OFFICE CHATTER.

Observer, Volume XXXIX, Issue 43, 28 June 1919, Page 10

OFFICE CHATTER.

THE past week has been most momentous for Rugby football in Auckland. The decision to keep Auckland's flag flying, to play our own amendments, was the only possible solution of a grave difficulty. The Auckland delegate to the New Zealand Rugby Union, Mr F. Ohlson, advocated to the last ad-' herence to the ruling of the parent body, and the playing of the rules as amended by it. But the Rugby players in Auckland are unanimous

in their support of the present game as played here- They could not be otherwise, for the new rules — of which Mr Ohlson was one of the originators—have opened out the game. They have transformed it from a series of rucks, in which the man with the strength ruled, to a fast, open, and, above all', scientific game, enjoyed by players and watched eagerly by spectators. It has been stated by members of the Union who favoured returning to the old rules that the Auckland Union had had no special permission at any time to play its amendments. This seems a point in Auckland's favour. If the governing body of a national game takes so little interest in the game as to ignore a large Union, the Union, so long as the players are in favour of the rules, should uphold its local mandates. There has been too n x eh centralisation of the rules of Rugbyfootball in the past. The, New Zealand Union, the executive of which was practically deposed at the recent meeting at Wellington, has never done the best for the game. The English Union has assumed a careless attitude towards New Zealand and the other colonies, and such conservatism as it has shown in the past cannot as easily be tolerated in the future. Speaking at the Auckland Rugby Referees' Association last Wednesday. Mr albert Marshall, a well-known player and Auckland rep., said-that the -.arious Dominions—South Africa, New Zealand, and confer, with the object of ultimately improving the game. That seems the solution of the difficulty. The N< w Zealand Union talks of disfranchising the Auckland Union; the English Union talks of disfranchising the New Zealand Union. Auckland must play the Auckland amendments at any cost, as it is for the good of the game. Southern reports show that the various Unions and sub-Unions are favourably incUn^

towards the Auckland rules—Wairarapa has already expressed its approval. Undue conservatism and centralisation of rulings has not helped the game in the past; with more local control it will improve Rugby still further. Auckland is probably the largest Union in New Zealand. Last week 41 teams were playing under its banner. Such a union cannot be ignored with impunity. The English Union's asininity should finish the trouble-

I was sorry in one way that Con. McDevitt has been disqualified for a year. He ia a keen footballer, and pulled his team together. But he should have been sportsmanlike and fair to the referee and the players. Here is the chance for other impulsive players to take heed. I hope to see old Con. back next year. I've nothing against him.

Poor old New Zealand League team got another dishing up. New South Wales 39, New Zealand 31. There must have been some scoring.

But why worry? The war isn't over yet, and when it finally is I'll guarantee that New Zealand can dish up hot on toast any team—Rugby or League. No one need get discouraged. And we're friends with the • Aussies, too!

Some Aussie criticisms of our team:— On the form shown K. Ifwerson, to whom we are no strangers, is the best all-round New Zealand three-quarter. He is slippery and accomplished. How finely he kicked on Saturday? And how he missed the opening on Monday, some very easy shots, too. Just the luck of things. We cannot expect that to be repeated next match, unless Ifwerson performed very far above his true form on Saturday — and New Zealandprs tell us that it was not

Walters, Somers, Williams, and Clarke are all able forwards, and it is not difficult to imagine them turning out champions in this game after a little more experience together,

Our old friend Rukutai is the wonder of the day in Rugger. They tell me that he is 42 years old, and yet he buzzed in at the pace one expects from 22. Cunning old head, too, and very useful in cutting off the half and five-eighth play of the opposition, especially if the half is not very wary. W. Walsh, the half-back, is a smart player, well built, and a trier -—up to a few tricks, and a good tackier. B. Laing is a big man for fiveeighth, yet shaped all right there. McClymont, on Monday, was active and good. A. J. McGregor, like the rest of the clan, is a nippy youth. As left wing three-quarter he played opposite H. Horder. An American writer thinks that justice would be done Yon Tirpitz, in the matter of the Lusitania murders, if his whiskers were cut off, just below the Adam's apple, with an axe. I agree with that writer!

An announcement of his death had appeared in the paper and he rang up a fellow sport to share the joke. "You saw that notice of my death?" he said. "Yes," was the reply; "it gave me an awful shock. Where are y' speakin' from?"