RUGBY FOOTBALL

Greymouth Evening Star, 25 June 1927, Page 11

RUGBY FOOTBALL

ELVY CRITICISED. (Special to “Star.”) AUCKLAND, June 24. Every now and then something crops up in the Rugby world to create an animated discussion as to whether or not there is any professionalism in the game in this country. Undoubtedly there has been a fair amount of veiled (thinly, too) professionalism from time to time. The peregrinations of a celebrated New Zealand player hailing from the North have not been a good advertisement for what our League friends facetiously term the “lily-white” amateur game of Rugby. The latest sensation in Rugby circles is the Elvy affair, which, according to a gentleman now resident in Auckland, but who occupied for many years a prominent place in the Bush District Rugby Union management, is bound to do the fifteen aside incalculable harm. As the pot is calling the kettle black round about Pahiatua, perhaps the best way to describe recent happenings is to quote the local newspaper, which in the course of an article in a recent issue, published the following account under the headings: “Goodbye, Mr. Elvy. We don’t know why you went, but don’t mind us! ‘Elvy’s gone!’ were words passed like the wind from mouth to mouth in Pahiatua yesterday (June 10), and they created nearly as great a sensation as the more tragic happening of the previous week-end (the chopping off of a barman’s head by a Hindu). Many heard the remark incredulously, but it was a fact nevertheless Elvy had been employed by the Tui Brewery, Ltd., and his wife was to join him in a few weeks. ’On Thursday afternoon (June 9) he inspected a house close to the brewery and decided to rent it. Conversing with a prominent member of the Mangatainoka Football Club, he remarked that he was quite satisfied with his job, and appeared to have properly settled into the running. The same afternoon he received a wire from Petone, and informed his boss that he had to proceed to Wellington to finally fix up his resignation from the Railway Department. He went and at noon on Friday the foreman received the following wire from Petone: — ‘Reinstated old job. Not coming back. Elvy.’ A short time afterwards his landlady received a communication from her late boarder to forward his belongings to Petone. It was a staggering piece of news for every Rugbyite in the Bush, doubly so when it is explained to those who don’t already know that a number of keen Rugby supporters, with the interest of Bush football very much at heart, themselves paid all Elvy’s expenses in getting him to Pahiatua; and were on the point of paying for his furniture, on the definite understanding that Elvy’s stay in the Bush would be for one season, or several months at least. It does seem well-nigh incredible that any man should .accept such generous treatment, only to turn round almost immediately and, without any explanation, leave his benefactors in the lurch, without even so much as a ‘thank you’ for the every consideration shown him while here. “It has left a bitter taste in the mouths of all Rugbyites, and knowing the man, one would hardly believe him capable of the sudden action he has taken. There may, of course, be some excuse, but then,' what excuse could there possibly be? Morally, if in no other way, he owed the Bush something, and that he has gone away with that debt of gratitude unpaid is the unanimous verdict of everyone with any knowledge of the circumstances.”

Elvy made his debut for Petone in a match against their hereditary enemy last week, and although well marked by Poneke, he was, with Mark Nicholls, the outstanding player on the paddock. He scored one of the two tries by which the Petonites won (6 to nil).