Old South African Player Will Speak Up For N.Z.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18629, 5 December 1928, Page 15

Old South African Player Will Speak Up For N.Z.

* TWO COUNTRIES DISSATISFIED WITH HOLDING A RUGBY CONFERENCE EVERY FOUR YEARS.”

SPORTING NOTES FROM LONDON.

(Special to, the “£tar.”) LONDON, October IS. Yonr chib first! This is the principle observed by the Rugby footballer of the south in regard to all matches except internationals. In these circumstances, the county championship is robbed of a good deal of the importance it would otherwise possess. It might be thought that Surrey and Middlesex, which embrace most of the chief clubs of the metropolitan area, would be all-powerful in the competition, but not for many years has the event been won by either. The counties ot the West and North have been most successful. At the present time Yorkshire are champions. I do not think that this state of affairs is entirely due to indifference on the part of London players towards the competition. The South support the championship, but with nothing like the keenness and enthusiasm displayed in other parts of the country where the matches are held on a Saturday, and where a county cap is looked upon with only slightly less favour than an international one. The London player will not forsake his own club. Even on the day of an international match at Twickenham, he will go away to play a game for it- in the morning rather than see one of its fixtures abandoned, I understand that Paul Boos, the old South African player, is coming on a visit to England, and that it is his intention to insist on the Imperial side of the gome being reconsidered. Be will speak for New Zealand as well as South Africa on the question, and point out that neither country is satisfied with an Imperial Conference every four years. Both claim a right to a place in the government of the game. It is understood that the English Rugby Union regard the demand sympathetically, and there is little doubt that sooner or later it will be conceded. Government of Golf. When Cyril Tolley recently declared that the elderly gentlemen who formed the St Andrew’s committee should be replaced with younger golfers more in touch with the modern game, the attack was received with smiling indifference. Tolley is a distinguished member of the Royal and Ancient club, and his outspoken criticism of the authorities was startling. They are not accustomed to that sort of thing at St Andrew’s, and they regarded it as rather Lad form. But there is no doubt that Tolley spoke on behalf of a very considerable percentage of golfers who believe that the government of the game is too much a hole-and-corner affair. St Andrew’s is a twelve hours’ railway journey from London, and, as the majority of the members of the committee live in the south, it is very seldom that meetings are held. Only during the championships does the committee meet, and during eleven months of the year the affairs of the game are largely decided by correspondence. As a matter of fact, on many matters the committee are not consulted. Decisions are taken by those members who live at St Andrew's. On important questions, the procedure is for notices to be sent round in this way: “It is suggested that . Will you please write and say what you thing about this?” It cannot be pretended that

' such an arrangement is satisfactory, arid, whilst there is no desire to displace the Royal and Ancient club as the head of the game, it is generally felt that the headquarters of the committee should be in London. It is significant, too, that every year the national unions are playing a bigger part, and, if reforms come, as they are likely to by slow process, it will be through their insistence. So far they have made no move to introduce the change in the amateur championship suggested by Tolley. The latter is all in favour of the American system, under which a preliminary stroke qualifying competition is held. By this means he would have the field reduced to thirty-two players, and the remaining stages of the championship decided by thirty-six-hole matches. A vote was taken on this four or five years ago, and it was declared that the majority of the players were against it. Tolley, however, states that if the vote had been confined to players now taking part in the championship there would have been a majority in favour of it.

Revolutionary English Proposal. A drastic change is to be proposed in the conditions under which the English cup competition is conducted. Mr Wreford Brown, the old Corinthian, has suggested that no player shall be eligible for a club in the competition unless he has been a registered member for two years of has a residential qualification. It is a revolutionary reform, and the clubs are sure to oppose it bitterly. At the present time, the only restrictions in regard to players are that they must have been registered fourteen days before the date of a tie, and that a man shall not be permitted to play for more than one club in the competition. The proposed new condition will win public support, but all the powerful influences of the clubs will be brought to bear to defeat it, and it is doubtful whether it will be adopted: but there may be some compromise which will be all for the good. The aim of Mr Wreford Brown, of course, is to prevent elute trying to buy success in the competition. Under present conditions there is nothing to prevent them going round and obtaining the transfer of star players. The rule prohibiting a man playing for more than one team is an obstacle so far as players in this country are concerned, but it does not apply to Scotsmen. There is absolute freedom of choice so far as the latter are concerned. As a matter of fact, it often happens that new players are secured after the cup competition is started, and it is undoubtedly true that cup matches have a big influence on transfers. Another object of Mr Wreford Brown is to try to bring back local interests into the clubs. At the present time, teams are recruited from all the corners of the game. Even nationality does not count. Players been brought from as far as South Africa, and only the other day Cardiff City tried to import a Dane. It is to be feared that there can be no return to the old days, when clubs depended on the players in their immediate neighbourhood, and Mr Brown’s scheme would have a better chance of acceptance if it were less drastic. Possibly when it comes before the council of the Football Association there will be some modification. It would, for instance, be a considerable advance towards the end Mr Brown aims to reach if it were decided that only players registered before the opening of the competition were eligible.