ROUGH FOOTBALL

Evening Star, Issue 21503, 30 August 1933, Page 7

ROUGH FOOTBALL

INCIDENTS OF PAYNE TROPHY MATCH REFEREE'S EXTRAORDINARY ADMISSIONS [Special to the ' Star.’] CHRISTCHURCH, August 30. In liis report to the Canterbury Rugby Union on the Otago UniversitySydenham match Mr R. J. G. Collins, the referee, said , the only unfortunate accident of the match was that in which W. T. Dunne (Otago University) was involved. . “ Dr Harty, manager of the Umversitv team, told me afterwards,” he said, “ that he was definitely of opinion that Dunne had been deliberately kicked, and I am afraid that that opinion has coloured his views of the whole match. However, I was in a position to see the accident clearly, and I am perfectly certain he was not deliberately kicked. If he had been I should certainly have sent the other player to the bank. I am sure Dunne’s injury was caused by contact with the ground.” Mr Collins added that he had examined Dunne’s injury immediately after the accident. “If it had been a club game I should probably have sent several players to the bank, as I have stated before,” continued Mr Collins, “but I went on to the ground with absolutely no knowledge of what had occurred at Dunedin last year. Very soon after the game began I felt there was a certain tenseness in the atmosphere, and I am satisfied now that if I had sent men off I should only have made things worse and inflamed the tempers of the players, so that the game would have developed into a Donnybrook.” Mr Collins described several incidents in the game. “ The first spell in my opinion,” he said, “ resembled a wrestling match, but the laws of the game, as I read them, do not allow me to dictate how a man shall be tackled. In the second spell a good deal of real football was played, and the only thing that troubled me was bunting by the front row of the scrum. “ Apart from these incidents, I do not believe there was anything wrong with the game,” he said. “I had a talk with the Dunedin team afterwards, and they had no complaints to make. I believe the whole of Dr Harty’s complaints have arisen from the injury to Dunne, which I do not consider was caused by a kick.” CHRISTCHURCH ‘ STAR'S' ACCOUNT AT VARIANCE WITH REFEREE The incident in which Dunne was injured is reported as follows in the Christchurch ‘ Star ’; — “In a. melee a Sydenham player’s boot struck Dunne’s hip as he lay on the ground. Dunne tried to carry on, but had to give up after a few minutes, and limped off the field. Otago had now lost a vital force in their attack. In the few minutes that ho was on the field Dunne showed what a dazzling turn of speed he can call on when the occasion demands. If he is fit again by Saturday and able to take his place in the Otago side against aCnterbury for the Ranfnrly Shield he will require to be watched closely.” In reference to the illegal tactics in general, the ‘ Star ’ stated: — “ From a playing point of view yesterday’s game fell far below expectations. The football was of a patchy, scratchy order, and there were certain passages that were not football at all. Sydenham and Otago University introduced illegal tactics into their game at Dunedin last year. This season they repeated those tactics on the Oval at Lancaster Park, The dullest_ moments in the gam© were those in which it was a case of the man being' played and not the ball.

“There can be no suggestion that the teams went on to the field with a prearranged scheme of playing the man, but an unfortunate incident early in the first spell awakened inemories of last season’s ‘ rough-house,’ and from th--i on the game was fought in anything but a spirit of friendly rivalry. “ Some of the headlocking that went on in the scrums ivould hare done credit to any prize wrestling ring, while in the open there were many glaring incidents of illegal play. Bumping, the use of closed fists, and tackling of the type that has caused much adverse comment throughout New Zealand were offences committed by both sides. This was hardly to be expected from the premier club teams of Canterbury and Otago, and the element of hostility that was held by one side against the other destroyed what otherwise might have been a game to enhance the playing reputations of the ’earns that took part. It was to their credit that the teams forgot their differences after the game find parted good friends.”

The Christchurch ‘ Sun ’ referred to th match as follows:

“ The game opened explosively, ’Varsity scoring practically as soon as it started. The ’Varsity kick-off was returned into touch. From the 'ine-out the forwards packed round the ball; it was heeled to the ’Varsity backs, and away these backs galloped to a try in the corner farther from the spot where the ball had been thrown into touch. B-.:t from this great beginning the play deteriorated. Much of it consisted, especially in the first half, of a sort of wrestling equivalent of the old battles royal of the prize ring. This wrestling was due largely to players collaring opponents high and other players joining in the tussle, but yet very often with the ball not so held as to require, under t • laws of the game, formal scrummaging for it. Occasionally there were flashes of back play, but for the most part the open play lacked definition and directness and thrustfulnss. There were too many errors, and with two teen sides playing ‘on top of one another ’ these errors provided plenty of scope for spoiling. SYDENHAM DEMANDS INQUIRY [Per United Press Association.] CHRISTCHURCH, August 30. The discussion by the Rugby Union arose over a letter from the Sydenham Club: “Owing to the slanderous attitude taken by the Otago Union, my committee demands an open inquiry into the playing of the Payne Trophy match.”

The union decided to write to the Otago Union pointing out that the Canterbury Union had seen the discussion in the newspapers, and asking if Otago had any complaints,: •