Sunday Rugby In England

Southland Times, Issue 24005, 21 December 1939, Page 11

Sunday Rugby In England

The latest proposal now being canvassed ,is Rugby on Sunday, which in the past has been shunned, comments Geoffrey Simpson in The Daily Mail. The club at the back of it aims at forming a group of teams to play Sunday matches, the idea being to provide sport for Rugby players engaged in war work. Dozens of men thus occupied are so busy that Saturday play is out of the question. Sunday is their only free day, so they are asking, “What’s to stop us playing then?” There is no bar to it. Sunday Rugby has been carried on for years. It is kept very quiet, of course, and is frowned on by Rugby rulers, but so long as gate money is not charged there is nothing that can be done about it. Even if the unions express disapproval, it will not matter a great deal what they say, for they have voluntarily gone out of business for the duration. Therefore, players and clubs may do as they please, within reason. The Sunday campaigners are confident of getting fixtures. Other clubs will follow the movement, they think, and there will always be Service teams ready for matches, Sunday being the soldier’s day off on home duty. Opposition, hot and strong, will be forthcoming. The feeling against Sunday play is deep-rooted. I remember the late Sir Rowland Hill, Rugby’s grand old man, making a terrific speech about it. He implored his listeners to turn their backs on it. But it weakened his case that the Rugby Union had just previously arranged an international game with France in Paris and agreed to play on a Sunday. However, Sunday Rugby is not approved here . . . but if gate-money is not taken, why should a Rugby match be thought wrong when a friendly round of golf or a tennis game occasions no offence?