N.Z. Above all for New Zealand THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY,. AUGUST' 28, 1930. ROUGH PLAY

NZ Truth, Issue 1290, 28 August 1930, Page 4

N.Z. Above all for New Zealand THE NATIONAL PAPER THURSDAY,. AUGUST' 28, 1930. ROUGH PLAY

Thi? Taranaki Rugby Union is to be congratulated on the severe punishment which it has meted out to E." Roebuck, the Okato player wfio was recently convicted and fined m the police court for assaulting a referee and knocking him unconscious.'* ' Roebuck's. offence was a most serious one, and one moreover for which there could.be no excuse. His action fully merited the life disqualification from playing, and the disqualification for five years from holding office m any club, imposed by the Taranaki Union. Assaulting a referee is certainly much more serious than the assaulting of a fellow-player during the heat of a match or the insulting of a referee whose decision is being disagreed with, but these latter offences are becoming so common m New Zealand football that they must no longer receive the lenient' treatment they have received m the past. It is a matter,' too, which is not confined to any one code; union,, league and soccer are all equally at fault. In each branch it is noticeable that a regrettable element of rowdyism is creeping m, and rapidly growing, ,Thig element, which m time will hopelessly .spoil, if not actually kill, football, can only be stamped out by immediate and drastic action, and the Taranaki Union's uncompromising attitude in -the Roebuck case should serve a stimulus and as an example to all other governing bodies. If we want to keep our football clean arid above board, brutal and illegal play, and the insulting and assaulting of referees has got to be. stamped out, and that means that each and every offence of this kind has got to be treated severely. Suspension for two or three playing Saturdays will , not have the effect desired : suspension or disqualification for lengthier terms, according to the precise nature of the 'offence, is what is required, and is what must be awarded '