Is Rugby To-day More Strenuous Game Than in Former Years?

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17841, 8 May 1926, Page 11

Is Rugby To-day More Strenuous Game Than in Former Years?

Old Time Players Say “No,” and Tell Tales

to Prove Their Point.

A great many people are of the. opinion that the Rugby football game of today is played a little too strenuously , and that there is no need, for the solid tackling and other things which are to be seen in every match. Men who have played the game in years gone by, however, hold very decided views on the fact that Rugby is not a kid glove game. It is not nearly so strenuous to-day, they say, under the new rules as it was in the days when they were playing. Here are a few opinions collected by a “ Star ” reporter in the course of a day's march.

“ Jock ” Walter Played for Twenty-three Years, So He Should Know, JACK WALTER, known to his football mates as “Jock,” played senior Rugby football for the Christchurch Club from 1898 to 1921, which covers a period of twentythree years. This is easily a record for any player, even deleting the couple .of 3'ears when the senior pla}-ers had a rest on account of the war. “Jock” has run up and down ) Lancaster Park a “few” times in those A-ears, and he has taken enough soil off .the park on his boots and togs to start a little farm. Asked his opinion whether he | thought the Rugby game was more strenuous to-day than in the days when he played, “Jock” said it was more strenuous for the slower but for the fast men it was not. “When I played, it was not really football,” he states. “It was tight, hard and solid, and the man who .could hang on to the ball got on all right. When in difficulties he was able to kick to the line. Football in those days was too slow for the spectator and too slow for the fast pla3’er. The fast men who trained never had a chance, as the forwards very often made the game tight and pla>-ed for the line for all were worth, especially if they were in the lead b}' a point or two. “The hea\w, slow men used to pla\the hard game, and the}' were able to keep going by reason of the fact that ever}* now and then they would get a breather when the ball was well out of touch, and the game could not * proceed until it was returned. ,

“I -remember we lost the championship in 1899 against Linwood on a wet ground. Ted O’Brien was playing fullback for Linwood and he kept playing to the line. They beat us by three to nil. Under present-da} 7- rules we would have walked all over them, as we had a fast set of forwards and good backs.

“To-day is the day for the fast than and brilliant player. If he..trains well and has the physique he cannot help showing up. Personally, I think it is ideal football, and I love watching it. It is only strenuous for the slow man and’ the man who will not train. Otherwise the game is all right and delightful to watch if the slow referee is not operating. I mean by that the referee who does not blow his whistle '.for every little breach. I used to like the fast referee - , such as Billy Garrard, when I was playing, but the slow official used to annoy me. There, is more need nowadays for the fast referee than formerly.” Jack Peake, Wellknown Referee, Sides With the “ Noes.” JACK PEAKE, one of the most capable referees New Zealand has produced, is firmly of the opinion that Rugby of to-day is not nearly so strenuous as it was before the new rules came into force. He has had a great deal of experience under both sets of rules and he should know something about it. “To-day the play is brighter and more open,” he says. “You do not see the dribbling rushes nowadays. It was in stopping these that a lot of men used to get injured. The old idea amongst a Jot of the forwards was to kick the man off the ball if he did not get up. “Of course the players would do anything if you let them, and when strict referees were not operating in close and tight games the casualty list used to be pretty large. This has all been done away with to a very great extent, though the players of to-day are just as ready to take advantage of a slack referee as they were in former years. , “The High School-College match altiiiiiiiiiifiiiiijiiiiiiiiiiimiimifiiiiiiiiiiiiiKiiiiiiiiiiiimiifiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiimtimiii

ways provides - bright and clean football, for the simple reason that the boys go out to play the game and-are not up in what might be called the finer points. Besides, they are trained to the hour and can stand bumps better than older men. “In the ordinary competition games of to-day the players who are fit dc not often get hurt, except by pure accident or by foul play. Of course, instances of foul play are always liabic to escape the notice of the referee, and the public want to remember that fact. Anyone looking on from the stands can watch the whole game, but this is a matter of impossibility for the referee sometimes. However, the real live official does not let a great deal escape, his notice.” “ Not a Ladies’ Game,” Says Phil Byrne. “J DON’T THINK football is too strenuous, it isn’t a ladies’ game,” said Phil Byrne when questioned on the subject. Byrne learned his football at the Boys’ High School, and on leaving that institution he joined the Christchurch Club, there being no Old Bovs’ Club in those days. He played halfback for Christchurch in 1900 and 1901. The following year the Old Boys’ Club was formed, and Byrne played’ for the seniors when they used to get some big wallopings from the other club teams from 1902 to .1904. He’ represented Canterbury in 1903 and 1904. ”1 think the game to-dav is a jollvsight faster,” says Phil Byrne, “but it is not more strenuous. Take the rule about lying on the ball, for instance. It is very different to-day. A lot of the elements of roughness have been taken out by the adoption of the new rules. Play is more open and faster, the game has been cleansed, and nearly all those cases in which players used to be hurt have been blocked. Speed •is a bigger asset nowadays. The play- ; ers may not train so hard to-day, but they, specialise more. “No, I think there was far more scope for rough play when a player went -down to stop heavy forward rushes, stayed on the ball until he was kicked oft',” concluded the ' ex-Canter-bury half. “No Fear ” Was “ Nuts ” HaselFs Answer. yTO FEAR." answered E. W. Hasell, when asked for an expression of opinion as to whether the game to-day was as strenuous as it used to be. Ilasejl first played for Canterbury in 1909, and the last time he wore the Red and Black jersey was in 1920. Between those periods he played for Canterbury on forty-four occasions. He played for the South Island in 1911 and 1920, and was in the New Zealand teams of 1913 and 1920, and the New Zealand Army team in 1919. “Under the new rules the game is not nearly so hard,” says the ex-rep. front-ranker. “The game is not nearly so hard, as there are not the forwards ! to-day. The game is now more open, I and there is not the slogging there used to be. j llll!lillll!lllillllllll!llltlilllltlllHIII!llllllll!lllilll!lll!tilllllltlllll!lllllilll|jliiltllllllllllli!

“I remember one game well. It was the Canterbury—Auckland match at Auckland in 1910, when we were beaten by six points to four for the Ranfurly Shield. We were leading 4-nil up till within a few minutes of time, and the crowd swarmed on to the ground. I have never seen anything like it since the war for strenuousness. Players like Tyler, Sellars, the Haywards, and .Ilall were all very hard men.

“The play to-day is not so tight, and so long as it is kept clean, the players must tackle hard. The great thing is to play the game in the proper spirit. It is not a parlour game and the man

with the ball must be put down. “No. there are no games to-day. on a par with those which used to take place between the Albion, Sydenham, and Merivale teams, in the years- round about 190/. They were desperate fames." “ Certainly Not ” —- Mr Booth’s Verdict. TPYERYBODY knows E. E. Booth, or has heard of him. “The General,” as he is popularly known in the football world, was a member of the 1905 All Black team. He played for Otago between the years 1900 and 1907. for the South Island five times, and for New Zealand in 1905, 1906, and 1907. After the latter year he v played for two or three seasons in New South Wales. ‘ The General” happened to be passing through Christchurch on his way to \\ ellington on the day that the reporter was scouting round for his news, and, of course, hiq opinion was sought. “Certainly not,” was his reply to the question regarding strenuous play. ‘They used to put more stress on .sertimming and all that close rucking in the old days. The evolution has absolutely opened the game up. The forwards to-day play more of a back game' than what was originally reckoned to be a forward game. The introduction of the new rules has brought about more continuity of play. Instead of kicking to the line nijw the backs keep the ball infield, while the forwards are rarely able to resort to the tactics of i line hugging. “The game to-day is not nearly so hard as it used to be. Why, I remember the time when the Kaikorai team did not have tfaeir line crossed for three years. Then the first score against them was a potted goal by Jack O’Shea, centre three-quarter for Varsity. The old song, ‘The Man Who Broke the Bank at Monte Carlo’ was all the rage, but the Dunedin people changed it to ‘The Man Who Kicked the Goal Against the Kaikorai’.

“Yes, by jove, they were a great pack of forwards,” continued “The General” in reminiscent vein. “All about six feet, in height, and some of them as strong as bullocks. Used to throwing bags of cement and that sort of stuff about. They were the boys who used to make their presened* felt in the scrums and on the line outs.

“I’m quite satisfied that the game is not so hard to-day, and what’s more, the players do not do fifty, per cent..of the training that the old timers used to do. There is a different idea about training nowadays. The old dictum was ‘Pass when you’re collared’. To-day it is 'Pass before you're collared .”