RUGBY RULES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVI, Issue 20072, 19 October 1939, Page 9

RUGBY RULES

THREE CHANGES MADE New championship rules were discussed at some length and finally passed by the management committee of tile Hawke's Bay Rugby Union at ' its final meeting of the season in Napier. Generally speaking the new rules are not greatly different from those under which the game has been controlled in Hawke's Bay in the past. There are, however, three alterations that will be of interest lo players and supporters generally. One is that team slips are to be furnished to the referee before each match and he must report the result and the facts as to why any player leaves the field and by‘whom that player is replaced. The report will be written on the slip and handed to the management committee at the end of each day’s play. Another alteration is that in the absence of a previous decision by the union's postponement committee the referee is to be the sole judge in any respect of the fitness of a ground for play. A further alteration to the rules, prompted no doubt by an incident which occurred this season, is that no player can take part in a championship match unless lie lias satisfied the union that he has had continuous employment in the district or that lit has lived for more than 14 days here. As regards the residential qualifications, it is made clear in the rules that holidays of greater duration than 14 days spent in Hawke’s Bay do not constitute residence in the district.