SIDELINES

Press, 13 May 1987, Page 52

SIDELINES

JIM GREGG, who recently stepped down from the position of tournament director of the Canterbury Golf Association after many years of diligent duty, has been honoured with his appointment as the South Island vice-president of the New Zealand Golf Association. Mr Gregg will also continue his administrative involvement in Canterbury golf; he was reelected last month to the management committee of the provincial body.

A COMBINATION of injuries, representative commitments and a clash of start times with its second XV, left one of Canterbury’s top rugby clubs severely short of reserves for its senior team last Saturday. So much so that it called upon a former player whose most recent regular senior football was six years ago— and who had originally intended spending last Saturday afternoon running around with some workmates in a rugby league president’s grade fixture. He even borrowed Some more respectable boots for the occasion, but was not required to take the field.

HALSWELL had its most decisive victory since its promotion to premier rugby league when it overwhelmed Linwood by 58-6 at the Addington Show Grounds last Saturday. Its previous biggest win was 54-6 at Addington’s expense three years ago. By coincidence, the Halswell stand-off half, Phil Bancroft, accumulated 22 points in both of those matches. Linwood had long been a problem side for Halswell to overcome, to the extent that Saturday’s success was only Halswell’s fourth in 18 matches.

SOME INFLUENTIAL figures have made public their support for a Wallabies v. Kangaroos football fixture during Australia’s 1988 bicentennial celebrations. The Wallaby coach, Alan Jones, his most experienced international, Simon Poidevin, and the Kangaroos coach, Don Furner, and captain, Wally Lewis, were unanimous that an inter-code match should be played. In a bid to ward off any rugby union objections, they have suggested a seven-a-side encounter.

JOHN JOYCE, a player under Mike Walsh when New Zealand won the men’s world softball series in 1984, will assist Mr Walsh with the coaching when the title is defended in Canada next year. Joyce’s appointment as assistant-coach, over five other candidates, should meet with wide approval among the softball fraternity. As well as being one of the finest short-stops New Zealand has produced Joyce, aged 32, is a great thinker about the game. Like snooker’s Dene O’Kane he vouches for meditation as the way to relax. Joyce replaces another former world series player, John Lowes, who has shifted to England.