196 ON AKD OFF THE TUEF. 



"When the score went up opposite his name people 

 cheered until they were hoarse. They stood on 

 forms and frantically waved hats, umbrellas, or 

 pockethandkerchiefs, and it was some minutes before 

 the enthusiasm waned. For a hearty appreciation 

 of good cricket an Australian crowd is bad to beat. 

 I have merely dotted down these cricket fragments 

 as they occurred to me while writing, and I hope 

 they have not been tedious. 



Football, too, has a great hold upon the public, 

 more especially in Melbourne, where the game is 

 played under Victorian rules, a kind of cross between 

 Rugby and Association. It is no uncommon thing 

 on a Saturday afternoon in Melbourne, when the 

 famous clubs meet in the Cup Tie, to see from 25,000 

 to 30,000 spectators present. Considering the popu- 

 lation, as compared with some great English cities, this 

 is, I think, a most extraordinary attendance. A 

 crowd of 10,000 people at an ordinary match, either 

 at cricket or football, is an every day affair. In 

 Sydney, Rugby and Association are both played, and 

 the former is more popular, especially with the spec- 

 tators. New Zealand is the place for champion Rugby 

 players, but in New South Wales the game has 

 improved wonderfully during the last five years. 

 The Enghsh football team had, however, a much 

 easier task set them than the cricketers. 



Australia can lay claim to have produced some of 



