WAR'S INFLUENCE ON SPORT

Dominion, Volume 10, Issue 3149, 30 July 1917, Page 6

WAR'S INFLUENCE ON SPORT

THE AFTER-WAR OUTLOOK FOR RUGBY

PROPOSAL FOR BROAD FRATERNITY

For some time past the committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union has had under consideration certain proposals of interest to Rugby sport as u whole, and of considerable importance to Rugby unions generally. To ascertain the feelings of others on these mutters, it has circularised all affiliated unions. The committee intends, if a majority of unions aro favourable, to ask the executive of the New Zealand Rugby Union to call a conference of delegates early in Septei/fbor, when the suggestions outlined in the circular may bo discussed and some united action agreed upon. The circular is as follows:—

Although the whole civilised world is still engaged in a life-and-death struggle, and so far no man can forecast the time of its ending, yet in many directions, even now, there is a marked tendency to prepare for post-war conditions, as for example in legislation, in trade, in commerce, in education, etc., and it' is befitting that our sport should also look to tho future, and that Rugby football should be animated by the broader spirit which the.war has brought about. For nearly three years thousands of Rugby players from all parts of the world have been fighting sido by side in freedom's cause, and in tho intervals of fighting, all rival codes forgotten, havo engaged in friendly combat on the football fields. Is there any reason why this bond of brotherhood formed on the battlegrounds of Europe, should be broken when peace returns? Is it not possible to adjust matters so that that friendly spirit may be preserved in the playing'fields of our own Dominion?

This question has exercised the minds of the committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union, and they have decided to circularise the various unions of New Zealand, with a view to ascertaining their ideas on this subject, and also on other points of importance in connection with the game, notably—

1. Our ■ relations with the English Rugby Union—(a) the "but-of-touch" feeling; (b) tho need for adequate representation; (c) a more Imperialistic attitude by the International Board in England. 2. The absolute necessity for a revision of the rules, particularly as regards professionalism and the laws of the game. In this connection the New Zealand innovation of the five yards' limit on tho line-out has been adopted in the gome in England, nnd has been most favourably commented on by English critics. 3. The present position of local unions —(a) Financial condition's; (b) tho need for resumption of interprovincial matches immediately after tlio war; (c) tho desirability of mutual assistance.

(■{) Suggestions (from various unions for improvements of tho game.—lt is not necessary to stress tho condition of our snort through the exigencies <f the war, the financial straits of unions, the depleted ranks of clubs, nor to urge the necessity of each affiliated union strenuously striving to restore the game to its pre-war proud position; but it is imperative that those who are left "to carry on" should infuse into the sport a spirit in harmony with tho wider view of things which the war has given us, and thus enable Rugby football to retain its plaeo as New Zealand's national winter pastime. This much wo owe, not only to the memory of those hundreds of Rugby players who have made the supreme sacrifice, but also to tho young New Zealanders who must fill their places in days to come.