FENCE REQUIRED.

Press, Volume LXII, Issue 18671, 21 April 1926, Page 13

FENCE REQUIRED.

ENCROACHING SPECTATORS RUGBY UNION DISCUSSION. ''lf we cannot ensure that the crowd will give the better team tho chance of winning, we may as well turn the game iu." remarked Mr S. F. Wilson during a discussion at last night's meeting ot' tho Canterbury Rugby Union on the nuisance created by encroaching spectators at Lancaster Park. Mr W. Britten, chairman of the Competitions Committee, opened the .subject by asking it' anything could be done through the Board of Control with regard to the back grounds. It would be necessary for either the Board or the Union to erect a fence. The experience of tho previous Saturday, when crowds encroached badly on the south ground, might be repeated at any time. Mr Wilson said they might fluke an exciting game on the west ground, when they would be in, a worse position.

"The public t.re getting too much for their money," remarked Mr J. Dunn. It would be ail astonishing thing if the police would not assist the Union, when t.hev were approached. Perhaps something would result if the public were warned that trespassers would lie prosecuted, and excluded from all grounds. "In mv opinion the referee in the Merivale-Linwood match did wrong on Saturday," concluded Mr Dunn. "If I had been in his position I should have sat on the ball and held up tho gamo until the people got behind the touchline." Mr C. S. McCull.v said the police would utop only a disturbance. Mr Dunn: They should he paid overtime to assist the Union. If one or two of our members went to see the superintendent, they would receive a good hearing. Part Played By Police. Another member: The police will do nothing without a fence. Mr Wilson said the danger would be reduced by CO per cent, by allotting one of tho important matches to the Show Grounds each Saturday., Tho chairman (Mr A. E. McPhail): You did not deal with that aspect at the last meeting. It was the loss of revenue that you referred to, Mr WilBon: Pnrdon me, I did refer to that aspect. Dr. W. S. Seed suggested the provision of a fence with sheep netting. Mr Wilson said the Union had always had the same trpuble. Twenty yearß previously, if his memory served him right, a man had been prosecuted, fined, and warned off all grounds for trespassing! "The point is, who are going to make themselves policemen," concluded Mr Wilson.

Mr E. V. Phillips: The Competitions Committee had a go at it last Saturday. It would be a good idea if people were barred from going between the south and west grounds. Mr Wilson said there was just a possibility that if the people had not rushed the south- ground, the team which had won might not have been successful. Mr Phillips said the only remedy was a forioe. A resolution was carried in favour of applying to the Board of Control for a fence. Mr McPhail: Now what kind of a fence? Mr Wihon: Jarrah posts in concrete foundations. (Laughter.) Finally the committee decided also to ask tho Board to provide notices warning ( trespassers, and that tho Competitions and Grounds Committees go into the kind of fence to be -provided. Messrs McPhail, Wilson, and Seed were appointed a sub-committee to confer with the police and invoke their aid in controlling the crowds. Dr. Seed also referred to the encroachment of schoolboys on the Oval. The'chairman: I think we can deal with them.