ENGLISH RUGBY UNION.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 14284, 5 August 1908, Page 6

ENGLISH RUGBY UNION.

"t ' ■ QUESTION OF PROFESSIONALISM, (From Oto Own- Correspondent.) r, r- A ,',' J'PNPON, Juno 26. On Tuesday .tho Committee of the Ene. lish U;itoa met at the Inns of Court Hotel to consider the question of professionalism ."d tho allegations made at tho annual general meeting of May 28. After a protracted sitting of cwor four hours, the fob lOwing Tesulution was-handed to the press- " The committee met arid fully eon' sidered tho further evidence submitted to them as to the statins of V. Jackson, of Cornwall, who is a member of he Rugby Union team in Kew ZeaJand, and it was decided to suspend him. forthwith from further participation in the matches of the tour and recall him by cable. The case of S. Matthews, of Leicester, and others, also the clubs involved, .are'being further investigated!" Commenting upon this matter tho Westminster Gayetto says: "Mr.J. F. Byrne's etfort to arouso the Rugby Union Conitnitteo to a sense of .its obligations with regard to the freezing of tho union from all suspicion of professionalism .has already met with some success. One of the charges ■ that he mado at.the_annual meeting concerned F. Jackson, of Cornwall, who is at present on tour with the English team in New Zealand, and whom he plunged with having been, undea: an assumed name, a regular player with a Northern Union club. . . . It is to be hoped thaj the, matter will not be allowed' to drop at this point. When, some time ago, a eorhmission was appointed to inquire into charges of • pro- ' fessionalism, it will be remembered one or two clubs and a handful of players wore punished, and this was made to serve, the purposo of a general 'white-washing.' There is much broader ground to be covered now than Jackson's position and 'the' case of S. Matthews, of Leicester, and. others', occupies; and unless the investigation is thorough, and/full disclosure is mado of all irregularities that are discovered, tho future of the Rugby game- : will appear no brighter than it did when first this most serious matter was ' shelved.'" POSSIBLE RUGBY UNION SPLIT": ..." Veiled professionalism in football is still being discussed, and in the columns" of the. Daib- Chronicle; Mr Hamish' Stuart-writes that "just, before and j"6t .after the annual meeting -of the Rugby Union be condemned, in very strong. terms, the procrastinating policy of tho committee in dealing with the professional question." Mr Stuart ■ proceeds: "The union seemed determined to take a middlo courso that was not safe. Happily wiser counsels have prevailed, and fchero is every reason to hope that the union will now adopt a policy more consistent with its rules and. past actions than, tho temporising policy whioh it, had previously pursued. In the circumstances it is not the intention of the writer to refer to the past it would nob be in the best interests of the game as an amateur pastime to do so, even thoughthere is ground for believing that the union might not' have altered its policy t but for the revelations made at tho meeting and" the severe criticism to whioh it has been subjected. 'Whether it was in possession of the facts'as to Jackson i 6 now immaterial. All • that need be noted is that'it bas been compelled to recognise the gravity of the position, the inconsistency of its policy, and the imperative necessity of altering the, same. " . "' "There is indeed every reason for thinking that the union might.have found itself in such' serious conflict with the Scottish and Irish Unions that there Would have been an interruption of relations' but for the action taken in the Jackson case, and promised in tho case of other players and clubs under suspicion. In the matter of professionalism in football there can , be no middle course, but tho union, or t rather the present committee, has taken a long time to realise the fact. ' Now that it has at last achieved a tardy, if not partial, recognition of tho truth; wo may look-for that policy of purification a-nd of;absolute-, refusal to tolerate professionalism in .any, shape or form for. .which the situation calls. : As already . stated, further inaction and, wilful blindness to the facts on; the part of the Rugby Union would haw alienated the sympathies of the Scottish and Irish Unions. The action which the union seems on the point of taking ma-V have far-reach-ing consequences, and may a second split, yet' anything is better than the' state of doubt which has too Jong prevailed,'' says Mr Stuart in conclusion.' •