Rugby Football.

Horowhenua Chronicle, 15 March 1910, Page 3

Rugby Football.

ITS PRESENT POSITION,

"When the Poneke Football Club's nniuial meeting was held in Wellington last week, some unusual ground was broken by Mr W. Coffey, an old member of the club. He commented that at a recent football meeting Mr Weir, the eaptainelect of the Wellington Club, had remarked as follows: "There are many who think the winning of matches is the only thing to be desired. Surely there is something more to he desired than that? For myself I would sooner that we never won n match than that we should resort to soma of the tactics of our opponents. T would be very sorry to see the Wellington Club resort to such tactics."

Of course, continued the speaker, everybody had to take these remarks in a general sense, but he thought members of other clubs should not let them pass unnoticed. He wished at once to refute any imputation of unsportsmanlike conduct on the part of the players connected with the Poneke Club. There might be—he would not say that there were not—some members of their club who had at one time or another done things which were not in accordance with the canons of the game, but on the whole the team wns as clean as it was possible to find. It should not he forgotton that there were members of other clubs who could play their own tactics

The speaker wont on to say that the question of the laws of the "iime had also been raised by Mr Weir. He (Mr Coffey) did not believe that the proposed alterations were goin" to improve New Zealand Rugby except in one regard. What was needed more, than improvements to the laws was the carving off of the ninny non-understandable ' rules. The laws had been so tinkered with in the past that it was absolutely impossible for a player to keep them all in mind. It was. not so much the standard of players that required to be improved as the standard of refereeing. " What we want," continued Mr Coffev, "is referees who won't, play to the gallery ; men who won't go on the field with the fixed determination that they are going to teach the players, but men who will interpret the rules in a common-sense manner. I shall be sorry the day we produce a race of professional footballers.,.. In supporting reimbursement to players for actual loss incurred T deny that I am encouraging professional football. One important factor in the development of good footballers is expert coaches and players who are not prepared to accept the advice tendered them should stand aside to make room for others who would. Years ago, when we had no referees' association, .no objections were taken to the rulings. But now we have an association which appears to exist merely for the sake of meeting together to discuss hair-splitting points. "In my opinion the ' All Bkcks' were primarily responsible for the introduction of the questionable tactics now indulged in. In the olden days a player went out to play for the love of the game, and he never complained of the robustness of the play. Nowadays some teams play it simply with the object of getting the best of their opponents. It amuses me to hear the remarks of players who have been in obscurity for some years, for they really don't know anything about the matters which are mow up for consideration,"