Outside Chat.

NZ Truth, Issue 172, 3 October 1908, Page 3

Outside Chat.

Now that ■ the «.HOB toeball season has gfyen up the ghoa- 1 would ask "Truth's" legipn -of .Rugby! readers throughout the Dominion to reserve their queries until nextyear-'s events happen along. Correspondence on Riigby topics has been pour- ■ ing..-' into, this office for months past and

the. Staff thinks it up to them to. have a spell-oh. Will my readers kindly bear this intimation m mind ? -

Alec McDonald, at the conclusion of the.-Auckland-Otago match : "I- have always thought Seeling thy best forward m the world ; after last Saturday'i match i am positive of it." Many Auckland patrons ot the sport are. disappointed at the- pooi exhibitions m. the Cup matches this season, ouiQ team, Ponsonby, having matters all itS. own way, City being the only. .cpirtUina^; tion to make any show against it. Trie^ outlook is not at all bright for keen competition m the senior list up northway.

Taranaki Union's request for' a. return match with Auckland i^as giver, the cold shoulder. Some members of tlie Auckland Union thought that the proposal savored too much of taking tlie team down vcow-; land" way as a show. When the opinion of the players themsely.es wista'keh, most of them intima-ted that theyvwpuld, be unable to get away. That settled, it. The Taranaki Onion t was after r the doodle — its officials gave thp sport minor "consideration. ••''.;: "•.;;■ .; *'•■•.

Mr Claude Young, ,who ' undertook to canvas for subs towards _ the Wallace Tes-! timoaial Fund m Bunediri, seenu to -haye been- a most energetic 'cuss. He*as ; noy something like £55 m hand:' Claude has done splendid work and it's a' pity tliat the organisers of the movement haven't a .few more of. his stamp m other towns.

It was suggested by Dick Isaacs at the Referees' recent shivop thai the wliistlirig brigade should take such steps . asvwould ensure a uniform charge being matte by its members when controlling matches* outside their own town. T v his easy m&t' thod of raking m 12s 6d or 15s a day with free travelling arid board ; • thrown -jri would suit the Wellington crowd, whichbosses the show • right down .to . tne knocker. Referees outside of- the capital City would have precious little chance .or securing the i plums; -. :■. ; v Acknowledged, with thanks, from* Bert . Magee, Secretary of. the Pon'eke Club, a complimentary ticket for - its annual ■ smoke-oh, which function was to have 1 taken place last night. • ' .y] • Two .of the All/ Blacks who matte a x& putation for themselves ;on the Fogland, tour will undertake the "respbfisibilLty 6t' running m doubhj harness m ytjhe.notdisV tant future. -Both are downright decentand popuiar chaps and I "Wish them heaps ; of tli'c best luck going when .the serious' step is taken. ■ ■ . The Auckland Rugby Union will, soon fird (says the "Star") that ; unless it canprovide an exceptional 'Bill of fare season after season it will lose public support: The powers that be m the Rugpy world would do well to recognise that it is a ■' question .of tne survival of tlie fittest j. and • •the \>o&f that provides -the best sport andinducements to- players is Coming oulf on. top. The public are .fickle mastets,; and sentiment does not as a rule interfere with their enjoyment. , ; . . Some of the uiost rational newspaper articles m the Dominion on the exped-. iency of altering the laws ol the game and the necessity for reimbursing players for loss of time while on tour have been penned by "Quidnunc," of* the "Canterbury Times." Last" week "Quidnunc" had sometning 'to say the attitude assumed .by the Canterbury Rugby Union's delegates to the New.. Zea-, land Union who are what one might^terta the avowed anti-payment leaders m Rugby circles m the Cathedrai ; ..Oity. yfhe Southern writer makes no bones about dealing with *he Walton-Garrard-Masdn triumvirate, and m view of tlie. fact, that they, will probably be trunipetting. the same old tuna at the meeting m Wellington next week, as was performed m; Chris.tchurch recently, it might be 'of 'In--tcrest to my numerous 'readers :to makePne or two extracts from his latest ar-j tide: — "It is a long time since Mr Wai- ,' ton took his seat on the Committee > of the Canterbury Union, and during ail that liuio he has been whole-heartedly and con^ sistently unprogressive. If I may Sisso--ciate Mr Walton's - policy . from bis psrson- ; ality, I should say that it is men such as Bflj Walton m the Government of football—Conservatives .. of the Conservatives —that -have fostered, the professional; movement by their inability to get into touch with the players and realisertheir needs. . . Mr Mason, of course, is seldom original, and "his repetition otf the old story of the clerk who has- to work; all nigjit m order to enjoy his ; fobtiiall m the day is one that ;he has inflicted oh* ua quite often. It j a charmingly 'inept » old bogey and I- Should be sorry to rob ■ Mr .Mason of the comfort it- so clearly i affords him. Both he and Mr Garrard ; [seem to, be so limited m their range of. Vision that the one little idea .-that they have mastered m the many months they have had to think about the payment qluestion blots out. all oilier considerations, from their minds." Pretty rough oiuiWalton, Garrard and Mason, isn'fit ? but "Quidnunc" knows from long experience, what their qualifications; exactly arfe when I matters requiring broad-mindedness arid the initiation of ,r pushful policy come up for consideration. "Gun?' Garfard;s, asinine decls ration thaiT if payment' is per-^ mitted the smaller, unions will be unable j ftp go. on tour can only be taker to mean'; tbas if such does come about it anist : be, compulsory, and no union can be allowed, to despatch a team /unless its players are^ paid. No wonder "Quidnunc" defines "the Gun's" argument as too absurdly 'puerile to be noticed. , .. v ; ■'..-'■ ■■'■') An i~- r lignant sport whites 'to me anent J an alleged clique which is heati, bod^. arid tail combined of the Referees' Association', and which he declares will never, he purged. ; of its shortcomings until the "Opurtenay Place Debating Club" is wiped * cleat: Qiif of existence. Then,, and only then, he says, will old player" be induced to come forward and give the .benefit of theL ser-' vices. Iri his opjbion the sooner the Rugby Union appoints and classifies referees : controlling games underwits auspices the better will it be for the" game, . which is, he contends, at- present kept back by thelack of incapable controllers.; My' cotrespondent says that at the reJQreijs' mutual admiration gathering a short time ago Fred Laws; who is generally about whenever a. cheap outing presents itself, made the remark that for the good pi Rugby the appointment of referees should $e '. invested entirely m that body, but the Chairman of the Rugby Union, who was m attendance, didn't cotton on to tne impudent proposal and several football club representatives interjected port observations which made it clea that, it will be a long time before Laws-O/Con-nelJ, Card-Sievers and Co. rule the roost. One of the club representatives' hit the nail right on the head when he said that he had watched a. .number of. junior referees performing with the whistle 'during the season just closed, and .tHiey were quite capable of taking on a senior gamfe. He was quite surprised that they were noi; given a chance. He would not- state that there was a clique iE the Associr tion, but .it was passing strange that those referees should be kept, m the baqkgrousd, "Dear 'Pakeha,'— l wish youtotaKe up the cudgles on behalf of the Kia OraFootball Club. You- already kuow that Kia Ora defeated Petone Juniors by 15 points to 6, and then had to play them again for the final. So as to be sure o* beating its on this' occasion,. two old senior players were 'rung m against us, and at the same time we were to play a man called Tarinahill, an old member of oui duh and a life member also, bfcit the Wfillington Rugby Union classified him a senior player, because lie played,, against the English team for ManaWatu and*Horowhenua combined. As you know, these ure'grea* footballer?, when Wellington &r~ ■< 7'ors defeated them by 46 to 5. 0 course, we liave heard al sorts o yarnb; wbout the matrtei.-. Some say thfc Unio^ feceived anonymous letter,, to It Oras playing Tanriahill by aoo' or by crook, and they did it, or tried o, bit , we played him m spite ot their action • as Petone weie playing fou senior", lv'i l nothing was said about them. Anyhuw, we played a drawn game against them, rt nrt the Union gave the matcl to PRton . Now, sh\ these are the points :. Al" so.yen matches were finished quite three wenks before we played the final, so ho^ »uj.d Tannahil] play senior. Then again, none 0) the Committee had seen, birft play, so ho*>. couW they judge whether he was class enough for senior. A rumor got about that we intended winning at any I cost hecause we had a lot of money on •the match. Well, I can tell you that a

• Petone resident sent up £20 to back. Petone with, arid whep, he-heard we were. Splaying Tannaliill he took all bets qlf. Two of last year's seniors against us made a great difference, and we had a hard game to play. My opinion is that if we played them again we would beat them. We are appealing to the' New Zealand Rugby Union, btut whether it is any good or not remains to be seen. Three years m succession Petone have 'rung in' old seniors to win the junior Cup and . nothing was said about it. — I am, etc., M. W. Welch, Club Captain Kia Ora Football Olub.'f , '■'... ■

George Gillett is now 31 years of age,., and has never missed a season, having' played 16 consecutive seasons. He has never been warned off by a referee and only once left the field, of play through accident. His first senior match was m 181T3 for Waikato against Franklin, Wai•roa and Auckland.!

Members oi the" -Auckland Rugby Union; .Executive were knocked abotrt am* when "Doctor" Murray made it knwftnto them that m consequence of-. lihe season's heavy expenditure it was doubtful if the net proceeds of this year's wotkings w.ould be more than £400. A clear -profit of something like £1000 was expected. . Pefcon6's city fajfchers spoke their minds plainly to Stan. • Brpwn when the latter, on behalf of the Rugby Union, preferred a request for the use of the recreation' grounds next season. The Union hadn't dealt altogether fair and square with the Council m the matter of the recreation -grounds m the past, and some of the members saw through the Union's little Jgamc of attempting to rob the Northern 'Union code players pf its chance of .get- ; ting a look m next season. Stan, got not the least satisfaction for his suburban journey the other evening. ' : Anything like plain criticism, riles Rugby Union officials, and Mick Sheehan and his. colleagues of the Auckland Rugby Union "are "going to market" over the showing-up they got at the hands of "Zahriiiel," the Auckland "Star" writer, last week. The latter is not at all disconcerted by their opinions concerning his foo'tbijll policy^ and he returns to the charge^ m this' fashion :—" I have, venturedto poinjfput that theN.Z.R.U. and its Auckland representative "body are ■> going the right way to encourage the professional -' riiovemerii) "fty refusing to consider .the fair ejlaims of players "for compensation, "and b.y so. long db'stinately declining to modify the rules of the game. It is not "ZaTaiel" 'but the Auckland Kugby s Union that, by-its cohservatiSin and its meanness, is helpi^tk^ to bring m professionalism ; and ■ itwill be, nobody else's '■fault, if professionalism really 'arrives', and stays for' good and all."