VISITING FOOTBALLERS

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 7 August 1928, Page 9

VISITING FOOTBALLERS

ENGLISH CAPTAIN SHARPLY CRITICISED

(By Telegraph.—Special to "The Mail") AUCKLAND, 6th August., "X.Y.Z." writes: "Please find la little space for a protest against the extraordinary conduct of the captain of the visiting League team. On Saturday evening, in making a- strong personal attack upon the referee, to say nothing about social decency and the spirit of good-fellowship that is supposed to pervade such gatherings, Mr Sullivan was guilty of an unpardonable breach of the principles of fair play and sportsmanship, and I was .very glad that Mr Bull gave him a little straight talk in reply. What, I should like to know, is to become of discipline and the enforcement of the rules at football if captains reserve to themselves the right of calling in question the conduct of the referee, and attributing their defeats to him in this fashion?

"Complaints against the referee 5 mean one of two things—either he is biased, or he does not know the game. In either case he is unfit for his job. How can we expect competent men to undertake these arduous and unpleasant duties if they are to be subjected to public attacks of this insulting nature? "It seems, also, from Mr Bull's statement, that he did not have to wait till Saturday night to be told his duty by our visitors. It seems a pity that Mr Bull did not meet the threats of withdrawing from the game during the course of the match by the drastic punishment that a referee is empowered in such cases to inflict. The whole episode seems to me simply disgraceful, and if this English League team and its captain intend to do any good for the game here, they will need to work particularly hard to counteract the impression that they produced upon Auckland's sporting public on Saturday."