Morrinsville.

Te Aroha News, Volume XIV, Issue 2108, 31 May 1898, Page 2

Morrinsville.

ThS cricket concert was so much of a success that it is expected that all the debt burdening the Club will have been done away with. . On Thursday there is to be a soiree and public meeting to celebrate the Church anniversary. As ehotle 1 dj r . i's to take a prominent part in the af- < rangements, there need be no fear as to the ultimate success of the event.

On Saturday Momnsville played Hamilton II at football, theievsuit being a draw, one try each. ThegfVio was of a scrambling nature' throughout, confined to the forwards, with but little chance of any open work. i’he, continuous kickiug amongst a" medley of forwards made it impossible for any individual to shiop, though if one is to be singled out more than another it was J. Radford, the acting captain , of Morrinsville. There was a referee who did, as far as I could see, all tkalw. was required of him, But the question came very forcibly to me at the close of the game. What good is a referee ? What is the meaning of the word ? I believe in French there is a word—but lam venturing on dangerous ground, and will not go further than to say that the general idea of referee as conveyed to my, mhrd, is one who decides what is what i® wrong, and whose decision is final. But surely this cannot be the rightmeaning, if I was Dot dreaming on . Saturday. For on that occasion when any decision was given against the visiting team by the referee (a Morrinsville man), which ,did not fit in with their ideas, the scene baffled description, but not the attempt to desci’ibe it. There was at'once a wild rush to the official, arms brandished, voices raise 1, expostulations, 1 entreaties, epithets, insults, arid aii manner of. things flying thickly in jhe air, which reminded me forcibly of school boys acting ‘ Julius Csesur/ though perhaps there was a decrease of paSsiori in the latter case. Tnis sort of thing wustß® . time, but does very little more, and surely this is not part of the game of football—l ask to learn. It seeorfs to* me that notwithstanding, all the bene- . fieial effects, etc., if one cannot play the game without ill-feeling turning: you iuto a wild beast, the beneficial effects had better be. dispensed with.. I am told that in certain parts of N.Zi the game frequently ends up with a fight. But what nonsense-people do? talk. To think of persons .turning a recreation into a fight, the idea is preposterous, . laughaole, and must certainly have been suggested,to me only as one having a credulous look, England is already the laughing stock of Europe through its excessive z«al fur sports but surely such a thing as afight at the end of a game would make Europe even hysterical. And then again the idea of such a thing happening in New Zealand, th - pioneer of civilization, th 9 van and freedom, and any more of the j:y disk magazine. ’ of their 'country so worked up an iuo in the mood for quoting French, omy unfortunately I haven’t my dictionary'' hero. I believe I \y.as adking- of referees when I wandered off—uni yet what is a newspaper, article unless it wanders from the 'point ? .But can any answer me this question ‘ What good is a referee ?* ... 4 i hose whom, the gods, love die young,’ and judging by theexhibition on Saturday, I should think that there was still-: more chance of. their dying ere their time if they were to occupy the utterly thankless position of-referee for a few. weeks.