A HARD GAME

Taranaki Daily News, 7 July 1931, Page 3

A HARD GAME

WORTH PLAYING WELL. ENGLISH RUGBY APPEAL. In the course of an appeal to Rugby footballers to play the game in the right spirit, Mr. W. T. Pearce, president of the Rugby Football Union (England), states that there is no room in the game for the cad or the cheat, “because it is so easy for the cad and the cheat utterly spoil it for others.” A copy of the appeal has been forwarded by Mr. James Baxter, manager of the British team which visited New Zealand last season, to Mr. S. F. Wilson, a member of the Canterbury Rugby Union. “The main business in life is to work for oneself and others,” the appeal states. “Recreation should be a part of the general scheme of things, but only a part, and nowadays most of us cannot afford to let it assume undue proportions. There is no getting away from this. For recreation to play its rightful part it must be.suited to our particular temperaments—which is only another way of saying that there can 'be but one reason for playing Rugby football (or anything else), and that is that we like it and are really keen about so, so that (1) We play Rugby football because we enjoy doing so. (2) To enjoy it we must 'be fit. (3) We must study and understand, not only the rules as they are to-day, but the spirit of th® game. These are essential condition®. "The ‘spirit’ of anything can rarely be put into words and definitions. Non® the less we know pretty well what is implied. It is something very vital and essential to our self-respect outside and beyond the letter of the law. It is said of Rugby football, for example, that it calls for the ‘public school spirit’ more than anything else. Everything in the game depends on this. Without it, what foul play can go on, unseen, in the serums, screened as they are! What opportunities for unfair tactics on the ‘blind side’ of the referee! “It is true that this game of ours is a hard one to play as it should be played, and that we have to go through a hard mental training—most of us—where ‘temper’ and ‘self-control ’are concerned. There is no Toom in it for the cad and the cheat, because it is so easy for the cad and the cheat utterly to spoil it for others. It ought not to be a part of the referee’s job to be on the look-out for cheating or unfair tactics; he was introduced into the game simply to expedite matters, speed up play, and decide fot us ‘fine points’ about which both sides may be in doubt: in short, to reduce Interruptions to the minimum. We should never regard him as a schoolmaster or policeman, or anything but the best means of helping the game along, as to which he must be very dependent on the complete absence of the.cad or cheat. They simply spoil everything, and, however clever in native ability, ought not )to get a game with any club. Apart from them, however, there is another nuisance, or perhaps, two, viz.—the fellow who won’t take the trouble to try and learn or understand the rules, even if he has absorbed ‘the spirit of .the game.’ and equally the other cove who is apt to lose his temper—very ashamed about it he may be afterwards—.because he’s only half-trained.

“When I say that Rugby football must be played in the ‘public school’ spirit, I don't mean at all that only ‘public schools’ people should pay it. Not everyone who has been to a public school catches or expresses thia spirit, whilst there are many who have never been so fortunate as to be trained at these schools, who do. So that reallv it is, in short, a habit of mind, a kind of fastidiousness, which recognises that in all circumstances certain things simply ‘are not done.’ May I give just a simple instance?

“Last season Headingley were playing Coventry at the latter town. At one period in the first half Headingley led by 8 points to nil and were going strong. Mr. A. E. Freethy wae refereeing. Coventry were being outplayed in the early stages of the game, quite definitely. They may have been stale, for it was near the end of the- season. The Headingley full-back was .having quite a good match. When the score was 8 to 3 a Coventry player suddenly broke away with the ball at his feet, . finding an unexpected opportunity of which he took full advantage.' The Headingley full-back had, of course, to endeavour to connect with the ball and not the man; the Coventry player had to try to handle to touch it down. At the moment of impact between the two men it was impossible fro . where I was sitting in the stand to say precisely what had occurred. It seemed likely that the attacker had knockedon. Mr. Freethy was unsighteu also. Anyway, I understand that he asked the Headingley full-back what it was that had happened, and he replied, ‘lt was a perfectly fair try.’ This is another illustration of what is the essence of the public school spirit. “Why place such enormous emphasis on the final figures on the score-sheet as to rob us of all real enjoyment and gaiety and pleasure? That cannot poe- - sibly_ be ‘recreation’ at all, whatever else it is. Honestly, to enjoy this or any game at the. time and afterwards, we must let final figures take care of themselves, never sacrificing the slightest thing which we know will hurt our self-respect. Only those to whom this is a pose and not real will prate about Rugby football in a priggish, superior manner, and put it on a pedestal above other games, except in the silent places of one’s mind. It is hateful to make odious comparisons at the expense of others’ feelings. At times one fairly squirms at the bad form displayed by those who do so. It can do no good; only harm.

*lt is true that in our gams we are trained not to think only of results and figures. But there are dangers in this, and one is that not a few good fellows seem to despise training and getting fit. I have seen good players dropped ignominiously because of this. So may I conclude by repeating that only the fit man can play and enjoy Rugbv football ae it deserves to be played and enj'oyed, and that the man who i«s fit can’t help playing hard. We want hard goers; men who stay to the last minute and can go hardest of all then. They are the real decision-makers.”