FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume XLV, Issue 15, 17 January 1914, Page 16

FOOTBALL.

Our old friend, G. W. Smith, has taken up a new role in England, for, according to the "Athletic News,"- they recently received from the famous New Zealand athlete, G. W. Smith, an excellent notion to which they add the executive of the Northern Rugby Union may be inclined •to give heed. In his letter, seeking for assistance for the Senghenydd Pit Disaster Fund, he says:—"May I offer a suggestion through your paper that a match be played 'between two Northern Union teams, one to be composed of colonials playing the game in this country, and the other to be the pick of the home Northern Union players'" I am of the opinion that such a game played for the benefit of the Welsh pit disaster would prove a good draw, and would add materially to the funds'

In an article in the "Otago Witness" on American football, one. of the "All Blacks" gives the following opinion.-—< It may be here frankly stated that Rugby as played in California is not nearly so free, open, and spectacular as it is in the old Rugby-playing countries; nor can this be expected, for "Rome was not built in a day." Yet the intense intercollegiate feeling which exists iv that country has done much to eliminate the sport from the game, true sportsmanship being made entirely subservient to' the fierce desire of winning for the sake of college supremacy. The great annual battle between the Stanford and the Californian Universities, although proving at first a blessing in that it brought a practically unknown gamp prominently before the eyes of the public, is now beginning to prove itself a very serious retarding influence in the progress of the game. The focussing of a season's attention on one game and the placing of all other fixtures, no matter how important, under the general category of. practice games, is open to the serious qbjeetion of lessoning the general interest, and is also unfair to the teams in question. Even our own fixtures with the two Universities were looked on merely as try-outs or prac- | tices, and remarks such as "The Californians in their practice game with the ! M-Blacks," etc., were frequently to be found in the San Francisco papers. Another serious hindrance is the great lack of knowledge of the American coaches, who by reason of tneir ha . j at one time participated in the Ar. '.ican game of Rugby, have foisted on tut: public a hybrid style of game which is responsible for many of their defects. The excessive power vested in these men also has ; much to do with their principal weaki nesses. To the players their word is law, and no matter how unreasonable their I commands may be, refusal to comply entails the penalty of instant dismissa. from the team, which, in the eyes of a University man, is a disgrace. To quote an which happened during our stay at one of the Universities, one promising young player received instant dismissal for arriving at his quarters at night five minutes after the tune laid down in the coach's regulations. ' Such severe punishment may be suitable for the trained athlete, but for young , men who are playing the game merely i for the sake of the game, regulations jso rigidly enforced are preposterous, and the sooner tliis 1 fact is realised the greater will be the improvement in ' American football. Hence it is evident that a combination of lack of knowj ledge and authority will at all times give very unsatisfactory results, and will also |do the game a great deal of harm. Our i own experience in this connection, when the Californian University's coach, on .'account of the proximity of their great ■ annual fixture with Stanford, refused to place his best team on the field against us in our second game, took in , our eyes the nature of an insult, and j the result might have been bard to ■ foretell had matters not been satisfactorily adjusted. Finally, and most important of all, is the autocratic rule of I the colleges, who attempt to dictate and' control in all matters pertaining to sport, especially in football, and who, when remonstrated with by the governing body, withdraw from its jurisdiction altogether, thereby showing a mean and petty spirit which one hardly expects to find among a body of such highly , educated men. If they wish to blossom out into international fame that spirit ; must be stamped out root and branch, and in its place a broader, more sympathetic, and more sportsmanlike feelin<» must prevail. I should like to say iv i conclusion that a visit sneh as ours has .benefited the Califomians very conI siderably. Before our advent their deI cided opinion was that they were in the front rank of Rugby-playing countries, but we forced them to realise that they | had still much to loam. Yet that determination and that indomitable fighting spirit so characteristic of that people. j will carry them through, and eventually r they will reach that pitch of perfection | which will make them worthy foemen lof the world's best.

The irregular treatment of the rules as to professionalism and the eccentric introduction of one of the laws as to the delegation of powers placed the General Committee of the Rugby Union in a paradoxical and by -o means enviable position last spring, -says the "Athletic News." Certain I onian and Cornish players were susv-mded —all are not freed from the ban, by the way—for which offences, according to the current sections of the laws, the punishment must have been expulsion from all English clubs playing Rugby football and ineligibility for re-election or election to any club. So far from expulsion, mere suspension was the punishment meted out, and under the delegation of powers the Rugby Union Committee presumed to have the power to reinstate after "suspension." Certain players were brought back to the game, whilst the British Rugby community marvelled. Since then the third rule of professionalism has been altered. Now it is possible to reinstate a man who has signed a Northern Union form:—

Such a player shall be expelled . . . or shall be suspended during the pleasure of this union.

The Rugby Union Committee have been delegated the power to reinstate men under ''suspension." The serious consequences of this were pointed out to the Rugby Union last spring by Northcountry delegates. It was shown that in Lancashire and Yorkshire particularly every possible effort had been made to combat professionalism. The utmost stringency had been enacted. If the rule were altered trouble would certainly follow, and the Rugby Union game would lose the respect in which it had been held in the North; applications for reinstatement would be common, and it would be hard to refuse such players, seeing the special indulgences which had been granted to some of the Devonian and Cornish players.