REPLY TO CRITICISM

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 4, Issue 133, 25 July 1941, Page 5

REPLY TO CRITICISM

EDITORIAL COMMENT WHAKATANE FOOTBALLERS' TACTICS Having read in the BEACON, a report of Mr W. S. Henderson's remarks in connection with their football writer'is de>scription of the WhakataneOpotiki Shield match held recently, in which the scribe made a scathing attack on the behaviour of some of the Whakatane players, alleging "dirty tactics,'* the journal of that . town has written as follows,. (Mr Henderson made his comments af a meeting of the Whakatane Rugby Union, resenting the Opotiki paper's description of the game which he sitated to be biased and unfair). "The reply to Mr Henderson i~ that his attitude is simply one of condoning rough play and that lie did not like the methods of.certain members, of his team being referred to. Mir Henderson, unless he is deal and blind, must have. seen several incidents during the course of tho Whakatane-Opotiki match that were hardly in keeping with "p«aying the game." Also he must have heard the angry roars from' the crowd when certain incidents took place. Perhaps Mr Henderson will say these outbursts of anger were bias on the part of Opotiki spectators. It might interest Mr Henderson to know that the Opotiki skipper felt it his duty to appeal to a particular Whakatane offender to pi'ay, ine game in a decent spirit. If the referee has' sent in a report as stated describing thei match ns "a good, hard clean game with the behaviour of the excellent," one can only express surprise. The referee, for instance, could be asked how many times he found it necesH sary to warn players for rough play and the nature of the rough ptay. His warnings were for sound reasons. It was only because the referee did not Avish to put a man off that ihe: game got more or less out of hand and the standard of play Regenerated AA T ith the result that Opotiki players at the finish Avere retaliating It migjit interest Mr Henderson to know, if he does not already knoAV, that the referee informed the Opotiki captain that he "was getting it from both the spectators and the ilinc umpires" during the half-time spell. Opotiki spectators have informed the "News" that it was the "dirtiest" game they hafl ever seen. Our football reporter has taken part in the game in an active way, both as a player and referee for some 30 years and he is still, of the opinion that the game Avas one of the roughest he has ever- Avitnesscd. He has seen a feAV quite hard games, and in no Avay retraces his opinion of the much-discussed match.

Taneatua Footpaths. "The Taneatua footpaths, are nt-t worthy of the name—they are full of potholes and'not a credit to she council," said Cr H. C. MtCreaay at this week's meeting of the County Council. It was stated that tiiC paths were to receive early attention. The question of the unsuitability of culverts) was also mentioned byi Mr McCreiady, who £>ng gesled that these be done away with and the "dish" culvert adopted. The engineer stated that he had the matter in hand and would, alter om* as an experiment to ascertain tiif cost of the work. He added that two nroperty owners had offered to pay for the work, and it was> further pointed out that in towns the> property owners were responsible for the culverts.