Kiwi rugby at war, part II

John (www.ovalballs.com) just sent me this reminder : you can't refrain New Zealanders to play rugby...

Here is a newpaper print by Ernst Prater (in The Graphic, Feb. 1917) captioned "The Battle in the Football Field"

Full caption reads : "The war has proved the value of games generally, and of football in particular, as a  training for the grim business of the battlefield, and to mark their appreciation of the fact the authorities have permitted a number of New Zealanders to leave the front and play a brief series of games in this country for the benefit of the Red Cross. The tour, which concludes tomorrow (Saturday), began last Saturday with a match at the Athletics Grounds, Richmond, between the New Zealand Trench Team and the Army Service Corps, when the All Blacks were beaten by 21 points to 3"

We could certainly discuss the point of rugby being a " training for the grim business of the battlefield"... 

To a certain extent, I prefer this kind of military propaganda statement rather than the caption below the French team picture (cf previous post just below) : "Ce salut fait penser à celui du gladiateur antique. La mort guettait ces Poilus dès le lendemain ; Bechade, arrière de l'équipe, était tué huit jours à peine après le match", i.e. "This salute makes think of that of the ancient gladiator. Death watched
for these Poilus (Tommys) as of the following day; Bechade, fullback of the team,
was killed eight days hardly after the match"...



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