THREAT DENIED

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 58, Issue 219, 28 June 1938, Page 6

THREAT DENIED

SCHOOLBOYS AND FOOTBALL.

STATEMENT BY HEADMASTER.

ADVICE AS TO FITNESS

(Per Press Association.?

CHRISTCHURCH, TTiis Dav

An emphatic denial that the boys attending the Waltham School had been threatened with punishment il they played Rugby League on Saturdays was made by the headmaster (Mr !>. C. Brown) this morning.

Mr Brown was referring to a letter road at the meeting of the Executive of the Canterbury Rugby League last night, which was sent to the Canterbury Education Board.

The letter dealt with complaints received from the coach of schoolboy players attending the Waltham School. It was stated that Brown had ■ told the boys ho would not tolerate their playing -'.League, and if they persisted he would debar them playing for the school, and impose a further penalty. The letter added that the chairman of the Schoolboys Board, A. Clark, had interviewed the headmaster, and had been told that the boys would he penalised: if they played League. {‘This is a surprise to me,” said MiBrown, “I say definitely that neither myself nor my sports master has made any threat of punishment/’ Some weeks ago, continued Mi Brown, his sports master had told him that a number of hoys were playing, in the League competitions on Saturday. They were suffering injuries and contracting colds, as a result of which the school’s Rugby teams were being depleted. The boys were therefore strongly advised not to play League on Saturdays, not because of any partiality toward one particular code, but because it was considered that two Rugby Union practice games a week and one competition game on Friday was enough for them. a The weights of-players in the various Rugby Union competitions in which the school took part were restricted, continued Mr Brown, but there were apparently not the same conditions in League matches. The staff had no control over what games- the hoys played during the week-end, but they had been advised against playing football, because it was not considered to be in their best interests. The reported statement by Clark that he jjad been told the boys would he punished if they played League was contrary to fact, said Mr Brown.