FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 13634, 13 April 1908, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

NOTE ON PROFESSIONALISM.

THE MONEY MAKERS' EXCUSE.

-An interesting note on the advance of Rugby football and the danger of professionalism appears in the Sydney Daily Telegraph. The following is an extract :

"The last tournament with New Zealand players showed New South W ales yfnquestionably equal to what the Rugby government of the Dominion ptit forth as its best team, and 30 markied a new and very aavanced stage in a game to which Australian climatic conditions seemed almost prohibitively hostile, and which, in . many countries I is^ becoming bo popular that it threatens not only to excel - other styles of football in public favour, but to rival ! cricket as a national British pastime. And this latter will be the mo^e likely if cricket, keeping along the lines it has followed lately, becomes a sort oi -physical chess, exacting from ita exponents a patience, responsiveness to • which cannot be expected from cnfldeokers except of that studious type •n&turally rare among patrons of out;ttoor sports. In fact increasing inter- < est 'in the game 1 that gives the .spectator a short, thrilling, and virile entertainment may yet have a bad effect, because it signifies that there is money in football, and. indeed already many of 'thxjtee'who provide the fun are organised to demand a share Of the profits it 'brings in; The present season will j probably give that movement a representative test, and decide, not whether amateur or professional Rugby shall b&- the rule — for amateur players there will always be while- there is any play| — ;b'u H whether the public will give professionalism sufficient support to keep it in active existence — to make it pay. ' Xater in the same article the Telegr^pK says : "Amateurism should not bo confounded with sacrifice. Tho happy medium between sordid ness and sportsmanship is in recoupment. A player cannot be expected to give n day or a week or a month or two to playing, and forfeit what he would earn in the time. Somelillics of the field who are under no obligation to toil or' spin can do it ; but the great majority cannot, and to enforce a rule of non-recoupment would mean confin*ng a. game to the well-to-do and those wjie wore so foolish as to play nt whatever cost. To ta&e this attitude would be v to ' beckon professionalism in. \yiso amateur policy, therefore, would seem to*; lie in guaranteeing the player agairtst loss while playing. That puts him Square with the game, gives him ntf monetary advantage from it, but leaves, him free and umvorriod to do hi*; best on the field, for tho puro zest of the thing. Most importantly it divorce| liim from control. It is superficially strange and anomalous, hup a fact wijth abundant proof behind ifc, that no'sport can bo as successfully managed by participators as by outsidors. Tho American bascball^rs furuit/i ilio liiggest and most striking oxamjilc oF suytained and far-flung profos.-u'onnlism ; but they aro bought and sold, udmittod and barred, )>y n ruthlcs.s nutocrncy of league administrators. The English professional'' oricketors urn under exacting dominion. The best disciplined

Rugby footballers to be found anywhere, those oi .Now Zealand practically begin and end their part by play■ing, and aro ordered and governed from outside. $ha--gamo, not the gate, is what concerns them. And that — always with tho recoupment reservation — is tho essential principle that must underlie good field sport. To make it a matter of money is. to turn it into fieldwork, to arouse cupidity and blunt that relish, of robust exercise and competition which is the essence of physically and morally healthy recreation. We have in Australia an abundance of young men who. are moved into games by wholesome motives that are good for themselves and the community, and it will be" a wise public that encourages these and turns its back upon speculation disguised as sport."

,A match between the senior fifteen and eighteen juniors of the Tukapa Club will be played at Western Park next Friday. Tho senior team will probably consist of Honeyfield, Stohr, Hooker, JMaclean, Mynott, Frewin, Baird, Jones, Johnson, Walsh, Allen, Steole, Morris. Seamark and Ward.

William Wallace — one of the most versatile backs Now Zealand has ever seen — is losing his enthusiasm in the game — at least so he declared at the annual meeting of the Poneke Club in protesting against his re-election as club captain. Tho meeting would not hear of any other member than the. popular William being elected to the position, and despite his protestations lie was unanimously appointed. Turtill played in" all except two of the matches in which the "All Blacks" professional tea in were engaged, placed four goals, and also scored ft try— a somewhat rare feat for a full-back. 1 ' Tlie\ colours* of the British touring team will be uhite and red, with a narrow edging of blue.

It may be interesting at the present juncture" to re-wubKsb. the results of the matches played" in "New Zealand by the 1904 British team: — Britisher?",'^ o points — Cnntwbary, South Canterbtfry and West Coast, 3 points. Britishers, 14 points — Otago and Southland 8 points. New Zealand, 9 points — Britishers. 3 points. Britishers, 0 points — Taranaki, Wanganui, and Manawatu, 0 rjoints. - Auckland, 13 points — Britishers, 0 point?. Totals — New Zealand teams, 33 points — Britishers,, 22 points. It is understood that an English Rugby team will tour South America in July. Arrangements have been completed for a Now South Wales team to tour Groat Britain, and probably France nnd Vancouver (British? Columbia 1 ), calling at the American Universities on tho wav home. It was reported thot- G. Tyler would play for Ponsor.by this season, having qualified by residence, but this is understood to he untruo. Tyler's present intention is to join the ranks of tho referees.

"All Black" Booth will play for Newtown (Sydney) during the 'coming season.

Tho "gates" in connection with the matches against the Britishers will, it is confidently expected, constitute records throughout the # Dominion. The net proceeds arising 'from the various matches , played by the 1904 English team were "as. follows: — N.Z. matehk £1198;.Atickland, £720; Otago—Southland, Canterbury— South Can-terbury-r-Wcstland, £367 ; Taranaki — WnnaanuU— Manawatu, £187. With a view to celebrating the jubilee of the -game, first started in Victoria fifty y^trs ago by Mr H. C. A. Harrison a n& others, whose rules have remained ihinse practically ever. singe, the members^'or the. Australasian Football Council *have . decided to hold a carnival this year. Every StatP, as well es New Zealand, will send -its strongest representative team to decide the championship of Australasia. The Melbourne Crinkctt Ground has been secured, and twelve matches will be played during August. All League engagements are to be suspended, and the governing bodies of the Victorian Football Association, the various junior associations, and the inter-provincial towns' clubs have been asked to do the