RUGBY VIEWPOINTS

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 332, 20 September 1932, Page 4

RUGBY VIEWPOINTS

There was some plain speaking at the annual smoke concert of the Wellington Rugby Referees' Association in regard to the new rules introduced this season. Players, spectators and union officials have at different times expressed themselves forcibly on the rules, but rarely have referees had the opportunity of giving their opinions on the vexed problems of the Rugby world. These are of value because the referee, more than anyone else, can tell how changes in' rules are affecting the game and the players. One speaker at Wellington blamed all the dissatisfaction that has existed throughout New Zealand this season with the new rules on to Mr. James Baxter, of the English Rugby Union, and manager of the recent British team in New Zealand. In the speaker's opinion the game has been suffering from "Baxteritis." Such a view flatters Mr. Baxter's power, and tliough he may be a stickler for tradition his type is not unknown on the British Rugby unions. Rugby football in Britain is the most conservative of sports, and very different from the democratic and popular game in New Zealand. Rugby is looked upon in the two countries from totally different viewpoints, and this fact is at the root of all the dissatisfaction that is felt in New Zealand over the new rules. The British Rugby unions have no desire to see the game speeded up, nor do they look with favour on the call for spectacular and open play. Their argument is that Rugby is a game pure and simply and should not be the vehicle for providing spectacular contests, and the British unions in many of their rules consistently oppose the "spectacular" element. Thus their players are not numbered on the field, teams must not parade or leave the field at half-time, club competitions for trophies are discouraged, tours abroad are made rarely, injured players are not replaced, and important matches are played on unimportant and obscure grounds. Famous Welsh c'lubs travel more than 20 miles to play equally famous London clubs before a handful of people and on comparatively unknown grounds. How alien this attitude is to that of the New Zealand unions and public, who regard Rugby as a national ana stirring pastim'e. The viewpoints are as apart as the poles, and it is small wonder that the game is in diuger of losing ground in New Zealand when it is being played strictly under English rules. •