TOO DANGEROUS

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 520, 24 November 1928, Page 27

TOO DANGEROUS

FOOTBALL NOT FOR POLICE SHEFFIELD CHIEF’S BAN While the footballers among the Sheffield police were just congratulating themselves that the season that really matters had arrived, their chief constable, Captain P. J. Sillito, dropped a bombshell among them. He opposes football as a recreation for his men, and suggests hockey instead. He gave his reasons in a letter circulated among them: “In view of the approach of the football season, so far as this force is concerned, I wish to bring to the notice of the members of the Recreation Society who play or anticipate playing football, a few very important and pointed facts in reference to wliatWiappened last season as regards physical injury to those concerned. At His Own Risk “No fewer than 1G men were injured, some very seriously, causing a total loss of 231 days. * “Further comment is really superfluous, as everyone will immediately realise that such a state of affairs cannot be allowed to continue, and apart from the official aspect altogether, I want to put it frankly to all the men who do play: Is it worth while taking the risk of breaking your whole career for a game of football? “It must be distinctly understood that if a man is permanently injured, or has been partly incapacitated from performing his full luty, he himsell must accept full responsibility for it, and cannot possibly expect to be treated under the Police Compensation Act as injured on duty. Dangerous Game “For policemen or firemen, football is unquestionably a very dangerous game for a man who studies his career first, which of course he ought to do, and particulaly if he be a married man with children. “Let the married men who play football ask their wives, and see what they say. “One fit supporter is worth two players in hospital. » “I think, or at least I hope, you will realise that I am anxious to give you every possible encouragement for games and sport generally, but 1 do feel that the very serious consequences that may follow an injury at football should be brought to your attention, and, solely in your own interests, I suggest that you might in the winter play some less dangerous game. “Why not hockey?” Police Who Will Play London metropolitan police officers told a Press representative that football was a neepssary part of the training of a policeman. The metropolitan police have for many years had a successful Rugby team, and only a small percentage of injuries have occurred. In Glamorganshire, the chief constable, Captain Lindsay, not only instructed his men to practise football, but himself played. Monmouthshire county police and the Newport borough force also have clever Rugby teams, and these three bodies have, during the past couple of decades, suppplied a number of inter national forwards for Wales.