Snell Appeals: "More Help For Athletics”

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30608, 26 November 1964, Page 17

Snell Appeals: "More Help For Athletics”

(New Zealand Press Association)

AUCKLAND, November 25.

I'he Olympic champion and New Zealand team captain at Tokyo, P. G. Snell, today appealed for more concrete proof of New Zealanders’ enthusiasm and support for athletics. Speaking at a luncheon meeting of the Auckland Advertising Club, Snell said that he was concerned that New Zealanders from the Prime Minister down appreciated what good ambassadors athletes were for the country.

They were loud in their praise for their achievements and yet were not prepared to do anything about helping the athletes in their preparation for world competition.

“We had a tough time pre-j paring for the Tokyo] Olympics,” he said. “Our facilities are not adequate and it is very strange to me that nobody seems to want to do anything about it.” National Programme , Snell said there should be I a proper physical education] programme on a national i basis to groom athletes for competition. Cinder tracks i were an urgent need. “It does make me wonder,” he said, “whether people are keen to see these things happen or whether they are just hoping that champions will i turn up. The entertainment! value of athletics is all very! w ell but that won’t get us I very far.” Snell said three aspects of i

the Tokyo Games impressed him. These were the emergence of the African nations, the increasing need to have everything just right on the day of an event and the influence of newspaper coverage.

African runners, he said, were now making their presence felt in the shorter dis-

tances as well as the marathon. The element of chance was now playing a greater role in Olympic events as was evidenced in the ill-luck which beset M. G. Halberg and A. B. Magee.

“In normal circumstances,” he said, “I’m sure Halberg would have slaughtered the 10.000 metres field.”

Snell said he felt quite weak after his day in bed just before the games and became worried that J. L. Davies, the bronze medallist in the 1500 metres, would get the better of him.

“The mental strain concerned me much more than physical weakness,” he said. “I was concerned that I would be able to run all right but 1 would have no final sprint.” These factors emphasised the need to have things just right on the day. Sarcastic Cable Snell said he had heard pregames criticism of the fact that his wife was accompanying him. | “Remembering the fuss in the press over wives of All Blacks with the team in England I tried to get over this by doing my best with the press at the beginning,” he said. “1 told journalists that I would be so busy that I would hardly be able to see Sally. “Unfortunately,” he added, “my wife took this to heart and wrote a sarcastic cable telling me when she would be arriving and inquiring whether it would be convenient for me to meet her.” Snell said he thought future Olympic Games should concentrate on events testing “human endeavour” rather than games such as hockey and soccer or shooting which relied purely on skill. “We should return to the basic test of athletic prowess of the early games,” he said.