A GILBERTIAN SITUATION.

Taranaki Daily News, 17 September 1921, Page 3

A GILBERTIAN SITUATION.

NEW ZEALAND RUGBY UNION CRISIS. The situation that has arisen over the selection of the delegates to represent New Zealand at the conference with the South African and N.S.W. representatives on the question of the rules and laws of Rugby is in some respects quite Gilbertian. Mr. James McLeod is president of the New Zealand Union, and by virtue of his position, apart altogether from his other acknowledged qualifications, ought to preside over the proceedings. The Management Comtee of Wellingtonians, who have by their mismanagement brought anything but credit upon New Zealand football in the eyes of the recent visitors, are agreeable to this, but will not allow him to have a voice in the proceedings! In other words, he can attend the conference purely as a figurehead, and must act the part of a dumb dog! It is a gratuitous insult that naturally is resented by Mr. McLeod and every provincial union (except Wellington). It is felt that Mr. McLeod should take the leading part in the proceedings, for during the two years he has presided over the destinies of New Zealand football he has handled, if not actually drafted, nearly every communication that has passed between the New Zealand and English authorities on the interpretation and proposed amendments of the rules and laws of the games. The subject is one that ho has given particular study, and to-day there is no one who has the same grasp of it that he possesses. On the other hand, some of the self-appointed delegates to represent New Zealand at the conference have only a passing aquaintance with the [matters to come up for discussion. Some, [indeed, have not even played football, and therefore cannot grasp the intricacies of the game. They will, as a result, be at a serious disadvantage when meeting the delegates of the other countries, who, of course, are well up in every point of the game. One would have thought Mr. McLeod’s position as head of New Zealand footfall would have ensured for him first choice, apart altogether from his special qualifications. Ever since the Springboks set foot on New Zealand soil, Mr. McLeod has been engaged smoothing things out as a result of the incapacity and indiscretions of the New Zealand Management Committee, who have succeeded in setting nearly all the provincial unions by tbe ears, as well as the, public, not to speak of the visitors, who have had a needlessly bad spin in many respects that need not be discussed at present. Their treatment of Mr. McLeod is inconsiderate in the extreme, and may be regarded as but another nail in the coffin of a committee who should never have been entrusted with the management, of football in New Zealand. It is to bo hoped Mr. McLeod will carry out his intention of resigning after the departure of the Springboks and thereby dissociate himself from a committee whose life deserves to come to an abrupt end, when the delegates from New Zealand meet again to appoint another' management committee.