With a Reputation

NZ Truth, Issue 1030, 22 August 1925, Page 6

Wit h a Reputation

Albert Neilson, secretary of the We 1 1 i n'gt 6-n 'Uigby;. .. Union,, us done.yeo--, man service for the grand okl game 'in.'. New; Zealand. . As a. ' player' he was jjood, but it was us a referee that Ji3 rose to ' the real heights of efficiency, and the f'.am Q us. Springbok team paid him the compli-' meht o.f- : selecting him to referee the 1;;eI two memorable tests m- Auckland a r^ ■Wplii.iigto.ii.^ _..'.. .; , Two years <ngo he took over the seeretsiry.ship of the Wellington Ruyby Union and restored order where a c;ertain aniount of chaos .had previously existed: 1 .In a. paragraph m these columns a 'few weeks ago anent a dispute over ref.ereeing'Jtlie St. Pat's v. Wellington College : game; : : mentiqrt was made of thefdct^that^lb'ertas a paid Rugby ,bfnci,ail..;p'ame ■uh'der^ the laws of professionalism.' Wliat>,'was 'tverlooked was 'i-h'fe : fact that; these laws •were not intendeid^to apply ;to Secretaries and treasurers , and the N.Z. Union has power to) exempt these .officials simply by pEtssing a resolution.

In the case of the secretary and treasurer of the Wellington and other Rugby Unions this has been done so the services of Albert Neilson arc sf ill available m a refereeing capacity for any game, m the country from, the humblest to the highest.