AMATEUR CYCLING DISPUTE

Press, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22135, 3 July 1937, Page 18

AMATEUR CYCLING DISPUTE

PROPOSAL TO AMEND CONSTITUTION

REPLY BY SECRETARY OF AVON CLUB

Proposals to amend the constitution of the New Zealand Amateur Cycling Association to permit the direct affiliation to that body of any amateur cycling club which does not wish to affiliate with the provincial centre were criticised by the president of the Canterbury Amateur Cycling Centre, Mr C D. Doyle, in a statement which appeared in "The Press" yesterday. The club concerned in the dispute—the Avon Amateur Cycling Club—and the Canterbury Centre recently received an invitation from the association to send representatives to a special meeting in Wellington to state their views on the question. A reply to Mr Doyle's statement that the conditions under which the centre and the club asked to put their respective cases at the meeting were both unreasonable and unconstitutional has been sent to "The Press" by the honorary secretary of the club. Mr J. Sturock. Mr Sturrock's reply is as follows: "To see Mr Doyle anxious about the constitutional side of the question is humorous, and is like the burglar calling for the police when he finds the outraged householder after him with the poker. Mr Doyle was not interested in the constitutional aspect of the question when he refused to forward our appeals to the New Zealand Amateur Cycling Association, or when he called the last annual meeting of the Canterbury Centre, and at a committee meeting held half an hour earlier disqualified the Avon Club so that they could not vote him out of office. "All the Avon Club asks is that cycling affairs in Canterbury be put on a democratic basis. We are prepared to register 75 cyclists—the centre has 58. Which is entitled to consideration? It is because Mr Doyle lacks faith in the confidence the racing cyclists have in him that he fights to hold the alleged centre —a centre of the Papanui Club and some riders that aro supposed to represent another club. The other components are just names to allow Papanui Club members to vote as proxies. The Avon Club does not want to dominate the centre. All it seeks is to put amateur cycling in Canterbury on a true democratic basis, and controlled by sportsmen uninfluenced by any particular club's interests."

CANTERBURY CENTRE

CRITICISM BY N.Z. PRESIDENT

(PBKSB ASSOCIATION TII.EC.RAU.> WELLINGTON, July 2. "The New Zealand Amateur Cycling Association has patiently waited for more than 12 months in the hope that the Canterbury Centre would put its Viouse m order," said TNIr A.. 'R.. TVicmas, president of the association, replying to Mr C. D. Doyle, president of tne Canterbury Centre, in a statement tonight. "The indications are that the differences are confined to non-riding officials. Cyclists and officials throughout New Zealand wish to see the end of the 'disputes between local officials in which the riders appear to have little or no interest, and which are retarding the sport. Any steps taken by the association will be with the object of remedying this condition."