GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXIII, Issue 25306, 4 October 1947, Page 5

GAMES AND PLAYERS

A'l H LEI IC .SPORTS

(By "MILES.”) Boxing or Fighting?

If the New Zealand boxing championships held in Christchurch showed anything they showed a very distinct weakness in the work of many of the coaches oi boys who competed. The almost complete absence 7 oi the use of a straight left—the basis of good boxing—was a disturbing feature. There were hard fighters—men who discarded defence and depended upon their tigerish attack to subdue the other man. The fighters, instead of. the boxers, won too many bouts, and it seemed that the ruggedness of the tough man was encouraged at< the expense of the boxer who introduced science in his work. The weakness is in the coaching, and in Christchurch bo?dng schools too many pupils and not enough competent instructors provide the problem. The New Zealand Boxing Association was on the look-out for men to represent New Zealand at the Olympic Games to be held in Landon in July next. The selectors, Messrs E. Pocock (Christchurch and L. A. Tracey (Wellington), and Dr. R. J. Adams (Wanganui), have not Vet announced their nominees. If boxing, instead of fighting, is to be the basis of selection, the committee will have difficulty in selecting any man likely to do credit to New Zealand. The Snooker -King”

Horace Lindrum, now on a tour of New Zealand, has opened the eyes of miny as to th e p OSS ibillties of snooker. After establishing a New Zealand record of 131 at Auckland, he has maintained his re-cord-breaking sequence. In a match at Te Kuiti he was asked to break up the reds and he did so He potted a red and carried on to clear the entire table with a break of 122, his opponent not naving the opportunity to visit the Üble. This is the seventeenth time on which has cleared the table and the one hundred and ninety-seventh occasion on which he has exceeded a century at snooker. R.S.A. Goll Tournament

The Christchurch Returned Services’ Association’s annual golf tou. nament will be held on the Christchurch Golf Club’s links at Shirley on November 16. Since it is Ijkely that entries this year will be a record for the tournament and that even on a full-length championship course it will be difficult to handle the field, entries received later than the closing date will not be accepted. , It mhy be necessary, if the field proves unwieldy, to' rearrange the afternoon foursome competition. The tournament is one of the big events of the year for R.S.A. golfer members and is always popular. Association Football

A disturbing lack of balance is shown in the result of the senior competition. of the Canterbury Football Association end in the failure of several teams to unorove on the standard of last year’s ilav. Western, Technical, and Thistle all finiso«d nine or more points ahead of others in en entry of nine. The old story of *oo many teams can be told. Had the strength of the remaining six teams been ■jonfiiie'i to three the standard ail round would have been improved. Lack of training by players and the lack of interest ov efficient coaches has not improved the standard of Soccer. The Technical No. 2 team finished fourth in the competition, a placing which showed plainly the weakness of other clubs. Very few of the younger players with the possible exception of N. King (Thistle), J. Mason (Technical), W. Pickles (Shamrock), and T. Smltherson (Nomads) showed promise sufficient to suggest that they will earn representative honours. A limit of six teams is suggested for next year’s senior competition Pritchard and Donnelly

Both the New Zealand representative players who took part in first-class cricket matches in England this year, T. Pritchard and M. P. Donnelly, had many fine performances to their credit. Pritchard, in his first year of county cricket, for Warwickshire, took 93 wickets at an average cost of 25 runs, finishing in fortyfourth place in the bowling averages. If bowlers who took fewer tnan 75 wickets were eliminated from this list, Pritchard would have finished 20 places higher. The former Wellington man also made a number of useful scores for his team. The brilliant batting of Donnelly for Oxford University was a feature of the season’s cricket; the left-hander scored 1488 runs at. an average of 62. finishing in ninth place. Off Season for Half-backs While New Zealand is particularly well off for full-backs approaching All Black standard, the number including R. W. H. Scott and T. R. O’Callaghan (Auckland), B. A Wishnowsky (Wellington), J. W. Kelly (Canterbury), T. R. D. Webster (Southland), and J. Lindbom (West Coast), there is a grave dearth of high-grade halfbacks. In all the games played at Lancaster Park this year not one half-back has shown form justifying inclusion in an All Black team, and even the two sent to Australia, V. Bevan and P. L. Tetzlaff, were well below the class required Nearly all the half-backs tried are too small, and there seems no reason why the selectors should not look further than the players at present playing behind • the scrum for a man to hold the position. A man up to 13 stone might be just as clever as a man three stone lighter. The selector of the Police team which played newspapermen at the Show Grounds on Thursday set an example when he elected to play Ron Smith, 15st 31b, as the “don-key-man.” Smith, a good footballer at his best, still shows a good knowledge of the scrum position, and in his latest effort as a running half-back he took a power of stopping.

Petei Kane, 29-year-old blacksmith, former world fly-weight champion, whose boxing career was regarded as finished when he was almost blinded in the left eye in an accident while serving w.th the R.A.F.. set a glorious seal on his comeback campaign less than 18 months ago, when he recaptured for Great Britain the European bantam-weight championship trom Theo Medina at Manchester on September 19. Although Kane’s eye was cut as early as the fourth round and blood

iften streamed down • his face, he made light of this handicap and it was the Frenchman who looked much the worse for wear at the end of one of the most punishing championship fights seen in England.

Wrestling lor Schoolboys “The primary object of the association’s activities is to encourage amateur wrestling, and it is felt that by giving schoolboys an opportunity of competing in a | tourney of this nature, the object is being attained,” writes Mr M. F. Foate, secretary of the Canterbury Wrestling Association, in asking for support of the schoolboys’ wrestling tournament to be held next Tuesday. Amateur wrestling, a good, robust sport, has not been encouraged in the schools, and the burlesque performances put# on by professional wrestlers has been a discouragement to parents and teachers. World’s Swimming Records The Congress of European Swimming Leagues, which met at Monte Carlo on September 16, officially confirmed the mark of Alex Jany, of France, in winning the 400 metres in 4min 35.25ec as the new European record. Unless another section of the International Swimmine Federation challenges it, the mark will stand as a new world record. The congress also confirmed the corrected time of 3min 24.75ec made in the first 300 metres of the same swim by Jany as the official new European record. Jany broke the listed world 100-metre free*style record in an officially-timed test in 55.8 sec at Menton. The time is one-tenth czf a second better than that recorded by Alan F®rd of Yale. Senior Reserve Tenriis Grade

The pros and cons of introducing a senior reserve men’s grade into the competitions of the Canterbury Lawn Tennis Association were aired at the annual meeting of the association this week. The subject was introduced by the Elmwood Club delegates, who suggested that another grade would help to raise the standard among younger men. Others pointed out the difficulty of fitting in another grade at the colirts at Wilding Park. The introduction of another grade would also lower the standard of the senior mixed grade, which was already at a low standard, said another delegate. Members of the competitions committee did not appear in favour of another grade, but the delegates who voted for the recommendation that the competitions committee introduce a senior reserve grade, will want to know the reason if this is not done. The voting for the motion was 21 to 18. A Family Affair A record was constituted when W. G. Clark woh the Levin Golf Club’s 1947 senior championship for the twenty-fifth time. Few clubs in New Zealand can boast of such a record. When only 15 years old. Clark won the championship for the first time. That was in 1912. He was beaten in 1913, but he won again in 1914. He held the championship for the next two years, although serving with the forces at the time. In 1919 Clark again won the championship, and for the next 12 years he held the cup until in 1932 he was beaten by his brother. E. W. Clark. However, the following year he retrieved the honour and held it for six years, when he again lost to his brother in 1939. In 1940 his son, D E. Clark won the title, but lost it to his lathe? ih2 n xt year. The ion was renewed after the war last jeur.