The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1908. PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 9193, 24 March 1908, Page 2

The Star. TUESDAY, MARCH 24, 1908. PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL.

Fuller reports of the third and last of the test matches played by the New Zealand professional football team with the Northern Union show that the team /did not leave the Old Country in anything like an odour of sanctity. The game 6eems to have developed into a blackguardly brawl, and kicking and fistio encounters appear to have been quite as much in evidence as football. The English newspapers are loud in their denunciation of the brutality of the play, and if the telegraphed reports of the match are in any way an accurate reflection of it they are -tertainly justified. The description, of the match given by an unbiassed onlooker states that the tackling developed from fierceness into brutality and ruffianism. First, Cross was ordered off the field of play for deliberately kicking an opponent. Then Thomas, of Oldham, was guilty of the same foul tactics, the sufferer in this case being Gilchrist, who was not disposed to "take it lying down," but arose and administered such fistic chastisement to the Oldham player as will not soon be forgotten. At thie distance it is inconceivable to imagine what the referee was doing in allowing such behaviour to pass unchallenged. In New Zealand the men would undoubtedly have been awarded a very severe term of disqualification. The irony of the whole incident lies in the fact that the match was played at Cheltenham for the express purpose of educating the western counties to an appreciation of the delights of professional Rugby. The fact that many of the onlookers left the grounds in disgust says but little for the methods of their instructors. The lesson of the match is a very obvious one. Professional football has undoubtedly come to stay in New Zealand, and the success of the visitors to the Old Country has established it on a strong basis. But if it is to be played in the spirit that characterised the Cheltenham match it will get but a poor hearing and a short shrift from, the public in the dominion. If there is one thing that characterises all branches of sport in our midst it is the exceptional cleanliness with which they are administered. To "play the game" is the primary rule that is inculcated into every boy and girl in the schools, and. the result has been that whether they go cricketing or footballing, playing hockey or tennis, everywhere the same spirit of friendly emulation, exists! There is absolutely no reason why professional football should not flourish alongside the amateur game if it is played as the amateur plays the game, but it has no chance of winning to success if its exponents adopt the tactics that seem to have prevailed in the Cheltenham game. We presume that it will be controlled here by a professional Union, and that Union would do well to take to heart the lesson of the last English match. The New Zealanders apparently took a very strong hand in the brutality that occurred, and the incident is made the more regrettable from the fact that, whilst exhibiting themselves in a deplorable light individually, the players have indirectly aspersed the fair fame of the whole dominion. The amateur team which played such a brilliant season in England and Wales left nothing but warm wishes and keen appreciation behind it, but the professionals by their last exhibition — and it was by no means a solitary offence — have done much to weaken that impression. i ________—— —_——i ' j ■

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