A RUGBY SENSATION

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLVI, Issue 24, 28 December 1925, Page 2

A RUGBY SENSATION

FAMOUS CLUBS QUARREL. ACCUSATION OF ROUGH PLAY. LONDON, Nov. 12. Two famous Rugby clubs,. the Harlequins and Newport, are concerned in a sensation in the amateur sporting world. The following - official“statement has been issued by Mr Adrian D. Stoop, honorary secretary of tho Harlequin Football' Club: — • : “At the conclusion of the game at Twickenham on Saturday the committee of the Harlequin Football Club decided to discontinue the fixture with the Newport Athletic Club.” Discussing the matter with a press representative, Mr Stoop said: “The position is that wo do not like the football which is played by the Newport forwards. They consistently break the rules, and we don’t liko that sort of football. We can get plenty of games with other clubs which are much more enjoyable, arid it is for that reason we have decided not to play Newport again. Rugby football is quite rough enough even when it is played in the right spirit and with proper regard for the rules of the game, but if a team consistently declines to pay any regard to the rules, then it is- not football at all.”

Harold Davies, the Newport captain, interviewed at Oxford, said there was certainly no foul play, on either side. There was somo haphazard play on both sides, because the referee let things go. Some of tho players did not know where they were because of his off-side decisions. The Harlequins were equal offenders, and the only difference was that Newport were penalised in good positions. A player who took part in the match said that it was not a particularly pleasant game. Feeling ran a little high at times, but the match was spoiled, not on account of any excessive roughness, but by the different interpretation which Newport, in common with most other Welsh clubs, placed upon the rules. . “There were certain incidents in the match which did not do credit to any team playing the Rugby Union game,” writes’ “Touch Judge,” of Sporting Life, “and it was impossiblo for the referee (Mr 'l’ottcr-Irwin) to see some of these incidents. Newport were penalised three times, twice for off-side and onco for obstruction. But there were other cases of obstruction which went unpenalised, and there was a good deal which occurred during the line-outs which also escaped—and unavoidably escaped— the referee’s notice. During tho interval I saw Mr Stoop speak to the Newport touchjudge, and that official subsequently had a conversation with somo of the Newport players. Rut the character of tho game did not improve after tho interval, although it is my personal view that tho Harlequins’ action might have been less drastic —at any rate, in the first instance.”