FOOTBALL.

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20649, 25 June 1935, Page 11

FOOTBALL.

Rugby Referees Disc;. Rulings. TALK ON THE GAME. A meeting of the Canterbury Rugby Football Referees* Association was helrl last evening. Mr H. Macintosh presiding over an attendance of about forty memA short discussion took place regarding some recent rulings, the referees concerned explaining the reasons for their decisions. Talk by Hr T. T. Evans. At the conclusion of the formal business, Mr F. T. Evans gave a short talk upon various phases of the game. He said that he considered that play was not as good as it had been in the past, this remark applying particularly to back play. There were three reasons for this, the first two arising from the present scrum formation. First, there was no passage for the ball to get out after being hooked and secondly, the slowness of the ball in coming out led to further slowness by the half-back who, in addition, had no longer to speed up his play in order to avoid the attentions of the old wing- for ward. The third reason lay with the referees, who were altogether too slow «.o penalise the hacks for getting in fro.'t of the ball when it was in the scrum, and thereby preventing any chance of play being opened up by the opposing rearguard. The attitude of the present day player was not all that might be expected and referees should be more severe upon players who were guilty of “dirty” play with the idea of securing an advantage. Line-out play, to-day, was largely spoiled by obstruction and referees would do well to alter their position frequently in respect to the line-out. Owing to the wrestling and struggling which often went on after a tackle, tempers were frayed. Frequently, the fault lay with the tackier rather than the player tackled and referees were often inclined to confuse the issue. The tackier should be penalised just as freely as the tackled player, if he prevented the ball being put down. In some instances, referees were the sport of the legislators of the game. The referee did not make the rules and could do nothing to alter th*em even if they were bad. Two instances were the present rule regarding the making of a mark for a fair catch and the rule that a player might rot pass the ball off the ground. In the old days, play was rougher but to-day there was more obstruction of the subtle kind known as shepherding and it was pleasing to see that the referees were making a genuine effort to put down this abuse. All referees should have the ambition i to control important games, but, if they failed in their attempt to rise, it did not matter very much for the controller of the lowest grade match was doing quite as much as the referee of an interprovincial game. Bowling Team. The Referees’ Association will play a match against the Sydenham Bowling Club at the Indoor Rinks, Tuam Street, to-morrow evening at 7 o’clock: Spooner, Hoskin, Newton and Sniale; Perrin, Mason. Empson and Crawford: Hey (junior - ), Morton, Hey (senior) and McLachlan. Senior Rugby Draw. The Canterbury Rugby Union’s draw for the senior competition next Saturday is as follows:—Varsity v. Sydenham. Athletic v. Christchurch, High School Old? Boys v. Merivale, Albion v. Sunnyside; Linwood a bye. Notes on Second Grade Games. The eighth round of the second grade competition was played on Saturday, there being several surprise results. The main game was that between Old Collegians and Training College, Old Collegians winning after a good contest. The competition leaders, Christchurch, were again beaten, this time by Albion. Linwood also gained an unexpected win, defeating Technical Old Boys. The following table shows the positions of the teams:— Points Ch. P. W. L. D. For Ag. pts. Christchurch . 9 6 2 1 140 69 6} Old Collegians 9 6 2 1 166 88 Pi Old Boys 9 5 3 1 102 69 55 Train. College 7 5 2- 9 6 22 5 Technical 0.8. 853 - 71 69 5 Albion 8 5 3 - 81 72 5 West 0.8. ... 8 4 3 1 97 58 4J Kaiapoi S 4 4 Athletic S 3 % 1 62 57 3i Linwood .... 9 3 5 1 90 87 35 Sydenham ... 8 3 5 - 91118 3 Varsity 7 1 6 - 27 130 1 Merivale .... 8 8 OLD BOYS (14) v. XAIAPOX (4). This was a hard, even game. Old Boys owed. their win solely to their backs, who showed more finish than the opposing rearguard. The forwards were evenly matched and worked hard throughout. The Kaiapoi backs, however, had little or no combination and lost many good chances In attack. Old Boys failed to make enough use of their backs, who could have doubled the score if they had played the right game. Brooks again played soundly for Old Boys and combined well with Round, who also showed good form. There was a lack of understanding between the five-eighths, however, and too often the ball failed to reach the other backs after it had been hooked cleanly by the forwards. Two outstanding forwards were Stevens and North. Easily the best back for Kaiapoi was Rapitini, at half. Besides handling neatly he was sound on defence. Henderson (full-back) was also solid on defence and made many good saves. The forwards were all hard workers, Tourell, McMillan, Ilassall and Read being prominent. WEST OLD BOYS (12) v. ATHLETIC (O). The standard of football was not high in this game. West, who showed better form all round, established an early lead. In the second spell Athletic plaved much better, but failed to reduce M est’s lead. Most of the play was dominated by the forwards, and. although the Athletic backs made one or two good movements, they were hampered by the West forwards, who were breaking up fast. „-? > ° rte 0 ou " was again outstanding for Y* est, and was a safe last line of defence. Crisp (half) and Hose (second five-eighth) were also prominent for sound play. The vanguard worked well and was ably led by Lake and Booth! Miner' 61 " 6 Well su P ported b Y Smith and Morrell and Woodham were a good pair of five-eighths, and were about the pick of the Athletic rearguard. Quirk also played well on the wing, but did not see a great deal of the ball. T Poff, Vincent and O’Gorman were the best of the forwards. OI»D COLLEGIA WS (10) v. TRAINING COLLEGE (6). This was a good game to watch, both sides setting a great pace. In the first spell play was confined mostlv to the forwards. Neither team had anv distinct advantage, for, although the College forwards were hooking the ball, their backs were smothered before thev could get into action. In the second half both teams opened up the game, with the result that there were some exciting passing rushes, in which both backs and forwards took part. Cooper and Clarkson were the leaders of Old Collegians’ pack. Cooper showing up well in the loose. Williams also went well, and was useful in line-outs. Morton (half) was resourceful, while Flower (second five-eighth) was the mainstay of the back ;, saving his side many times with his deadly tackling. At full-back Alexander gave a sound display cf line kicking, and, in addition, put over a penalty goal and a field goal from well out. Murray was the best forward in the College team, and Sefton. Rasmussen and Gage were always prominent. Simpson played an excellent game in the rearguard Hudson (wing) and Finlayson (full-back) also showed up to advantage.