Infected Grounds

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 116, 6 August 1927, Page 11

Infected Grounds

Christchurch comes the news that scratches suffered by players on one of the grounds at Lancaster Park, the Union Rugby headquarters , turn septic unless the abrasions are promptly attended to. This is by no means new. At Carlaw Park, which was once a Chinese market garden and was heavily manured in the process of supplying the City's vegetable requirements, experienced players take no risk of neglecting cuts and wounds sustained there. The volcanic soil of Eden Park has also been under suspicion in times past , and the writer , while on tour with a Southern team a few years ago . remembers a collection of septic wounds in the team, which were considered by a doctor who attended the injured ones as being due to some organism in the soil , and to which the visitors were probably less inoculated than the local players. Rugby Parle in Invercargill also used to have a bad reputation for septic injuries, and similarly with a wellknown Dunedin ground. In any case , whether football grounds are under suspicion or not , the wise player sees to it that abrasions are treated with a suitable antiseptic as soon as possible after a match.