THE INTER-ISLAND RUGBY MATCH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXVI, Issue 201, 25 August 1945, Page 4

THE INTER-ISLAND RUGBY MATCH

•THIRTY-SIX times Rugby football teams representing the North and *■ South Islands, have met, and only twice has Auckland been given the opportunity of seeing the match. To-day, after an interval of 23 years, the third game will be played in the city. This, to say the least of it, is a curious state of affairs. No doubt the Rugby Union adopted

the principle of centralisation as an expense-saving measure, but this is

.not a policy which will appeal to followers of Rugby outside the capital I 'city. The opportunity to see the pick of the country's footballers playing together makes a wide appeal, and many among to-day's large crowd at Eden Park are not in the ordinary way, regular followers of the game. On this occasion eight Aucklanders and three Waikato men have been ihosen/and for this reason the decision to hold the game here is all the more appropriate. When working out its post-war policy the Rugby Union would do well to consider allotting the inter-Island fixture : .alternately to Auckland and Wellington on the occasions when it is :$o be played in the North Island. The resulting fillip to community interest in Rugby would more than justify the administrative work

involved in bringing players from a:

11 over me country to Auckland,