Rugby is Sport, not Spectacle says English Official.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18805, 6 July 1929, Page 33 (Supplement)

Rugby is Sport, not Spectacle says English Official.

Discusses Dominions’ Claims To Representation on Board.

The four home unions had consistently said that Rugby was a game for the players and amateurs and not a spectacle. New Zealanders will be interested in the above remarks and other views concerning the administration of Rugby, which were expressed by Mr Walter T. Pearce, England’s president elect, at a dinner given by the Manchester Rugby Club last month. Answering his own question as to what the Rugby Union really was, Mr Pearce said the Union had not a par ticularly easy job. Of the four home Unions, England had much the greater area to administer; the others were more concentrated. Scotland and Ireland, compared with England, had a comparatively simple task with their players, drawn mainly from one station in life; with Wales it was different. Their area was small, but their difficulties were great. Referees and the Rules. It was a curious fact that England was the only country which encouraged or had its referees' societies, and the result was that they played the game in uniformity with the rulings of the referees. He did not think there was a more difficult game to referee properly than Rugby football, and it was unfair to tell a referee that he must referee a game in the spirit of the game, because it could be interpretated so differently. England had remodified the laws of the game. At first the results had not been at all well received, but later it had been recognised that the rules had been made simpler and clearer. They had concentrated on certain essentials, such as getting the ball in the scrummage. England would like to see a rule that only the middle man in the front row

should try to hook and always with the foot furtherest away from the side of the scrummage in which the ball entered. England would ask for a de finite ruling to this effect to come into the rules’ book when the three years’ truce was over. England more than once had had to pioneer these reforms and possibly had been misunderstood. It had not been unusual for England to be regarded as the lonely pelican among the other home unions, and that was because they had had the benefits of referees’ meetings in council, and had let them know what their difficulties were. Dominions* Status. England was in a unique position in another way. The game had spread to the Continent. In addition to France, Italy, Spain, and. he thought, Germany and Czecho-Slovakia, were now contemplating their own unions. The dominions overseas said that they outnumbered England and that therefore they claimed equal status. The position therefore was extraordinarily difficult. It might seem to be equity that those, countries should have equal rank on the International Board, and yet the four home unions were very slow to accede to that proposition because of the traditions they had inher ited. To-day they were being pressruled, as every other game was being ruled by those who wanted to see it as a mere spectacle and a mere entertainment. Rugby football was being criticised by those who had never played it as it was capable of being played. The four home unions had consist ently said that Rugby was a game for the players and for amateurs and not a spectacle. That was the attitude that the Rugby Union, in unison with the other three nations, adopted, and they intended to make no concessions

anywhere to weaken the defences of their citadel. They did not know the conditions that obtained overseas, but they did know that in >me cases the rulers were rock-like in their allegiance to the best interests of Rugby football. Scotland’s “Peculiarities.” Regarding the game in Scotland, Mr Pearce said he was always sorry to see a tendency to pin-prick that nation. Some of their peculiarities, such as their refusal to number their players, were perfectly consistent with their idea that Rugby football was a game and not a spectacle. Whether they liked it or not there was something to be said for that attitude, and he was quite certain that unless the four home unions kept together the influence of the game for years would be seriously undermined. Mr Pearce paid high tribute to Lancashire’s success in reaching the final of the county championship, and said the final at Twickenham was one of the most enjoyable games he saw throughout the season. It never mattered who won so long as the game was played in the traditions which had been handed down to them. League Final. For the final of the Rugby League Cup at Wembley Stadium there was an attendance of 41,5000, to see Wigan beat Dewsbury by 13 points to 2. The approximate receipts were £5600. The Wigan team included J. Sullivan, R. M. Kinnear, L. Brown and L. Mason. Tries for Wigan were scored by Abram Brown and Kinnear. Sullivan kick ; ed a penalty goal, and converted one ; try. An English critic says that the outstanding player among the two teams was Kinnear, three-quarter, the former Scottish Rugby Union international. « Strict Training. “In England they pay strict attention to training,” says Lou Brown the New Zealand League player, who has returned on holiday.” Hail, rain or snow, we go out, with three sets of jerseys and pants, and practice hard for hours at a time. I can tell you it makes a man who has the stamina and grit a real player under all conditions.”