MARLBOROUGH RUGBY UNION.

Marlborough Express, Volume XLIII, Issue 144, 16 June 1909, Page 7

MARLBOROUGH RUGBY UNION.

The Marlborough Rugby Union met last night, when there were present: Messrs J. J. Corry (President), P. O'Dwyer, J. Mowat, G. Griffiths, J. H. Morrison, A. R. Thomson, and the Secretary. Mr Lamb represented Moutere, vice Mr J. O'Leary, resigned, and Mr E. S. Hylton acted as proxy for Mr J. O'Dwyer. A WAITOHI PLAYER. The Secretary ot the Waitohi Club. wrote asking for permission to-play a man named Whitcombe on Saturday next.—Agreed to. THE SEDDON SHIELD. The Buller Union wrote challenging Marlborough for the Seddon Shield, the date to be fixed after the West Coast-Marlborough match.—lt was decided to play Buller on Saturday, September 4th. The West Coast Rugby Union wrote agreeing to play the match for Seddon Shield on August 21st.

RE CLASSIFICATIONS. The Moutere Club wrote asking that Gill and Murphy be re-classified as juniors. Mr Griffiths moved, and Mr P. O'Dwyer seconded, that those players be treated in the same way as J. Q'Bourkc, of the Opawa Club.—Carned" A PROTEST. The same club wrote protesting against the try awarded to Sowman in the match against Central on baturday. The objection was based on (1) The line-umpire putting up the white flag; (2) That Manning kicked the ball out of touch; (3) That the line-umpire did not lower his flag as soon as the play went from the touchline, . , -Mr Hylton said there certainly was some confusion on Saturday, the one line-umpire having one flag and the other two flags, one denoting the Moutere and the other the Central colours. The other umpire had only a Moutere flag. The game was fair, and the try undoubted. Mr Corry proposed, and Mr Strickland seconded, that the Union uphold the referee's decision in the matter of a try scored by Sowman. Mr P. O'Dwyer moved that the question be referred back to the Referees' Association to give a decision on the point and report to the Union. Mr Lamb seconded the amendment.

Mr Hylton said confusion was undoubtedly caused through Mr Fisher having only one flag. , The Chairman said the amendment was perfectly in order, but it was not quite the thing to refer a matter of that kind to one of its smaller clubs. The amendment was lost, and the motion carried. TOUCH-LINE FLAGS. The Chairman moved that the Referees' Association be asked to see that touch-line flags be provided for every match, and that the letter of the Moutere Club be forwarded to them, pointing out that through the - omission that team had suffered hardship, and should endeavour to obviate a recurrence of such a mistake. Mr Mowat seconded the motion, ■which was carried. No. 2 GROUND. The Awatere Club wrote claiming expenses for last Saturday's~match against Opawa, and stating that No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds was unfit to play on, and that it objected to either of its teams playing upon it, as it was a death-trap and was unsafe for football. Mr Hylton said the letter was very discourteous to the Union, and he moved that it be ordered to lie on the table.

The- Chairman said it would be better to hear what the Ground Committee had to say with regard to the condition of No. 2 ground. Mr Mowat said the portion with regard to No. 2 ground on Saturday was that he spent a good deal of time before the appointed hour for the Awatere-Qpawa match to start in filling in all the holes. It was absolutely safe, and with half-an-hour's work could be made as good as any ground in Maryborough. The Central Club had no objection to nlaying on the ground. Mr Morrison said he had looked over the ground on Sunday last, and from the holes he saw there, it certainly was not a credit to the Ground Committee. In its present state the ground was not safe to play on, there being holes there fror.i" eight to ten inches in depth. They appeared to be holes made for stands at Show time. The ground was not at all safe, and required levelling, and to ask teams to play on the pround in its present state would be endangering the players. The ground was marked out all right, but in front of the southern goal there were two bad holes, and naturally it was a far rougher ground than No. 1 ground, and was a. decided menace to life and limb. He recognised that the holes could be made quite safe, and the Ground Committee had been lacking in their duty as far as that ground was concerned. There was another objection to the ground, which was that the fences round the oval were too close to No. 2 ground. He recommended that No.. 2 ground be "tabooed" by the Union until it was put in proper order. The Chairman said that three* junior matches had already been played on the ground this season, and no complaints had been received as to its being unsuitable. The Secretary of the Awatere Club wrote strongly on the matter, and it was for the Union to consider whether he had any right to write in that way way to the Union. As a maaer of fact no dub had any right to object to any ground allotted for them. Mr Morrison moved that No. 2 ground be not used again until it was made safe for football. As delegate for the Awatere Club he would point out that two members of their junior team had met with accidents whilst playing on that ground. Anyone going over the around could see at a glance that it was to blame for those injuries. Ho considered that his club had acted wisely in refusing to permit its teams to play there, let alone to jeopardise the senior team's chance by having to play on the ground. The members of the Union were there to support the game, and he did not think by compelling teams ! to play on unsafe grounds they would be doing that, and he upheld the! action of the Awatere Club in objecting to the ground. The Chairman reminded Mr.Morrison that his club had no power to object. Mr Strickland seconded the motion.

Mr Mowat said the senior teams were prejudiced against the groimd because they thought 10 "infra dig" to play on a- ground allotted for the junior players. He maintained that the ground was safe, and could be made- still better. With reference to what Mr Morrison had said relative to two members of the Awatere

junior team meeting with injuries on the ground, it was possible for players to get sprained ankles on No. 1 ground. Mr P. O'Dwyer did not think the ground fit for senior football, but t sp was right enough for juniors, who did not play as fast as seniors. His objection to the ground was that the fence was too close to it, and he did not think it was advantageous to the Union to play senior matches' on the ground. He was, however, not in favour of the motion. Mr Thomson said if the ground was good enough for juniors it was good enough for seniors. Some mention had been" made of the juniors not playing as fast as the seniors, but from his experience the juniors here played equally as fast as the seniors, if not faster. Mr Hylton said he had played and refereed on far worse grounds than the No. 2 ground at the Show Grounds. He did not think players should expect the Union to supply them with grounds like a billiardtable. A great many of the grounds in Wellington were worse than this one.

Mr Griffiths said it seemed to him that the question at issue was purely and simply a matter of fact, which was that the ground was not fit for football. Mr Morrison had said there were holes in the ground 10 inches deep, and Mr Mowat said there were no holes, as he had filled them in. He. took it that Mr Mowat did not mean that he filled all the holes in. Mr Mowat: "I do, and I am prepared to bet anyone on it." Continuing, Mr Griffiths said Mr P.

O'Dwver had gone over the ground, and had come to the conclusion that it was not fit for senior teams. He thought the Union would be acting wisely in putting the ground in order.

Mr Lamb said he could not say much about the eround, but agreed with Mr O'i)wyer that the fence was more dangerous than the ground. The Chairman thought, it a most singular thing that if the ground was good enough to play on last year and was not this year. Mr Mowat had told the meeting that he put the ground, in order, and Mr Morrison said it was not in order. The Union

had no. right jto tell any team to play on a ground unsuitable any more than any team had a right to refuse to play. He would oppose the motion on the grounds that other teams had played on it, and that it was fit to play on. .

Mr Morrison endorsed what Mr O'Dwyer said about the fence. He, however, did. not want to adopt the role of the carping critic, and he thought the defects could be remedied at little expense. In reply to Mr Mowat's statements regarding the playing of senior matches on the ground previously to this year, they went by the board. He thought the A. and P. Association should be asked to earmark the revenue received from the Union for the purpose of putting the ground in order. Replying to Mr Hylton's remarks relative to the Wei-

lington grounds, he said they had no connection with the question. The Union wanted to improve the grounds, and they could do that only by placing good grounds at the disposal of

players. The motion was lost. JUNIOR MATCH. It was decided that the Central B v. Awatere junior match be played at Seddon on Saturday. AN EARLIER START. Mr. Hylton moved, and Mr P. O'Dwyer seconded, that all .matches be timed to start at 2.45, and that a quarter of an hour's grace be allowed. —Carried. TIME-KEEPER. Mr T. A. Kirby was appointed official time-keeper at the Show Grounds. REMOVING THE GRAVEL. The matter of raking the stones off No. 1 Show ground was referred to the Grounds Committee with power to act.

A well-known lawyer tells of his efforts to correct the manners of his office boy. One morning not long ago the young autocrat blew into the office, and, tossing his cap at a hook, exclaimed: "Say, Mr Blank, there's a football match down at the park to-day, arid I'm going." Now, the attorney is not a hard-hearted man, and was willing that the boy should go, but thought he Avould teach him a little lesson in good manners. "Jimmie," he said, "that isn't the way to ask a favour. Now, you come over here and sifc down, and I'll show you how to do it." The boy took the office chair, and his employer picked up his cap and stepped outside. He then opened the door softly, and, holding the cap in his hand, said quietly to the small boy in the big chair: Please, sir, there is a football match at the park to-day; if you can spare me, I would like to get away for the afternoon." In a flash the boy responded: "Why, certainly, Jimmie; and here's a shilling to pay your way in."