A MONEYMAKER

Taranaki Daily News, 21 September 1931, Page 8

A MONEYMAKER

RANFURLY SHIELD. NO VALUE OTHERWISE. “Except as a moneymaker, tho Ranfurly Shield is not worth having at all,” declared Mr. S. F. Wilson, pastpresident of the Canterbury Rugby Union, at a dinner to the Canterbury and Otago Rugby teams at Christchurch on Saturday evening. “I am going to get a rap over the knuckles for that statement,” continued Mr. Wilson. He said that at tho time of Otago making their challenge there had been some controversy as to whether the shield should have been played for on a day on which there was an international match. Personally he did not think that such a match should have been played, if the shield meant anything. On their performances Otago and Canterbury were the two best teams in New Zealand to-day. The shield went to the team that won on the day’s play, but not necessarily to the best team in New Zealand. Except as a moneymaker the shield was not worth having at all. That day’s game had been for the trophy, and there was a tendency in that case for the game to get out of hand; but it had been a clean contest.

The Canterbury team had had to win that day, because Christchurch people thought that their representatives were the worst footballers in the world, declared Mr. W. Britten, manager of the Canterbury team, and also of the combination which took the shield from Wellington. Christchurch people, added Mr. Britten, thought that the team had taken the trophy from Wellington by a fluke. Th® public had to be shown that there were good footballers in Canterbury.