PRIMARY SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 16845, 22 September 1922, Page 6

PRIMARY SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

TO THE EDITOR. Sir, —As an ex-pupil of the Marist Brothers’ School, permit me to enter an emphatic protest against the action of the “ unbiassed and enlightened gentlemen ” controlling primary school pastimes in Christchurch, in debarring the boys of the Marist School from the schools’ competition. I have weighed the pros and cons of the matter and utterly fail to find an irrefutable argument in favour of such a contemptible decision. To me it bears the unmistakable imprint of sectarianism. The teachers are instructed continually by Press and Parliament to inculcate into the pupils a spirit of “ British fair play,” but the majority of the teachers in the Primary Schools’ Association in Christchurch have certainly not given the impression that they have the minutest understanding of this excellent motto. The Marist School, with its comparatively small roll number, has taken the lead in the playing fields and has annexed practically every shield offered in the various departments of sport. Are the majority of State school teachers so contemptibly mean-spirited tliat they are unable to take fair beatings? It seems so. Many ask the members of the Marist Club, What are you going to do now ? What can wo do ? Will our protests move the Schools’ Association to rescind their decision? It is most unlikely. I ask What is the Rugby Union going to dq about it? Last vear that body spent £l2O in assisting primary school football, and it has therefore a. strong weapon to use in compelling the association to do the fair thing. Again, where are the nrotests of local lovers of sport? Are they passive sympathisers or will they take up the cudgels in the interests of clean sport? The Marist Club has undoubtedly done much for football in Christchurch and elsewhere in New Zealand, a fact which the Schools’ Association fails to appreciate. The club has no doubt come to a decision regarding this mutter, and one cau scarcely expect that their teams will in future pla-v under the auspices of a code which harbours such “ unbiassed sports” as certain members of the Schools’ Association.—T am, etc., FAIR PLAT.