THE OFFSIDE RULE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24715, 18 September 1941, Page 4

THE OFFSIDE RULE

rpHE Appeal Committee of the Otago -*■ Rugby Union and the Otago Referees' Association are at variance regarding a ruling of the game. The Referees' Association asked the opinion of the Appeal Committee on the following point:— A player who has overrun his attack is returning to his own side. In the meantime a scrum has been formed, and the opposing half-back has secured the ball. At that stage the returning Dlayer is within the 10 yards offside limit, and he snaps up the pass which the half-back had intended for his first five-eighth. The Referees' Association held that the returning player could take a pass offside. The Appeal Committee maintained that as the plaver was within the 10 yards offside radius, he could not do anything of the kind, and informed the association that that was its opinion. This did not satisfy the association, and it asked the Management Committee of the Otago Union to refer the point back to the Appeal Committee. The question was discussed at the meeting of the Management Committee on Monday night, when the members of the Appeal Committee stated that it was no use referring the question back to it, as it would give the same opinion as it had given at first. There the matter stands.

The position in this particular instance really is that although the offside player could have taken a pass while he was offside, he had to be outside the 10 yards offside radius before he could do so. It only needs to be added that it is not often a pass of more than 10 yards is seen on a football field. More Serious Things

It is clear that Trevor Berghan has more serious things to think about than football these days, says the Sports Post (Wellington), and the standard of play that made him one of New Zealand's best inside backs in peace-time has been seen only in flashes since he has been playing for Hutt (Army). Against Athletic, for. instance, it was limited practically to one strong dash. He played a solid game, nevertheless.

Tantalising Postponements The fixtures sub-committee of the Otago Basketball Association is having a worrying time at present in that the weather is playing havoc with all its arrangements. Owing to wet Saturdays and students' holidays, the senior competition was well behind schedule, and as the result of last week's postponements the finalists have still to be found. It is to be hoped that the weather will allow finality to be reached this week, when University I and Kiwi have agreed to play two games If Training College I beats Kiwi. Albany I and Training College also will have to play twice The contestants in the Walker end Hall Challenge Cup will therefore be known at the close of the day's play. Hockey Handicapped The wet weather last Saturday stopped hockey fixtures and probably killed what interest remained in the dying stages of the season. The principal fixture was the South Otago Women's seven-a-side tournament, which is always well supported by Dunedin players. This tournament is now to be held at Milton next Saturday—provided the weather does not again interfere. The men's games set down for last Saturday will also be Dlaved this week, taking the form of further matches in the senior handicap competition and the ordinary junior competition The season has fallen far short of an ideal one. and the number of Saturdays lost owing to weather conditions has been high

LAWN TENNIS PRESIDENT In addition to being president of the Cosy Dell Club. Mr E. C. Stuart Falconer, who has been elected the new oresident of the Otago Lawn Tennis Association, has had extensive playing and administrative experience with the game in Dunedin. For 10 years he has been a member of ihe executive committee of the association, and he has done valuable work in advancing many constructive ideas. Mr Falconer has nlaved representative lawn tennis for Otago for the past 12 years. He was the Otago U-iversity singles champion in 1928 and represented Otago at many New Zealand tournaments. He is a orominent squash racquets player, and he has played cricket and Rugby football in Auckland and Wellington. Goals Count In the final analysis of most games it is the points that count, and in the main Association football game last week Mornington owed its defeat by Old Boys to poor finishing. Cope and Thomas played well, and the hill side's young left-winger is justifying the promise he showed as a junior. Both goal-keepers did good work under atrocious conditions, and each stopped a penalty. The one by Gough (Old Boys) brought up an interesting point. After the kick had been taken and cleared, the referee was informed by a line umpire that the goalie had stood a yard in from the line, and the kick was ordered to be re-taken. This time Mornington scored. The referee's decision was in order, since the rule states: " For any infringement by the defending team the kick should be re-taken if a goal had not resulted." Watson, Old Boys' new half, again commanded attention. His clever control of the wet end heavy ball was a feature of the play. Groves and Clarke did good work for Old Boys, and the latter's winning goal from a free kick eight yards outside the penalty area was a fine effort.

Fourth Choice The Canterbury Rugby football selectors have been fortunate this season in having a wealth of good club half-backs, but in spite of this, Canterbury has not been strong behind the scrum in most of its games. On Saturday, however. F. Scully was behind the Red and Black scrum against Wellington, and although he was this season's fourth choice for the position, he turned on an outstanding display under wretched playing conditions Of the other half-backs called upon. L. Hewitt, of Linwood. played against Wellington and Otago in the first matches, and W. Clark, of Athletic, played against Otago on the second occasion. Undoubtedly, the best halfback in Canterbury is J. J. McAuliffe who is now an officer in the R.N.Z.A.F. but he has not been available for the representative games. The selectors then fell back on Scully, who has been playing at first five-eighth for Athletic, and their choice was a great success. Scully opened up the play from all angles, and went down in front of the powerful Wellington forward rushes in great style. Hockey Trophies The cups, trophies, and representative badges won this season in the Otago Hockey Association's competitions will be presented at .the final meeting of the association for the year on Monday week. The Gilray Cup for the senior championship will go to University A, which also won the Hayward Cup for the senior seven-a-side competition The winner of the senior handicap competition will be decided on Saturday The junior championship rests between High School and Albany, and the question of which is to hold the Williamson Cup will also be decided on Saturday The Moller Cup, for the junior seven-a-side contest, will go to High School. The Third Grade championship is not yet completed, and the fate of the Gymnastic Memorial Cup is still in the balance. Primary Schools Basketball The basketball competition this season in the primary schools has again proved most interesting. The standard of play of many of the teams was commendably high, and reflects fav ourably on the coaching of those responsible for the training of the children. The competition was divided into two grades, senior and junior, and both were sub-divided into grades I and II The junior grades comprise player* who were under 4ft 9in at the, beginning of the season, which allows Id: a uniformity of size, and it is particularly among these players that one is impressed by the cleverness of the play. To avoid unnecessary travelling two competitions were arranged—one for north end schools and one for south end schools —and the winners of each section played the corresponding winners in the other sections for the championship. High Street topped the Al grade in the northern section. Mornington the AIL Kaikorai the 81, ana George Street the 811, so that the honours were very well divided this year In the south section this was not the case. Macandrew Intermediate Yellow —the Macandrew Intermediate School is divided into four houses, and each house enters its own teams in the competition—headed the AT All. and Bl grades, while Tainui held the honours in the 811 grade. The final games all showed play of a high standard In each case the first half was fairly closely contested, but the second was of a more decisive nature Macandrew Yellow won well in the AI. All. and BI grades, and George Street captured the 811 section.

ONLY POSSIBILITIES LEFT From the point of 'iew both of the Otago Rugby Union and the football public, it is unfortunate that the club season in Dunedin is likely to end this week without an outright final. To the layman the logical draw for this last Saturday would have been between the leading team, University A, and the team one point behind it, Southern; but the fact is that the loss of so many club playing Saturdays has meant that four series would have to be played to complete the second round. Therefore, the union was bound by custom to proceed with the draw. It cannot " arrange" a final unless the round has been completed or there are two teams level in points. If it should happen that the outcome of this week's series is that two. or possibly more, teams are level, there is precedent for the awarding of the premiership on a percentage basis; but if a straight-out final should resolve itself, it seems more likely that the union would endeavour to play it. probably on October 4. Tf University A should be beaten by ZingariRichmond on Saturday, the two points which Southern should score at the expense of University B would be competition-winners. It is still possible for University A (now 20 points), Southern (19), Pirates (18) and Zin-gari-Richmond (18) to finish all square or for Southern to win outright, and it is the possibility of some such complication on this last Saturday' of the season that will provide its main interest. Since University A and Southern have already met twice, it would have been manifestly inconsistent to draw them a third time while other teams had met each other only once. The whole position is due to the fact that between representative fixtures, postponements because of rain, and the giving up of September 27 to the Patriotic Gp.la Day, there have been eight interruptions of the club programme. For all that, the season has been an interesting one, and it is the closeness of the club competition that makes it disappointing that it is likely tc end quietly.

Representative Hockey The Otago men's representative hockey programme this season has been a shorter one than usual. Threesenior and three junior matches and one primary schools' fixture were played, and the Otago teams came through with commendable success The" senior representative side beat Southland and South Canterbury and drew with Canterbury, with a record of 11 goals for and 6 against. The juniors won against Southland and South Canterbury, but lost to Canterbury, the record being 10 goals for and 6 against. The matches against North Otago and Eastern and the return match with Southland, which usually figure on the programme, were abandoned this year.

A Welcome Alteration The 1942 basketball rule book will show a number of changes. One will be that once a forward takes aim at goal she may no longer pass the ball to a co-player who may be in a better shooting position. Under the present rules this is permissible, and many a time a defender who. according to the rule book, must not move one? a forward aims at goal, is left watching the goal ring while another attacker captures the ball from a quick pass from her co-player. In future the defenders will not be placed in this position. They will know that once a forward aims at goal the shot must be taken. Women and Lawn Tennis An additional responsibility will fall on women lawn tennis players this season because of the reduction in the number of men actively taking part in the sport. War years are difficult ones for clubs, and it has been a noticeable feature in the past that many women lose enthusiasm when few men enter into competitions or appear on the courts. Clubs depend for their prosperity on membership, and the more men leaving for overseas, the more opportunity is offered for women to take up lawn tennis and assist a club. Whiteombcs lor Tennis.*