RUGBY FOOTBALL

Dominion, Volume 18, Issue 151, 20 March 1924, Page 8

RUGBY FOOTBALL

NEW ZEALAND UNION MANAGEMENT COMMITTEE The Management Committee of the New Zealand Rugby Union met last night, Mr. S. S. Dean presiding. . The committee approved of the increase of a loan to the Poverty Bay Union from £3OO to £BOO. subject to tho plans of a. new grandstand being aP The V Bay of Plenty Union wrote that applications for reinstatement of league players would not be conS 1 from Manawatu stated that there were 1100 club players and 440 school players in the union. Annual Report. The thirty-second annual report was considered. It reviewed the matches played during last season, mid noted that an agreement had been reached for an interchange of visits during the next four seasons. The' report stated that one of the marked features of the year was tho multiplicity of inter-union representative fixtures, and the committee recommended delegates to the annual meeting to consider the revising ot the system of teams receiving and returning visits at short intervals. It was hoped that provinces should secure really representative teams, while the inroads on the time available for local competition were very heavy. School football was also referred to the report noting that the Moascar Cup was now a challenge cup. A sum of £5OO had been allocated to unions for the encouragement of school football, at the rate of £2O to each union. The grant was intended as a subsidy only; there were still a few unions not co-operat-ing as they might do. Matters connected with the All Blacks’ tour and the Imperial Conference, which have been reported in tho Press, were also reviewed. Finance. The financial statement showed that thcra was a profit on the year of £1228, with a loss of £lBlB during tho previous year. With no prospective sources of income, it would be unwise to encroach on the capital fund, which had practically all been loaned, or was under commitment for loan, to affiliated unions. The total amount now on loan was £8134, and loans to be yet taken up totalled £5550.

The balance-sheet showed that the liabilities were: —Accumulated fund, £14,373: profit for year, £1229; sundry creditors, £33; total, £15,635. The chief assets were:- —Ijoans: Otago. £500; Southland. £l6OO- Southland (temporary!. £509; Taranaki, £75; Taranaki (Stratford Borough Debentures), £500: Wanganui, £900: Wellington. £1750: Poverty Bay, £350; Wairarapa, £2000: War. Loan, £500; New South Wales Rugby Union, £217 ; cash in hand, £6651.

The chairman expressed his thanks to the committee for the work carried out during tho year. The duties of the committee, which included the arrangements of the All Blacks’ tour, had been carried out smoothly. He was thankful for the loyal co-operation of tho committee. WELLINGTON UNION NEW SECRETARY APPOINTED. It was announced last night that Mr. A. E. Neilsen, chairman of the Wellington Rugby Referees’ Association, had been appointed to tho secretaryship of tho Wellington Rugby Union, rendered vacant by the resignation of Mr. F. J. McComisky, at the end of four years’ service. Mr. Neilsen can claim a long association with Rugby. For the past 17 years he has refereed games all over New Zealand—club, inter-provincial, and international. He controlled last year’s Ranfurly Shield contest, in which Wellington were defeated by Hawke’s Bay. the New South Wales game with Hawke’s Bay, and carried .the whistle in the second and third Tests with the Springboks three seasons ago. He has been chairman of the Referees’ Association for the past, two years.