FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, Volume LIV, Issue 70, 13 September 1911, Page 7

FOOTBALL.

{ CHARGE FOE. TO-MORROW'S MATCH. | RUGBY UNION IN DEFENCE I Mr. ,T. McLeod, manager of the Tsiranaki touring team, writes. as follow^: I was somewhat surprised on reaching town on .Monday nigbt to learn that ;the decision of the 'faranaki Rugby Union to make a charge of two shillings forthe big football attraction on Thursday hart been -very severely criticised 111 some quarters, particularly in New Plymouth. It seems to me, however, that the objectors have not realised the true position as the Rugby Union has to face it. At the outset it is only stating a fact to say that not one of the first-doss union* in New Zealand has so hard a row to hoe as Taranaki from the financial aspect. There are not the opportunities of raising funds in this province, possessed by sister unions. Wellington. Auckland, Canterbury and Otaso control all football grounds and take all '"gates" at not only interprovineial, but club matches. Having large populations to draw from, the. "gates" in those centres are items that maintain the respective unions in comparative affluence. In Taranaki the union eet.s but a very small percentage of the small elub gates, and has to depend solely on the "gates" drawn by visiting teams to keep solvent. For the last year ■or two this source of revenue, while be"ino fair, has not been by any meanß large, owing, particularly last season, to bad weather. The expenses of conducting even home matches in Taranaki are much hea.vier than in any of the centres, where practically all the pla-vers reside in the town where the respective unions have their headquarters. Here the expenses of the players have to be paid to and from their homes, and their board has to be pa-id. These items are mentioned merely to show that the Taranaki Union and players are not in the fortunate position of the larger unions against whom Tara- | riaki, thanks to our players, is generally able to hold her own in first-class I fonWnll.

Tliia year the Taratifiki Union arranged one of the biggest tours over undertaken in New Zealand, and the splen-. did manner in which the representatives acquitted themselves has, it will ,generally be aojreed, justified the union in hiving sent the team so far afield. But the New Zealand Government do not issue complimentary railway tickets even to Taranflki footballers, and players are not "billeted" out while on tour. The tour that has just lx>en concluded has oost the Rugby Union in the vicinitv of £350. a sum considerably greater than the Taranaki Union has ever !>een fortunate enough to possess. Neither the members of the management committee or the players are in a position to make good the large deficit with which the union is faced, and which the members of the committee guarantee. The players already have given nearly a month of their time, so far as I could learn, losing their wages for the whole of the term, to play the game for the benefit of the public as much as for themselves. There is not a player in the team or a member of the management committee who gets or expects to get a sixpence for the time he gives in assisting to maintain Taranaki's prestige on the football field, and I doubt if I will be contradicted when I say [ that it costs every football player and member of the union far more than that contributed to the support of the game by those who are objecting to ■the charge for admission on Thursday. The Rugby Union is. moreover, responsible to the New Zealand Union for some £4OO invested in the Recreation Sports Ground for its improvement, and it is apparently not generally known that the redemption payments are behind. Were it not for that circumstance the local representatives ol the Union would have a much liardei task to convince the football public throughout the province that more of the mutches should not ibe played at Hawera and Stratford.

It costs Xcw Plymouth patrons o! football a. very small sum to sec a match here, compared with the outlay involved in making the journey from Ilawera and the intermediate towns to Xcw Plymouth, and, so far as I can Irani, there is practically no objection to the two shillings change by tile hundreds of people who are p.rinwpal!v affected. I would just like to point out that no foot-ball public gets its amusement so cheaply as those who patronise the game in Xew Plymouth. In Wellington, Auckland, Christfhureh and Dunedin the charge is one shilling to the ground and one shilling to the stand, the latter in e:ich case accommodating from 25 to 33 per cent, of the total attendunee a regular charge of two shillings to thousands of patrons every week, and no exception' taken. In Oevmouth the public cheerfully pa,id two to enter the ground, and one .shilling additional for accommodation on the lame stand. And none of these unions is subject. to finan : , cial embarrassment, a condition of.>f-i fairs that is chronic, and obviously I 'so, with the Taranaki Rugby Union. ' ' Briefly, the union is at the moment a,limit £1(10 to £,170 in ddbt. and 1 think 00 per cent, of the football-loving public will agree that the .fairest wav of wiping off the union's liabilities is, by an extra contribution from all sunporters of the game. So long as the late "Mr. A If. THvly's generous purse wis available for the encouragement of the game and assisting (lie union to send its representatives on tour, the public did not worry as to the when-e of the money: but we have no Mr. Bayly now. So much .for the union's position. : That the game itiself will be worth two shillings to watch, one need only refer to the high'encomiums passed on the ability of Ihe tiw-o contesting tea,ms bv the southern press, and to the advances marlc by Wellington and .Auckland enthusiasts to hare the match plavcd in one of these centres,, the local union being assured of a £4OO to £soo' gate. Whatever the objectors mav think of the motives actuating (he Taranaki Union in increasing the chime. Suffice it to sn.v that -they considered ,Tarannki linlil'ic sufleientlv not to consider the tcni.ntiiia offers from the large icitics. In conclusion T hope that when tljie objctors realise the true position tho.v will at least, p-iv up as a compliment to our plavers, whatever resentment they mav f'-el aQaiii=t the individual members of the union, fiv whom criticism is tjiee.vpected portion.