Bordering on the farcical

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33653, 1 October 1974, Page 30

Bordering on the farcical

(By

J. K. Brooks)

Sunday matches have a definite place in New Zealand Rugby, but they need to have much more purpose than the benefit game at Lancaster Park last week-end. It is all very well to have a large number of famous players on display, and to have some by-play to promote a festive mood. But when it becomes patently obvious that tries are arranged by mutual consent, and that the pace of the game is being- dictated by the physical resources of the slowest participant, these matches border on the farcical. Even C. E. Meads admitted on Sunday that there was a need for a more competitive aspect to festival games than the match between his side and W. F. McCormick’s team. Admittedly crowds at invitation games want to be entertained, but they do not relish these matches straying too far from Rugby. Ideally they should be played before the start of the season proper, when footballers are keen to make the most of every opportunity. But there has been criticisrn at official level of the demands made on leading players by invitation games in March. Players are in a more relaxed mood at the end of the season and this is probably the best time for the recently-retired footballers to make their contribution effectively. But Rugby has always been a physical contact sport, and the absence of this aspect in the second half of Sunday’s game highlighted the degree of absurdity these matches can reach. The answer really lies with the players. Festival games can be fun — as long as everyone remembers that the game they are playing is Rugby.