RUGBY CAN BE HARD BUT NEED NOT BE ROUGH

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 15, Issue 19, 7 August 1950, Page 6

RUGBY CAN BE HARD BUT NEED NOT BE ROUGH

The following comments were written by a Taranaki Rugby sports writer “Ranfurly” on tactics used by some players generally in that Union. Some of his comments could equally apply to the Bay of Plenty and are' published for the benefit of both players and Rugby administrators alike. Rugby has always been a hard and vigorous game, he states. Strength has always played a considerable part in it, particularly in the forwards. And that is how it should be, because strength has little to do with skill and determination. Any game that places a premium on those two virtues is well worth playing. Illegitimate Use Unfortunately, however, a small number of modern footballers seem to be confusing the legitimate application of strength with the illegitimate use of vigour. It works in a number of ways: the flailing feet of the first ruck so that the opposing pack learn to heel cautiously if they want to avoid bruised and injured legs, the elbow jolt in the hne-out and the placing of the hand on your opponents head after a tackle so that as you get up his face n is pushed hard into the mud with 12 or 13 stone behind it.

Then there is the over-close marking of the opposing team’s best back. A former representative five-eighths cnce explained it to me this way. “The first tackle is always the

hardest,” he said. “That’s all right— Ido it myself. But I can usually expect to catch a couple of flying elbows and a knee somewhere into bargain. And if the forwards arrive and I’m caught at th e bottom of a ruck I get a few more kicks and a punch or two.” In this case the five-eighth was referring to matches against a particular club which was noted for the Vigour of some of its forwards. But his remarks could be applied to a much wider field. There are, of-course, provocations. One of the greatest is jersey-holding. It is annoying for a forward to take the ball in a lineout, burst through the opposing pack and then be held when he is almost in the clear by a hand clutching at the tail of his jersey. The vicious swings aimed at this hand can be viewed sympathetically although they cannot entirely be excused.

Undue Tension Another cause is undue tension. A group of forwards who are told constantly that their team’s onl/ chance of winning an important game is for them to beat down the opposing pack is likely to become grimly dedicated to their work. So seriously do they take'their task that over-vigorous play is almost a natural result.

It would be unfair to say that the small number of offenders in Taranaki are necessarily “dirty” footballers. Rugby to them is a man’s game. If other players cannot take the physical risks involved, they should either give up the sport or play for lower grades. For themselves, they accept the dangers of modified assault with pleasure. If this attitude were general, this would be no problem, except, of course, to decide when call the police to stop the general" brawl-

ing. It might even have an attraction for the spectators; American promoters have made money by loosing six wrestlers in a ring for a general catch-as-catch-can bout. But it would not be Rugby and it would very soon turn away the vast majority of young men who still play the game as a sport. And those are the main objections to over-vigorous play. There are a number of solutions. The first is to return the team captain to,the position he held before the coach took over most of his duties. Make him again the . team’s real leader and the field tactician. Give him more responsibility both on and off the field. Then hold him responsible for curbing the more

enthusiastic of his players. Next give the referees more power. Let them enforce more strictly the rule that a player must get rid of the ball when he is held in • a legitimate tackle; let our standards be raised so that a penalty for rough play is no longer usual. Grave Threat It would be wrong to assume that rough play is a grave threat to football or that there were large numbers of players or teams that were devoted to it. There are comparatively few. But there are enough to hinder the men who want to play Rugby for its own sake and to increase the physical risk involved in the sport. The sooner they are corrected, the better.