Proof With The Pudding

Press, Volume XCIX, Issue 29270, 30 July 1960, Page 5

Proof With The Pudding

'THE pbwer of Don Clarke’s x kicking oan not ’be denied, nor the elegance of his 45-yard. left-foot, test-clinching drop-kick disputed. However, it remains unlikely that he. or Bob Scott, could claim to be the most powerful place-kicker, weight-for-age. The late Mr A. E. (“Jacky”) Flower is now a legend of Christ’s College. In 1937, he Was an institution, a tradition—a massive master with rotund figure, rubicund face. round spectacles and bicycle clips always “round his trouser cuffs above his long-lace-up walking boots. Demonstration On a fine winter’s afternoon when some first and second fifteen boys were practising on Upper (the college football ground) Jacky reminisced on the subject of how much better college teams were of yore—back to 1866. the further back the better. To point his argument, he instructed a ball to be placed on the ground in the centre of the half-way line pointing to the school-end goal-posts. The ball was just lying on the ground. Jacky positioned himself, moved a few paces and sent it soaring between the posts. His feat was greeted with an incredulous, awestruck silence, broken at last by a pupil exclaiming: “What a fluke!”'

Jacky’s face reddened slightly. "Fetch that ball, boy,” he roared to a fourth-former behind the posts. Jacky then said to the pupil who had commented on the kick: “I am going to give you three cuts for being cheeky to your elders. If I put this kick over, I shall give you six of the best —for telling lies!” This time a half-back placed the ball on half-way. up-and-down position, for the kick at goal. Jacky positioned himself not far behind the ball—no measuring out his run-up. He was wearing his walking boots and the inevitable bicycle clips. His white hair and spectacles gleamed. It would be an exaggeration to say Jacky ran forward to the ball. Rather, he strode forward to administer his not insubstantial weight to the ball, applied through his leg as a lever in a manner befitting a chemistry and physics master. No Comment The ball, an oldish, rather pudding-shaped one. shot away from the impact like a guided missile from a launching pad. Against a slight easterly breeze it sailed between the posts level with the top of the uprights. Jacky did not comment as cheering broke out on all sides. He strode to the chemistry lab. The exclamatory pupil accompanied him. Jacky dealt out six of the best. “It is all a matter of impact.” said Jacky in dismissing the goal-kicking and caning. Jacky Flower was aged 62 in 1937.