FOOTBALL.

Taranaki Daily News, 22 February 1922, Page 3

FOOTBALL.

rRCNCr RUGBY ToU*' SELECTING THE TEAM. COMMISSION TO IMPROVE QUALITY OF GAME. Tl.e announcement that the French Rugby team . is to sail by the Arawa,.. leaving Southampton on May 18, has aroused a great deal of interest among footballers and lovers cf Rugby. Latest flies of French papers to hand! record the fact that the game has reached the zenith of its popularity. Illustrated papers devote much of their space to the reproduction of photographs, showing incidents of the games in Paris and the provincial centres. The club ‘ contests are watched with the greatest Interest, and it is now not unusual for a crowd of 10,000 to attend a club match. Besides the Parisian fixtures there are provincial contests in eleven centres. In the provinces the game seems to be making remarkable progress, judging by the number of teams in the Lyons and T*yrenees districts. A recent visitor to Wellington, M. Blosch, informed a Times representative that when he French team for New Zealand was finally chosen. It would be found that it would include a large percentage of provincial players. "The Council of the French Rugby Federation has confirmed the proposals made by the Referees' Commission, and one cannot congratulate too heartily the authors of these proposals, which will give a new direction to the rules, that are so valuable to the knights of the leather, and that will contribute materially to the development of the game of Rugby in France,” says Le Mirror des Sports. SHORTAGE OF REFEREES. "We cannot overlook the fact that despite the great popularity of the Rugby game, there is a marked shortage ctf referees; the quality of referees is deteriorating, and there is a difficulty all round in getting suitable candidates for the wl.istle. The reasons of this are various. On th? one hand, certain of our referees allow themselves to be influenced by favoritism for the team they like best, and are inclined to overlook breaches by favorite players. In other matches, under other referees, these players are visited with penalties for sl/mllar breaches. Weak committees have been in the habit of nominating weak referees. Lut the most serious reason is that the public, as a whole, is very deficient in its sporting education. It does not know the rules thoroughly, becomes very excited by partisanship, that makes it overlook the laws of the game, and behaves generally in a manner that makes things very unpleasant for the unfortunate referee. The first step taken to protect the referee against the public was the organising of club responsibility. This was a move in the right direction, and aimed at increasing the referee's authority, and disciplining the public. But it was not sufficient. The Referees’ Commission is to be congratulated on its initiative, in increasing the sporting knowledge of the crowd —players and referees.

PLAYERS AND PUBLIC. "As soon as the public and players know and understand the rules of Rugby, and the spirit in which they should be applied, when, in all the districts, there will be a united conception of their interpretation, referees will be numerous, and committees will be able to exercise discretion in their choice. Matches will grow in public interest and be better managed.” A certain amount of outcry followed the publication of the first report of the Commission when it sat at .Toulouse. There was a feeling that drastic in the laws of the game were contemplated, but the commission never had any intention to depart from the international code; they were merely expounding some obscure passages in it. NATIONAL TEAM’S PROSPECTS. After dealing with the interpretation of the laws of the game, the report of the commission concludes: "At this period, when the Rugby game is extending, and is growing more and more popular, when the quality of our play has achieved us an international reputation, it behoves all the ne’ar and far who are interested in the noble cause to help, by all the means at their disposal, the Federal Commission in the accomplishment of the heavy task it has set itself; by doing this, they will contribute to the improvement of our style; our matches will be more Interesting because of the fact that referees will be more qualified; our players will rapidly come to a. stage of ■ perfection; and very soon the French national Rugby team will be able to reach first rank in the Rugby world."