NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST ATHLETES

Press, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22345, 8 March 1938, Page 9

NEW ZEALAND'S FIRST ATHLETES

Sport Founded in Canterbury It was the custom 50 years ago for sportsmen to hold their meetings in the public hostelries. In such a setting on July 28, 1887, the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association was born. In that atmosphere it thrived, until now instead of being almost entirely a Canterbury affair it is a large and responsible national body guiding the activities of many hundreds of runners. This is the jubilee year, and as befits the importance of the occasion, Canterbury is to have the fiftieth championships contested on the Lancaster Park Oval. In the 50 years since the first meeting runners have travelled thousands of miles round the tracks in pursuit of championships, records, and the thrill and glory of victory, but athletics, centuries old though it is, remains essentially a sport of the moment, and it is not surprising that to-day's officials know very little of yesterday.

As soon as the first settlers arrived athletics began. The sport was quite 20 years* old in the new colony when the New Zealand Amateui Athletic Association was formed Running was then the obvious sport, especially when the young men did plenty of walking and were therefore well equipped for it. Times in the earliest days have not been recorded, but many must certainly have been good. Athletes began to organise first in South Canterbury. The South Can-

nonunion s nrsi instance runners. terbury Athletic Club was foundec in 1372, the Auckland Club in 1877 and the Canterbury Amateur Athletic Club also in 1877. The Soutr. Canterbury officials were primarilj responsible for the foundation of th( New Zealand Association. It waj they who called the meeting a 1 Warner's Hotel on the night of Julj 28, 1887. They found keen support but the old North v. South differences existed even then, for Auckland refused to join. Meeting at Warner's A newspaper report of the meeting reads:— ". . . The following were present: Messrs Bunny (representing Hawke's Bay), Blanchard (Dunedin), Anson and Cuff (Christchurch), Teschemaker and Rhodes (South Canterbury). The Southland Club wrote saying that they would be pleased to join the association and would be bound by the decisions arrived at by the delegates. Auckland refused to join. "Mr Rhodes was voted to the chair and briefly explained that the object in view in forming the association was the furtherance of athletics in New Zealand. It was resolved that the association be called 'The New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association.' "A sub-committee was then formed, consisting of the following:— Messrs Bunny, Cuff, Anson, Teschemaker, Clulee, and Loughnan. Mr Cuff was appointed secretary pro tern." Mr Cuff held the secretaryship not only pro tern, but for some years, and was one of the most active officials in the promotion of the sport in Canterbury. It was from his home in Dallington that the first crosscountry championship was held in September of 1887, Transfer to Wellington For some years the association was ', simply an association of clubs, but in i 1903 the colony was divided into i four centres, Auckland, Wellington, Canterbury, and Dunedin, for the purposes of athletic administration. Since then two further centres, 'he West Coast of the North Island and quite recently Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay, have been added. Unfortunate differences of opinion, which even sportsmen find it hard to avoid, occurred a year or two later, and in 1905 the headquarters of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association were transferred to Wellington, where they have remained.

Among the prominent names in £ athletic history in Canterbury in the later years of last century and early ier part of this were those of J. F. ir Grierson, A. Otherson, D. Wood, P. 1. A. Laurie, G. Harris, J. Moir, J. S. t, Hawkes, W. J. Cotterill, W. d Tonks, Dr. Moorhouse, F. Wiid- ,„ ing, C. H. Croxton, E. R. ' Webb, F. W. Mitchell, E. Brabazin, n Charles Clark, H. S. Batchelor, T. D. n Harman, F. N. Robinson, J. W. ColY lins, P. Selig, J. E. Green, H. W. Reeves, C. Hood Williams, N. L. a Mcßeth, A. C. Mcßeth, J. F. Wasch- - man, C. R. Smith, and P. Wood. j Good Distance Runners ' Those are a few of the officials and l the runners of the earlier days who laid the foundation of the sport in ' Canterbury. To trace the history of j New Zealand's athletic achievements is a fascinating study, and J would require a great deal of space. Some of the earliest performers returned remarkable times without the advantage of to-day's highly scientific methods, but rnost of their efforts have since been easily and frequently outdone. i The one fact that does emerge, | and not only in the light of recent j events, is that New Zealand breeds men who h»ve the makings of firstclass middle distance and distance athletes. All through the 50 years of its history the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association has found that its champions are nearer international standards in distances from the half-mile upward than they have been in sprinting, and in field events. > ——i ——^—.— i

It is perhaps a pity that athletes of the past who in their day were brilliant stars cannot be measured in athletic values with the champions of to-day. They are inevitably overlooked in feverish comparisons of to-day's new records, for athletes have little interest in the past except to obliterate it. Their goal is always achievement, which must mean record-breaking and the hauling down of the colours of old champions.