NORTHERN UNION FOOTBALL.

Auckland Star, Volume L, Issue 183, 4 August 1919, Page 9

NORTHERN UNION FOOTBALL.

A BREEZY MEETING. OF NEW ZEALAND LEAGUE. NEW SOUTH WALES INVITED. STATUS OF DELEGATES. When the council of the New Zealand Rugby L«ague met on Friday night there were one or two breezy interludes, and a great deal of more or less important business was transacted. All the delegates were present, also Messrs. Oakley and Levien and Mr J. Carlaw, the president, was in the chair. There was a lively discussion of the possibilities of getting the New South "Wales team over here. The pros and cons of this were argued for quite a long time without anything definite coining out, except that the railway position was such that train travelling could be connted right out, and only the sea -was left. The team could come either to Auckland or to Wellington, their port of call lying entirely in the lap of the gods. A possible itinerary was mapped out, and then the council decided definitely to wire the New South Wales League inviting the team, on the understanding that they must arrive in New Zealand not later than August 16, and would probably play seven or eight games. It was considered quite fair, in the light of present conditions, to offer the visitors no complete itinerary. That was the way the New Zealanders went over to Australia, "quite in the dark" as to where they would go or play. Since nothing definite could be fixed, it "was fair enough to give them the same as the New Zealand boys had. But the keenest discussions of the eventing centred about two questions that were asked by the Canterbury delegate. The first -was, "Why -was not the annual meeting held in April, as defined in the rules?" After a great deal of argument, it came out that the eal reasons for the delay in this annual meeting, which by the way will be held on Monday, August 11, were rather complicated. Officials had been ill, but that had not greatly affected the delay, which had run on till May, and then the tour had postponed it further. The necessary business before the meeting could he held had not been concluded when the tour was discussed. Incidentally, the secretary mentioned that he had more work than he could comfortably carry out, and suggested that as this work would grow greater in the future it would be a good scheme to appoint «n assistant at the coming annual meeting. It was pointed out that some of the leagues wanted to know when this annual meeting would take place. Many of them had already held their own gatherings. DELEGATES OF DEFUNCT BODIES. The next question, asked by the same delegate, concerned the powers and the status of the delegates at present sitting on the council. He held that since the annual appointments terminated in April, at the time when the annual meeting was due, after this the council was invalid, and the delegates' positions were also not oiHcial. Mr. Ussher summoned rule 11 of the Constitution to his aid to refute the soft impeachment, and this rule clearly stated that delegates sat till their appointment was rescinded by the body they represented. In the rather lively discussion that arose the whole history of the case was brought up. In summary it is this: Soon after the beginning of the war, early in 1915, in fact, the delegates resolved that r.ll affiliation fees to the New Zealand Council would be remitted until the termination of the war, and every League would be deemed to be in order, so far as its affiliation was concerned, until that event. That resolution was passed because the war was placing many leagues in adverse circumstances, and since then no league had paid any affiliation fees, nor had any been asked. But the point raised by the Canterbury delegate especially concerned the position of the delegates of those leagues that were now defunct. He considered that these delegates had no right to a voice on the council's affairs, and he held that if they lad no voice or vote the business of the council might possibly have resulted differently. The opinion of the chairman was that every affiliated league was unfinancial now, and delegates had a right to sit until the end of the year. Mr. Stirling disagreed with this, holding that the end of the year was now past. The chairman said when several leagues went out of existence they were still to be considered as affiliated till the end of the war. Mr. Ussher protested again, and it was held that the war was over now, but that resolution would not be officially quashed till the annual meeting. Nominations should be made annually. Mr. Powell: This is becoming a very serious question. It might be mentioned that the present delegates are: A. E. Powell (Auckland), R. Stirling (Canterbury), P. S. Ussher (Wanganui), N. B. Levien (Napier and Hawke's Bay), A. Ferguson (West Coast), and C. Liversidge (Wellington). Mr. Stirling movetf: "That only those delegates appointed by leagues be allowed to sit on the council." Mr. Powell seconded. The matter of this rule 14 came up again, and many more or less sound interpretations were offered. The chairman made it quite plain that the rule could not concern a defunct league, because in such case it would be impossible to disfranchise its delegate, and therefore he might sit on the council for all time. That would be ridiculous. However, the end of the war should automatically reverse that resolution. The motion wf.s put, and carried by four votes to two. It was held that the new resolution came into effect immediately, so that it precluded any delegate of a non-existent league from sitting on the council. At the present time Wanganui and Nelson Leagues are the only ones not in existence.