Rough Rugby

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28938, 4 July 1959, Page 3

Rough Rugby

Sir,—lt is seemingly easy { enough for journalists to forget • On July 11, 1958, you printed a } sub-editorial in which you accused Bennie Osler of throwing : mud from the Rugby field. Yet ’ strangely enough, before the arrival of the Springboks you had ’ already published several observa- • tions about foul play, in the Canterbury senior competition. The ; query now arises: are you right « or Bennie Osler, who, defcpite ] your attack upon him, is one of ‘ the world’s most seasoned foot- , ball authorities? And on August « 9, 1956, you returned to the other ’ angle in publishing Mr G. D. » Innes’s second letter to the • "Dominion” in which he more J than amplified Bennie Osler.— Yours, etc.. R. M. THOMSON. . July 3. 1959. [Osler alleged that the New Zea- ’ land team in South Africa in 1928 deliberately set > out, under instructions, to injure its opponents and put them out of the game. We scouted the idea, as did everyone else whose opinion was canvassed in South Africa and New Zealand. We are sorry, indeed, if Mr Thomson believes Osier’s allegation to be true; sorry, also, if he really sees no distinction between foul play, planned cold-bloodedly in advance, and the unnecessarily rough and dangerous play likely to be generated in the heat of a tense match unless both referees and controlling unions firmly discourage it. Mr Innes did not support Mr Osier’s allegation; but his general condemnation of New Zealand’s over-serious attitude to the game and its preoccupation with results rather than the spirit and the manner of play seemed to us then to be well justified. Unfortunately it is equally justified three years later.— Ed.. “The Press.”]