NEW ZEALAND SOCCER

Evening Star, Issue 20253, 14 August 1929, Page 4

NEW ZEALAND SOCCER

BESPECTACLED REFEREES The council of the Nmv Zealand Football Association met at Wellington last night. When the primary schools’ tournament takes [dace at Wellington Sir R. P. Harrison, head master of Belmont School and a member of the Minor Division Committee in Auckland, is to meet tho New Zealand Council to discuss the matter of the tour of a New Zealand schoolboys’ team to Australia next year. ■k r J Stout has been appointed to roumee tho South Island final of tho Chatham Cup between Otago and Canterbury on August 17. Tho : council agreed to allocate the Skerrett Cup to tho secondary schools’ tournament, to ho held in Auckland next month. The trophy will be taken north by tho Wellington secondary schools’ team. Members of tho council subscribed to tho testimonial to Mr F. J. Wall, secretary of tho English Football Association."

As a result oi further discussion on tho subject of bespectacled referees, the council expressed its willingness to limit tho operation of tho rule, provided that tho request conics from or through tho New Zealand Referees’ Association. The mutter came into the limelight as tho result of a -telegram from Auckland that the appointed referee for the F.A. trophy game wore spectacles, and asking if ho was thereby disqualified Tho matter later became something in tho nature of a joke, for it transpired that while the referee in question did wear glasses during the week he did not wear them when refereeing. The chairman of tho council (Mr’F. Campbell) painted out that tho New Zealand Referees’ Association asked only for a ruling, and the council simply quoted tho English law. If tho rigid application of the rule would cause hardship ho thought the council would interpret it in a manner which would exclude local competitions from its ope ration, but ho thought it should apph to important matches such as F.A. and Chatham Cup matches.