GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27065, 13 June 1953, Page 9

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

[By MILES)

A Suggestion “Rugby Supporter,” who says he has been a'patron of Lancaster Park for more than 50 years, writes as follows: “Many on the members’ stand, and no doubt all others watching the MaristTechnical game last Saturday would have appreciated an arrangement by the Rugby Union to have one of the team wearing black shorts." The suggestion is a good one, although it might be more convenient if one side were to wear the union’s scarlet and black jerseys when the two teams meet again. The green and white hoops of Marist and the white, green, and pale yellow hoops of Technical, with both sides wearing white shorts confused many, and in a fast-moving game must have had the referee thinking quickly. In past years Technical players have worn black shorts, and now for the first season they are in white. The same • difficulty arose more than 30 years ago, when Marist Old Boys played in the all green jersey and Linwood wore green and black hoops. The problem was solved when the two captains, with the permission of tne Rugby Union, tossed a coin to decide which club should change its colours for the day. In later games the teams took turns in changing to the scarlet and black, a distinct advantage, for it saved wear and tear on personal property and also made the task of the referee much easier than it would otherwise have been. Count-backs in Golf

The decision of members of the Canterbury Provincial Golf Association and the secretary (Mr G. W. A. Green) not to count-back in the Canterbury junior championship at Templeton last month was approved by the association at a meeting this week. “I think the members concerned are to be congratulated on their action,” said Mr W. D. Armstrong (Russley). “Countbacks are satisfactory in handicap events, but not in championships.” Mr Armstrong’s views were endorsed by the acting chairman (Mr E. A. Cleland), who said that there was no other decision than a tie. when two swimmers touched the end of the bath together. Horace Lindrum to Tour

Horace Lindrum, world’s champion snooker player, will make a tour of the South Island- commencing on July 10, and his engagements will include games at »the Christchurch Club, Automobile Association., Midland Club, Christchurch Working Men’s Club, R.S.A., Olympia and Richmond Working Men’s Club. Later he will fulfil engagements in, Australia. 1525-Mile Vfalk

Charle Oestensen, of Kirkness, in Northern Norway, close to the Russian border, has accepted a wager to walk all the way to Oslo, a distance of 2441 kilometres (1525 miles). He is making a first warming-up walk of 557 kilometres (348 miles) from Trondheim to Oslo. Sport in Tanganyika

R. M. N. Tindall, winner of the 400 metres hurdles at the 1932 Olympic Games, now stationed in Tanganyika, writes to a London paper on the much discussed question of “pruning the games.” He says: “Cut out all ball games and all games that need a referee. Women should be allowed to compete in the 400 metres and 800 metres. No potential athletic genius should be lost to the games because of personal poverty.” Tindall says he recently organised the first-ever athletic show in that corner of Africa (Oldean) in the form of a cross-coun-try race. Thirty-four Africans—all barefoot—turned out and 31 finished. Two lay flat on their faces at the starter’s gun—thought they had been shot. Retriever of Golf Balls

A man was sent to prison for 30 days because his dog picked up a ball on St Andrew’s golf course. Thomas Blair told St. Andrew’s Court he hiad trained his dog to Idbk for lost "golf balls, but tne dog had made a mistake. When a retired banker, J., Stewart, hit a drive from the eighteenth tee on the famous Old Course the do# picked up the ball before it stoppec rolling and returned ’it to Blair. “I can’t understand what'happened,” said Blair in Court. He received 30 days to think it over. Jottings

A golf ball that finds itself was among the wonders of the near future predicted at the annual convention of the Institute of Radio Engineers in New York. The ball will have a builtin transmitter that will send continuous signals to show where it lies in the rough. Joe Louis is in show business now —and it’s just like old times for the former world heavyweight boxing champion. He’s still the headline attraction!

The world professional scullinj champion, Evans Paddon, will defenc his title against Evan Fischer at Woodburn today. Fischer was pacemaker for Paddon in several matches. They will race for £3OO a side and a cup value at £l5O.

Merivale Makes Come-back Some interest is being taken in the performances of the Merivale first fifteen in its attempt to gain reinstatement in the senior grade after being relegated to senior reserve at the start of the season. At the end of the seventh round it leads the field with seven wins. In its game against Marist last Saturday its backs were not up to good senior standard, but its forwards controlled the second half of the game and won well. Senior reserve players are eligible for inclusion in the representative team and it may pay the selector. Mr J. G. Rankin, to keep an eye on S. Bridgewater, a Merivale forward who appears to have the making of a. really good player. Saturday’s game might not have provided a proper test for a representative player, but Bridgewater is better than average. So much interest is beihg taken in the performance of Merivale that it was confidently expected that the team would be asked to play its game today against Training College, also unbeaten, as a curtainraiser to the Marist-Old Boys’ match at Lancaster Park. In Other Centres Rugby football games played in other centres last Saturday resulted as follows: Wanganui: Waverley 6, Marist 6; Technical 16, Kaierau 6; Old Boys 12, Pirates 8. Wellington: University 17, Taita 6; Petone 14, Hutt 9; Inslow 20, Wellington 8; Athletic 21, Poneke 9; St. Patrick’s Old Boys 10, Oriental 3; Marist 11, Wellington College Old Boys Auckland: Ponsonby 12, Suburbs 5; Manukau 6, Grafton 6; Otahuhu 10, Grammar 3; Marist 27, Takapuna 11; University 13, Northcote 3; North Shore 8, Training College 6. Timaru: Celtic 3, Geraldine 0; i Zingari 33, Old Boys 0; Star 21, Mackenzie 5; Temuka 16, Waimate 9. Taranaki: North.—fiiglewood 3, Toko 0; Old Boys 8, Rahotu 6; Otato 5, Clifton 3; Star 3, Stratford 0. South.— Patea 6, Stratford 0; Hawera 21, Opunake 9; Eltham 12, Athletic 6; Okaiawa 19; Kaponga 3. Non-com-petition.—Waimate 14, Tukapa 9. Looking Ahead

To keep pace with the growth of Rugby in Invercargill, and to provide grounds for players in the suburbs, the Southland Rugby Union has given £5OO. to the Community Centre Society for developing grounds and amenities at Surrey Park. Two areas have been earmarked for Rugby grounds. They adjoin other sports areas on the park and lie to the north of F. W. Ellis’s racing establishment in East road. The areas will probably be ready for use in three to five years. The need for more Rugby* areas has been increasing markedly in recent years, writes “Onlooker” in the “Southland Times” and the Rugby Union sees in the ground at Surrey Park a part answer to the demand. The management committee of the union is to be commended on its far-sightedness and generous donation to the society.

Buller v. West Coast A West Coast correspondent writes as follows:—“The match between Buller and West Coast today is a prelude to forthcoming Seddon Shield games and some new players are having a trial. West Coast put up a good show against a strong Canterbury side and should be difficult to dispose of in shield matches. West Coast last year set a new record in the length of time it has held the Seddon Shield. One of its most valuable forwards, G. Nelson, who has represented the province continuously for some seasons, pulled a muscle slightly this week and may not play against Buller today. If he is not there his services will be

much missed as he is a tireless worker and a most valuable man in his swift following-up. There are several West Coast packmen who are a little on the green aide, though willing enough. The side should be, moulded into a strong force. One asset of the backline is its tenacity on defence, sound tackling being one of the main features. Two new caps have been gained. Eighteen-year-old W. Tainui makes his first appearance as West Coast half-back, while his club mate, I. Gugich, replaces A. Lindbom, who is not available. Tainui will have A. McNab outside him .at first five-eighths in place of M. Thomas, who played against Canterbury. In the scrum, J. Martin replaces A. McCone, who is not available, as number eight forward. Parades in Off-Season

The possibility of week-end military parades being so arranged as not to mterfere with the Saturday sport of the trainees was (discussed this week by the Wellington Rugby Union, which decided to ask the New Zealand Union to approach the authorities on the matter. Mr M. S. Ingpen considered that young men should oe free to play their sport and suggested that it might be possible for footballers and cricketers to have their parades in the offseason. Perhaps a scheme could be formulated which the authorities would consider. His suggestion that the New Zealand Union be asked to investigate the position was adopted. The question arises: when is the offseason for sport? heartily.

American League Footballers Although the American Rugby League footballers at present on tour in Australia have much to learn about the game, English clubs are not asleep to the possibilities of several of the test players. Alvin Kirkland, a centre-three-quarters, has been offered £lOOO as a signing-on fee for an English League club. Kirkland, who is considering the offer, would possibly have signed a, contract right away, but was worried over the problem of converting a sterling payment into American dollars.

A Gathering pg “Southpawa* An unusual sight will greet members of the Avondale Golf Club tomorrow morning in the Top Dog competition. Four left-handed players, H. W. Lawrence, A. Lawrence, C. Haase, and W. Russell, all playing together, will face the starter. Lefthanders are rare these days, and to see four playing together wfli be remarkable. Ben Hogan and the British Open

The news that Ben Hdgan, the biggest money winner in United States tournaments in 1945, 1946, and 1947, will compete in .this year’s British open golf championship, will be welcomed by goffers throughout the world. Hogan has never competed in the Open before, and his performance bn a different type of course will create much interest. Regarded by many as the finest player in the world, Hogan was at the height of his- career in '1949 when he was involved in a car accident, and it was thought that be would never play competitive golf again. He made a remarkable recovery and won the United States open championship in 1950 and 1951. Curbing the Wing-forward Discussing the curbing of wingforwards; in the London “Daily Telegraph," Mark Sugden, the famous Irish Salt-back, asks, whether the players are acting under orders and are instructed that they must not lose the game at any cost instead of being told to go out and win it. “In the interests of such a great game,” he writes, “cannot something be done by the four unions to alleviate the spectators* and players’ frustration, at least in two major points: (a) getting the ball into the scrum; (b) curbing the activities of the winging forward.” Mr Sugden is inclined not to blame the players. It will occur to*many that the Rugby footballers are mot by any means the only games players who nowadays put the chief accent on defence. They will maintain that this sort of mentality is a legacy of the welfare State, reflecting, as one might say, the moneylenders slogan: ‘No advance without security." The Solar Plexus Punch

No boxer ever built a career or became a champion, by the exclusive use of any one species of punch. Yet tradition, prodded occasionally by the urgent needs of publicity, would apparently have it otherwise. My own profession may not be guiltless in the matter, writes George Whiting in “World Sports.” Fight-folk have talked glibly for half a century of the solar plexus punch fashioned by the Cornish blacksmith, Bob Fitzsimmons, the only English-born boxer to win the heavy-weight championship of the world —an empty sort of compliment when we remember that Fitzsimmons spent much of his early life in New Zealand, began boxing in Australia, and made his ring reputation as a citizen of the United States. Everybody knows of Fitzsimmons, but who ever heard of Bob Davis? Yet Davis, a reporter on the “New York Journal,”

is the man responsible for all those solar plexus stories that began when Fitzsimmons knocked out James J. Corbett in the fourteenth round in Carson City, Nevada, on March 17, 1897 —St. Patrick’s Day blarney! The more sober of contemporary accounts tell how Fitzsimmons feinted with a right to the jaw to raise Corbett’s guard, switched the punch to the heart, and followed through with a terrific left to the pit of his opponent’s stomach. f A seftii-paralysed Corbett groped for a nearby rope as the count reached “eight,” missed it, and coL lapsed on his face. Fitzsimmons freely acknowledged afterwards that the short left that destroyed Corbett was nothing more than a shrewdly-timed and forceful wallop on what the previous generation of bare-knuckle fighters had called the “mark.” Now- . aaays we hear the same portion of the human frame variously referred to as the mid-section, the Derby Kelly, dr, more pungently, as “dahnstairs”— according to vocabulary and inclina- • tion. ' • •

The Type Needed North Aucklanders are pinning their hopes for All Black honours this season on the remarkably fast Maori flank forward, P. Jones, says a North Island writer. Just turned 21, he is 6ft 2sin and weighs 15st 31b. In a recent match for Barbarians his football had just about every qualification —high jumping in lineouts, tough rucking, speed in the loose, and a penchant for scoring tries. He has won many track events, his best time being 10.2 sec for 100 yards. He is a dairyfarmer, works hard and eats