ROUGH RUGBY.

Dominion, Volume 5, Issue 1435, 9 May 1912, Page 6

ROUGH RUGBY.

UNION CONCERNED. OX IS TIYWKIi STOOD JKJWN. How best In di'.il wilh Hie "iiiineccss>l ry" play—a ((notion arisug nowaday at intervals-ua* debated liy Ihe .M.mjiirement Committee of the Wellington Jinijby Union lust nighl. They had a special case to deal wilh, liul, having dealt with it. members n-nil-ed that llicv hail not allngHhe.- .1 i-.■ Ik.i-r<l U,,-ii- responsibilities. There were iiiiiuv uureported en-i-s, and it tv.is Hn> lie-t" inellmil of dealing with Ihe.-e tlicit the union was most I'DiifiM'ncil k> discover. Tlic Rapson Cnsc. An intimation was received from Mr. If. Card, referee in the AlliMic-l , clone match last Saturday, Hint lie hml ordered an Athletic player, T. Kapson, to leiive thi' ground lor pushing ii I'etojm player. W. i'ynn. on tin , face, and hitting him on the chin. liapsnn appeared, mid gave his exnlauation of what occurred. He admitted having feuded I?van hack by shoving him in the face wilh his open hand. Ryan got the ball ii\ tin- line-out, and was lighting his n-ny through with the bull. .Hnpson denied absolutely having struck Kyan. Ho was not warned previously to being ordered oil'. Mr. Curd appeared also. and gave his version of the slorv. lie said Ryan wa-. not in iic.ss..»,i;m of Hie ball, was utterly unable to defend himself, or to get out of flu , way, ami Kapson pushed him mi the chin with his open hand, and forced his head back, then drew Ixick his hand, and jolted Kymi on the chin, again with his open hand, 110 described the incident thus: "It was a most deliberate thing, a very foul thing; it is :i wonder to me the man's jaw was not broken." As soon as Mr. Card withdrew. Mr. E. Little, moved that Kapson be disqualified for 12 months from dale.. Sir. Perry: 1 think it is worth more than that." The referee's evidence is quite clear. To my mind what he did is worse than making a wild swipe at a man and catching , him. ... 1 move an amendment that, ho be disqualified for two years. Mr. IJ. Weir seconded Mr. Little's motion pro forma, and Mr. Atkinson seconded Mr. Perry's motion pro forma. Mr. W. Tlnrdh'am thought, the proposed punishments too severe. He gave notice of a further amendment that Hapson be suspended for the rest of the season. Mr. Perry's amendment (two years) was lost on the voices, Mr. Perry being the only member to vote "aye." Mr. ilardhanv's amendment (till tho end of tho season) was also lost, Messrs. Atkinson, Harciham, and Dawson voting for it. Mr. Perry then moved a further amendment, that" 12.1 pson be disqualified for IS months, but the proposal did not .-find a seconder. In the end the original motion that Rapson be disqualified for twelve, months' was carried. Unreported "Ruffing." . This special case having been disposed of,' Mr. Perry made further references to rough, play in. the Athletic-Petone match. There was another player taking part in the match, he said, who was new to Wellington football, and he was the luckiest man in Wellington not to be ordered off the ground. Mr. Perry was sorry that the committee had no power to, tako action. The Otago Union had A by-law , permitting the committee to disqualify any man reported by a member of the committee for rough play, lie thought that some statement from the union should be made to show tho public that this style of play did not pass without notice. He intended to move next year that a by-law bo adopted giving the committee powers similar to those, exercised by the Otago Union. The Control Beats the Air. The chairman pointed out Hint on the occasion of tho M'Donald case the decision of the committee of the Otago Union under their by-law had be'enupsot by tho New Zealand Union, who had hold that a committee could not suspend a player unless he was reported by a referee. Mr. Weir suggested that the player concerned be written to and advised that the committee was cognisant of tho fact that he struck blows, and that if he came before the committee on a subsequent occasion his actions on Saturday would be'remembered. Mr. Hornig thought that thcro wero more players than one who should be written to. There were three on one side and one' on the other. Mr. Atkinson- Was nil this rough play on .the Athletic side? '.['ho chairman remarked that that was not so at all, and he told of one incident where two players hail struck out simultaneously, evidently anticipating each other. This occurred right out in the open field, but they were not, caught in the act. Tie added also that he had personally spoken to the player whom Mr. Perry referred to, and warned him that the members of the committee had seen him strike blows, and also that if he did not mend his ways he would soon find himself out of football.

Mr. Weir's suggestion -was dropped, and after some discussion it was decided that ■the secretary be instructed to write to clubs asking them to assist the union in putting- down rough and foul play. Members generally expressed the opinion that the clubs did not help the union as they might in this way. All agreed that soiiii-'-thing ought to be said about doubtful tactics, but one or two (especially Mr. Hales) deplored the necessity for do'ing so. realising that publicity given to this sort of thing was not likely to do their game anv good. WELLINGTON 7 RUGBY UNION. BROKEN JAW INCIDENT. The weekly meeting of the Management Committee of the Wellinghm "Kugby Union was held last night. There were I present:—Messrs. 10. 0. Hairs (chairman), l>. Weir, I- , . C. Atkinson, K. l,iUl<>. \V Hardham, W. V. Ilornig, A. I). K. A. Pnwson, W. Perry, and ,f. Burns. The Poncke Club were granted permission to withdraw their third cliiss team. No action was taken concern i 117 an appeal from the. Southern Club to have remitted the one remaining Saturday of the term of disriualifiraliqu imposed on a player last year, lie was captain of tho third class team, and he knowingly permitted a junior player to play fin- his team in a match al Porirua, W. Wilson, who was suspended during the pleasure of the union in December, litlO, for refusing to answer questions at tho inquiry concerning the broken jaw incident, which, led to Police Court proceedings, applied to have his disqualification removed. At the inquirv, Wilson stated that he knew who struck the blow which broke Dtiilio Calcinai's jaw, but he refused to give the player's name. On the motion of Mr. W. Perry, seconded by Mr. D. Weir, it was decided that no action be taken. It was a unanimous decision, and there was no discussion on the question. The Victoria College Club wrote that their senior team were to go to Auckland to play the Auckland College on ■Tune 3, and pointed out that the match was an important one in that the object of it was to enable the New Zealand University team to be selected to meet tho Sydney University team, which is coming to New Zealand this season. They therefore asked that Hioir match set down for June 1 lie postponed. The union agreed that the match bo p'layed later in the season if possible, but if there was no Saturday available, College must Inse by default.