THE PUBLIC'S LITTLE AXE.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1431, 4 May 1912, Page 12

THE PUBLIC'S LITTLE AXE.

ON. UNDESIRABLES. rßy "Quiz."l To dispel any charge of vagueness in what I have to say 1 will particularise as soon as I can arrive at things what I saw last Saturday. Here are tho instances -. A big forward in A team marked the ball. The biggest, and probably tho most powerful, forward on the other side was charging ponderously down on him. At the, time the mark was scoured (not in doubt, but secured) at least seven yards separated them. Yet tho forward who was charging came on. The man with the ball turned his back to his opponent as is customary in such cases. Tho B team man crashed into him, put both arnis around him, and gave 'him a bear-like hug. The man viio had taken the mark spent the next few minutes moping about the field apparently in pain. The referee attended to the oil'-sidia and the knockons—very pompously he did so. But he appeared.not to see that bear-liko hug. Lat' a>tneuiber of A team was fielding tho bal f id a member of I) team vrai bearing ■ u upon him at full speed. The A man oV .ined the ball, and, rather naturally, fßund little difficulty in evading the man who was racing all out. A kicked immediately, but presently ho was dashed to the ground bv another opponent, who should never have- put a hand on Hie man. The A man did not render his side any further service that day. The aggressor was allowed to continue playing Tho refereo went on attending to off-sides and kiiock-ons. But the spectators did not pass the mnttw over lightly. And they have not forgotten the player who offended. The best thing these qfi'c-iulers can do is to reserve their pugilistic capabilities till Johnson or Langford happens along. There is money in it. There is only (rouble in it if they bring theso capabilities to the Rugby field. One would like to sen the referees and tho union Ho what they pujjht to do to put down this savajery,

[ And one is glad that the General Public '.is going to insist upon this abomination being wiped away. Seeing that the union and the referees havo persistently shirked their, duty in this respect, the General Public is thoroughly justified in hooting to its heart's content every cannibal who assaults a footballer. And that is about ns much sympathy as is due to the referee who permits the brutality. Our contributor may be right as far as he goes, but ho is only on the fringe of things. Tho general stato.of the gamp, tho making public of audit of some of the provincial accounts, the tangle in the rules, the unsuitability of 15 a-side, the. quarrels among executive' bodies, the general unfitness of many controls to control, the difficulty of "arriving at" these tottery but slim controls, and the continual effort of some writers to plate drab games with gold, and 10,001 other things come to mind as well. The questionable displays of vigour by. some of tho players are only second-rate- symptoms of a general disease. Rugby, as we know it, must go.—"Aristobulus.