GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27203, 21 November 1953, Page 4

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

IBy

MILES]

Playfair Rugby Annual With steadily increasing interest in the All Blacks tour, tne Playfair Rugby Football Annual, published by Playiair Books Ltd., London, and distributed in New Zealarid by Oswald Sealy New Zealand Ltd., appears very opportunely for anyone interested in the form of players the All . Blacks will meet. A complete list of all men who have represented England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales is a feature that will be keenly studied, as will the details of all county, University and public schools records during the 1953-54 football season. A special article on the . international championship reveals the calibre of the men who have taken the field for the big four and are likely to be available again. Under the heading of The Fourth All Blacks 0.L.0. makes a comparison between the teams to wear the All Black jersey and his opinions might be the subject of friendly argument. Besides providing a complete record of football in the British Isles, Ireland, and France there is much good reading matter in Playfair Rugby Football annual, without which a sports library is incomplete. Hadlee Trophy Points

Old Collegians, winners last year of the Hadlee Trophy, are equal with Lancaster Park at the head of the competition for the prize this season. The trophy, presented by W. A. Hadlee, was first competed for last season. Fielding, conduct on the field and dress are the factors taken into con-

sideration by the umpires when awarding points. Points gained in the first two rounds by each of the senior teams are as .follows: Old Collegians and Lancaster Park, 16; St. Albans and Riccarton 15; Sydenham 12, Old Boys 101; East Christchurch and West Christchurch 10.

Boxing Awards • The Canterbury Boxing. Association Jias made the following awards for performances during the 1953 season: — Fairbairn Cup for the most improved boxer—R. Mitchell; Aranui Cup for the most improved novice—M. Rossiter; Daubney Cup for winner of welterweight championship—B. Shaw; Dale Challenge Cup for welterweight contest —Ron Welfojrd; Gold Medal for the most scientific boxer —Ron Welford; Thompson Memorial Shield for the trainer of most winners—Norman Fisher; Newburgh Cup for most helpful member —J. W. Geeves. Fixtures

Rugby: November 21, All Blacks v. Cardiff; November 25, v. Glasgow and Edinburgh at Glasgow; November 28, v. South of Scotland at Galashiels.

Cricket: November 21 and 23, New Zealand v. Natal at Durban; November 28, 29 and 30, v. Rhodesia at Bulawayo- December 3 and 4, v. NorthEast Transvaal at Pretoria. First Speedboat Regatta

The first speedboat regatta of the season will be held by the New Brighton Power Boat Club on Lake Forsyth tomorrow. Lake Forsyth is an ideal spot for speedboat racing as it affords spectators an excellent view of the races. Several new speedboats, including the new hydroplane Meteor 11, said to be capable of 70 miles an hour, will be competing. With 15 speedboats in the 12 races, and displays of aquaplaning and water ski-ing a good day’s sport should be seen. Barry Brown’s Programme

The win by the New Zealand welterweight boxing champion, Barry Brown, over the Australian Ken Heydon, added another laurel to his unbeaten record, but it was a somewhat faded laurel, says the "Dominion.” Heydon did not impress in spite of his record of 36 fights with 30 wins. Of Heydon’s last 12 fights, eight were won by knockouts, but his recent loss to Americo Agostini seemed to have started him on the downward path. Brown’s win only confirmed his position as prince of Australasian welterweights. The arrangement by the Hawke’s Bay Boxing Association for a fight between the dynamic negro, Freddie Dawson, and the .New Zealand welterweight champion, is perhaps the gem of fight promotions in New Zealand next to the Empire title fight in Wellington in January between Brown and the South African Gerald Dreyer. The' Hawke’s Bay Association is Brown’s home association and it is only just that they should see their boy in action. It will not be surprising if Dawson draws at least as well as Dreyer, especially if Brown is Empire champion in February. A Comparison

Comparison of the merits of players of different generations is always a hazardous business but in Some British Memories and Expectations 0.L.0., writing in Playfair Rugby Union annual 1953-54, enters into his subject with refreshing candour. In a comparison of the 1924 and 1905 teams he has the following:—"The second All Blacks (1924) had no presiding genius like Gallaher to exploit the wingforward idea and . it had virtually ceased to operate by the time that England—the new enemy, not Wales—came to be met. Nor was there a Roberts at half-back, nor any inspired jack-rabbit like little Hunter at fiveeighths, nor among the other backs, an all-round genius like Wallace, perhaps the greatest all-round back of all time, or any runner to compare in power and pace with Deans, the tragic hero of the try that wasn’t. The men of 1924-25 had to look to a great kicker and tactical director like Mark Nicholly at centre or five-eighths to ensure that the sterling well-drilled efforts of a great pack of forwards were not wasted. Cooke in the 1905 side would have been marvellous at five-eighths; too often he was used at centre. . . . One must not forget the rock-like figure of Nepia at full-back nor such outstanding forwards as Maurice Brownlie, a fair equivalent of the superb and tigerish Seeling in the 1905 pack and Richardson and Parker who eventually replaced Porter, the captain, as wing-forward. . . . What a number 8 he would be today in a 3-4-1 formation.” Australia’s Olympic Team

Australia will probably have a team of 50 competitors and officials at the British Empire Games in Vancouver from July 30 to August 7 next year. It seems certain that there will be at least 32 in the team, and expected additional finance should boost this number to 50. It will cost £5OO a head to send representatives to Canada. Of this amount £4OO will go in air fares; £35 for outfitting each team member: £l5 for travel in Australia; and there will be a daily allowance for each person.

Honour For Sportsman

Mr Harry Crooks was elected a life member of the East Christchurch Cricket Club on Thursday evening, in recognition of his long service to the club. Mr Crooks was orginally a member of the Ward’s Brewery Cricket Club which amaglamated with the East Christchurch club in the 1920-21 season. At that time he was a scorer for the Ward’s side but later played for an East Christchurch third grade eleven. He was treasurer of the club from 1929 to 1933 and held the position of vice-president for many years. He was a keen committeeman. Mr Crooks is perhaps best known in Christchurch cricket circles for his fine work for boys’ cricket. For a number of seasons he acted as senior scorer, which position he is occupying at present because the regular scorer is incapacitated.

Landy to Retire The Australian mile champion, John Landy, may not be a candidate for selection in the Australian athletics team for the Empire Games in Vancouver next year, or the Olympic Games in Melbourne in 1956. He said that his present intention was to retire from big running after the National championships in Sydney in January. Carruthers Shows Gameness

Tho world bantamweight champion Jimmy Carruthers gave the most courageous showing of his career to retain his title with a points win over Pappy Gault at Sydney Sports Ground writes Stan Baxter in the "SydneyMorning Herald.” The three judges were unanimous in giving their decision to Carruthers, who fought almost throughout the fight with a gashed right eyebrow. He finished the bout with both eyebrows cut. All three cuts were the result of butts by Gault, who is much the shorter of the pair. Carruthers’s right forehead was grazed in the first round. But worse was to follow. A clash of heads opened a gash through his right eyebrow in the third round and the blood from this cut

troubled him at intervals throughout the fight. The second cut came in the last round when Carruthers’s left eyebrow was nicked. At no time during the fight was Gault cautioned for butting. although several times ringsiders yelled warnings to “watch Gault’s head!” The referee, Mr Harry Mack, said after the bout he had taken no exception to Gault’s tactics of

rubbing his head against the side of Carruthers’s face, possibly irritating the injury. “It was a good clean fight

and I did not have to caution either boxer at any stage,” Mack said. In spite of this disadvantage to Carruthers he still gave the little American a boxing lesson. The Big Five

The choice of the five best players in Britain last season (an English writer’s selection) has particular interest. The list is headed by N. Hall, the 27-year-old England player, who is reported to have made a transition from a moderately good flyhalf to Britain’s No. 1 full-back. Rated second is a footballer well known to New Zealanders, Jack Kyle, Ireland’s flyhalf with the "flypaper”. hands. Nos. 3,4, and 5 are R. John (Wales), R. Kavanagh (Ireland), and D. White (England), all of whom are forwards —great forwards by any standard in any company. Followers of the game in New Zealand will recall John, a member of the 1950 British side, as a grand line-out forward. World Sports Carnival

“This volume includes almost everything even the most exacting enthusiast could require,” says Harold Abrahams speaking of “World Sports International Athletics Annual, 1953.” Abrahams is president of the Association of Track and Field Statisticians which compiled the volume. The general editors, Messrs R. L. Quercetani and Fulvio Regli, say that major difficulties confronted the compilers of the various lists concerning performances made in Russia. Because of the dearth of information obtainable from official Russian publications—particularly in the weeks before the Olympic Games at Helsinki—several Russian performances were most probably missing, especially in the European list of best performances and in the women’s world list. Results of the 1953 New Zealand athletic championships held at Carisbrook are given in the annual. Bond System Abolished

The Australian Olympic Federation has decided by 24 votes to six to abolish the bond system binding Australian Olympic representatives to remain amateurs for two years. The decision releases members of the team who signed bonds before competing at Helsinki last year. However, the federation secretary. Mr Edgar Tanner, disclosed that legal action had already been launched against the New South Wales boxer Norm Jones and swimmer Frank O’Neill for turning professional within two years of signing bonds in relation to the Helsinki Games. The move for the abolition of the bond system was sponsored by the N.S.W. Olympic Council. Rubber Football Socks

Football socks which will not shrink and will stand up to rough wear in winter mud ar& being made under a new process for treating wool with rubber, according to the International Wool Secretariat. The new shrinkproof articles are the result of research which began more than 14 years ago in the laboratories of the Wool Industries Research Association at Torridon, Leeds. Parliamentary Cricket

Mr Nehru, India’s Prime Minister, captained one of the teams of legislators who recently staged a successful charity match at Delhi. “This engagement has aroused widespread interest here,” the Delhi correspondent of “The Times” reported, “not least in quarters which might have been expected to be scornful of anything savouring even remotely of the British way of life. In a moving plea in the press for a serious approach to the match, Mr Hiren Mukerjee, a leading Communist member, declared that to ‘vulgarise cricket, however well-in-tentioned, is as near a crime as anything.’ Mr A. K. Gopalan, the leader of the Communists in the House of the People, who took up the game only a fortnight ago, revealed himself as an aggressive if not yet technically well-equipped batsman. Although his action towards the bowling was perhaps more that of a sickle than of a hammer, Mr Gopalan was engaged in an exciting stand of nearly two overs with Mr Nehru. The Prime Minister, who was cheered vociferously when he appeared to bat, tended to confirm by his style, his own admission that he had played no cricket for 40 years Nevertheless, he scored one run and might well have scored another had Mr Gopalan been prepared to show some bourgeois co-operation after the 'Prime Minister had lofted a ball over the head of the wicket-keeper and tried to take a run. Mr Nehru was caught in isolation between the wickets by the throw-in and although the keeper courteously refrained from breaking his wicket, Mr Nehru at this pomt declared his side’s second innings closed and subsequently admitted himself to have been ‘morally out’.” The match ended in a draw “and—the object of the game—about £7OOO for the Prime Minister’s flood relief fund.”