Register (Adelaide, SA : 1901 - 1929), Thursday 3 May 1923, page 14


A FOOTBALL TROUBLE.

An Association Threatened with a

Much' interest - is being, excited in football circles at -Port -Adelaide .over- a. dispute which has arisen regarding the membership of a club with the Port Adelaide and Suburban Church Football Association.— '?& report of' wbicak has just leaked oiit^.-It is believed to be : partly- the reBult of a reverend gentleman of the Roman Catholic church, of the district objecting that members of the 'Rosewater CathoIics. should be composed entirely of catholics. . So far as can be gathered, itis« understood that the position is that the association generally holds its annual meetinc about March. .To. this gathering the clubs of the. previous season send the delegates who then represented them, and they, or; their proxies,, form the association meeting. T^he Chairman: of the Association is Mr. Norman Fraser, the secretaty (Mr.-H. Bea8ley),ahd Mr. Al W. Gordon is the President. The President is generally only ? called to the annual meeting, and was present when this was held recently. It was. found, that there were three delegates- present representing 'Rose-Water Catholics'' whereas the rules allowed only two from each club. That required explanation,' and Mr. G. Bowden was asked why he had attended, thus making t a third delegate. Be stated that Father Gearon. had sent him- to represent the 'Rosewater, . Catholics' team. KoaTTirV fhiit it- Vwam * ? xl_ _ ? ^?i'

rr*w'9 ,''«'*' *' n-Ui agiUUSb .Hie COIJSUtUtion for three to ba present, he* was ordered to retire, as it -was held that the team was already fully represented. He did , so, making no trouble about', the matter. The business having been completed, as was. customary, delegates from clubs not' intending to: - re-form for the season were asked to reitre, and the two delegates for the 'Eosewater Catholics' were among those remaining, and were received again into the association- -una-nimously. The secretary was . then sent to see whether there were any clubs outside the room seeking affiliation.* Among these clubs was Mr. Bowden, 'still /d£ S1«ng to come in aa the representative of Eosewater Catholics,' : under Father Gearon. - Seeing that another club was desirous of affiliating under a ? name already accepted, Mr. Bowden was asked by the association to request his club to re^ -consider the name, and to join up under some other name, and was Informed that an -opportunity to so join would be given at an adjourned ' meeting, the date t of which was fixed. At_, that meeting Mr. Cordon as Presrient was again present by- request, and- tiro delegates -representing ±a ner Gearon's club were also present requesting to be ?accepted for 'Rosewater Catholics,' and 'apparently taking no notice of the request which had been made The accented delegates of the 'Rosewater Catholics' (Messrs. D. O'Dea and E. Penn) and those from Father Gearon's club were asked to retire' \*hile the association considered the position. It was unanimously resolved that the asso™.

tions action ol accepting the original ™» should be endorsed, and that the. Ulosewater Catholics' Club, as previously constituted,* should be. accepted 'unconditionally. The Chairman and the secretary went out and told the delegates for tne .original club to re-enter the room,- and ! again suggested (as the meeting had directed) to the new delegates an alteration m the name of their club, a special extension of time being given until the following Wednesday. Father Gearon was also advised of the decision of the association. At the following meeting Father Gearon asked permission to place before the association his views on the situation and out of courtesy, although against the constitutions he was given half an hour In which to do so, after which the association re-affirmed the previous decisionsj The next move was when the -President, the Chairman, and the secretary of/the association, and officials of the '^Rosewater Catholics' Club each received a letter from Messrs. T)enny, Daly, . &. Travers's office, threatening legal proceedings, The letter stated that they had received instructions from the Rev. Father Fearon, who was in charge of the Roman Catholic Church in the District of Eosewater, and who was 'repre-senting a certain football team, known -as 'The Bosewater Catholics.'' This team, as' they knew, was a member of the Port Adelaide and Suburban Church Football Association and this year, after complying* with all the necessary precedent conditions, formed up ajrain and aj£ plied in the usual manner for admission to the

useui.-ui.iuu. *ui sume inexpucaoie reason, however, their application, under their own name was refused, and all the privileges previously granted by the association to the Bosewater Catholic team were wrongfully taken from them by the association and bestowed upon some other team, which had wrongully appropriated to itself the name of the team rep'resented by their client, and which carried with it the privileges. One of the rules of the association was that the club must bear a' chnrch nome. It had alreadv been admitted by the 'innovating team'/ that they claimed to represent the Hoseyate'r Catholic. Church. Their client stoutly resisted *ny such representation. He had, as last year, a team to represent him, and was not prepared to allow the other party to represent te church 13 they claimed to do. On their instructions, the team which had been accepted, claimed that their client's team was not validly constituted', because the general meeting? -was not preceded by a. conrmitte meeting. This contention was untenable in law as it was ludicrously absurd. They had been instructed to issue a writ atrainst . the official of the new clnb, and also the association officials, if they allowed the team to use its name as appropriated, in order to protect the proprietary right of their clients. It is contended that the club which has become affiliated, embraces about 77 out of 80 of the previous year's members.