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Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 94, 21 April 1928, Page 15

(By HARRY FROST.)

The name of New Zek:and abroad has been inseparably linked with Rugby football through the high achievements of our players in other lands in the course of a number of playing tours, and while on service in two Empire wars. Recognised as the national game of the Dominion, Rugby, as played by New Zealanders overseas is taken in its quality and style as the gauge of New Zealand character. Surely such a responsibility casts obligation on parents and business-folk equally with the youth of the country to conform strictly to the unwritten rules of a game in which the country's code of honour is so broadly reflected and judged. Such is the message sought to be conveyed here to the players by one who has served conspicuously well for many years on playing field and in the councils of Rugby. Earlier in the week Mr. Frost made his appeal in the " Star " to parents and business-folk. Here he addresses himself to the players.

Docs the young Rugby player realise

how much the game is doing for him, or how much it is capable of doing, if during his spare time he concentrates thoroughly upon it as his winter pastime? The love of games demanding strenuous physical endeavour is inherent in the British race. In our schools every physically fit boy is attracted to football, and is filled with a burning desire to excel at it. Adult players need cast their memories back only a few years to realise how true this is. In almost all of our schools the true spirit that should always pervade the game is emphasised, and it leaves its permanent mark upon most pupils. But there is this difference between juvenile and adult football. In the former the player is under the discipline imposed by his school; he is in receipt of constant criticism and advice from one whom the lad respects as his leader and for his interest in sport, and he has ever before him the fine tradition that he if playing for the good name of the school. With the young fellow who has started to make his way in the world these conditions have changed, though their influence remains. His discipline must be self-discipline; criticism comes from a trainer, from an older player, or from the public, and the recipient is at just the age which is inclined to resent them, unless they be purely adulation; he finds the tradition of the club often not so strong as that of the school. Though this article is written in the hope that it may benefit in some degree all players it is to the youngsters—the juniors— thoM ever-increasing numbers who are starting on their playing days in the realm of adult football, that it particularly applies.

Choice of a Club. Th« average boy, fresh from school, has no mean idea of his personal prowess on the football field, and regards himself as a future if not a present acquisition to any club. Too often his choice of a club is dtecided by which one will give him the earliest probable chance of playing in the senior fifteen. Boys who have finished their secondary school careers have been known to re/use to join clubs with which they should find most affinity, simply because they saw no immediate prospect of incllusion in the first fifteen, and have thrown in their lota with other clubs where that prospect was assured. Such pure selfinterest is disappointing. The choice of a club is an important thing to the budding footballer, and deserves serious consideration, for a club should demand from its members the same loyalty and keenness that a school creates. The best guidance in joining is that of some definite association. A lad should rally to a club that has some association with his school, military corps, district, or his employment. There will then be the assured mutual interest of himself in the members, and of them in him, not only as a player, but as one who ha* something in common with his fellows on the field. If he cannot find such association, then the fact that his chums are wearing a certain jersey should stimulate him to wear the same colours. Any bond that will bind him to his teammates at other times than during games and practice is in itself a benefit to his football.

Personal Habits. Upon the young player it cannot be too strongly impressed that Rugby is a serious game and must be taken seriously in the interests of both self and side. The mere turning up on a Saturday to put on a jersey and "turn out," with an irregular attendance at weekly trainings will never make a real footballer, nor is it fair to his team. Absolute physical fitness is an essential of Rugby, and that fitness cannot be secured without sacrifices which, for the benefits gained, are well worth while. Every youth should be justly proud of the vigorous, healthy condition of his young body, but it is a duty that he owes to the whole community, as well ss to himself, to preserve its fitness and not to ruin it by excesses of any kind. Excesses invariably spell the end of a football career. There are rules in the game of health which every child is now taught in school, and which he remembers so well that there is no need to repeat them here. It is enough to emphasise that he must still stick to them. They were not framed for schooldays only. Then there are habits acquired in the teens, of which a word must be said. It would be idle in this age, when smoking is almost universal, to condemn it on general principles, but every athlete knows that smoking, and especially cigarette smoking, is decidedly inimical to wind and general physical fitness. I «<waot too strongly emphasise this point. To «ay to the young footballer, "Yon JJJ* n °t smoke," is not the intention of *rV^ ter . but he does say, and say adthat smoking in his teens is not beneficial to a young fellow. As regarda Alcohol, it is a stimulant, and the only •timulants a young footballer requires ait (dty tnd night) t ixuciu*

and a lasting spirit of emiuisiasm. To train on, there is no liquid better than pure water, and plenty of it. Success in any game is the goal of all who take part in it, and successes and excesses are directly opposed to each other.

Physical Fitness Is Vital. For the sake of the game, his club, and himself, there are some very definite obligations upon every footballer. His pastime is to him an inexpensive one. Compared with cricket, tennis, golf and other recreations it makes small financial demands upon his pocket, but like these games, it demands more than a Saturday I afternoon interest if the player is to become proficient. Physical fitness is the keynote of successful football, and physical fitness can be acquired only by rigorous though careful training at the beginning of the season, and the maintaining of most of that training throughout the winter. A nightly run is a general health tonic for the office, shop or factory employee. Parks or spare grounds are within close proximity of all, and the stripping to suitable clothing and subsequent hard rub-down are merely matters of resolution, till the practice becomes an enjoyment from its resultant glow of physical well-being. The exercises in physical "jerks" learned at school and in military camps provide another means of maintaining fitness without recourse to any expensive apparatus.

There is no player but can find the means to train thoroughly provided he hfcs the will to do so. And tHat mental power is as easily cultivable as are one's muscles. If he lacks it, a young footballer is without the greatest asset that will assist him in the game he has adopted. Without wishing to preach, let me advise every young player of the game to make definite training resolutions, and stick to them. Perhaps another aspect of the training question will appeal to him. A side like the 1925 All Blacks goes through a strenuous tour of months of hard football, and returns with not a member incapacitated. Perfect physical condition, such as they had. is the best possible insurance against accidents. Investigation has shown that a great majority of injuries sustained on the field occur to those who play the game without that essential rigorous training it demands. So straight away, get fit, keep fit, and you will realise that from every personal point of view you are doing yourself good.

Training Shed Discipline. A word regarding the training shed. It should not be a place of assembly where football is discussed and spasmodic passing bouts and scrum formations are attempted. The shed can fulfil its real purpose only if each player attends it regularly with the object of serious individual and combined preparation for the week-end game to which he looks forward. There must be a discipline in that shed which can be secured by the self-disciplining of each trainee. There are, or should be, many of the "old hands" eager to help the willing younger ones, and there are some training sheds in the city where the spirit displayed by all, from seniors down to the lowest graders, is a speaking tribute to our young manhood. Is your training fehed of this type? If not, to what extent are you personally to blame for the defect? The game and the club demand something in return for all with which they provide you.

Of course, "the game's the thing," and played as it should 'be, the finest recreation that young manhood can desire. But on the field of play itself there ar* matters which the young, the headstrong, and the excitable are apt to forget, matters which really make or mar good football. The most important point, and one that even some experienced players will not learn, is that there is demanded always from every man of the side, aa from every soldier in the field, obedience. If there is any talking to be done let the captain of the team—in whom should be reposed both confidence and respect—do it. Football is essentially a silent game; it is not played with the mouth. Realise, once and for all, that the referee is the sole judge of right and wrong, so far as those taking part in the match are concerned. Even though he may not be infallible, he sees more than you do; he knows more than you do. His decision, once given, is final. The-worst possible conduct is to question it. Take Mr, Punch's advice—"Don't." Even greater than the physical benefits derived from the game are the benefits of the self control it demands under all conditions. They make the man, as well as the player, and nothing stains the reputation of both club and individual more than the recourse, even under supposedly serkras provocation, to bad or dirty language. Keep both mouth and mind clean, and yon and the pastime will be worlds the better. It is only because the writer is convinced that football is the grandest of aty games for exercise, enjoyment, and the building up of the true character of manhood, that he makes tins appeal.