BOWLING.

Auckland Star, Volume LX, Issue 37, 13 February 1929, Page 13

BOWLING.

THE PENNANT MATCHES.

SHOULD CLUBS ENTER TWO RINKS? .A RniLT.IANT WI-.LI.INi ;i< ">\ I'KoI'OSA!.-.' IBy J'KUNDLKK.i XHp jipiin.int niatches are to he reliimrd "ii Snlurd.iy. and this sea-on they fneni to '■■' I'liimin™ their course witholl; the liMial complaints al>out a few niirior points that are eaVily remedied. The only r cil grievance is that Helenaville p»i in with the lijrlit allocation of two rink-, and i- now an easy leader in one section. If this objection had t,,. c n raised after that pronounced lead had been e-i a Mi-hed. not much notice would have hern taken of it, for people always lik* 1 to <ee protests based on principle, instead of waiting to see who leads. In this case, however, the objection was voiced at once, and some even wont so far a< to nr<re that no club jhoilld compete with less than four rink?. The position of Helensville was rreogni-ed a- a difficult one, ripht from the very lir-f, and the centre executive admitted this by taking the unusual course of consulting the delegates before accepting ihe entry, the troulile being that although tlie club is a very small one it contains some uncommonly good flayers. The voting in favour of accepting the entry was unanimous, -o if ji is considered that a mistake wai niada the c'lubs have it in their own hand.- to see that tins is not repeated, and none need talk about wrecking the pennants when this little difficulty can be so easily remedied next year.

As for making four the minimum miniTier of rink.«, this suggestion has nothing to recommend it. and it would be the last straw in breaking the optimism of a number of little clubs in the outlying suburbs. They* get little enough already, without being pushed out of the pennants. This season there are three other clubs with only- two rinks, viz.. Manurewa. Glen Eden and Papakura, and it will be quite time enough to increase their <|tiota to four when they themselves suggest it. Hovvick and Mount Wellington are much in the same position, and it would be useless to expect them to come in at all unless they can compete, with two rinks.

To sum up the position, it would be fcetter to run the risk of a two-rink club winning a section occasionally, rather than to perpetrate such a glaring injustice as to shut them out until thev grow hig enough to put in four. A nice chance of growing they would have, if they met *nch disheartening treatment, whereas the larger club 3 can well afford to adopt exactly the opposite policy, and encourage still more clubs to be formed in the more sparsely populated districts, by holding out every promise to them that they will participate in everything that is doing.

Marlborough v. Wellington. Eight rinks from Marlborouph have just visited Wellington, in return for the ten rinks who went to Marlborough last year. Mutual felicitations were exchanged at a luncheon in the epacious pavilion of the parent club of the capital, and with these there will be cordial agreement, for the more that centres visit each other the better it is for everybody. But when the opportunity wa> taken to discuss the recent Dominion Tournament they hit on a subject which touches everybody. Answering the suggestion of Dr. Xohle-Adams (Picton). that the tournament was too long, and that the singles and the pairs should he cut out, the D.B.A. president, Mr. S. M. Stone, offered an extraordinary solution. He agreed that the elimination of the pairs would be desirable, a statement that might have been expected, considering how hard Wellington worked four years ago to discredit this competition, but he added that if any one centre had the running of the tournament for two consecutive years some improvement might be made, but as each place gets it only once in four years the inconvenience of the present time-table is forgotten by the time the turn comes round again.

The president is the last man who ihould say such a. thing, for he and his committee are the chief culprits in Heedlessly prolonging it. This year they •pun it out an extra day, and four years •go they did not get it finished till the third Wednesday night, in each case the extra time being , needlessly incurred, against the wishes of the Dominion Council and the general bodv of competitors.

Spare us from ever giving the control to Wellington for two consecutive years, for it is bad enough to let them handle the reins everv four vears.

When the Dominion Council accepted for the recent tournament the timetable submitted by the Auckland Centre, the main argument was that on the second Tuesday night all could go home except those, who qualified in the rinks or pairs, or were still alive in the singles. Probably about 80 per cent would be released.

What did Wellington do, in -their •nxiety to shorten the tournament? They spun it out an extra, day. holding everybody back for President'* Day on ■the Wednesday, instead of holding this function n n Tuesday of the week.

Four years a pro it was even worse. They held up the intersection play on the second Friday for President's Day. instead of petting nn with it. and then rain came mikl made a further delay, the final hanging off till the third Wednesday evening. Fortunately other people have a better mernnrv than they are credited with, and they remember enough about Wellington "improvements" to look elsewhere for means to shorten the toiirnaropnt. Tlie<e will be submitted in due course.