ROUGH FOOTBALL

Evening Post, Volume XCVI, Issue 18, 20 July 1918, Page 3

ROUGH FOOTBALL

TO THE EDITOR. Sir,—After reading "Regular Attendant's" letter in to-night's Post, I would like to impress on that gentleman's mind that I was far from overstepping the j mark when I 6aid that last Saturday's ' match was the roughest exhibition Iliad ' ever witnessed. And, while granting that the last stoppage was due to a Pc- I tone casualty, 1 must contradict "P,egu- ! lar Attendant" when he says that the j first was also. Is "Regular Attendant aware that the game was stopped no fewer than ten times owing to casual-, j ties? If so, does he still hint that the match was not a rough exhibition? As a local paper puts it: "The game was not a football match, but a scragging match, with the 'Rugby rough' much in evidence." As I have already stated, there were ten' casualties, and, granting , that the last one was a Petone player, : that still leaves the Oriental team with nine as against Pet-one's one. That, Sir, should make it clear as to where the rough element lay. Did "Regular Attendant"' notice a Petone man charge down and knock out the Oriental fullback (who is only a boy of 16), after he had got rid of the ball? Did he also see another land an Oriental forward a knock-out blow on the jaw, which necessitated that player's removal from the 'field? And yet your correspondent would suggest that the game was not of a rough nature, and also that the referee had control of itl In conclusion, and while holding no brief either for or against either team, it is still my opinion that the blame lay on the Petone side, and that the referee did not have proper control of the game.— l am, A VISITOR. 18th July.-