not un- 

 common 



1907] Football in Australia 



Oxford and Cambridge. When Tennyson received 

 his Doctor's degree at the former, the young gentle- 

 men asked : " Did your mother call you early, Alfred 

 dear?" And when a Hindu prince was thus honored, 

 they cried: "Have you used Pears' Soap?" 



Irreverence is not unknown outside the universi- irreverence 

 ties. Passing along a Sydney street, I overheard the 

 following : 



"That's Professor Jordan." 

 "Who's he?" 



"The cove that's lecturing on Socialism." 



Throughout Australia and New Zealand athletic 

 contests acquire large prominence. The University 

 of Sydney has a strong Rugby team, only one of Rugby 

 several in the city which maintain through the winter 

 a continuous tournament, one or more matches being 

 set for every Wednesday and Saturday. But as the 

 five Australian universities are separated by pro- 

 digious distances, no intercollegiate contests take 

 place. For this reason the American custom of limit- 

 ing the athletic life of a university student to three 

 or four years of his actual attendance does not hold 

 in Australia. Once eligible, always so. The captain 

 of the Sydney University team had held his place 

 for some seven years after graduation. 



At Melbourne, Rugby was condemned as too 

 rough, and a new form of football was devised for the 

 state of Victoria. This involved a larger field with The Vic- 

 more players, these being divided into "rovers" and toria game 

 those who maintain a relatively fixed position. A 

 curious rule allows the referee at any time to stop the 

 play to count the men on either side. 



Cricket seems less popular than in England, and 



C 211 3 



