DEVONPORT FOOTBALL DISPUTE

Auckland Star, Volume XL, Issue 204, 27 August 1909, Page 2

DEVONPORT FOOTBALL DISPUTE

AN INDIGNATIOI MEETING. LEGAL OPINION ? BE TAKEN. In connection with le remarks made by Mr Belwyn Mays a the meeting of the Devonport Council <ji Tuesday last to the effect that the offloUs of the Northern Union League wer|tlie same people who controlled the gelight sports in Khyber Pass, a, pieetiA of the management committee of tha League was hold at the Waitemata Hotathis afternoon to consider what action sbuld be taken in the matter. The present (Mr C. D. Grey) presided, and Inhere were also present: Mr F. E. N. Gaudin, D. W. McLean, J. Endean, H,G- Jones, W. T. Wynyard, G. A. Wynttrd, and E. W. Watts. The President said: The meeting has been called because c a report that appeared in the 'Star' c Wednesday last, ncating that this is th' body which controlled the gaslight sprts. My idea of the matter is that wfcn you asked mc to become your presient I knew that none of you had ever ben connected with the gaslight sports, I thought so I would have had nothing to do with this Assooiation. The quetion of professionalism need not be gop into. The question is whetheF the executive of the League could sit do\y; and be reproached as having been the controllers of the gaslight sports. As yoi know, they were put down by the Govcnment. If you do not take steps to clar yourselves from this reproach I say distinctly that I will resign." Mr. Gaudin spoke in Bimllar terms, and went on to say that he would not have consented to jon the League, had he not believed that (11 the members eonnruted with it were capable of clean conduct. The League wis just as much an amateur body as tin A.R.U- He urged that steps should be takea to clear themselves. He would reign with the president if no action we-e taken. Mr. McLean, chairnan of the management committee, aai< he was more than satisfied that it woud be impossible to utter words strong eiough condemnatory pf the incorrect statements made. Like the president and Ar. Gaudin, he had nothing to do with :he gaslight sports, and had never been ii their grounds. AE every meeting of tie Newton Rangers and the Ponsonby Clib, the members had said if there was a faint of professionalism .amongst .the league they would denounce it at once It was necessary to deny the aspersong that had been cast upon them, and -he steps they should take should be as stiong as possible, lie -moved that legal advice be taken. The motion was sconded hy Mr. Endean, and carried unanimously. The following committee was then appointed to give effect to the resolution: Messrs. Joner; Mclean, and Wynyard. The president was asked to act also, but declined. After discussion, :t was decided that the proceedings might be fully reported in the Press, the g«neral feeling of the meeting being that tvery publipity.should be given to the denial of the charges made against it. FOOTBALL AT DEVONPORT. (To the Editor.) Sir, —In reference to your report in last night's "Star" of the proceedings of the Devonport Borousrb. Council, sitting as tho Devonport Domain Board, entitled "A football Dispute, Professionals v. Amateurs, - ' I beg to draw the attention of the ratepayers of Devonport, and all lovers of clean sport, to the speeches reported to have been delivered by Mr. Selwyn Mays and Councillor Froude. Mr Mays informed the members that the body applying for the ground was not the local association, but was a body controlled by the same people who controlled the notorious gaslight sports a few years ago. This statement is absolutely incorrect. The application wag made by mc, on behalf of the North Shore Albions Football Club, and neither I nor any of my associates have had anything ito do with any gaslight sports, or any institution of a similar nature. The North Shore Albions Football Club anal its parent body, the Auckland Rugby League, are both strictly amateur, as are also all the other clubs associated with us. In fact, our clubs were formed with the sole object of fostering a cleaner and more amateur game that that hitherto played in this district. I challenge Mr. Mays, or anyone else, to name one map, either an officer or a player, connected with our club and league, who had anything to do with the management or control of the gaslight sports. Tho statement is wholly incorrect. Further, there is not a single man of the one huudred and ten members of which the North Shore Albions Football Club consists who is not a resident of the borough of Devonport, and a great number of our players and supporters are the very men who, Mr. Mays informs us, worked and contributed to putting the Devon-port football ground in order for playing. As regards the statement that the money collected at the gates only nominally goes into the coffer* of the A.R.U., this assertion is also altogether wrong. The North Shore District Football Club gets practically no benefit from these moneys. The ground is a source of revenue to the union, in exactly the same manner as the Alexandra Park. Mr. Froude and the rest of the Domain Board are well aware that as far as the North Shore District Football Club is concerned, the football season is finished, and has been for some months, and yet they have, by their voting on the motion, taken a party view of the question, and have refused to allow any ratepayer, or son of a ratepayer, to use the Devonport football ground during the pleasure of the A.R.U.—I am, etc., ALF. J. POWLEY, Hon. Sec. North Shore A.F.C. 26th August, 1909.