PLAY THE BALL!

Taranaki Daily News, 12 April 1935, Page 9

PLAY THE BALL!

WHAT PUBLIC WANTS » FOOTBALL, NOT BOXING REFEREES RESPONSIBLE

(By

“Siderow.”)

The football-going public of Taranaki does not want rough pjay, concealed or otherwise, on the Rugby fields of the province, and the time is ripe for a concerted effort by players, referees, selectors and. team coaches to renew their efforts in the interest of the game. There is no excuse from any point of view for playing the man, and the remedy is so very simple. After all, it is the public on which the union and clubs rely for their existence, and the public prefers clean rugby. Old players are apt to say that Rugby football is not what it used to be. Looking at the photographs • one sees, of the teams of 40 years ago. alongside the youths of to-day, one is inclined to agree. One knows how the stalwarts of the early days overcame the great difficulties of transport over a scattered area by the intensity of their enthusiasm, and how to-day players have their jobs to consider. Play certainly was hard in. the old days, and footballers, were too busy playing the all-too-infrequent matches to think about playing the man. There develop tricks in every trade, however. “Side-Row” has ground his teeth for a number of years now over the modicum of players to be found in every team, who are always ready to forget the game ' they are playing and indulge a few' primal instincts.,- There are some who go on the field of play fully prepared to kick anybody in their way right off, regardless of where the ball may be. There are others who are always ready to pick a quarrel with anyone who offers the excuse, and still more who settle down to play with the sole purpose of settling a grievance, fancied or otherwise. None of these is worth the name of footballer, and for such other arenas are the true battlegrounds. ■ ’ There are some players who go on the field fully prepared to use their fists on the slightest provocation or none at all. The public goes to football to see football, not boxing, and exhibitions of nastiness only hold, up the game, fray tempers and thus lower the class of play generally. Apart from, the true footballer’s love of the game there is the economic aspect to think of. Referees are human beings, although they are often called harder names, and the average man with the Whistle does not like ordering players off. It is to

be hoped that this season, if need be, there will be appropriate firmness by members of the association. Nevertheless, although in the. referees’ hands there lies the cure of rough play, by far the better way of tackling the problem is for the selectors and team coaches to weed out the offenders as they appear.

If a selector is worth his salt he will immediately drop a player, whatever his prowess, who is guilty of questionable practices, and coaches can do equally good preventative work. Football can be hard without being rough, and it is axiomatic that the best players are always the cleanest players. And while a player is looking for a chance to get one back his team is carrying on with 14 men.