ENGLISH RUGBY

Stratford Evening Post, Volume I, Issue 497, 20 July 1932, Page 7

ENGLISH RUGBY

TOO MUCH POLITENESS ENTER. ING INTO GAME “Taking the game as a whole, Rifsrby fob ball in (he Home unions lacked during the last few months the type of man who is likely to be very useful in a shipwreck, but who feels lost at a dance or a picnic.” v. rites E. H, D. Sewell in a London paper. “There has been too much politeness, so to speak. Some of the efforts at tackling have been nearly girlish. Indeed, if Rugby were a possible game for girls it is probable that their tackling would be anything but, gentle! That Rugby to be properly played must have its rough moments is undeniable. As things are cur form of it needs mere healthy rudeness of the right kind. “Between that and foul play is a very wide chasm. Fortunately, with the wider gentleness in tackling, by comparison with the best pre-war kind which lias come in, real foul, ness has gone out. Fisticuffs on the spur of the moment is loss of selfcontrol. and, though unpardonable, vet. is not foul. I am not advocating fisticuffs. Foulness such as tripping, holding the player whet has not got. but who soon may get the ball, running between the tackier and the tackles; shadow tackling and obstruction are all fouler than is Ibo hitting of a provocative player with the fist. “I saw no tripping this season and very little holding, but, i am si'M'ry to say, a good deal of foul obstruc. lion, shielding, and shadow tackling. The’ worry of it. is that it was all done by the older players! But as most jc-f these perhaps fortunately, will be on the shelf in a season or (wo, let us return to the coming-on generation —to some of whom we shall lie koking in our attempt to repel the next invasion, which is by New Zealand, four or five seasons j hence.” • I