Replacing Injured Players

NZ Truth, Issue 963, 10 May 1924, Page 9

Replacing Injured Players

■ ' < '■ * A Practice that Should be Abolished.

Tho replacing of injured" players m this country has developed into a farce. It is simply not Rugby and the Union should step m and abolish the practice for good and all. We note what happened to Auckland -m 1883, against Wellington, arid to Wellington m 1888, against Great Britain. -That however, was simply the luck of the game, and while iti^ 8 "* a pity the accidents occurred they might just as easily have incapacitated the other side. . -

Here are a few examples of the absolute absurdity of the replacement of injured players: — *

(1) P. Harvey, tho South Island half-back was injured just before the interval . at Wellington, m 1902. His place was filled by a North Islander, F. Roberts.

(2) W. Bain, the South Island skipper, was injured near the close of the 1919 game at Wellington. Although the team had its full complement of forwards, E. Cummings, of Canterbury, came on m the dying stages of the game and immediately started to look for trouble. Ho had not been sighted atvpractidtt^ :«We venture tho opinion that botnrflfiarry Paton and Norman Mlllard, who woro appointed mentors by the N.Z. Union, will tell you Cummings'a attitude had a 'bad effect and that the team would have been better without a reserve at all. The rolls-of -honor rightly include only those players who actually take the field, not reserves chosen as such. In this case Cummings goes down an a South Island representative, although less than ten minutes on the field!

(3) In 1922, at Auckland, C. Badeley and Stewart, two Aucklanders, went on m place of Steel (back) and White (forward* two South Islanders Injured m the course of the match. At the same time, sitting m tho grandstand was W. A. Ford, of Canterbury, un original South Island selection. Although on the injured list ho elected to make tho journey to Auckland, and so far as two know was never asked i question. A good man missed a trip (•which Ford didn't deserve) and as it happened a game as well (whilo North had 17 reps on tho field and South 13, v total of 30).

Although not a case of injuries, two South Islanders played for North at Dunedln In 1904. Seeling and Nicholson, owing to difficulties m transit, got to Dunedln too late to tako part In the game, with tho result that J. R. Abbott and J v Mitcholl, two Ota go reps, filled tho breaches. This case is an argument for better assembly arrangements for our prbat International gamo every year. Tho teams should certainly bo complolo threo clear days before the match, In which event there would bo amplo time for nukka reserves to bo requisitioned for. Any excess of Injured players ovor reserves would havo to go without replacement. McLean, of Bay of Plenty, caused n mess-up last year ut Wellington. Ho failed to connect and an inexperienced man had to play full-back for North. Thi« brought (n a weak flve-olghth and thoroughly disorganised tho wholo rearguard. Is It asking tho N.55.R.F.U. too much to take sorlously this one match of tho year to which every Rugby footballer looks forward— whether ho can see It or not?