SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

Press, Volume LXXXVII, Issue 26605, 15 December 1951, Page 4

SPORTSMAN OF THE WEEK

T. W. LYNCH

T W Lynch, the highest-priced player to be imported to English League from New Zealand, is now on his way to prove himself worth the £5OOO the Halifax Cluo has paid as his signing-on fee. Not only is Lynch the highest-paid New Zealander but he is probably the last for some time if a cable message from London, which says-that a ban on the importation of League and Rugby Union players has been imposed, is correct. Previously the ban applied only to League players. Modest to a degree—his silence at times is embarrassing—Lynch has all the attributes of a good footballer, both in physique and temperament. He is sft lOin high and weights 12st 101 b. He is as solidly built a back as could be found and If Lynch ever becomes flustered on a football field then so *E® th { n « dinary has happened. He fee^ ideal team-player, for no man outside him has been given a pass when the receiver has been in a worse position than the g»ve£ Lynch was captain of the Manat club in 1951, and New Zealand and Canterbury representative football have claimed his services in a good number of games. Yet he set an example to his team-mates ana

all other players in attention to training. The following incident shows the enthusiasm he had in the game. Lynch, who is employed by one of the stock firms, was stationed at Darfield and to attend the weekly training one day he got a lift in a friend’s car to Christchurch. It was a different proposition getting back to Darfield. The young player was not perturbed. He set but on his 30 miles walk and had covered 10 miles before a kindly motorist picked him up. Distance was not an excuse for missing practice and his record for the season was 100 per cent, attendance. Learning his football at Alexandra, Lynch was transferred to Dunedin and joined the Southern Club, from which he was picked to represent Otago several times. It was not until he came to Christchurch and linked up with the crack Marist team that his real value was recognised. While Lynch has done a lot for Canterbury football since he arrived in 1950, it was some time before the authorities found out how good he was. After he had played in two of the most important senior matches 23 men were selected to go into training for representative fixtures. Lynch’s name did pot appear in the 23, and it was not until after the Canterbury team to play West Coast at Greymouth had been chosen that he fluked his way into the fifteen. Lynch played a part from then on. The team was to leave Christchurch for Greymouth o> a Sunday. On the previous Saturday a Canterbury back was hurt and the next man on the emergency list could not be located. The selectors were in a quandary. Peter Kearney, one of Lynch’s team-mates, heard of the position, and volunteered the information that “young Lynch is staying with me. Perhaps he’ll suit.” So Lynch joined the team for Greymouth but only as an emergency. Still his luck held. Early in the game at Greymouth J. Houghton, five-eighths, was hurt and Lynch took his place. This was the chance he needed. After that his place was assured. He played a major part in winning the Ranfurly Shield but was not in the team that lost it, and he has not played on a losing side for Canterbury. In 1950 his sterling performances in club and representative games earned him his South island jersey when he played against the North Island at Auckland, his partner at five-eighths being L. S. Haig, with whom he later Established a very sound combination on the' All Blacks’ tour In Australia this year. Early In the 1951 season Lynch was picked to play in the South Island trials and later in the New Zealand trials, besides ’acting as an emergency for the South Island team. He showed himself the utility man of New Zealand football for after playing one spell for the A team as centre three-quarters, he was called on as an emergency as wing three-quarters for the B team In the second spell. Each oosition he filled with credit. For the third time in one afternoon Lynch was called on to play hard football, this time for the South Island as a second fiveeighths in place of the injured R. Breeze (West Coast). Again he proved himself a player of class and it was no surprise to find him picked for the Australian tour. With the Otago first five-eighths, L. Haig. Lynch proved ona of fee successes of the tour. Quick to seize an opening he scored his fair share of tries but usually he concentrated on making openings for the men outside him.

After his success in Australia Lvnch played for Canterbury on the North Island tour, during which all four matches were won. On this trip he showed himself to be not only a prolific try-scorer but a potter and place-kicker of goals. The hard football played left the star back a bit jaded and as captain of the Marist team he very wisely preferred to act as an emergency for his club on his return.

Mischievous tongues began to wag and it came to the ears ol Lynch "that although he could play tor Canterbury he could not play tor his club.” He took the remark to heart and immediately claimed his place in the Marist team It was not a wise decision tor on a hard ground his ankle, which had been badly jarred by hard football, gave out and U P , r n 2£ dlcal advice he did not plsv «, The 1 1 " old ' nt merely serves to hts°Yoy t a h i e ty S «is 0, club ßo ° d f °° tbaU ' r *" d £ yn . c h« who learned all his football in C «iH te r? vry^ 1 an e d a grandson of a famous old Dunedin forward in still an-