ATHLETIC SPORTS GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXVIII, Issue 26639, 26 January 1952, Page 4

ATHLETIC SPORTS GAMES AND PLAYERS

(By

MILES

Canterbury Marathon The Canterbury marathon championship, which will start from Lancaster Park at 10.30 a.m. to-day, and is expected to finish at the same place about 1 p.m., might serve to further the claims of the Canterbury champion, J. R. Clarke, to representation at the Olympic Games. Clarke, who has been in strict training for many weeks, has been racing most consistently and his final trial over six miles at Rugby Park last Saturday showed him at the top of his form. The thousands who saw Clarke’s finishing run in the marathon in the Empire Games at Auckland must be still wondering why he did not win the race, instead of finishing third. He ran the last lap like a crack quarter-miler. On his form to date Jack Clarke is an Olympic Games prospect. Greenkeeper’s Conference

“The wicket at Lancaster Park stood up to the month of the Plunket Shield matches in a manner that reflected the Seatest credit on the groundsman, Mr C. irnes,” said Mr W. J. V. Hamilton, at a meeting of the Lancaster Park Board of Control on Thursday. "The park has never looked better," said . the chairman, Mr H. H. Wauchop. Mr Barnes and Mr D. A. Colville, a member of the executive, were appointed to attend a conference of the golf greenkeepers, to be held in Christchurch next week, when lectures will be given by Mr B. Elphick, Lincoln College, on “NeW Zealand Soil Types,” by Mr J. D. Blair, Lincoln College, on "Turf diseases and Their Control,” and Mr E. A. Madden, Department ot Agriculture, on “Toxic Fertilisers Related to Turf Structure.” Lecturettee will be given by Messrs G. S. Harris and S. T. Coles, of the grasslands division of the Scientific and Industrial Research Department. The conference should prove of inestimable value to all interested in the upkeep of sports grounds. News from Washington The Rev. Dr. G. Harrison, last year's president of the Canterbury Referees’ Association and a member of the executive of the Canterbury Rugby Union, now in Washington, writes as follows to a Christchurch friend:—“Thanks for the cutting from ’The Press’ about Tom Lynch in which 'Sportsman of the Week’ gave full credit to a really fine sportsman and one whom the Marlst Club could Hi afford to lose. The club has been deeply honoured by one of its members receiving such an offer. . . . American football is less of a mystery to me now. In the early part of the season I watched a few kids’ games on Saturday mornings. I . went to one big game, but it was all double Dutch to me. Then I took to looking at games on the television, became quite a fan, and when the season finished on January 1 I had almost mastered the technique. I think Rugby l has little to learn from this game except, perhepe. in control of the baU in passing and the value of long passes. The great yniversiUea are getting ’cold feet r on football. The game takes up too much time in travelling, etc., the overhead expenses are too great, especially the fees Paid to coaches, and there are a few scandals in getting players for one University or the other. All these have caused quite a few to drop out of the regular competitions. Leading the way in this were many of the great Jesuit Universities in the States, and after one X!2 t L olrt J , 0f competitive football they are convinced that the Universities have gained much and lost nothing. The pubthLwh”* 8 ! « n **l* is tremendous—though relative to population New ZeanStSfi f ? r < mo £ e , lnterellt to their football. Television helps also to make one interested in basketball, which is the national game now until May. Great sums are paid to the professional players, but public Interest is not the same as it is for football or baseball. You, players of this game, would certainly like to have indoor courts in Christchurch like the ones they have here.” Rurty in England

Mr Eric Ellison, who recently returned from a trip to England during which he saw some games of Rugby, says the p r i Ce ik, quo !. ea^ in 0,18 column last week, tJ/irJ? 8 6d, were for season tickets and not one-day charges. He u^ !S follows: “The admission charges ~ ame as at Lancaster Park or slightly dearer. I enclose programmes of some of the games I saw at th * famous Rectory field, Blackheath, where it was a thrill to see my old club colours, red and black, worn by Blackheath. Rugby teams have to travel long distances, and teams such as Blackheath n?.»fl have m * n X P r “ctlces together. The players are weft scattered as regards r* s J e J? nce ; end the team changes often, stan dard of play is good, although played more In a holiday spirit than score-board on this ground, besides showing the total score indieolu ef W “r K 2* a<te up * pcttaMica.’ tries, t7L%ute C ° h?* Union, who showed T .2? e *f tan< ” 1 ’ I ll * R °> al hex «nd rooms, and the wonderful collection of a 7«<™ lck » nham ' where th « stands hold 75,000. Prentice, who wan J B3O Br,tlsh team to visit ?, eal^u d -’ *° me Present memoHnL Of r Christc hurch, including Shirley links. I managed to see some cricket arrival 68 •kUf’fds and the Ova! soon after enclose card of the OxfordCambridge Universities game. The cricket score-boards in England give very little ber» ri ?# al «h n ’7s? !y the programme 7 num-last-out ‘batamln™ 6 " ln ’ the bow, «r». the last-out batsman s score, and the totalfro,n Melbourne Cricket Ground betweerf Sh,eW match ’ 6 ”.. N ® W South Wales and Victoria, thu score>board is fclectricallv mn* trolled and changed after eSh bSI This game was spoilt for me in manv the . barracking, which « many Of Mg! Ten Wickets In One Inninas

l ’ 4“ Bax ter bowled the first over of the day in the second grade fixture be. Lancaster Pa U rk test Sman d h y O H the < Old 80 7 8 ® a Ptaln, p. a! SriJL’ n ad i ? f ? w •h’tiou* moments. Lancaster Park’s last two batsmen were at the crease and Small needed one wicket him 18 wickets in the innings 8ur I vived Baxter’s over and Small had his chance, but failed to sat a wicket in his first over- in fact i? J.. ?A h J nd 2 he rtumps. Small finished with 10 for 26 and Old Boys went on to gain a P ° u | r g J? t w l ”' Putting them in second Cintorh,, ll1 * ®I ade ' Small, who played for „?” te r b ’ ,l 7 a f ®w seasons back, has taken Pl j e wickets in an innings before, but had never previously taken 10 so difficult to get nine, but you’ve really got to work for 10," he said. 7 Pat Boot Memorial The Pat BooFMemorlal Shield contest fk lays and teams> the latter comprising three competitors from each club, win ?untor W a L ßuf!by Park to-day in senior, junior, and women sections. Points are awarded in the ratio of 3,2, and 1 for ! he Poto*®’cored by each club bL £ together. T°-da y '* match will be contested by eight teams, including one from North Otago, a junior member of which is D. Leadbetter, son of the champion sprinter, Malcolm Leadbetter. The young Leadbetter is an all-rounder, and will compete in sprints, jumps, and discus. Other well-known athletes who will be seen in action include D. Batten (Universßy), K. Williams (Crichton Cobbers), D. Dephoff, J. Sutherland, D. Herman, and A. F. Fuller (Technical), J. Daly, J. Kyle (Marist), and J. Lauder (North Otago). In the juniors are P. Skerton (Marist), O. Everest and I. Coates (Westonian), J. D. McDonald . (Crichton Cobbers), C. Beer (University), a new recruit from Otago, in Technical the Courtney twins, Colin and Malcolm, J. R. Jones, K. Gatehouse, and N. J. Wood, a new, member from the Hamilton Technical College, a brother of A. Wood, the Waikato decathlon competitor. In the women's section are Miss O. Kedzlie and Mr* A. Wood (North Otago), D. Carr (University), Mr* J. Sutherland, Misses I. Boakes, J. Blackburn, N. Duckmanton, and Mis* A. H. Kerr, a former Hawke’s Bay representative (Technical), aad G. Jenkins (C.A.A.C.). Technical will field a team of 43 and North Otago 30. Award to Sedgman Frank Sedgman is the 1951 winner of the Helms Athletic Foundation (U.S.A.) award for the amateur athlete of the year in Australia or New Zealand. He will receive a silver plaque set in a walnut case. The aim of the Foundation, sponsored by Paul H. Helms, a leading Los Angeles businessman, is to further encourage athletic activities and carry on the principles of the Olympic movement. Each year committees in the six continents select the outstanding amateur for the continent. By Hook Some Rugby forwards were bom on hook, others took to it for fun: but Karl Mullen did both. Nature made him tough in the leg and shrewd at the top; chance planted him one day, at the age of IL *. n “I P rac y® e game where several candidates hooked for a few minutes each. It came to Mullen’s turn; he took to it, enjoyed it, and made it a habit, writes R. C. Robertson-Glasgow, in the London “Observer.”- This experiment took place when he was playing with Belvedere, Dublin, the school of many a famous player in Irish Rugby. In 1947 Mullen first played for Ireland, which has not been willing to do without him since, and chose him as captain, the youngest it has ever had. in 1948. As hooker in modern Rugby he has no superior, and, some would argue, no equal. As captain he is equally a man of inspiring example and of telling word; on the field nearly a Mr Hyde; off it a very promising replica ot the benevolent Dr. Jekyll.

Crack Golfers Compete Dai Rees, Harry Weetman, and Max Faulkner, three members of the 1951 British Ryder Cup team, *re practically..certain to compete in the Wiseman s golf tournament, to be held at the Titirangi golf links, Auckland, on April 3, 4, and 5. Max Faulkner is the present British open champton and a fbriner assistant to Henry Cotton. He won the Masters tournament during the 1951 British season. His victory in the open was said to be principally due to his use of an eight-ounce putter. Harry Weetman, the *British professional matchplay champion, is an assistant professional, aged 30. He has twice won the assistants’ championship. and at Hoylake last September he defeated F. van Donck, T. H. Cgtfon. J. Hargreaves, and J. Adams to win the “News of the World” match play championship. “Since the early days of the late Abe Mitchell, no British professional has so completely captured public fancy as Weetman with his prodigious hitting from the tee and with all manner of elubs," wrote Leonard Crawley in the “Daily Telegraph." Since his brilliant play In that tournament Weetman has been spoken of as the best prospect among all’ British professionals. Dai Rees has been in the front tanks of golf since the war and has won the' Vardon trophy for the most consistent performances in a season. He has played for Britain in several Ryder Cup matches, and was ranked as No. 1 British professional in 1950. It will be the first time in the history of New Zealand golf that three ranked British professionals have appeared in a New Zealand tournament. Is Cricket Slow? Cricket is sometimes asserted to be the slowest of all sports. Those who hold that view should take a stop-watch to a greyhound race meeting, or to a speedway stadium, and record the time they actually spend there compared with the proportion of it in which something definite Is happening before their eyes. They will find that their pinnacles of excitement are separated by chasms of inactivity. Even a football match, for the average crowd, is 30 to 40 per cent, waiting, usually without a seat. The cricket spectator, given decent weather, has no such complaints. He is seldom asked to watch an empty arena except during the lunch and tea intervals, when he is presumably glad to focus his eyes on a little refreshment. Provided the game is played at a reasonable tempo, he gets much more drama for his money than is generally realised. Gaelic Football

When the schoolboy William Webb Ellis, in 1823, picked up the ball and ran with it. he certainly set a spark to the idea Of Rugby football as we know It, writes Rawle Knox in the "Irish Digest." But he did nothing so original as the tablet to his memory at Rugby suggests. For Ellis was an Irishman, and the Irish had for centuries been playing a game which included kicking, catching and running with the ball.'lt’s something of a joke what Ellis started in one game he ln another. When the Gaelic Athletic Association was formed in 1884 and for the flrat time tried to draw up £ ar< i f«st rules for the Irish game, football was already firmly established in England. Because the association was fundamentally opposed to all things "foreign” it decided to limit running with the ball in Gaelic football to four P acea - To-day the All-Ireland Football Championships draw crowds of 80,000 to Dublin’s Croke Park; and probably fewer than that number of Englishmen have ever heard of the game. Since striking the ball with the hand (though not throwing) are allowed, Snd since there is no sort of equivalent > scrummaging, the game is faster than rugger or soccer. There is no offside, but there is a “parallelogram” of 15 x 5 yards immediately around the goal which an attacUng player may not enter before the h’JJ-Shoutoer charges are allowed, so are substitutes. There are fifteen players a side, and each team tries to get the baU into a rugby-like goal seven yards wide, with a crossbar at eight feet; under the bar counts three points, over it one.