1886 ANECDOTES

1886 ANECDOTES

FANCY DRESS MATCH

To the mind of the casual visitor at Kensington Meadows on Saturday afternoon last, two ideas might well have occurred. The first that he was still battling with the nightmare consequent on that third slice of plum pudding; the second, that the ambition of the Bath Football Club had incited them to challenge a team containing representatives from all parts of the globe. Aye and from regions remoter still- for is not that Mephistopheles (one too, whose stalwart proportions forbid the idea that Mr. Irvin has consented to visit the province), Mephistopheles mildly chatting with Mrs. Caudle, and near him the spouse of that dread dame, exchanging courtesies with the gay deceiver, Mr. Punch! Another prominent figure, resplendent in numerous stripes, lengthy tails, and a once fashionable stove pipe hat, is surely Brudder Bones, of St. James-hall celebrity. There, too, in amicable contiguity are a French cook and a celestial from Tonquin; a Spanish grandee laughing with a mariner fresh from the Piraeus, a Tyrolean peasant with Uncle Tom, and Tommy Atkins adhering, as is but right, to the Union Jack of Old England. While the astonished spectator is puzzling his mind about the strange scene, and marvelling greatly at the linguistic accomplishments of these aliens, for to them, all tongues seem familiar, the Bath captain sets the ball in motion and the game begins. It would take too long to describe all the varied incidents of the match: how  the Matador stopped a bovine rush from one club forward, how another was met by the chaste embrace of Mrs. Caudle, how the British Workman attempted to prevent combination on the part of the opponents. Suffice it to say, descending to the prossicism of proper names, that Helps, Swabey, Crowden, Blair, and Porter played in grand style for the Club behind – the latter also kicking a wonderful goal – and with Hayward in his usual brilliant form forward, ably supported by Maberly, Lavis and Lysaght, the Club were victorious by three goals and five tries to one try. For the Colleges (who met with several disappointments at the last moment), Anderson, C Trask, B and E Storrar played finely behind, and  Thompson, J Storrar, Pictor, Metcalfe and Severs forward. The Club tries were gained by Helps, Blair, Crowden (two each), and by Porter and Swabey. A. Storrar obtained a try for the Colleges, and the kick at goal by his brother J.I., was an unusually fine attempt. One Saturday next the Bath Club play their return match with Gloucester, the only club who have defeated them this season, so an exciting game may be expected.