NO REPLACEMENTS

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1039, 1 August 1930, Page 6

NO REPLACEMENTS

SYDNEY RULE HARD ON NEW ZEALAND “A GAME AFTER ALL” When Pearce, the New Zealand winger, was carried off the field on the Saturday of New Zealand’s second League match with New South Wales, the Kiwis must have longed for home, where they are able to replace an injured man in the first half, says the “Sportsman.” That is one of the sore points with the touring: team, which does not believe in tiie barring of replacements. Manager Arch Ferguson has very decided views on the question, and I»is big point is that the match is a game after all, and there should not be any desire for one side to profit by the other’s bad luck. He asserts, too, that the public should be considered, and should not l*o asked to witness the savour taken out of a game by making it one-sided just on account of stiffness. It was not until a few years back that the League finally gave in to the English idea of barring replacements, and the public has got used to it. The big argument in favour of the English idea is that it gets away from all possible abuses. Tn the past, under the replacement idea, teams have been known to put on a man who is a bit doubtful on account of injury, knowing full well that if he broke down, or looked like it, ho could be replaced. In other games men who have been playing poorly, have been chatted to go down and out and leave the field in favour of a player who might do better. DELIBERATE KNOCKING OUT On the other hand, the New Zealand- < ra aver that the present system lends itself to the deliberate knocking out of a man. with no possible chance of putting another on. As far as Sydney is concerned, we have not seen that trick put over, although men have been “pitched for” and eventually ordered off. During one of the Kangaroo tours, it is alleged that one big English forward was told off to k.o. Dan Frawley, but the joke went against him, for in going crash into Dan as he was taking a high ball, the forward did not allow for Dan’s sidestep, and was himself carried off with a sprained ankle. Still, the present touring team can bo accounted mighty stiff from the number of injuries that have been sustained. Stephenson is out with a gashed head, Dobbs and Tittleton have done in their ankles. Pearce is suffering from concussion, Wetherill is laid up with ear trouble, and Brisbane was doubtful light tip to Saturday’s game.