THE REFEREE DIFFICULTY.

Auckland Star, Volume LIX, Issue 119, 22 May 1928, Page 14

THE REFEREE DIFFICULTY.

Two correspondents aim from different angles at what they claim to be a weakness in the League game in Auckland, disgusted writes setting out incidents of a Benior game on Saturday week, when, he states, a full-back was brutally charged after he had got rid of the ball; 11 P y er kicked the ball over the fence when a decision went against him; an international player "nagged at" and used offensive language to the referee. The writer wanted to know why the management did not take the action promised earlier in the season to clean up the game. Of course, the answer is that the referee reported only one of the incidents mentioned (the bad language), and on that the player was dealt with. All the incidents were matters for being dealt with by the referee in the first place. Now another correspondent, H. Long, writes expressing approval of a change of referees on Carlaw Park on Saturday, adding the opinion that the refer: as of the previous three weeks had failed, and the hope that the change would be permanent. As to the difficulty of getting referees from the ranks of old players, Mr. Long states that he went along to a referees' meeting to join up, but was not invited to become a member. Whilst at the meeting he observed what appeared to be separate faction feeling between the older and the younger referees, instead of the expected cordial encouragement and assistance to the latter.