OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

Wairarapa Times-Age, 14 August 1939, Page 4

OTHER PEOPLE’S IDEAS

RUGBY ROUGH PLAY

(To the Editor)

Sir,—For the last 15 years I have followed up Rugby in the Wairarapa. and enjoyed it. too. But after the exhibition of brutality 1 witnessed on Saturday. I can safely say the Rugby Union has had my final shilling. In the Stars v Masterton match, a Star player was laid low by a blow that could quite easily have caused serious injuries. It necessitated his being carried from the field anyway. Not only I. but several other spectators witnessed the blow, and if necessary will substantiate this statement. Football has come to a fine end when the boot is put into a player already on the ground. For a similar offence, in the ordinary walks of life, a person would be brought before a court of law and charged with assault, so I do not see why the football field should protect him. And it says much for the powers of observation of the referee that he let it go unnoticed. Perhaps the day is not far distant when it will be necessary for a policeman to be appointed to each game, to curb the ill-temper of some of our so-called "sportsmen.” There is a big difference between hard play and rough play, and nobody, knowing theplayer who was knocked unconscious, would ever say that he warranted the treatment he got. His is the hard play and it was countered by dirt. .. . Hoping that, for the betterment of the game, you will publish this letter —I am, etc., F L. SCOTT. Masterton, August 14.