They say that the past is a different country, they do things differently there. Rugy World proved that in January 1961 with an article called ‘Reffing for Fun’ by A.M. Rees, who by then was the Chief Constable of Denbighshire, but a former Welsh international.
It’s a good read with plenty of jokes, including a few that have done the rounds since, such as the referee who complained to the club chairman after he’d been hit with a tomato thrown from the crowd. ‘Pity it wasn’t in a tin’, came the sympathetic reply.
Elsewhere, the trials and tribulations of playing in Australia were discussed in a piece by Eddie Kann who noted that, ‘Australia, the financial underdog is in international rugby, have an increasing struggle to keep the sport going.” The huge distances in those amateur days certainly played a part with Chris Forbes, a 21-year-old grazier, viewed as the most-travelled man in Australia – he put in 2,800 miles to play for his club, another 1,888 for representative games, and he was to go off on tour to New Zealand. All without getting paid. You can find his itinerary here.
