RUGBY ADMINISTRATION.

Shannon News, 23 August 1927, Page 3

RUGBY ADMINISTRATION.

FOXTON CLUB'S DISSATISFACTION. PUBLIC INDIGNATION MEETING TO BE HELD. A-committee meeting of the Foxton Football Club was held on Thursday evening to consider what action the Club should take in regard to disassociating itself from the Horowhenua Rugby Union. The chair was occupied liy the President (Mr. 11. Hutch ins), and also present were Messrs C. Hand, W. Neville, A. and B. Walls, T. Tuna, R. Cochrane, vice-presidents J. Kr Hornblow, S. Austin; M. E; Perrea'u (Mayor), L\ Christie and the secretary (Mr. R. Hornblow). THE THIRD GRADE'COMPETITION

The secretary read the following letre r from the secretary of the Horowheiuia Union in reply to the Club's •etler asking why no games were play- ■(] on July 23rd in view of the fact lt;tf game's were played on July 16th ;uder similar circumstances, when Foxon Thirds, acting under the impression Hint there were no games, had to forI'eit to Weraroa because they were not ready to meet them, and also requesting the Union.to allow the game to be replayed: — '' Re postponement of games on 23rd iu'y: My Council has held in the past that no games be played in the district on days of Combined Union /ames at Palmerston North. Hence no games on 23rd July. Re games on Kith July: My Council understood from Mr. Neville that he accepted the responsibility for not knowing the true position on that day." Mr. J. K. Hornblow said he understood the Foxton Thirds had a good chance of winning the competition prior to losing this match by default. The request that the match be re-played was reasonable. The Third grade players had to be looked after if football was to be fostered and he regretted that the Union should pass over such a request and award the game by default, particulary so, when a short while after, under similar circumstances, they allowed a Junior match, Weraroa v. Bhannon ; awarded Shannon by default, to be re-played.

Mr. Neville said that he had admitted he had been to blame to the Union for the match not being played and had asked that.the Thirds be not penalised but the Union had voted against him.

The Mayor: I do not approve of the Union's action. We should go further with the matter. The Union is not giving Foxton a fair deal. A voice: They never do. Continuing, the Mayor said that evidently the Horowhenua, Union look-

ed on the business people of Foxton as having no standing at all.. Mr. J. K. Hornblow said that Foxton wanted fair play and they were not getting it. The Union was expected to foster football instead of which they were discouraging it locally. The Club should protest against such action and he moved that the Foxton Club express dissatisfaction at the treatment meted out to the Foxton Thirds in reference to the awarding of the match on July 16th, to Weraroa. This was seconded by the Mayor, and carried unanimously. The President said there had also been a lot of dissatisfaction rife about a match played between Foxton Thirds and Wanderers at Levin on a recent date. The Union appointed a referee for the game. On the day of the game both teams waited half an hour and no referee appeared. A car was dispatched to find him and shortly after a man iumped over the fence, blew his whistle and commenced the game. The referee tried to be fair but knew absolutely nothing about the rules of the game and made a terrible blunder in his refereeing. A protest was lodged by Mr. Neville on behalf of the Foxton Club and the referee, he understood, forwarded a letter to the Union stating that he was not capable of controlling the game and wished the match replayed, but the Union refused to uphold the protest and awarded the game to Wanderers.

REP. MATCHES. The matter of change of venue of the rep. matches alloted to Foxton was fiiilly discussed, (Messrs .Neville and Austin stating that the reason for the change of venue was that the grounds were not in order and there were no fences erected to keep the public park from the playing area. Mr. J. K. Hornblow asked if the Union had ever spent any money on any other grounds in the district? Mr. Neville: Yes. The Union spent money on the Levin Domain. Mr. Austin said that there were three clubs using that ground as a home ground and not one of them would do anything to put.it in order for a rep. match so the Union had to do the work itself» The secretary: Where is the difl'erence between spending- money on the Levin ground and Foxton? There are two Clubs here and neither would spend money on the. ground for the rep. match as it was considered this was the duty of the Union. Why didn't the Union step in and do the ground up, the same as they did ■in

Levin? . Mr. J. K. Hornblow said the Union controlled all the football and finance in its district and .expected the various clubs to find players, keep thengrounds ' in order, provide the game, qnd the players to pay their own travelling expenses and yet the Union collected the: revenue and none of the clubs received any assistance. In other words they were the working bullocks for the Horowhenua Union. To his mind it was an absolutely disgraceful state of affairs that the Union allocated rep. fixtures to Foxton, Shannon, and elsewhere and then refused to spend a few pounds to put a fence up to keep the crowd back, except in Levin. Money was also spent, freely for other purposes. The Foxton Club was represented at the Union by delegates who would express the views of the club. Was it a fact that the Union spent money on refreshments and yet refused to put a fence up and put a ground outside of Levin in order? Was that playing the game and promoting the beJt interests of football? If so, then Foxton was better out of the Union. A voice: What about the sack ot ovsters?

"Mr. Austin said the sack of oysters had been supplied free by one man. Mr. J. K. Hornblow took exception to the remarks of Mr Rimmer at the last Union meeting in connection with his references to the Foxton Chamber of Commerce, and said that Mr. Neville had not been fair to the' Chamber in his remarks. Mr. Neville said the Chamber had no right to condemn him without knowing the true facts of the case. _ The Mayor said from a public point of view Foxton had not had a fair deal from the Union. Mr. Neville had done his best and the right as he .saw it, but the remarks of Mr Rimmer were a perfect insult to the intelligence of the Foxton people and he strongly resented them. Mr. Neville said a few years ago Shannon had spent money on their ground and put in in order and now The Union expected every other town to do the same. The Mayor: Then that is all the more reason why Levin should have put their ground in order and not the Union. The President said that it cost the club a good deal to run football in the town and it was only by the generous support of the public that they were able to carry on. If this sort of thing was going to continue the public would be very reluctant to give any support to football in the future. It was decided on the motion of the secretary and Mr. D. Christie to convene a public meeting at an early date to discuss the question of making representation to be included in the Te Kawau sub-union.