LEAGUE AND RUGBY

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 37, 6 May 1927, Page 6

LEAGUE AND RUGBY

Two Codes Now Separated Can They Link-up Again? THE POSITION OF THE DOMINIONS (By J. M. Mackenzie, Sports Editor.) The glib assertion that Rugby in Auckland is a “class” 1 game and League a “mass” game no more explains the difference between the two codes than the oft-repeated statement that the question of allowances to players is an insurmountable bar to the two games ever coming together again.

Thu vexed question of players' allow inces was the rock on which the Rugby game split in the ’nineties. A little more tact and a little less stubbornness on the part of the English Rugby Union might have averted the cleavage. Since those days the Rugby world has modified its attitude considerably on the question of players’ expenses, if not in the letter of the law, hen certainly in its practical application. Any illusions the senior code may have cherished about keeping the old game on a “lilywhite” amateur basis have long since been flung into the discard. International tours, League and Rugby alike, are run on a strictly business basis. It would be sheer hypocricy for a Rugby man to argue

otherwise. The players get their dailjr allowance and the question of “gates” is of vital interest in both codes. Even on provincial tours some of Maorilancrs prominent Rugby players, who have had dependents to provide for, have had their wages paid while on tour —sub rosa, of course, in deference to he English Rugby Union’s laws. A VITAL DIFFERENCE The idea of footballers being bought and sold like champion racehorses is repugnant to the colonial mind, but few \\ ill cavil at the idea of men who can ill afford the cost of travelling being allowed reasonable out-of-pocket expenses when on tour. Much water lias flo\Ved under the bridge since the

game accidentally evolved by Rugby schoolboys was played almost solely by old public school men in good circumstances, well able to afford the cost of travelling. Rugby football, Union and League alike, is the game of the people. Worn out tradit : ons and the sort of narrow-minded conservatism which views the growth of public support as a menace to the sport, are the only stumbling blocks to the two games coming

together again. There is not much separating them in the Antipodes now. “We’ll give you back the line-out if you cut out the wing-forward and adopt our scrum,”

was the way an Australian League authority put it to a prominent Auckland Rugby man in the writer’s hearing a year or two ago. That ought to still hold good. TIMES HAVE CHANGED That times have changed is sufficiently indicated by the enterprise and vigour with which the New South Wales and New Zealand Rugby Unions have taken up the question of bringing the rules of the game more a!nd more in keeping with modern ideas, and in reinstating players, who have not actually embraced professionalism. Whether the English Rugby Union will ever change is a very moot point. Its irritating assumption of superiority over the Dominions and its consistent refusal to establish a representative international board of control, are not hopeful signs. It is a source of wonderment to the average colonial that the Die Hards of the game in England get so hot under the collar when the question of payments to players is mentioned. It is a pity that the English Rugby authorities could not catch some of the atmosphere of English cricket, where amateurs and professionals play together. THE REAL TEST In any case, there does not seem much chance of professional cricket or football ever being established in Australasia. Putting to onq side hairsplitting differences' about allowances to players, the fact remains that the average colonial prefers to play the game for the game’s sake, and not as an occupation. That is the real test.

As matters stand at present, the Rugby-playing world is a house divided against itself. The Association game (the original football) is making rapid progress. Before many years have passed the two branches of the Rugby game may have to take stock of the position and consider if it is not possible to adjust the differences that keep the two games apart.