OTAGO RUGBY UNION.

Evening Star, Issue 10902, 10 April 1899, Page 4

OTAGO RUGBY UNION.

The annual meeting of the Union was held in the City Hotel oibjjgtw-' day evening. Mr J. M. Gallaway (pbefehK dent) occupied the chair, and these-wece. about thirty-five delegates present. gles were received for the Messrs *f. A. feinter tod B. t). Annual repost. ' ,woi The annual report and balance-sheet (ah ready published) were taken as read. .The Chairman, in moving their adoption,;, gaid it gave him great pleasure to preside,, now, for the fifth time, at the annuar meeting of the Rugby Union, because he thought that the game, instead of falling off, as some people wished to make out, was really gaming ground.-(Hear, hear.) The principal reason for that was the manner in which the game, taking it all round, was playpffl'm Dunedin. He knew that there had been criticisms in the past of the methods by which the game was conducted, hut (it seemed to him that it was played in a fair and impartial way, and on the whole there was very little to complain of. _ One rf the unpleasant duties of the Committee was to consider differences that arose between referees and players, and he had no doubt that the players sometimes thought that they were harshly dealt with; but he was sure that the Committee, by their past actions, had the support of the delegates, because they must all recognise that the Committee at the head of affairs must be upheld in their management of the players and the game generally. It seemed to him that they owed a deep debt of gratitude to those gentlemen who were appointed to occupy the onerous and difficult position of referee. Personally, he could imagine no more difficult position, and the duty of the Committee in all cases was to support the decision of the referee. The history of last year’s deeds were carefully set forth in the report. The Otago representatives were twice beaten by Southland, but he did not think that there was a genuine lover of football who begrudged the Southerners their victories, because they deserved them—the second win, at any rate. The local boys were successful in their matches against Canterbury and Wellington, which made up to a great extent for the defeats recorded against them by Southland. They would have the opportunity of meeting those teams again this season, and Otago hoped once more to do the best they could against them. There was one thing in particular which everybody was glad to notice* and that was the cordial febling which existed in Wellington on the occasion of the team’s visit there last season. —(Applause.) Personally, he was glad to see it. Another pleasing feature of the tour North was the way in which the men conducted themselves, and a great deal of the success of that trip was due to the manager, Mr G. M’Laren.—(Applause.) He was sure that when the Wellington team came here this year they would show them that they appreciated their kindly efforts to make the stay of the Otago team in their city an enjoyable one. The only case of professionalism last season, since tho new rules came into force, was dealt with by tho Committee. It was one in which he thought it was necessary to show their view of the action of the player in question. He -was certain that the delegates would agree with him that it was quite beneath the dignity of footballers to lend themselves to any theatrical entertainment. At any rate, that was his opinion, and the Committee also took that view of it. He trusted that the same thing would not occur again. The great dispute about “wing forward” play had not yet beeif settled. The New Zealand Union were now beginning to see that it was k matter of more importance than they thought at first, and he hoped that this Union would stick to their guns until they received some authoritative decision on the point. In connection with the visit of the English team, he thought the Committee did the right thing under the circumstances by declining to have anything to do with the proposal to send a team to Sydney.— (Applause.) It seemed to him that if a football team came out to the Southern Hemisphere, and did not come to New Zealand, they might as well stop at Home, because there was no doubt that New Zealand was the home of football in this hemisphere.—(Applause.) He was glad to see their friends Messrs Mitchell and Young present. He did not think that the delegates were aware of the work they had done for the Otago Union in Wellington. They took a great interest in their duties as Otago’s delegates, and it was a pleasure to see their communications to this Union. The Otago Union were a considerable power in the New Zealand Union last season. The Committee had done really splendid work last year, and he was sure the delegates would be ready to recognise that fact. He did not believe there was any part of New Zealand where football affairs were more carefully administered than they were in Otago by the working members.—(Applause.) Mr Payne, in seconding the motion, said he was certain everybody agreed with the Committee in declining to approve of the suggestion of sending a New Zealand team to Sydney to meet the Englishmen. The motion was then put and carried without discussion. THE MILTON CLUD. On a ballot being taken, the Milton Club were unanimously affiliated to the Union. ANNUAL MEETINGS. Mr Hutchison (hon. sec.) moved the following notice of motion standing in his name :—“ That by-law 8 be amended by the omission of the words ‘ second week in April, unless the Easter holidays occur in that week, in which event the annual meeting shall be held during the third week in April,’ and by the insertion of the words ‘ month of March’ in lieu thereof.” The mover explained that the object of the motion was that the annual meeting should be held before the season commenced. It was very inconvenient holding the meeting so late in the year, and for that reason he proposed the motion on behalf of the Committe. Mr Lawry seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. THE ANNUAL. Mr Hutchison next moved the following notice of motion That by-law 13 be altered to read as follows : ‘ The annual subscription for senior clubs shall be three guineas, and for junior clubs one guinea and a-half, which subscription shall be payable to the hon. treasurer at the annual general meeting in March. Should any club's subscription be in arrear on June 1, notice shall be sent to that effect by the hon. secretary, and if the subscription is still unpaid on August 1, such club shall cease to belong to the Union. Each senior club shall be entitled to receive fifty copies and each junior club twenty-five copies of the 'O.R.F.U. Annual’ free of charge.” The effect of this would be, he explained, that the subscription of senior clubs would be increased by £1 Is, and that of junior clubs by 10s 6d. The object be bad in view was twofold. Firstly, to assure the finance of the Annual, and secondly to secure a wider distribution of the Annual, so that it should be more evenly distributed amongst the clubs. It might surprise the delegates to learn that during the last twelve years the pecuniary loss to the Union on the issue of tho Annuals had amounted to within £2 of £2OO, and that was due to the fact that a number of the clubs did not support the publication in a way that they should. It might be said that the loss was made in a good cause, and probably it was, but the question was whether there should be any loss at aH, and if the delegates had any idea of the way in which some of the clubs failed to support tho Union in this matter they could not help from coming to the conclusion that there should be some alteration. Last year three senior clubs did not take a single copy, and one of those clubs in the previous year took half a dozen copies. In contrast to that, there was another senior club that took eight dozen or more, and for the last two seasons it had cleared the Union’s hands of 120 copies. It would thus be seen that the cost of the Annual was unfairly borne by some of the clubs. Two of the leading junior clubs in the last two seasons had not taken a single copy, and how the members were supposed to know the rules he did not know.

Mr Campbell seconded the motion, and thought that the story unfolded by the secretary was most harrowing. The players seemed to rely on their own knowledge of the rules, which did not mean very much in some cases. The result was that they had many complaints against the rulings of

tnotfqn wddtactl-iWM t0 byilftt of the this would be Ha °* 0fl » ar J 1 » add in support of we ntotiw he-rtad letters from the two senior sHibfl nAwiplaymg at Oamaru. 'Mf“Snith7 As” delegate for the Oamaru. Athletic Club, seconded the motion, which was carried without discussion. ■ SUSPENDED PLATERS. The next notice of motion was in the name of Mr C. J. Payne, who, at'the suggestion of some of the delegates, deleted the latter part of it, and then moved as follows:“That the Union, upon receiving notige from the secretary of the Otago Athletic Clubs’ Protection Association to the effect that any person or persons are or have been suspended by that Association, shall recognise and give , effect to such suspension; and any such person or persons shall not, whilst under any such suspension, be eligible to play for any club affiliated to the Union.” Mr Beadle seconded the motion.. Mr Lawry referred to the great difficulty clubs had in getting in subscriptions, and said that the best players were generally the worst at paying. If he had his way, he would suspend all players who had not paid last year’s subscriptions. Mr Payne said most of the clubs belonged to the Protection Association, but some were holding out, and the Association were thus prevented from doing the good work it was intended to (Jo. A delegate asked what could be done in a case where a player, who did not pay his subscription, belonged to a club that was not affiliated to the Protection Association. The Chairman replied that nothing could be done. Mr Cohen said if they could stamp out the system by which a man got all the value he could out of a club, and then forgot to pay his subscription, it would certainly be o great support to the Protection Association. The motion was carried without opposition. THE FORT CHALMERS CLUB. Mr Hutchison was then called on to move That By-law 2 be n&lended by the insertion of the words ‘ Port Chalmers.’ *’ He explained that the effect of carrying the motion would be to raise the Port Chalmers Club to the rank of seniors. The application of the Port Club came in on the last day on which notices of motion could be received, and the by-law said that recommendations of this sort should be made by the retiring Committee. It was too late at that time to have a meeting of the Committee, and he put it on the notice of motion paper in order to see whether it should be proceeded with or not. The Committee, however, had since held a meeting, and decided that it was undesirable that the Port Chalmers Club should be raised to the senior ranks. Under those circumstances, he did not now propose to move the motion. The motion therefore lapsed.

FLAG MATCHES. Mr Lawry moved the following motion, notice of which he had given :—“ That in the interests of football flag matches should be reinstated.” He thought everybody would agree with him that football was going back.' —(Laughter.) He contended that, apart from interprovincial matches, football was on the down grade, and something was undoubtedly wanted to revive the enthusiasm which existed a few years ago. In his opinion, flag matches would do that, especially seeing that they were hot gdihg to get a visit from the English team. A sinall committee could easily be formed to frame rules for flag matches, and there would be no harm in giving the system a trial, at any rate. There was a recognised premiership in Christchurch, and it had worked there satisfactorily for years. In concluding, the speaker said the junior clubs were getting all the best of the second fifteen men to play for them, and he thought something should be done to encourage the second fifteen men of senior clubs. Mr Restieaux seconded the motion. He held that there was no gainsaying the fact that football had gone back, and in support of his statement he said they only had to take the different clubs and see how many fifteens they were able to put in the field now compared with a few years ago. Mr Crosby Morris thought that it would remedy matters if the secretaries arranged matches only between the second fifteens of senior clubs, for there was no doubt that the junior clubs were drawing members away from the senior clubs. In speaking against the motion, he said that they had no flag matches in 1890 and 1891, when, according to Mr Lawry, they had better football. . Mr Campbell said if he was satisfied that a recognised premiership would help second fifteens he would support the motion, but the Joint was could they have a premiership for rst and not for second fifteens. It was a very good suggestion to exclude the junior clubs, with the exception of the Otago High School. The members of ; the school were only boys, and were not able to cope with some of the junior clubs, many of whom possessed members fit for first fifteens. When the school played second fifteens of senior clubs they found that the players were not so strong. Mr Cohen said that, while the senior fifteens deserved to be encouraged, second fifteens certainly wanted fostering. _ That could be done, he thought, by instituting grade matches, and if something of the kind were not done the interest in football would go on decreasing until it had gone so far that it would be impossible to recover the lost ground. He advised them to have grades of three distinct classes, and. then players would go from the third into the second, and so on. Players who saw a chance of getting a game regularly for a team that was the same Saturday after Saturday would not play for second fifteens as things were at present, but joined junior clubs. Mr Lawry, in reply, said there were too many junior clubs. If an interprovincial match could be arranged against Canterbury for second fifteen players it might improve matters and be the means of bringing many of the junior club players into the second fifteens. If they had district clubs then they could easily have first, second, and third fifteens. One speaker had said that there were no flag matches in 1890, but he seemed to forget that'at about that time the English team had visited the colony, and they helped considerably to improve the game here, ' The motion was carried by 22 votes to 13. Mr Campbell then moved that it be referred to the incoming Committee to frame rules as to the conduct of flag matches, with power to act, and the contests be divided into three grades—(l) Senior grade, comprising first fifteens of senior clubs ; (2) junior grade, comprising the first fifteens bf junior clubs (exclusive of the High School Club); (3) second grade, comprising second fifteens of senior clubs, and the first fifteen of the High School Club. Mr Cohen seconded the motion. Mr Minn: Would the Ravensbourne and Port Chalmers Clubs, be debarred from playing second fifteens? Mr Campbell: That is so by the motion. Mr Minn: Do you think it fair to do that? Mr Campbell said Port Chalmers had applied to be admitted as seniors, so that they must be too strong for second fifteens. Mr Hutchison said clubs could grade themselves. The senior clubs would enter their first fifteens for the first grade, and the second grade would receive entries from clubs that were strong enough. Mr Farquharson moved as an amendment that it be referred to the incoming Committee to frame rules for the conduct of flag matches, with power to act. Mr Mitchell seconded the amendment; and after further discussion Mr Campbell agreed to withdraw his motion in favor of the amendment, which thep became the motion before the meeting. Mr Moller moved as an amendment that there be two grades, but this was lost -by a large majority, and the motion carried, Mr Payne then moved that it be a recommendation to the Committee to fix the. three following grades:—(l) Senior grade, comprising the first fifteens of senior clubs ; (2) junior grade, comprising the first fifteensof junior clubs (exclusive of the High School Club); (3) second grade, comprising the second fifteens of senior clubs, and the first fifteen of the High -School Club. ;

( amen^ent—“T^at -the Commftteebe Yecomenfiw tp eatabWh three grades." He did not wish to see the Committee’s bands tied in toy waar. _ Mr Eestieaux seconded the amendment, here agreed to withdraw hxs motion in favor of Mr Cohen s Mnenoment, which was pt to the meeting and carried. OFFICE-BEARERS. sirssissH»s?papi flattering terns of the affiqkfct of i i Wilsorl (High School), Crosby Moms (Me*., atesV T. A. Hunter (Union j all re-elected), andV Nlwion (North Otago); hon. secretary. Mr J. Hutchison (Pirates j re-elected); hon. treasurer, Mr D. Duncan (Kaikprai; re-elected); I Committee Messrs F. H. Campbell.l W, J. &. _ M (Cteham pi tod W. Hi WT Pirates); Messrs Crosby Moms and W. T. Monkman delegateto tho English Rugby Union, Mr S. E. Sleigh (re-4 e °tetl). - THE NEW ZEALAND UNION. Mr Mitchell, in returning thanks for the reference made to his work as one of the Otago delegates onthe New Zealand Union, said that when he first attended the meetings, of the New Zealand Union almost a block vote was given against toy proposals brought forward by the Otago delegates; but matters had changed for the better now. In fact, one of the- members of the New Zealand Union told him not long ago that they were now pleased at the way in which the Otago members kept them up to the scratch. He had to thank the secretary of the Otago Union for providing him with the instruments o! war whenever any ticklish question was coming before the New Zealand Union* thA referees’ association. The Chairman impressed upon delegates the necessity of securing several more efficient members for the Referees’ Association. They wanted as many as they could get, lor the present number would not be 1 sufficient with flag matches coming on. THE IXBQUALIFICATION OP HARRIS. Mr Mito moved that the Committee be instructed to communicate with the New Zealand Union requesting that the disqualification of Harris be removed. Mr Beadle seconded the motion, which was carried unanimously. The natch committee. Mr Lawry moved—" That the Match Committee be instructed, in selecting the trial teams, to pick players who have played in their respective positions during the season. The Match Committee seemed to have got it into their heads that they could find halfbacks among the three-quarters, full-backs among the three-quarters, and so on. He thought it only right that players who had been playing three-quarter during the season should be given a chance in the trial matches in their proper position, and the same with the full-backs. At the present time a man could play full-back all the year, and when it came to the trial matches he was given a show for half a spell, and his place taken by a man who had been playing three-quarter all the season. Players, he held, should be picked from the positions in which they played during the year. Mr Minn seconded the motion. Mr Harris was of opinion that the selection of the teams should be left to the discretion of the Committee, who were quite right if they could get a better man to play him in a different position to the one lie had been playing in for his club. A matter of that, kind should be left to the common sense of the Match Committee. Mr -Restieaux thought that if the Committee played a full-back for half a spell they had no right to pick him at all. Mr Beadle expressed the opinion that the Match Committee had done too much experimenting in trial matches. Mr M'Laren, as a member of the Match Committee, said it was their desire to pick the best team for the province, irrespective of where they took the men from. If one of the full-backs was not fit for the team, and he could put a forward there, he would d °Mr’Lawry, in reply, said if the motion were carried men who were good full-backs would play in that position all the year round, instead of playing three-quarter for their clubs. If it became the order that players should be taken from their respective positions, then they would have men playing in their best places in the club matches. Men sometimes played three-quarter during the year because they kn*w if they could not get into the representative team as a three-quarter they had a chance of finding a place as full-back. The motion was lost by 18 votes to 10. The Chairman said he thought the delegates had done right in rejecting tho motion. It was unwise to recommend too many ■things to the Committee. Something ought to be left to their discretion. Mr Beadle then moved that it be a recommendation to the Match Committee to pick players who have played in their respective positions during the season. , Mr Restieaui seconded the motion, WHICH was lost by 16 votes to 15.

THANKS, , Votes of thanks to the retiring Committee and the chiarman concluded the business.