FROM THE ARCHIVES WALES v IRELAND, 1899:AT CARDIFF on Saturday, the final game in the international championship journey was played, when Wales and Ireland were opposed for the 14th time. It is hardly necessary to refer to the other games in the tournament, but it will be recollected that Ireland and Scotland, with two wins each, were at the head of the table with Wales, boasting of a single victory, next, and England, with three losses, at the bottom of the ladder.

Thus Saturday’s game, if a draw, would make Ireland champions, while if Wales should win it would make herself, Scotland, and Ireland tie for the championship honours, each with two wins and a loss. It is described below how Ireland won, as accurately as the terrible conditions obtaining would admit.

By her victory Ireland wins the international championship for the third time, the years being 1895, 1896, and 1899, and the Triple Crown again comes to the Emerald Isle, this being the second time that the honour has been claimed in five years, 1894 being the initial victory.

Ireland, in consequence, equals Scotland’s record, the sturdy representatives of the Thistle having also won on a couple of occasions, the years being 1891 and 1895. But the victory of the “wearers of the green” on Saturday is enhanced by a fact unique in the record of the competition. The Irish line has not been crossed during the season’s games, the only point scored against us being the goal dropped off the penalty at Edinburgh by Donaldson, the Scottish captain.

This speaks volumes for the defensive work of the back division, chopped and changed about as it has been, that did duty in the several matches.

A still stranger item occurs in connection with the victorious lrish team – namely, that only five players have taken part in all three games, and only one of this quintet a back. LM Magee, the captain of the team, is that back, and the two Ryans, Sealy and Byron, the forwards.

There is much room for self-congratulation in the contemplation of this, and it shows beyond yea or nay that Ireland at the present time, despite the exceedingly gloomy outlook of the early part of the present season, is passing rich in first-class players all of them young and likely to be available for a number of years to come.

Possibly no match in which the Irish 15 were ever engaged excited a tithe of the interest that Saturday’s game provoked.

The south Welsh town presented a gay and animated appearance from an early hour on Saturday morning, and on inquiry the ready answer was to the effect that the bustle and excitement were caused by the big game which would take place in the afternoon. The weather, from a football point of view, was simply delightful, the sun, as the hour to commence approached, shining with agreeable fervour, and dissipating the cold which was rather troublesome in the early morning. The ground, too, was in excellent condition, and bore great evidence of the care expended upon it, the turf being in grand condition.

There were many thousand spectators gathered round the principal entrance when the gates were open, and in an hour there were over 20,000 spectators within the enclosure and yet an hour to pass by ere the kick-off took place. By the thousand still they came, till at 2.30 it was estimated that a further 10,000 were within the enclosures.

Then an untoward event occurred, as on the popular, or river side, the palisade gave way owing to the weight of the crowd, and five or six hundred spectators rushed on like a swarm of locusts through the breach, and, to continue the simile, they as effectively destroyed everything they touched.

In a trice the reserved seats inside the palings were appropriated: next, the pressmen from all parts of the three kingdoms had to fly for their lives from fear of a terrible crush, and finally, the people in the enclosure in front of the grandstand, finding their view obstructed by the ever increasing multitude inside the palings, swarmed over the railing, demolishing the press tables, reserved chairs and every bit of woodwork that lay about.

The scene that followed “beggars all description”, as the surging and impatient crowd outside the general entrance was so great that the pressure swept away turnstiles, ticket issuers, and the whole paraphernalia connected with them, and thousands of disappointed reserved seat holders rushed, ticket in hand, into the ground.

Policemen and officials were swept away like matchwood before a cyclone, and at 3 o’clock when a start should have taken place, there was not as much vacant space, save on the playing pitch, as would give standing room to a child, and even the touch and goal lines were encroached upon to the extent of several feet.

Of course it would appear from all of this that the Welsh officials were to blame, but this idea would be to a great extent erroneous. A prominent member of the Welsh Union informed us on Friday night that a record crowd was expected, say between 25,000 and 30,000, but it was a physical impossibility to afford proper accommodation to the enormous crowd desiring to see the game.

However, a squad of police some three or four times as large as that in use might have stemmed the tide when the breakage first took place and restored order to some degree.

It must also be said in justice to the Welsh spectators that despite the crush they behaved with every decorum, and were most dispassionate throughout.

Hence the teams, having been photographed, took the ground sharp to time the spectators were in rows 12 deep and some three feet over the touch and goal lines. This necessitated the referee, Mr Adam Turnbull (Scotland), making use of his prerogative not to start the game until the obstruction was removed.

All this time a capital bass brand (Tongwynlais) were playing some pleasant selections in the centre of the ground, but the confusion all round the enclosure prevented the proper enjoyment of the music.

The trees around the ground had gradually become black with people, and even the lofty telegraph and telephone posts had their quota of enthusiastic lovers of rugby. It was ascertained at this juncture that the large party of excursionists from Dublin and the south of Ireland, who were travelling via Waterford and Milford Haven, could not arrive in time for the match, despite its late start, owing to getting befogged in the Channel. It transpired afterwards that they were just in time to see to see the victorious Irishmen carried shoulder high by enthusiastic expatriated countrymen to their hotel.

At 3.30 the teams, which were previously photographed, again entered the field, and, having gone round the touchlines, exhorting the people to give the necessary room, lined out as appended, and without change from the teams published on Saturday morning.