"A DOG FIGHT."

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18634, 8 March 1926, Page 14

"A DOG FIGHT."

V '■ RUGBY IN ENGLAND. (Thou our cobrespoxdext.) LOXOOX, January 2G. "Dark .blots" seem to have stained the play in the and England Rugby match at Cardiff Arm a Park. Men of each side stood up. .to one' another and . exchanged punches.. Tho disturbing features of this match, which has been described, as a doufight, has naturally called for comment. In an articls. in the "Sunday Express" S.V S writes:— "Xot alone does punching disfigure the hi" matches. Other forms of fouling go on" and if these are not stopped—and'stopped with a ruthless hand, regardless of the status of the persons concerned—international Rugby fixtures will come to be looked on a* dog fights pure and Bimple. I am neither bo alarmist nor a faddist, but I ara, certain that much of this rough play is brought about by cheating. Those of us who attend Rugby games regularly, officials who watch, and, mora particularly, players themselves, know the habitual tricksters. They are not confined to one club or country. It is these men who are partly responsible. To gain »n advant&go they stoop to underhand

methods, and feelings are roused in the opposing team that lead to the 'funny B^u ®y "It may be urged that this trickincss could be stopped by the referee. Well, the average referee does try to stop it by awarding penalty kicks, but if a referee, taking his courage in both hands, would, after a definite warning, send the offending player off the field, then a step in the right direction would havo been gained. Men Not Wanted. "There are other players who simply cannot keep their animal feelings from coming to the top. Those men have no right to play Rugby, neither have clubs the right to include them in their teams. They also are known. Perhaps it is not their fault, but their misfortune, that tney cannot check themselves irom overstepping the bounds. No matter, they are not wanted. A very well-known journalist who died recently once said that Rugby football afforded a fine outlet for the innate savagery of the human race. Undoubtedly true, if taken literally. Players, however, whatever their station in life, must always remember that Rugby is first, last, and all the time a game, and not a means of exploiting the knock-out punch, the. artfully-concealed trip or hack, or tho ability scientifically to chew o0 a portion of an opponent's ear. Just one thing more. Certain footballers have, from the hardness of their play, brought on themselves undeserved criticism. Is thera a man. who, especially in an international match, plays harder and more wholeheartedly than Wakefield, tho England cap-

lain 1 Vet to dub him, as I have to my sorrow heard people do, a rough player, is the TOPscst calumny ever put on ono of the greatest forwards in the histoid of the parae. Tora Eo.vce is another. A man of sunny temperament, lie plays Busby with a joie-de-vivre delightful to see. But that he is rough or foul I, for one, will never admit.