§ Mr. Joplingasked the Secretary of State for Education and Science whether, in view of the breakdown in recent years of the barriers between amateur and professional players in such sports as cricket and lawn tennis, he will now refuse further grants to Rugby Union football clubs until they end discrimination against the Rugby League.
§ Mr. Denis Howell:The rules of participation in a sport are entirely a matter for the governing body concerned. I do not consider that it would be proper to use the powers to make local capital grants to individual clubs as a means of influencing a governing body in this matter.