WHO’S RIGHT?

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

WHO’S RIGHT?

REFEREES DIFFER A SCRUM RULING ‘‘Referee,” according to the latest definition, means “one to whom a matter or question is referred for settlement.” On the football grounds a referee, according to the losing side, is one who should see a doctor, while to the barrackers he is one that should be sent to school. After last Saturday it is not at all difficult to agree with these opinions. Perhaps it was the new rulings which came into force for the first time, or, perhaps, it was that one of the referees was celebrating his twenty-fifth anniversary of refereeing, which caused two distinct rulings on the good old game of Rugby to be seen on Eden Park. The two games under review were Training College and Grammar, controlled by Referee W. (“Bill”) Meredith, and Ponsonby and College Rifles, controlled by Referee F. E. Sutherland. Without going into both games in detail one would like to know which ruling the players and spectators may be expected to follow and take as correct. A DOUBLE RULING The outstanding feature in the gam -s, and that which caused the two distinct rulings, was from that old nightmare rule on scrummages. A scrummage is a simple thing, but, and it is that little “but” which upsets the rules on scrummages. All that need be taken into account to see how the “double” ruling came about is to refer to the infringements which occur

in a scrummage. According to the new rule book, the infringement which caused all the trouble reads: “A player who lifts or moves either foot beyond the front line of his forwards before the ball is fairly in the scrummage shall be treated as so wilfully preventing.” A yery simple rule, but one which seems to upset many good referees.

In the first game last Saturday if any of the players attempted to lift their foot, the whistle was immediately

blown, and a free kick was granted to the non-offending side. In the Ponsonby versus College Rifles game the players were able to lift their feet and no notice was taken. Why this distinction? One would like to know which ruling the Referees’ Association intend to adopt, as both the referees are two well-known senior referees. —A.W.R.S.