FOOTBALL.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XXIX, Issue 3763, 20 April 1907, Page 4

FOOTBALL.

Football enthusiasts will remember that in August last year the Wellington representative team took considerable exception to the referee’s (Rev. C. C. Harper - ) rulings on three points. Mr Harper ruled —i That a man must not put his knee or knees on the ground in a scrum, because if on his knees he must be considered to be on the ground. This was disputed. (2) That a man, who happened to be in front of a back kicking the ball, might run towards an opponent waiting for the ball, so long as he did not go within ten yards of such opponent. This was disputed, the Wellington men maintaining that such a man was off-side, however far he may be from the opponent unless he remained quite still or retired. (3) Mr Harper claimed the right, after warning, to penalise a side with a free kick if members shouted “offside ’ ’ at opponents who were not off-side. This was objected to. Mr Harper submitted the points to the N.Z. Referees’ Association, and that body did not deal with them, but sent them on to the Conference recently held in Dunedin. Mr Harper, with whom all the local referees agreed, was upheld on the first two points, but on the third a severer penalty was ordered, namely, “ ordering off the ground.’’