Sports Topic— UNWANTED VARIETY

Greymouth Evening Star, 2 September 1949, Page 3 (Supplement)

Sports Topic— UNWANTED VARIETY

It is not hard to gauge the extent of the problem facing overseas touring football teamsin complying with the various in- ' terpretations of the rules followed by local referees, if one has made even a short tour within ■New Zealand. ,In the five r matches played by the West Coast Rugby team on its southern tour, not only did the standard of refereeing fluctuate, but there was wide variety of interpretations of prin- ■ cipal rules. For some time the forwards were at a disadvantage in .line-outs. On the West Coast the ball must be dropped in a line-out at the referee’s command and heeled back. But away from the West Coast the for- • wards were allowed to “wrestle” -■ with the ball after line-outs. , Some interpretations of- the shepherding rule would have been amusing, had they not been so expensive to the visiting side. At Oamaru quick throw-ins from ■ touch were not permitted, though the ball was retrieved by theplayer about to,make the throwin, the reason for the ban being that more than one ball was in use for the match. Scrummage rule variations .were numerous. A similar problem was faced by the North Otago team during its tour of the Seddon Shield districts. Its members stated that they had been unable to understand .the scrummage rulings. If uniformity cannot be reachin such a comparatively small. area as the South Island, where there is ample opportunity for conferences to .reach this end, it cannot be expected in such big countries as Australia and South Africa. And if touring teams of the future are not to be saddled with this extra burden, then it is time some steps were taken to correct the present differences.