ETHICS IN SPORT.

Otago Daily Times, Issue 20703, 29 April 1929, Page 14

ETHICS IN SPORT.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —After the recent executive of the Otago Piping and Association was ousted, from .office it. was only to.be expected that some'of its members,, their friends, and other opponents would attempt to rake up or invent all kinds, of things against those responsible for, the "clean-up."', The weakness of the letters appearing in your paper shows how desperate the-writers are and how. poorly they have succeeded. . The • new executives (of 30_members) has instructed us to deal with the matter if we think necesv s.iry, but, as there is nothing to'answer, we will have to merely" state a fewVfacta for the information of the public. As regards the Qutram sports, our executive believes the position to be this: The programme was issued in the time of the late association executive, and contained .a clause which allowed the Sports Society to change any of its' events. At the sports, at the request of the mother of a girl from Qainaru, the Highland fling event for girls under 12 was altered to an event for girls of 12 and under. This meant that girls under 13 could compete, according to the rules, and tlie Oamaru girl won the event. Later on a sword dance, not <> n the programme, was announced for girls under 10. Representations were made to the. secretary that that limit would debar many junior girls,, and so he eventually extended the age to under 12. When the girls Allan and Atkinson were being entered the secretary was informed that their ages were under 12 and, 11 : respectively, and he accepted their entries , accordingly. We understand Mr Steele.* objected before the dance'began, but ali the entrants were called unon to compete, and the. event resulted. AHaii 1, Atkinson 2, Baxter 3. The prizes were given . out some time afterwards. Mr Steele's iirst letter-of protest to the association is dated February .23, several weeks after the sports. The executive de-. cided to take no action because? tlie society had altered some of the events, as its programme permitted it to do, with the result that several were conducted in a free-and-easy fashion as to ages arid other conditions, and because the protest was not lodged. within 15 minutes after the event, a« is compulsory, and the necessary £1 deposit was not lodged at all. As a matter of fact, the association rules lay down that age disputes and similar non-: expert questions shall, always be dealt with by the society, and not by the association. . The dispute in this case has arisen through an Jionest desire on. the part of the society to please. as many competitors as possible by opening the events to as large -a number of competitors as it fairly could. Your correspondents also try to make a great fuss Of the fact that some of our office-bearers, who were present allowed improper practices regarding .ages. But- nothing .was done except \vhat the programme fully permitted; Tn any ease, officers of the association havr neitiller the inclination nor the right; to interfere on the day with | the way societies conduct their sports. If breaches*of our rules occur which are under our jurisdiction and not under that of tho society, tiliey are dealt with later on. ' ■ ' : Some of youi writers are also attempting to make a big "dust" by asserting that our rules which require, societies to pay small permit fees and competitors to possess rule books, are not registered. These rules were registered by the Registrar of Societies in 1918, printed in 1918, and reprinted in 1927. The "clean up" meeting was also held under, the ,1918 rules. : _ * '' The great anxiety of. one or two of your correspondents who iiave referred to frictnm existing in piping and dancing matters iu a few localities' will be relieved when we inform-them that the executives of the. association in the various districts are fully, aware.of that fact. Under the circumstances tiheyare quite proud of it. Any controlling body .which does its job must cause animosity in the minds of offenders and their friends. lawbreakers don't like the police'. .Runners who receive too liberal handicaps because of " crook" records they, hand in resent ' being punished. Offenders against piping or dancing rules kick up a great -dust" about our association which punishes off ences. In- the

11. years since, it was reorganised it has had to deal with -soma dirty problems in several parts of the Dominion. It had wholly -to _ disband .one of- its own centres because, it was wrongly fighting, the sports societies,-and persisted in disqualicompetitors against the instructions of the Dominion Council. It has had'-the experience of a financial irregularity, on the part ,of an officer of. a branch. It has had the experience, also, of a director of a society, whose' own” children were competitors and afterwards teachers, influencing .his fellow-directors to appoint judges who had. either taught his children some years previously or whose decisions at other competitions had been unduly favourable to them. An offiC r 3 l- a branch was so much: the worse of liquor during most of its competitions one year that ho was incapable of performing his .duties. The father of a girl competitor did his best for weeks before a sports meeting to induce the judge to promise to give her a Dominion championship. Office-bearers of the associationhave advertised in its publications, but have not paid its charges for them. These are only a_ few examples of the matters which fair-minded members have had to expose, with the result- that they have aroused the bitter enmity of offenders and their supporters, a little of which has been shown in some of your anonymous correspondence lately. Those of us who have been in the association for. many years vouch, for the correctness of all tbe above examples of the episodes the association has to deal with in various parts of the Dominion at different times. It is the action of some of your correspondents and others which has forced us to mention unpleasant matters with which the association has ,had to deal in several districts. As this letter will ocupy a considerable amount of your'space, we defer a statement which we desire to make on several other ' subjects, ; including tbe “clean up”.meeting last February. On behalf of ptago Centre, Piping and Dancing Association. —We are, etc., Alexander M’Jlat, President. ' F. A. Chetne, Treasurer. C. TV. CONLET. ' Hon, Secretary. TO THE EDITOR. ■Sißy —With regard to a letter signed “ Achintore,” J wish to say that neither Mr H. M. Allan or anyone else has ever requested-me to reply on behalf of. the competitor protested against im connection with the_ Outram' sports.- " AchintoreV”. assertion in your paper, that, I “ point blank refused ” -to reply is therefore incorrect.—l am, etc., • ■ C.- W. Conley, . Hon. Secretary, Otago Centre Piping and Dancing Association. ■ . TO THE EDITOR;'. ■ Sir,— Your correspondent .“ Achintore ” is making an unfounded statement when he says that Miss Daphne Allan .was entered for the Outram sports,- by her teacher, my daughter. The latter , did not even attend the putram sports, but in' any ' case what difficerence would it make even if she had'made the entry? “ Achintore’s ”■ assertion is only another example of how hard put to some people to manufacture material' for • use against the Pipers and Dancers’- Association.—l am, etc., , . .A. Wheeled, vice-president,' Pipers . and Dancers’ ■ . Association.