OTAGO RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 11090, 18 April 1898, Page 4

OTAGO RUGBY FOOTBALL UNION.

■■■ '■ ■:". ■..'.' ~~—. * " ■' . ■ .-. .'.'..' The annual meeting;, of the Otago Rugby Football Union w*s held at the City Hall on Saturday night, and was attended by about 40 officers and delegates, Mr J. M'Rae Gallaway I (president of the union) occupied the chair. ANNUAL BEPORT. The President, in moving the Adoption of the report and balance sheet," expressed his pleasure at again meeting the delegates, especially whsn he found them so enthusiastic jas they were,- and he hoped it would be a long j time before enthusiasm in the game grew cold, r although he thought there "was at present little chance of that. Referring to the committee's congratulation* on'the absence of the taint of professionalism, he saidit behoved each of them who took an interest in football to Keen any such taint from the good old game.—(Applause.) The past season, had, from the committee's point of view, been a very arduous one, but he could never wish;,to be associated with any set of men: who had worked more arduously, more harmoniously, and more loyally with him than the present committee.1 There j had been some unpleasant passages in" the past ! football season which' had called for the exercise ■of tact, and ho thought^ the.football public had' la, good deal; to be. thankful for in the wav the members of the committee had scted in those I troublous times; for if it had not been for tha advice of those members who were experts—to i was himself too old and full blown to be called an. expert—(laughter)—they might not have I been able to ste&r clear, of their'difficulties.- He j pointed but thaf though ' the-balance sheet showed a credit balance it was a small one, arid would, not justify them in launching' into | extravagance. The. question of the cost of. printing the Annual, was a very serious one. IS was a nice thing to. have all the information they had collected in the Annual, but it did not pay, and.it was for the meeting to ■ say whether, the union w*s- justified in carrying it on in a shap?; that .caused the expense that was: at present"' incurred: ' Eulogising the,, work ~donee done;^Referees'; Assoeiv tion, he saidV,tha6 no/official connected with ! football had so mnph; responsibility, md no official was so severely criticised, and generally by the losipg Bide so sjirongly condemned, ai the referee, and ttierefore anything that could be done by the union; should' be done to support" the men who devoted their time to that particular office.—(Applause.) It appeared that thero w;as a slight difference between the coraj raittee and other, powers; that be on the qnestion of wing forward play, and if the committee they ejected that night were of the same way of thinking as the committee, this ■ matter would not be dropped, for it seemed I necessary that there should be some authorita- : tive ruling on the point in order that there might be gome1 uniformity.' It was no news to the football public that the ruling of the committee in connection with an appeal arising out of a match between; the Port Chalmero and Star clubs , had bornupheld by the Enfilish' Rugby Union! it : was1 specially pleasing [to the committee to 'find that in both j the appeals from Otago which had been carried from the New 'Zealand Union to the English: Unipn the view held by'the committee, had been upheld, io England.—(Applause.) In the latter case'he had himself had some doubt about the result, but the expert members of the committee were unanimous, and he was very glad that the English Union had found that they were.right.—(Applause.) Respecting the unpleasantness that 'had occurred ir» connection wun the WVrinigtonOtago ruste'h, he thought that as footballers ra*s unght to let by-gones be by-gones. There was some suggestion of an annual match between Wellington and, Otago, *nd if that couid ' 'be arranged it would; be a very good thing for ifootbajl. Although there'had baen'.a little feelking after the last mstcb, in. the interest of football they should 'let that Reeling drop and go on ..playing", as though it had never existed. Since the very earliest times there had been people who had criticised, football and said it wag a very rough game, and he read an extract from." Goodman Ftubbes His Book" showing that aa early as 1583 an j outcry was raised against the. game as I"a bloody and murthering practise." Notwithstanding the criticisms of the game he ventured to say that football, would-be played as long as our nation existed. He was glad to see the great interest that* was taken in the game last year, but if that interest continued more grounds for practices would be required. Aa it was some lof the senior clubs in.D,nuedin had a difficulty in getting grounds. He had no doubt that some of them had noticed that there was an agitation in the southern part of the town for a recreation ground, and there was a similar agitation in the north end. It seemed to him that the union would. b« doing its duty in assisting both agitations to the best'of its ability, for although ! they might all become extremely educated as to brains and head-rand he was not sneaking as a ! member of tHe Education Board—(laughter)— they would never be thoroughly educated unless they carried the physical development of their arms and' legs along with the cultivation of sound brains and head.—(Applause ) Mr D. ;K. Tobkancb seconded the motion, which was carried without discussion. ~ NEW CLUBS. The Northern and Palmerston Clubs were, on a ballot, admitted to the union, i , : ELECTION OP OFFICE-BEARERS. '. The election of office-bearers was then proceeded with, tbe nominations and result of the voting being—President, Mr J. M. Gallaway (re-elected on the motion of Mr F. H. Campbell, wto highly eulogised the services performed in the past); vice-presidents—Mr W. Burnett (Hawkduu), 30 votes ;Mr A. Wilson, £9; Mr Crosby Morris, 26 ; Mr T. A. Hunter, ZZ (elected); R. Chisholm, 15 ;D. T. Fleming (Balclufcba), 12; Professor Sale, 10; hon. treasurer, Mr D. Duncan (te-elected); hon. secretary, Mr J. Hutchison (re-elected); Couirnittee of Manßgement-^-Mr P. H. Campbell, 32; Mr H. Ham*, 27 ; Mr G. M'Laren, 25 ; Mr R. D. Isaacs, 25 :. Mr W. J. Strong, 22 ; Mr A". J. Miscall, .16 '(elected): Mr C. J. Payne, ,15; Mr P. Macassey, 12; Mr P. J. Priest, 12; Mr J. Duncan, 12; Me G. C. Mathcson, 8; auditors—Messrs W. T. Monkman and J. Crosby Smith (re-elacted). Mr S. E. Sleigh was unanimously re-elected delegate to the English Rugby Union, and Mi J. 55.-Gallawaywaa nominated aa the union's vice-president of the New Zealand Union. AMENDMENT OF BY-LAWS. Mr F. H. Campbell moved and Mr R. D. Isaacs seconded—" That the following additior. be meda to by-law 26 : (2) If the ground foi

any match ba not settled within seven days after the meeting of secretaries, the Committee of Management ■ shall decide on what ground such match, shall be played." Mr A. K. Lawhy desired to move as an amendment —" That flag matches be reinstated and the committee have power to arrange grounds in case o£ dispute."' The Chairman ruled that if flag matches ■were to be reinstituted it must be done by notice of motion. After discussion the motion was carried on the voices. THE DISQUALIFIED PLAYERS. A letter, referred to the meeting from the retiring committee, was read from the Union Football Club, which asked if Vf. Harris, one of the New Zealand team o? last season, was disqualified from playing Rugby football, and, if so, requested the uuion either.to have the charge against him properly investigated or to have the disqualification removed. Correspondence on the subject with the New Zealand Union was also read, the last communication from that body stating that the request made to affiliated unions to endorse tbe disqualifications upon three members of the union was due solely to a slip of the pen, the intention having simply been to notify the nnioDS of the disqualification oE the pl#yers tor two years. '_ . . Mr M. Cohen, as the mover of the resolution oE the O.R F.U., declining to take any action rathe matter of Harris's disqualification until placed in possession. of the evidence on:which the judgment of the New Zealand Union was based, said the correspondence showed that there had been an investigation of a sort, and it was therefore unlikely, that the New Zealand Uuion would reopen the case. He counselled the union under those circumstances to join with tae Wellington Union in asking the New Zealand Union to adopt such action as would allow the players concerned to take their places in their clubs. He. bad always had a suspicion tbat fair play had not foen shown to Harris, but he had since learnt that, uuder his own hand, that player had admitted the truth of the charges against him except in one particular. He contended, however, that the charges could cot be so sarious as to disentitle tha players from playing or their clubs from claiming their services for so long a period as the term af the disqualification, and he thought the New Zsaland Union should temper its view of the matter with a certain amount of consideration for the feelings of the individuals themselves and their c!ubs and remove the disqualification. He moved—"That this meeting request the Committee of Management to make application to the N.Z.R.A. to now remove the disqualification of Harris, a member of the Union Club." Mr W. J. Strong seconded the motion. Me W. Beadle asked if it; was recognised that the three players were disqualified by the New Zealand Union or by the Otago Union. The Chairman: The Ofcago Union has not disqualified, but tbe New Zealand Union has intimated that it has disqualified, and so long as we are members of the New Zealand Union there can be no doubt that we are bound by that. Mr J. H. Stewart inquired whether, .. if Harris came down to the Union Club to play, they weire to allow him to play, the Union Club as a club having had no intimation of his disqualification. ' The Chairman expressed his disinclination to answer conundrums. Mr J. Hutchison said the difficulty in regard to the motion that presented itself to his mind was that they did not know 'what the evidence was on which the players were disqualified, and rousequently did net know how far the facts justified the disqualification. Mr F. H; Campbell said the last speaker's remarks brought them back to the point they took up las b year—that they should not be required to enforce the disqualification of a local player unless they were first placed in posseesion. of the evidence. ', -Mr C J. Payne said that to carry the motion would imply that the union admitted the right of the New Zealand Union to impose the dis-; qualification. ... .'' Me A. Restieattx and Mr D. Torbancb sup- J ported the mo'uiou. " Mr R. Isaacs said that if they passed the motion they would climb down from the position they took in October last when they declined to endorse the disqualification because they had not received the evidence. In asking the New Zealand Union to remit or reduce the sentence they would ba admitting that there had been an ofience. Mr Cohen denied that there would be any climbing down for the reason that the position was entirely altered, the union having been told since October last that it had never been •intended.;to; ask it to endorse the disqualification. The ground was/oat entirely from below their feet. ■ - •• •The Chairman observed that the committee had in the first place pointed out that it was not the right of the New Zealand Union but of the Otago Union to inquire into charges against an Otago player, and that that wax the proper construction of the by-law was shown by the fact that in the revision of the New Zealand Union*■ by - laws , the by-law ia question was; replaced by another giving that union .tbe*'-power. He ventured to say tiwt fch«v difficulty arose from the fact that the New Zealand Union, which ought to have been a court of appeal, acted a* a court of firat instance. The motion was carried by 19 votes to 9.: GKNERAL. ■'.'■■ On the motion of Mr R. Bhowh, it was carried as an instruction to the committee that the cost of the Annual be not more than £20. ('•■"lt wag resolved, on tha motion of. Mr W. Beadle, that it be an instruction to the Match Committee to request clubs to suggest names of players before making a selection, ' A vote of thanks to the chairman concluded