CANTERBURY GETS OFFSIDE

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 749, 23 August 1929, Page 7

CANTERBURY GETS OFFSIDE

1 FTKK all the fuss made by the Canterbury Rugby Union about /i an outside reteree for the Auckland match, so that its strong tea m should not be handicapped by the rulings of an official used to the amended rules, it now transpires that Canterbury T * tTO ?e**t to Auckland. At least three All Black members ot the party are coming no farther than Wairarapa. I his may be only a small point in the heated controversy that has been going on about outside referees and the Auckland amended rules. But it is just another indication of the fact that the Canterbury Rugby U nion is open to the charge that it is bv no means as sincere in its attitude over outside referees as it lvould lead people to believe. The plain truth is that the question of outside referees is being used to bring pressure to bear on Auckland to drop the amended rules or play. Mr. Sam W dson naively informed members of the Canterbury Rugby Union the other night that “they had half the good people ol Auckland behind them” in their attitude. Mr. Wilson takes i great deal for granted. There is certainly a considerable body of opinion m Auckland against the amended rules but the action of the Canterbury Rugby Union may have the effect of bringing the two schools of thought on the subject together in mutual resentment of outside interference. ft is ridiculous to say that, because a referee has been used to controlhng matches under the Auckland amended rules, he is not capable ot refereeing in outside matches, ffihere is only one rule that could permit of any unconscious influence; and as far as the imaginary line is concerned, referees in South Africa Australia and Ungland are much harsher in interpreting the old off-side rule round the scrum than is the ease in New Zealand. There 1* no need at the present juncture to express any opinion about the desirability of the amended rules or otherwise That is a matter primarily for Auckland and the New Zealand Rugby Union, which granted the dispensation a good number of years ago The action of the Canterbury Rugbv Union will however, be strongly resented in Auckland as an attempt to bring pressure to bear from an outside source on what is essentially a question of domestic policy.