle it to hold. 
 
CHAPTEE XXIV. 
 
 FOREIGN TOURS. 
 
 IN most branches of sport it is the fashion nowadays to 
 indulge in tours in foreign countries, and the first step 
 in this direction as regards Rugby football was taken by 
 Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury in the spring and summer 
 of 1888. During the previous winter those two 
 cricketers had been managers of a cricket team in 
 Australia, and whilst there conceived the idea of taking 
 an English Rugby football team to play matches in the 
 Southern Colonies. They approached the Committee of 
 the Rugby Union for their sanction and patronage. The 
 Committee, true to the high traditions of sport that have 
 always guided their deliberations, declined to award 
 their patronage to a team which was manifestly being 
 organised and conducted for the benefit of individual 
 promoters, and which was not under the control and 
 management of some recognised athletic body. At the 
 same time they saw no reason to interfere with the 
 project as long as the promoters and players did not 
 infringe the principles of amateurism, which had been so 
 firmly adhered to by the Rugby Union. This attitude 
 of laissez faire had a material influence upon the com- 
 
 Eosition of the team, which, though fairly strong, would 
 ave been materially strengthened by the presence of 
 more International players had the tour been under the 
 auspices of the Rugby Union Committee. As it was, 
 Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury secured the services of 
 twenty players, all, with one exception, hailing from the 
 North of England, and including four International 
 players, four who had gained the distinction of playing 
 in the North and South matches, and eight who had 
 represented their respective counties. As G. Brann, 
 A. E. Stoddart, and C. A. Smith, who were already in 
 G G 2 
 
500 BUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 Australia with the cricket team, were also available, the 
 combination was sufficiently powerful to give the 
 Colonials a fair idea of the football strength of the 
 Mother Country, and, as the results of the tour testify, 
 the achievements of the players were such as to worthily 
 uphold the honour of England, for in the thirty-five 
 matches played under Rugby rules, twenty-seven were 
 won, six drawn, and only two lost. One objectionable 
 feature of the tour was the arrangement of matches 
 under Victorian rules. This was done with a view of 
 exhibiting the English players in those districts where 
 the Victorian game was played, and thus stamped the 
 tour as an exhibition, and as a means of making money 
 for the promoters rather than as the visit of an English 
 International team desirous of measuring its strength 
 against fellow-sportsmen in Australia and New Zealand. 
 Had the tour been under the management of the Rugby 
 Union no matches under alien rules would have been 
 arranged or permitted. Under Victorian rules eighteen 
 matches were played, of which eleven were lost, one 
 drawn, and six won — a fairly satisfactory result, consider- 
 ing that the Englishmen were entirely strange to the 
 rules, and especially nonplussed by their ignorance of 
 the tricky practices and combination so essential to 
 success in the Victorian Code. The hero of the tour 
 was A. E. Stoddart, who, picking up the Victorian game 
 with wonderful rapidity, was an object of wonder to the 
 Colonials by his marvellous exhibition of skill in the 
 games under both codes. Harry Eagles, of Salford, 
 earned the distinction of being the only member of the 
 team who played in every match. A sad gloom was 
 cast upon the tour by the death of R. L. Seddon, the 
 captain of the team, who was drowned whilst sculling 
 on the River Hunter, at Maitland. His place as captain 
 was filled for the remainder of the tour by A. E. 
 Stoddart. Everywhere the Englishmen were received 
 with kindness and hospitality, and all thoroughly 
 enjoyed the tour. They met the strongest teams in New 
 Zealand, and their visit materially improved the football 
 in the Colonies ; and the lessons learnt in passing and 
 other tactics caused them to experience considerable 
 difficulty in winning the later fixtures. They left Eng- 
 land March 8th, 1888, and arrived home on November 
 11th of the same year. 
 
SHAW AND SHREWBURY'S AUSTRALIAN TEAM, 
 JUNE 25, 1888. 
 
502 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The tour will be ever memorable for the disqualifica- 
 tion of J. P. Clowes, of Halifax, who, previous to the 
 sailing of the team, was declared to be a professional by 
 the Committee of the Rugby Union — a decision after- 
 wards endorsed at a special general meeting convened at 
 the instance of Captain Bell, of the Halifax Club, to 
 obtain a reversal or remission of the sentence. As the 
 case is remarkable as disclosing the agreement made 
 between Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury and the members 
 of the team, it may not be out of place to refer to it 
 in detail. 
 
 The Yorkshire Cup competition is answerable for this 
 exposure of professionalism, as it has also been for many 
 others. The match Dewsbury v. Halifax at Dewsbury, 
 on March 3rd, 1888, was the occasion leading to the 
 arraignment of Clowes. Mr. Turner, the agent in Eng- 
 land of Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury, had approached 
 Lockwood, Stuart, and Stadden, of the Dewsbury 
 Club. Lockwood and Stuart had signed agreements to 
 go, and a similar agreement had been sent to Stadden. 
 Lockwood afterwards withdrew from his agreement, and 
 Stadden placed the agreement forwarded to him in the 
 hands of the Dewsbury officials, who were now in a 
 position to lay a trap for the Halifax Club. They had 
 not forgotten the Jones incident in 1883, when Halifax 
 had successfully appealed, and caused the match to be 
 replayed ; and the opportunity of returning a Roland for 
 an Oliver was not allowed to pass by. Dewsbury left 
 Stuart out of their team, and entered the contest in the 
 delightful position of standing upon velvet. They might 
 win, but they could not lose. Fortunately for the 
 interests of the Rugby game Dewsbury lost the match ; 
 they then disclosed the negotiations that had passed 
 between Messrs. Turner and Stadden. Stuart, like 
 Stadden, was a Welshman, and had received £15 from 
 Mr. Turner for his outfit and preliminary expenses. 
 This he had told to Stadden, and so the Dewsbury Club 
 charged Clowes with having received the same sum for 
 the same purposes. Clowes acknowledged in an open 
 manly manner that such was the case, and he admitted 
 having spent the money in providing himself with 
 clothes and other articles necessary for the trip. The 
 Yorkshire Committee found : " 1. That J. P. Clowes, of 
 the Halifax Club, having received £15 from Mr. Turner 
 
FOREIGN TOURS. 503 
 
 of Nottingham for an outfit in connection with a football 
 tour in Australia, has thereby received money considera- 
 tion for playing football, and, in the opinion of this com- 
 mittee, is a professional football player according to the 
 Union rules as to professionalism adopted in October, 
 1886. 2. That the Halifax Club have played Clowes in 
 ignorance of his receipt of this money, and the committee 
 therefore order that the match be replayed, on Wednes- 
 day, on the Bradford ground." It may be interesting to 
 remark that Halifax won the match, and were eventually 
 the winners of the Cup for that season. 
 
 The Yorkshire Committee then communicated with 
 the Committee of the Rugby Union, and a special meet- 
 ing of the latter was held at Leeds on Wednesday 
 March 7th, when the following resolution was adopted : — 
 " The Rugby Football Union has decided, on the evidence 
 before them, that J. P. Clowes is a professional within 
 the meaning of their laws. On the same evidence they 
 have formed a very strong opinion that others composing 
 the Australian team have also infringed those laws, and 
 they will require from them such explanation as they may 
 think fit on their return to England." On the return of 
 the team each player was required to make an affidavit 
 that he had received no pecuniary benefit from the 
 tour, and then the matter ended. 
 
 The power and influence of the Rugby Union were 
 never more strongly exemplified than in the action of 
 Messrs. Shaw and Shrewsbury in not playing Clowes in 
 Australia. They feared that his presence in the team 
 might lead to the Unions in the Colonies, affiliated to 
 the Rugby Union, declining to play matches with their 
 team, and also that the mere fact of Clowes playing 
 might disqualify the other members on their return. 
 
 The Team. 
 Backs : J. T. Haslam (Batley, Yorkshire, and North) ; A. Paul 
 (Swinton). Three-quarter Backs : H. C. Speakman (Runcorn, Cheshire) ; 
 H. Brooks (Edinburgh University, Durham) ; J. Anderton (Salford, 
 North) ; A. E. Stoddart (Blackheath, Middlesex, England). Half -Backs : 
 W. Bumby (Swinton, Lancashire) ; J. Nolan (Rochdale Hornets, Lanca- 
 shire) ; W. Burnett (Hawick). Forwards : C. Mathers (Bramley, York- 
 shire, North) ; S. Williams (Salford, Lancashire, North) ; T. Banks 
 (Swinton, Lancashire) ; R. L. Seddon (Swinton, Lancashire, England) ; 
 H. Eagles (Swinton, Lancashire, England) ; A. J. Stuart (Dewsbury, 
 Yorkshire) ; W. H. Thomas (Cambridge University, Wales) ; J. P. Clowes 
 (Halifax, Yorkshire) ; T. Kent (Salford, Lancashire, Englandl ; A. J. 
 Penketh (Douglas, Isle of Man) ; R. Burnett (Hawick) ; A. J. Laing 
 (Hawick); J. Smith (Edinburgh University), Umpire. 
 
504 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The New Zealand Native Football Team. 
 
 A noteworthy feature of the season 1888-9 was the 
 visit of a team from New Zealand, composed of colonists, 
 half-castes, and Maoris. Taking the latter title, it was 
 generally designated during the tour as the " Maori " 
 team, though the legitimate appellation was that of 
 " The New Zealand Native Football Representatives." 
 Ere quitting New Zealand, the team received the 
 sanction and support of the Rugby Union, the list of 
 fixtures being arranged for them by G. Rowland 
 Hill. The "boys," as J. R. Scott almost invariably 
 called them, were under the management and control 
 of J. R. Scott and T. Eyton, the former gentleman 
 taking the more prominent part in the guidance of the 
 team, and to his energy and enthusiasm the team owe 
 a great share of the success and popularity they attained 
 during their stay in England. Commencing against 
 Surrey on October 3rd, and playing the concluding 
 match against the Southern Counties at Leyton on 
 March 27th, they contrived in the space of twenty-five 
 weeks to play no less than seventy-four matches, of 
 which they won forty-nine, drew five, and lost twenty 
 — a truly satisfactory result, considering the hard work 
 entailed upon the team through the extraordinary 
 number of matches, and the quality of some of the 
 teams opposed to them. The record would probably 
 have been more largely in their favour had they con- 
 tented themselves with playing fewer matches, but the 
 expenses connected with the tour were so great that it 
 was absolutely necessary for them to play extra matches 
 in order to obtain the necessary funds to enable the tour 
 to be a financial success. That the tour was carried out 
 on strictly amateur lines may be accepted from the fact 
 that the Rugby Union practically had control of the 
 finances, for previously to the commencement of the 
 matches G. R. Hill, instructed by the committee, 
 required an undertaking that the accounts should be 
 submitted to the Rugby Union if so desired. 
 
 It is to be regretted that in 1891 Keogh, the half- 
 back, was declared to be a professional by the New 
 Zealand Unions. In the early matches the New 
 Zealanders appeared on the field in their native mats 
 and headdresses, and uttered their well-known cry 
 
NEW ZEALAND NATIVE FOOTBALL TEAM, 1888-1889. 
 (From a Photograph by H. A. Chapman, 235, High Street, Swansea.) 
 
506 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 of "Ake, ake, kia, kaha " (" For ever be strong and bold " ) ; 
 and undoubtedly curiosity had much to do with the 
 attendance at the games. Later, when the real merit of 
 their play was recognised, they discarded these adver- 
 tising spectacles, and depended upon their genuine ex- 
 hibition of football to attract spectators. At first their 
 strength and scrummaging powers were the most 
 noticeable features, but as the tour proceeded they 
 improved in their play, and especially in passing. 
 Their backs were strong and speedy, and in E. 
 McCausland they had a most reliable place-kick, whilst 
 Keogh at half-back was quite first-class. They adopted 
 the system of eight forwards and three half-backs, and 
 rarely did their eight stalwart forwards fail to hold their 
 own against their opponents. 
 
 Their most noticeable victories were against Ireland, 
 Swansea, Newport, Yorkshire (2nd team), Gloucester- 
 shire, Somersetshire, Blackheath, Halifax, and Man- 
 chester, whilst they suffered their most severe defeats 
 from Middlesex, Halifax, and Yorkshire. The games 
 with Hull, Wakefield, Swinton, Cardiff, Bradford, and 
 Hudderslield were very closely contested. Of the three 
 International matches, they won one — against Ireland 
 (4 goals 1 try to a goal and a try) — and lost to Wales 
 and England. For the latter match they had specially 
 reserved themselves ; and though defeated by a goal and 
 four tries to nothing, the score does not give evidence 
 of the gallant fight they made, nor how for some time 
 they threatened to lower the colours of the England 
 team. In this gallant attempt they would have received 
 the chivalrous recognition of all English sportsmen had 
 they not, through some of their players leaving the field, 
 marred their excellent play by a most childish and 
 unsportsmanlike protest against the decision of the 
 referee, G. Rowland Hill. The Rugby Union at once 
 showed their opinion of this conduct by requiring an 
 apology. This step was, as may well be imagined, most 
 distasteful to the Union, but the principles of the game 
 have always been of the first importance in the minds 
 of the Union Committee. It might seem ungracious to 
 treat visitors in this manner, especially as a prohibition 
 of the Union meant a collapse of the tour, but the funda- 
 mental principles underlying the office of the referee, viz., 
 that his decision on matters of fact are indisputable, and 
 
FOREIGN TOURS. 507 
 
 that his person is inviolable from either violence or 
 insult, have been upheld consistently by the committee. 
 
 The majority of the matches were played in the 
 North of England, and principally in Yorkshire and 
 Lancashire, where the players were more enthusiastically 
 welcomed by the followers of the game, and where the 
 receipts at the matches were considerably higher than 
 in other parts of the country. By making Manchester 
 and Leeds their headquarters for a lengthened period, 
 they were enabled to play many matches without having 
 to expend great sums in travelling expenses. 
 
 A tendency to rough play, and the objectionable 
 practice, indulged in by certain players, of cavilling at 
 the decisions of the referees (ana in this their captain, 
 Joe Warbrick, set a very bad example to the team), were 
 the only features to mar a most successful tour. Their 
 visit was thoroughly enjoyed and appreciated by the 
 football-loving population of the North. The South- 
 erners were not so appreciative of the style of play and 
 manners of the Natives. Undoubtedly they were a 
 strong combination, and their wonderful physique was a 
 great factor in their many victories, and in the success- 
 ful manner in which they went through the most 
 numerous list of matches ever undertaken by a single 
 team. 
 
 New Zealand Team. 
 
 Backs : J. A. Warbrick (Captain) (list. 121b.), County Hawke's Bay ; 
 W. Warbrick (I2st. 31b.), Matata ; D. Gage (list.), Poneke, Wellington ; 
 E. M'Causland (list.), Gordon, Auckland; C. Madigan (12st. 21b.), 
 Grafton, Auckland ; W. Wynyard (list. 41b.), North Shore ; F. Warbrick 
 (list, 31b.), County Hawke's Bay. Half-Backs : P. Keogh (list. 41b.); 
 C. Goldsmith; W. Elliott (list. 121b.), Grafton, Auckland; Ihimaira 
 (" Smiler "), (13st. 131b.), County Hawke's Bay ; G. Wynyard (12st. 101b.), 
 North Shore. Forwards : J." R. Ellison (12st. 31b.), Poneke, Wel- 
 lington ; R. Maynard (12st. 91b.), North Shore ; W.Anderson (12st. 21b.), 
 Thames; Taare (list. 101b.), County Hawke's Bav ; H. Lee (13st. 111b.), 
 Riverton; A.Webster (13st. 121b.), Hokianga; R. Taiaroa (list. 101b.), 
 Dunedin; W. Karauria (12st. 131b.), County Hawke's Bay; Arthur 
 Warbrick (13st. 41b.), Matata; Alfred Warbrick (list. 121b.), County 
 Hawke's Bay; G. A. Williams (14st. 71b.), Poneke, Wellington: D. 
 Stewart (14st. 101b.), Thames; T. Reune (13st. 21b.), Nelson; W. Nehua 
 (14st. 21b.), Nelson; J. R. Scott, Manager; T. Eyton, Treasurer. 
 
 The above classification of the positions of the 
 players is only general, as they were changed so 
 frequently — notably W. Nehua, who played full-back, 
 three-quarter, and forward — that an exact classification 
 cannot be attempted. 
 
508 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 The South African Tour. 
 
 The visit of Major Wharton's cricket team to the Cape 
 undoubtedly gave the first impetus to the idea of in- 
 viting a team of English football players to make a tour 
 in South Africa. As in England, so there are the two 
 games of Association and Rugby played in Africa, though 
 in the early days there was an inclination to favour a 
 game which was a mixture of Rugby and Association. 
 Fortunately this game was not successful in obtaining 
 permanent hold, and at the present day the only codes 
 recognised are the Association and Rugby Union. The 
 latter seems to have gained the affections of spectators 
 and players, and is undoubtedly the rule amongst the 
 African clubs, already boasting of a Union, cups, and 
 competitions. Of late years the clubs have greatly de- 
 veloped in strength, but, as is the case in all new ventures, 
 the clubs and players lacked the knowledge and experi- 
 ence of the older organisations and players of the Mother 
 Country. It was therefore thought to be advisable in 
 the interest of the game — both in improving the play, 
 and also in giving a healthy stimulus to football — to in- 
 vite the Rugby Union to send over a team of Rugby 
 Union players to contend against the picked teams of 
 South Africa. Mr. Harold, the hon. secretary of the 
 Western Province Rugby Football Union, was the 
 initiator of the project; and Mr. J. Richards, of Cape 
 Town (well remembered in connection with the Old 
 Leysian Football Club), who was visiting England, was 
 requested to conduct the negotiations. The Rugby 
 Union looked with favour upon the project, but, as in 
 duty bound, were exceedingly cautious in making arrange- 
 ments. That the visit of a team from England would be 
 of benefit to African football was admitted, but there 
 were many points to be considered ere the Union would 
 definitely pledge themselves to the scheme. They could 
 not run the risk of repeating the experiences of the 
 Australian tour, and so the first stipulation imposed was 
 that the matches should be played under the laws of the 
 English Rugby Union and the regulations regarding 
 players. In a word, the Rugby Union were true to the 
 traditions that have always guided them, and were de- 
 termined to have the control of the matches, and to 
 absolutely guarantee that the team leaving England and 
 
THE CAPE TEAM, 1891. 
 
510 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 those encountered in Africa should be composed of 
 amateurs. Then the committee were firm on the 
 matter of guarantee. The invitation came from Africa, 
 and the colonists offered to guarantee the expenses of 
 the tour. The Rugby Union, whilst most courteous in 
 their communications, required the guarantee to be 
 placed upon a business footing. No general assurance 
 could be entertained. If there should be a loss on the 
 tour, the Rugby Union would be responsible for the 
 deficiency, and would have to answer to the clubs at a 
 general meeting for such deficiency. Mr. Rowland Hill 
 is by disposition far too cautious to allow of the merest 
 chance of such a contingency, and it was accordingly 
 intimated to the Cape representatives that the expenses 
 must be absolutely guaranteed. The difficulty was 
 satisfactorily removed by Mr. Cecil Rhodes, Prime 
 Minister of the Cape, who himself accepted the re- 
 sponsibility. 
 
 The length of the tour was fixed at fifty days, and 
 the strength of the team was much debated. At first 
 there was some idea of leaving the choice to Cape men 
 conversant with the relative strength of English and 
 Colonial players ; but the views of G. R. Hill, that if a 
 team were sent out at all it should be a powerful one, 
 coinciding with the expression of opinion from the Cape 
 that a strong combination should be selected, caused the 
 Rugby Union to take the selection of the players entirely 
 into their own hands. Edwin Ash, a past secretary 
 of the Union, and well known in connection with the 
 Richmond Athletic Club, was elected as secretar} T and 
 manager : and W. E. Maclagan, the famous Scottish Inter- 
 national and London Scottish player, was appointed 
 captain. The team was selected by a sub-committee 
 consisting of Messrs. G. Rowland Hill, R. S. Whallev, 
 H. Vassall, A. Budd, and J. H. S. Mc Arthur. A 
 fairly strong team was selected, including no less than 
 eight Internationals, and it would be giving a very fair 
 estimate of its strength to describe it as being somewhat 
 on a par with an average North or South team. 
 
 The team sailed from Southampton in the Danottar 
 Castle, on September 20th, 1891, their captain, W. E. 
 Maclagan, taking with him a handsome silver cup 
 presented by Sir Donald Currie, and entrusted to W. E. 
 Maclagan to be presented by him to the colonial club 
 
FOREIGN TOURS. 511 
 
 doing the best against the English team ; the cup to be 
 held by the winning club until the next ensuing season, 
 and then to be competed for by the clubs of South 
 Africa. 
 
 The tour was a decided success, and the English 
 team had every reason to be proud of the unbroken 
 record of victories. Nineteen matches were played, and 
 they were all won — a performance unrivalled in the 
 history of touring teams, whether cricket or football. 
 Only one try, and that in the first match at Cape Town, 
 was scored against them. The performance is the more 
 noteworthy when the amount of travelling that had to 
 be undertaken, and the feting of the team, are taken 
 into consideration. Their reception wherever they went 
 was most kind, enthusiastic, and hearty. Their spare time 
 was filled up — in the most agreeable manner possible — 
 with dances, concerts, dinners, entertainments of every 
 description, shooting parties and excursions. All this told 
 against condition, and nothing but superior science in the 
 game gave them the victory on several occasions. The 
 passing entirely nonplussed the colonial teams ; they 
 could not understand it in the least. Screwing the 
 scrummages and other similar tricks beat them forward. 
 R. L. Aston's play was a revelation to the opposing 
 teams. His record of 30 tries is a wonderful evidence 
 of his superiority over the colonial backs. 
 
 The South Africans played a very hard game, 
 especially forward, and on several occasions taxed the 
 powers of the English forwards to the utmost, but they 
 failed in the science of the game. Screwing the scrum', 
 passing, and working the ball generally, were their 
 weakest points. At tackling, kicking, and saving they 
 were very good indeed. Fondness for individual dis- 
 tinction was perhaps the most important factor in their 
 defeats. Forwards and backs alike were very loth to 
 part with the ball when once they had possession of 
 it. Towards the end of the tour they had very much 
 improved, and in the course of a year or two will in all 
 probability pla} r a first-class game. 
 
 The best teams were undoubtedly the Western 
 Provinces, played at Cape Town ; the Griqualand West 
 (to whom the " Currie " Cup was given), at Kimberley ; 
 and (which was really with but one exception th'e same 
 team) the Kimberley Club, also at Kimberley. The 
 
ENGLAND V. CAPE COLONY • AT CAPE TOWN. 
 
ENGLAND V. SOUTH AFRICA, AT KIMBERLEY. 
 
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514 RUGBY FOOTBALL. 
 
 games played against the combinations of South Africa 
 were very closely contested. These combinations were 
 met three times, viz., at Cape Town, Port Elizabeth, and 
 Kimberley. The hardest game of the tour was the 
 second South African match at Kimberley, which was 
 won by the Englishmen by 1 goal — kicked by Mitchell 
 from a mark at the half-way flag — to nil. 
 
 The best players in the South African team were 
 generally those who had received their football training 
 in the Mother Country ; of these the most prominent 
 were H. H. Castens, an old Oxford 'Varsity and South of 
 England player, and a hard-working forward ; he had 
 the best knowledge of the game of any player in Africa, 
 and also refereed on several occasions. (Refereeing was 
 rather weak, and Castens was decidedly the best of the 
 officials.) A. Richards, the Old Leysian, played a really 
 first-class game at half-back, and his style was equal 
 to that of our English half-backs. B. Duff was a good 
 full-back, cool sure kick, and a very good tackier. C. 
 Versfeld was also a fairly good left wing three-quarter, 
 and gained the only try scored against the Englishmen. 
 Guthrie was also a good half-back, playing a splendid 
 defensive game. While amongst others who may be 
 mentioned as being good players were Boyes, Yigne, 
 M. Versfeld, H. M. Hepper (late of the Leeds St. John's 
 Club, and who also played for Yorkshire), Heathe, and 
 E. Castens. 
 
 The character of the grounds was much against the 
 play of the Englishmen. On most of the grounds the 
 grass was almost entirely burnt off by the sun, this 
 being especially the case at Kimberley, which was very 
 bad, there being absolutely no grass at all. The 
 Johannesberg ground was much the same as that at 
 Kimberley, only not quite so hard. At Newlands, Cape 
 Town, where the first match was played, there was 
 a considerable amount of grass ; but the best ground was 
 at Port Elizabeth, where the game took place on a 
 properly-levelled cricket ground. 
 
 The team arrived in England by the Garth Castle on 
 September 28th, all having pleasant reminiscences of 
 the tour. The visit of the Englishmen has undoubtedly 
 been of benefit to football in Africa. As the early teams 
 of cricketers fostered and developed that game in Aus- 
 tralia, so the team of footballers to the Cape have initiated 
 
FOREIGN TOURS. 515 
 
 the colonists of Africa into the fine points and science of 
 the Rugby game. 
 
 The following were the members of the team : — 
 
 W. E. Maclagan (Captain), London Scottish, Scottish International. 
 
 Edward Bromet, St. Thomas's Hospital, Cambridge University. 
 
 P. R. Clauss, Fettes Lorettonian, Oxford University, Scottish International. 
 
 R. L. Aston, Blackheath, Cambridge University, International. 
 
 W. Wotherspoon, Fettes Lorettonian, Cambridge University, Scottish 
 
 International. 
 A. Rotherham, Cambridge University, South of England. 
 H. Marshall, Blackheath, Cambridge University. 
 P. F. Hancock, Blackheath, Somerset, International. 
 R. G. Macmillan, London Scottish, Scottish International. 
 W. E. Bromet, Oxford University, Yorkshire, International. 
 T. Whittaker, Lancashire. 
 R. Thompson, Cambridge University. 
 C. P. Simpson, Richmond, Cambridge University. 
 W. H. Thorman, Blackheath, Cambridge University. 
 J. Hammond, Blackheath, Cambridge University, South of England. 
 J. H. Gould, Old Leysians, South of England. 
 
 A. A. Surtees, Harlequins, Cambridge University, Middlesex, South of 
 
 England. 
 W. Jackson, Cambridge University. 
 W. G. Mitchell, Middlesex, International. 
 E. Mayfield, Old Leysians, Cambridge University. 
 
 B. G. Roscoe, Manchester. 
 
 Matches played, 19; won, 19; lost, 0. Points scored: for, 224; 
 against, 1 ; tries, 89, of which 50 were converted ; dropped goals, 7, of 
 which one was a penalty goal ; placed penalty goals, 6 ; one goal placed 
 from a mark. 
 
 W. Wotherspoon dropped 2 goals (one being a penalty). 
 
 R. L. Aston dropped 1 goal. 
 
 P. R. Clauss dropped 1 goal. 
 
 W. G. Mitchell dropped 2 goals (one from a mark). 
 
 H. Marshall dropped 1 goal (from a mark). 
 
 A. Rotherham placed 39 goals (two penalty, one from a mark). 
 
 W. G. Mitchell placed 7 goals (one penalty). 
 
 W. Wotherspoon placed 6 goals (three penalty). 
 
 R. L. Aston placed 5 goals. 
 R. L. Aston scored 30 tries ; E. Bromet, 9 ; W. E. Maclagan, 8 ; H. 
 Marshall, 8 ; T. Whittaker, 7 ; R. Thompson, 7 ; P. R. Clauss, 6 ; W. 
 Wotherspoon, 5 ; R. G. Macmillan, 3 ; B. G. Roscoe, 3 ; A. Rotherham, 
 2 ; E. Mayfield, 1. 
 
 Number of Matches played by the Members of the Team. 
 
 J. Hammond ~\ A. A. Surtees 
 
 R. G. Macmillan ,„ E. Bromet 
 
 13. 
 
 W. G. Mitchell * 19, P. R. Clauss ..'. 12. 
 
 R. L. Aston J. H. Gould ... 11, 
 
 10. 
 
 W. E. Bromet J W. Wotherspoon 8. 
 
 P. F. Hancock \ W. H. Thorman 6. 
 
 W. E. Maclagan "j C. P. Simpson 
 
 R. Thompson V 18. H. Marshall 
 
 5. 
 
 T. Whittaker \- 16. B. G. Roscoe ) 
 
 A. Rotherham J W. Jackson J 
 
 E. Mayfield ... 14. 
 
 Printed by Cassell & Company. Limited. La Belle Sauvage, London. E.C. 
 
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