FOOTBALL.

Timaru Herald, Volume XCIV, Issue 14453, 27 May 1911, Page 4 (Supplement)

FOOTBALL.

XiJLTBST ABOUT TELE LAWS. >At tho International Rugby 'Uniou Jioai'U masting in Maxell, ;hc Scottiih Rugby initiated a discussion <u tho qu<x»tiou'oi "feet up in t'jo acruiuuiago."- Scottish i)ui>lic school® havo recognised the diuieuity of enrordng tho penalty tor feet up, and n.s reforcta daffcr iu tneir practice they would favour a return to the old rule. '* The Field" recorded ifc as "a fact thut strict roferoeing at the Oi>cu.ng ol' a ihas boon effective in securing an oteervanoo of tho rule, but tiliioiy seventy of this Iciiidi ia exceptional." it ados that "i2ven ii the penalty lur lost up were abolished, the rule .which pvnulkcei wilfully preventing the ball ,rom be.ng iairly i>ut» intii a. scrummage would it-iii hold good, and would enable the stricter kind oi referee to take strong action^ 1 The board also dJs:.'u«s»d Rule 14, which reads a.s Yellow*: 'li u player, when over tho j.;oai-line an.l in pu lsion of the ball be tackh'd b-'foro tho ball is grounded, the ball should be Scrummaged Jive yards I'.um the goalline opposite the .spot tvhero the player was tackled."• -To make this clearer it was decided to alter tho wmling to: 'lf the ball when orer "the goal-line and in possession of a player be fairly held by an opposing player Ixjfcro it is grounded, it shall bo ssru hve yards fr.mi t-no goal-liuo opposite bbo spot where tho ball, waft h."ld." The terms "iu iwsoes.sion" and ''fairly hold" will next require definition. The hoard also endeavoured to simplify the mle regarding ball in .touch which oailc into efl'dot only last season. - The rule lays it down that when the liulT ; s m touch it shall bo brought. into play by the side opposito. to that Inst touching it in tho field of play, except »vken a play.gr carrying the ball is forced into touch by an opponent. When it was first adopted the ambiguity of words ''forced into touch" waa pointed out in the press. The board ha a ruled «nat it should mean - physically foroed ißto touch. A player who wishes to be forced into touch wi'il,- of course, yield to a show of compulsion. It wok decided to'redraft the circular letter to referees, pointing out the m-ftny instances. in whicli rules are honoured more in the brsauh than in j the ob&ervunde. As the - rules now I stand a referee expected to make good their deficiencies by. exercising a I widr? discretion, since otherwise li-e will have to retail tho. game by frequent' whistling. The only hope, therefore, ooncludos "The Field," of securing any approach to uniformity mrefereeing is frequently to revise tlie list of referees. ALTERING A DECISION". <ln the Blacklieath v, NewpoTt match on March 25, an incident raises a curious po-nt of law. Each side scored a placea* goal and a dropped goal, but >lr Potter Irwin, the rewree, at first disallowed the Newport dropped goal in tiio belief that it was a punt, and then allowed it later on, when assured by tho players that it was a Orop and nob a punt. *'There is/' says an critic, "no express . rule. f6rbidding a referee to alter. Jiis .decision, but in tbo circular letter* tp" players .nid referees, issued by tho International Board in 1906, it. is distinctly stated that 'a referee, once^ha lias-given "a decision, cannot alter it. 1 The word 'cannot' is absurd; it should -bo 'niav not, 4 and must bo so road. In terms of this dictum, which is imperative, and not merely directory, ono may <ake it that tho Interna.tio.dal Bo&Hd/ufad hence the lvugbv Union, would disallow tho goal on .appeal. The real difficulty is, whether the circular letter has" any more force than case law; it certainly is not statute law.. Oh the <ther hnrnl, the decision was clearly given in terms oi the sp.rit of the game' and that is a point of view upon which the sanro circular letter fays much stress. "Whatever, therefore, be the law, none will dispute that the decision vtos a sportjng one, and hence in keeping with the spirit and traditions of the game." 'The match'was and hut for the magnanimity "of Blacklieath detailed above it would have been a victory for that club.