REPLACEMENT ISSUE

Waipukurau Press, Volume XXVIII, Issue 205, 24 August 1932, Page 8

REPLACEMENT ISSUE

IN RUGBY SPHERE B.M.A. IS INTERESTED The B.M.A. may play a part in the question of seeking some relief from the rules laid down by the English Rugby Union about players not being replaced when injured, and not leaving the field at half-time. Although no official statement is obtainable, it is understood that the Christchurch branch of the B.M.A. has considered these rules from the point of view of their effect upon the welfare of the players, and has made representations to the B.M.A. in Wellington, which may in turn give an expression of opinion on the matter to the New Zealand Rugby Union. Recently the B.M.A. issued an opinion that players who suffered head injuries should be taken from the field, on the grounds that serious harm might result from concussion if a player persisted in going on without receiving proper attention. Up till this season it has been possible for a player hurt in a game to leave the field and receive proper attention, his place being taken by another. Now if a man goes off he cannot be replaced and his team is left one short. Many players, it is felt, will carry on when hurt rather than leave their team one man short, whereas in the interests of their own health they should really leave the field and receive proper attention. An instance quoted to a reporter recently was that of H. R. Pollock in the Wellington-Auckland game recently. He was badly hurt and went I off for a time. He insisted on returni ing to the field to see the game out, and was still suffering from the injury, which he had aggravated by continuing to play when hurt. “Many players will carry on when hurt under this rule, because they know another man cannot be sent on in their places, whereas really they should be under the care of the ambulance men or in hospital,” one man said. It has also been urged that the noreplacement rule will .be dangerous to the players because it will be a “direct incitement to rough play.” Those who have made this suggestion urge that a good man may be marked so thoroughly that he will be hurt and out of the way before the game has gone very far. “Any side will know that if it knocks a man out he cannot be replaced, and in a hard match it will be difficult not to take advantage of this position,” was the opinion given. If the possibilities of the rule were taken advantage of in this way there would be an abnormal percentage of injuries in hard games, it was de- • dared. Cases have also been quoted where ! players have caught colds and chills ■ through having to stand out in the | open during the half-time interval. J “Men are particularly likely to be ' troubled in this way on a cold, windy I day,” a reporter was told, “because i they have to stand out in a bitter blast for five minutes after spending three-quarters of an hour getting ' heated.” In another quarter, however, it was pointed out that the rules laid down that the half-time interval was to be “not more than five minutes,” and on cold days a referee could save the players by making a slioit interval. In the recent Canterbury B-Sub-unions games at Amberley, the reporter learned, Mr S. Hollander, the referee allowed only two minutes for half-time, so that, though a cold wind was blowing, the players did not have time to feel the effects of it before getting to action again.