DID NOT COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 28, 3 February 1939, Page 13

DID NOT COMPLY WITH INTERNATIONAL LAW

STARTER WAS IN ERROR IF PASCOE GOT A BREAK.

PHOTOGRAPH published in the Star" on January 20 of the start of the 100 yards mens swimming championship at the Auckland carnival showed that one of the competitors, A. Pascoe, got a break on the others. Those who have studied the picture, or actually witnessed the. happening, have since raised a controversy as to whether Pascoe infringed the rules, and, if so, was it the starter's duty to rule it a false start and recall the field?

Any dispute on the question is test settled by reference to the laws of the International Federation o£ Amateur Swimming. lor the last twelve months the intci national starting rule Ims been enforced in New Zealand, the system being termed tile "'flat-footed" start The federation's law states:—"The start m all races shall be made with a dive (except in backstroke races) and the starting stations shall be drawn for, No 1 starting from the right facing the course. J?he starter shall use the preparatory command, 'take your marks,' and there shall follow a sufficient length of time before the signal to start is given. The competitors shall remain stationary until the actual signal (shot, whistle or starting word) is given." The rule proceeds to state that, whoever is concerned, in the second false start, if any, shall be disqualified. The photograph proved that Pascoe did obtain a flying start. With only his toes on the board, he was on the point of plunging into the water, whereas Peter Hanari, Noel Crump and Alee Bagnall were standing flat on their feet, clearly all stationary.

New Zealand's foremost swimming starter, Mr. Charles Bryant, of Christchurch, who has officiated at national championship meetings fot over 20 years strictly interprets* the law. At the New Zealand intermediate and junior championship meeting inßotorua last week, as at the senior meeting in New Plymouth last January, when, he introduced the

ALAN PASCOE.—He did only what the starter allowed him to do.

international start to the Dominion, Mr. Bryant insisted that no competitor should gain an advantages by starting before the others; As a result, in all races competitors left the board simultaneously. It is reported that the starter of the swimming events at the British Empire Games in Sydney last summer was similarly careful. The "flat-footed" start was demanded, and there was no instance of contestants leaving the board on uneven terms.

It is not suggested that Pascoe sought deliberately to obtain an unfair start. Any action on his part in starting before the actual command was due to his eagerness to do well.

The photograph' provides reasonable grounds for the assumption, however, that lie started too quickly rather than that his opponents were all slow in diving. He was not stationary at the command. Accordingly, the start did not comply with the international lav.'.