Canterbury Harmed By Shield Default

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30396, 21 March 1964, Page 11

Canterbury Harmed By Shield Default

A ROW in tennis is usually a good one, be it at international, national or provincial level, but few of the participants ever emerge with much credit. The latest one, involving the withdrawal of three players from the Wilding Shield team and their subsequent suspension from representative matches, may have harmed Canterbury by causing loss of confidence in it from the other parts of New Zealand. Auckland may feel a little contemptuous in the knowledge that the Canterbury team for the challenge was not quite the best that could have been sent and more contemptuous of a withdrawal a few days before. And now Wellington will know that it is not meeting the best team either.

Canterbury standards are such that it should have only the best players when meeting either of these strong provinces. The whole Wilding Shield project began on an unsound basis. No association should challenge for a trophy of this standing if it has to ask players largely to pay their own expenses so that only those who feel they can afford to travel are available. These players cannot possibly be expected to feel under the same obligation to an association; they must feel a sort of unofficial team, compared with one financially bound. Either some extra fundraising effort should have LAST INDOOR SOCCER The indoor soccer season ends next week, the Monday major league and the Wednesday minor league playing international matches and the Tuesday under 20 section taking part in a knock-out competition. Teams comprising New Zealand, England, Scotland and the Rest will play on Monday, each side meeting each other once in 15minute games. The final match, between New Zealand and England, might be the vital decider to find the winner. The same four named teams, with players from the minor league, will play an identical competition on Wednesday.

been made or the team challenge should not have been proceeded with. An association which has tried hard in recent seasons to prevent a clash between club and representative fixtures and at the same time to have as full a programme as possible for those who wish to play tennis, has slipped up this time.

Last Saturday would have been a most disappointing one for the Elmwood club if its two leading players had been away. It would have had no chance against United; now it still has a chance of competition honours. The analogy drawn at Monday evening’s meeting with the 1962 Wilding Shield challenge on the same day as club matches when there was “no fuss” was not a good one. Three of the fours players in that team came from clubs well down in the competition. The other was L. A. Gerrard, who could hardly be regarded as part and parcel of Christchurch interclub tennis anyway—he played only three matches. However, it may be significant that that day Gerrard’s team, United, partly because of another incident as well lost a competition in which it was quite the strongest side. But that was the associaciation's team in every sense its duty to province and not to club.

! Although he was not ! placed in the final, L. Me- : Intosh (North Beach) I showed very promising I form to survive the heats ! of the surf race champion- ! ship at the recent New I Zealand surf life-saving I titles. Regarded as a ! strong swimmer without ; being outstanding, even by : Canterbury standards, he ; showed considerable im- ; provement at the Cham- ; pionships and by reaching ; the final, he achieved more ; than many other noted ; swimmers from Canter- ; bury. Only two others ; from the province, G. Dann ; (New Brighton) and E. Leask (Waimairi) reached the final. zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz;

There may also be a suggestion that other sports manage representative and club matches at the same time but it must be remembered that Rugby teams of 15 and hockey and cricket teams of 11 suffer far less from the loss of players than tennis teams of four.

With justification, the association was incensed at the lateness and abruptness of the players’ decision. Some representation had been made the previous week-end and the competitions committee affirmed its programme on the Tuesday evening. The dates for the shield challenge were known early in the season, a squad to train for the team was announced on November 21. An association circular to clubs, dated December 18 had club matches set down for March 14, a further circular dated February 24 had more detailed arrangements and the four members of the Wilding Shield side were announced on February 25. With a little forsight the players might have made a decision earlier and with some co-operation among officials and players the whole situation and the erabarrassement referred to by the chairman of the management committee (Mr M. C. Healy) might have been avoided. The lesson surely is that in Canterbury tennis, there

zzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz. The unbeaten century by the former New Zea- - land left-hand batsman, J. W. Guy, for Marlborough in the Hawke Cup elimination match against North Canterbury recently, may indicate an attempt at a return to first-class cricket Guy, an oil company representative, is to be transferred to Gisborne at the end of this month and feels that he may be able to return to top cricket next season. The Australian test batsman, N. C. O’Neill, scored what was believed to be the fastest century ever on the Sydney Cricket Ground recently when he reached 100 in only 36 minutes. O’Neill was playing for a New South Wales Cricket Association XI against the Journalists* Club. He hit four sixes and 15 fours and included 26 runs off one over from R. B. Simpson and another 22 off an over from R. Benaud. rzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzj

is room for more mutual respect—of officials for players who are not their employees, and of players for officials who give their time voluntarily because they love the game. Now, in the words used by Mr G. E. R. Atkinson in another context: “Let’s get on with the tennis.”