THE OVAL.

Evening Star, Issue 4137, 31 May 1876, Page 4

THE OVAL.

hx notiold oufaeites responsible for the . opmions expressed by bur correspondents.]

... To the Editor. Siß,-r-n.-.the remarks made by your correspondent “ Mark,” ih issue of last Saturday, in regard to the position taken up by the D.C.C. were allowed to pass, a wrong impression might' be left on the minds of those of your readers who, although taking an interest, m the controversy, do not know the rqal facts of the case. There can bC no doubt, whatever, and the cricketfers do hot dispute .it, that in point of law the footballists have as much right to use the Oval as the cricketers. It is well known, that the reserve (part of the Town Belt) is vested in his Honor the Superintendent for the purposes of public recreation for the citizens of Dunedin, so that I, or any other citizen of Dunedin, may walk, drive, and ride over, or play cricket, football, or any other harmless game on any part of the reserve. Such is the present, I may say, unsatisfactory position of matters, and so will .it ever be till the piirpose'a for which this reserve was made have been better defined and settled. But to return to the real question in -discussion,.,viz , who has. the best claim to tho.Oval, the cricketers or the footballists.

About the year 1860 the present D.C.C. was formed, and' the Southern Recreation Ground was then taken in hand. The place in those-days was simply a 1 swamp, and the cricketers had no end of trouble, and went to enormous expense in forming a square piece of ground in the centre, now known as the Oval, to play on. Since that time hun-dreds—-J may -say thousands—of pounds, contributed ..chiefly by. the cricketers themselves,‘have been, expended on the 0va1... No doubt in late years the Provincial Government and Corporation have done a great deal to the reserve outside the Oval; but I say this, that were it not for the past, exertions of our cricketers and the money expended by them, the .Southern. Recreation Ground would, not be in its present condition. Under these ,circumstances I ask anyone who desires to 1 see fair play, has riot the D.0.C., if not a legal, an equitable-or scFiptiye right'.to the Oyal ? and,are not the cricketers perfectly justified, in ■ endeavoring to the utmost of . their power to save from destruction that which has taken such a long time and so much of their money to make ?. When the Citizens started a cricket club some years ago they had the good taste to recognise the'prior title of the D.C.C, to tbe Oval, arid it is only, now that one or two individuals; like Mr Rose—who cannot play, •and do not understand the game of cricket openly defy the D.C.C., and state their intention to exercise their ‘ * legal and play football on the D.C-C.’s ground whether it injure it or not. Then comes the very material question, does football playing injure the ground and render it unfit for cricket ? I say most undoubtedly it does. Any practical man will agree with me in this’; and ralthongh this very question was decided at the meeting on Thursday last, wheri the question was fairly discussed, the - footballists decline to recognise - the prior claims of the D.C.C., and, sheltering themselves behind their “legal rights,” continue to play on and destroy the ground—the only cricket ground in Dunedin. Such conduct as this is, to say the least of it, unworthy of gentlemen, and shows that those members of the D.P.C., who to play on the ground, have not in them those foelings of fair play' and honor which should till the breast and mark the conduct •of every one who claims to- be a gentleman. |f, as Mr W. D. Murison very properly put it at the meeting on Thursday, the footballists bad any spirit in them they would prit 'their harids. m* their pockets, as the cricketers have done, and provide a suitable ground for themselves. -

There are several places Admirably adapted for football playing near Dunedin; for inetance, the. old Caledonian Grounds, the Town Belt in front of Mr Reynold’s residence, and that portion of the Belt adjoining the Ajjdiim. Should neither of these places be considered good enough to play on, the Corporation would no doubt assist the footballists—and lam sure the cricketers would also lend a helping band—to form apportion of the Southern Recreation Ground outside tho Oval. If the contending parties would only naeet in a fair and amicable spirit, I ■have no doubt the. matter now in dispute’ might be easily arranged.—l am, &c., _ a Fair Play. Dunedin, May 30.