PEOPLE IN THE PLAY

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27914, 10 March 1956, Page 3

PEOPLE IN THE PLAY

I ONE of New Zea- ! land’s outstandI ing surfing personI alities is H. D. I (Duke) Gillies. I Otago who has been p ! nominated by the > Canterbury Surf Association for the ! office of president of the New Zea- [ land Surf Association. Duke Gillies I was competing in surf events until ! a year ago and is best known for j the Duke surf canoes that bear his [ name. A carpenter by trade he de- ; signed these craft after exhaustive ; experiments and they have proved ! their worth in almost all water ! conditions on Dunedin beaches. His 5 election at the annual meeting of • the association during the Queen s ! Birthday weekend appears a • centainty. * • A young athlete with the potenJ tial to become a really first-class ■ senior distance runner is B. W. H.

; McStay (High ; School). McStay ; has shown steady J improvement in each of his races ! this season. He ! won the Canter- ! bury junior mile ! title in record • time, and also • won the two ; miles. Unable to • go to the national • junior titles at • Hamilton last

; week. McStay ac- ; quitted himself well in the provin- • cial senior championships instead. ‘ He was third in the mile, in 4min ’ 25.8 sec. and second in the three ; miles, in 14min 56.65ec. McStay will 1 be junior till next January, and the ; increased matur’ty and improve- • ments that may be made to his J style in that time should enable ; him to go close to Murray HalJ berg’s junior record of 4min 17.2

The Canterbury amateur wrestling ranks will be weakened by the departure of Maurice McNarn who

left for Aus- « tralia this week. | McNarn. a holder s of the Canterbury | middleweight title | was selected to $ train at the ? special Olympic | Training camp | held in the North I Island last season | and it was ex- 1 pected this addi- | tional wrestling | training would pive him the

give him the . , . , T necessary finish to gain him a New Zealand title this year with possible Olympic representation. McNarn intends returning to New Zealand, in the future but in the meantime he intends training with Dick Garrard the well known Australian amateur wrestler and former British Empire title holder in the middleweight class. The chairman of the New Zealand Hockey Umpires’ Association, Mr W. H. Wilson, Wellington, is to be nominated by the New Zealand Hockey Association for official status as an international umpire. He has qualified for that honour by umpiring three test matches —one in 1952 between New’ Zealand and Australia and two during the Indian Wanderers tour last year—to the “satisfaction of the countries concerned.’’ Only two New Zealand umpires have that standing, granted by the International Hockey Federation. They are Messrs W. H. Down, Christchurch, and W. A. Scott, Dunedin.

r pHE Western Association Football Club has lost a valuable stalwart in R S. (Bob) Smith, whc ( has taken a business i a pp O i n ted in Weilineton. The club president and selector. Mr Smith learnt his football at Technical College. He later represented West Coast. At the age of 19 he played for Canterbury. A war injury ended his playing career and on his return he took up executive work He was the Canterbury .Football Association's deputychairman and had been a provincial selector. He will join the Seatoun Club in Wellington, of which his brother is president. ¥ ¥ * Chosen to represent the South Island in her first year of .senior

softball, 14-year-ol is the youngest player ever to Rave played in an inter-island match. An expert out-fielder. she was second in the averages for the Canterbury team that played in the New Zealand t o u r n a ment. Lindsay plays net ball for the West Christ church

High School during the winter term. Softball is a family affair for the Parishs and Lindsay’s three sisters. Lois. Averill and Jill have all represented Canterbury at softball. # sj: & Boxing enthusiasts in New Caledonia have subscribed £6OO for the fare of a middle-weight boxer and his manager to Australia, where he will fight next month. Known only as Doudi. the middle-weight has an impressive record. He has twice fought Australian middle-weight, Clarrie Grogan for a draw and a points win. Sydney Stadium manager. Mr Harry Miller, has said that Doudi would have five fights.