ATHLETIC SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 4, Issue 1116, 2 May 1911, Page 7

ATHLETIC SPORTS.

RUGBY FOOTBALL. MATCHES, grounds, referees. FOR SATURDAY NEXT. The following »re tho Rugby football Snatches, grounds, and referees wmcn have been arranged for Saturday next:Henior Mutches. Athletic v. Victoria College, at Athletic Park \o 2; ilr. A Thompson. bid "Boys v. Petone, at Petone No. 1; U Poneke, at Athletic I'arlc .No ' I: Mr. C. Atkinson. _ • 'Southern v. St. James, at.Hutt No. X; jlr. W. Spencer. • Wellington v. Melrose, at Karon No. 1; Mr. W. J. Meredith. . Junior Matches. St. John's v. St. James, at Polo No. 1; Mr. R. Evenson. ' Melrose v. Old Boys, at.Polo No. 2; Mr. Ingram. ', Athletic v. Wellington, at Polo No. 3; Mr. W. Church. Victoria College v. Poneke, at Polo.No. 4; Mr. 3. Russell. Southern v. Petone, at Petono No. 2; Mr. 11. Lanvay. Oriental v. Selivyn, at Miramar Pr.:-k No. 1; Mr. L. Simpson. Third Class Matches. Exehange-v. Oriental, at Miramar Park No. 2; ilr.. C. Bell.. ' Karori v. Old Boys, at Karori No. 2? Mr. If. Walker.1 Petone v. Athletic, at Petone No. 3; Mr. H. Card. • Poneke v. Upper Hutt, at Upper Hutt; Mr. T. Quinn., 'St. James v. Wellington, at Karori No. 3; Mr. J. Slines. -St. ; John's v. Waiwetu, at Tonnes Ground; Mr. 11. Clinkard. Sehvyn" v. Victoria College, at Miramar 'Park No. 4; Mr.' B. Kean. • 1 ' Southern v. St. Patrick's College, at Miramar Park No. 3; Mr. P. Martm. Porirua, a byo.. Fourth Class Matches. Melrose y. Oriental A, at 'Newtown Park; Mr. J. J. Mahoney. Oriental B v. Athletic, at Sharpo's Gjound No. 2; Mr. C. I'. Brcklebank. Petone v. Wellington, at Sharpe's Ground No. 5; Mr. A. Bott. Poneko v. Waiwetu, at Hutt No. 2; v Mr. G. Findlay. '• St. James v. Victoria College, at Sharpe's Grand No. 4; Mr. E. T'regear. St. John's v. Southern, at Sharpe's Ground No. 5; Mr. ,11. Johnson. Selwyn, a-bye. • Fifth Class Matches. Southern v. Petone, at Sharpe's Ground No. 1; Mr. T. Jones. St. Patrick's B v. Sehvyn, at Duppa Street; Mr. S. Staiiden. Poneke' v. Oriental, at .Athletic Park, 1:30 'p.m.; Mr. C. Atkinson. Melroso v. St. Patrick's A, nt Anderson Park; Mr. A. C. Neilson. , Athletic T; St. James, at Athletic Park, at-1.,10 p.m. ; Mr. D. M'Kenzie. Hutt, a bye. Fixtures for Wednesday. Athltic v; St. ' Patrick's College, at Athletic Park No; 2; Mr. W. Horni". Tramway?. Oriental, at' Athlete "Park No. 1; Mr. G. Howe. : . \ A' PRESENTATION. At a dance held in'the-hall at Porirua on Friday last, a presentation was mado to Mr. J. Curtin (secretary of the Porirua Rugby Football Club). In asking Mr. Curtin- to accept a handsome travelling companion, suitably . inscribed, Mr. Mitchell ■ (chairman) spbke of the capable manner in which the secretary had carTied out-his: duties and the untiring-way in which ho. promoted the interests of tho club. Mr. Curtin briefly responded. BRITISH ASSOCIATION SEASON. By Telceraph—Press'Associalion—Oopyrieht ' , London, April ,",9.. - The British Association Football Leagaie season ended.on Saturday last; . The Manchester Unitell Club ,Ywith 52 pints) and'Aston Villa .(with 51). head the first division., , , The Bristol City and .Nottingham Forest Clubs havo been relegated to tho second division, Bromwich (which secured 53 points in the second and Bolton Wanderers (51 points) replacing them in the first division. . SCULLING., THE ALBANY-BARRY RACE. Telegraph—Press Association—Oopyrieht (R-ec. May 1, 9.30 p.m.) ■ London, May 1. . Great interest is being taken in to-day's ■ race' for the English sculling champion■ship between Albany and Barry, the preisent holder. Both men are thoroughly fit. .' THE -. PEARCE-KEMP RACE. ■ The following description of the Pearce-Kemp sculling race tor tho championship of Australia is taken from tho Sydney "Sun":— i' "Amidst a good deal of excitement Pearce made a couple of false starts, and ■was apparently tho more anxious of the two scullers-to get away. He was tuned up to the very moment, and was full of hip. So,-too,, was Kejnp, who was reported to ho at the zenith of his i'orin, but refused to move away until he-was Teady.. It was an exciting few moments, j Then cries of: 'They're oft!' announced '.that tho scullers were on their long journey .of three • miles 320 yards to. Scarle'r, Monument.- They each struck 1U strokes in the first minute, but I'earco immediately began to row clear of his opponent; notwithstanding tho fact that .Ivemp was supposed; to bo tho fastest man off the mark that the champion had yet met. I'earce had weight and 6cience on his side. He was 12st. 101b. to Kemp's list. 71b., and as the race progressed it was sg.en that' Pearce showed the 'better form. "'ln the first few strokes Pearce shot ahead, and after the men had been going 45 seconds tho champion led by a-length and a quarter. Both scullers were steering perfect courses. At Uhr's Point (just "over a quarter of a mile) I'earco was a length clear of -his younger and lighter opponent. Still the hopes of the Kemp supporters were'sustained, as they did not expect their man- to lead over the first mile. As they readied uic tiueu-qunrter-milc mark they were digging their sculls in at 32 to the minute, and it was patent the raoe was going to be a last une. But here Pearce had' crept away, and was two lengths clear of his rival. K.emp was-pulling finely, but was up ■against a better and cleverer man. "As they shot past the inilo Pearce led by four ' lengths, the time being Gmin. lisec. Putney (one mile and a half) was reached ip 9min. Stsec., Kemp then .being , 15scc. astern. "Then the contest developed into a : procession, in which, the spectators had but little interest. Pearce gradually moved away from his man,-although the paco was very fast. .Kemp was going well, but had no chance of oven holding the champion, much less making up the lost ground, and at Cabarita was 32see. in the rear. Pearce then had the race in hand. In fact, it was one of his easiest victories of the last 18 months. Times at the various points were of little concern, as tho Australian champion was not being pressed, yet the ideal .conditions under which the race rvas being rowed were favourable ,to fast time, and the 21 miles was. passed by the winner in ICmin. 17sec. Kemp followed at 17min. 17sec. Both were rowing well, and exhibiting great form, but it was developing into'a hollow victory for Pearce, and lie eventually shot past-tho judge a winner by perhaps 12 Ingths. The judg made it 20 lengths." Referring to the defeat of Kemp by Pearce, the Sydney "I'eferee" says that Pearce demonstrated in convincing fashion his ability to retain the Australian 'championship. In the Ja.it couple of years-I'earco has defeated all the best Australian and New Zealand scullers (Arnst, of course, excepted) wiio have measured blades with liini. After a grand Tac-o for a mile, and a half, he wrested the title from Ben Thofougligood, and shortly, after that Jack Mitchell fell an : easy-victim." Cleorgo Day was his next .opponent, and he made a good race of it. Iliigney's' effort was-.unworthy of comment after ' tho first mile. latterly ex-, champion W. Webb succumbed to tho Middle Harbour man. As against this

Syd. Komp had done comparatively no-1 thing, but his backers were content to risk their money on their chance. What- - ever else may have influenced them, it seems fairly clear that the fact that Komp had beaten George Day in practice carried considerable weight with Kemp's admirers. Kemp himself admits he met a better man. His rowing was attractive, but for first-class sculling lie lacked dash and shortened tho finish considerably. In addition, his leg-drive was not quite as effective as it might have been, but lie rowed with great grit and determination. His skill undoubtedly was not equal to that of Penrce's, and the champion, in addition to a great deal of confidence and experience, had an advantage of over ii stone in woight. .To have beaten the champion, the first thing that was necessary was superior skill to make up for tho deficiency in ■ weight; but Kemp lacked this, and is not yet up to championship form. BILLIARDS. THE ENGLISH CHAMPIONSHIP. By Telegraph—Press Association-Copyrisht London, April 30. E. Stevenson, the English billiard champion, defeated Melbourne lnman, thus retaining the Billiards' Control Championship. Stevenson scored 18,000, and lnman 10,911. NEW CHALLENGES-BY GRAY. London, April 30. G.eorge Gray (the Australian player)' writing .to "Sporting Life," repudiates former challenges purporting to have been niade on his behalf. He adds: "I am now free to challenge Stevenson and lnman to play matches of 10,000 up, level terms, for ,£250 a side, the winner to tak.e two-thirds of tho - gate." Writing on March 20, the London "Daily Mail" said:— The interest aroused by the proposed billiards match between If. W. Stevenson and' George Gray for 11000 a-side, with the boy backed by John Roberts, led me to interview the master of the game. No ono in tho world of billiards has ever- shown such a mastery of technique as John Roberts. Until the arrival of George -Gray lie was the first and only master of the game., occupying during.his time a position equal to that of Steinitz at chess or V,'. G. Grace at cricket when these were at their best. Naturally tho first question ! asked hiin was why he had such faith in the yoiing player. I had watched Gray myself for a" fortnight and, theiefore, was not surprised by tho reply. "I don't think your inquiry requires much answering,'' ho said. "He has shown himself able to perfect a legitimate .shot, and when u player can n ako one shot with absolute precision you may ho sure he can make most others in liko maimer." "What do yo.i esteem the advantage in losing hazard play between (he composition and the ivory ball?" John Roberts was asked. He answered: "So far as I havo observed, and I have not seen Gray play since I was in Australia, I should consider that the advantage of playing his game of losing hazards was about .eight to seven in favour of composition balls,- and . certainly not much higher. - "It will take Gray five or six months of practice to get into the angle of ivory balls. But I repeat that if a man is ablo to perfect one shot with any kind of a ball there is no reason' why he should not perform others to equal advantage. I should not care to express an opinion, as you suggest, as to Gray's possible ability at the top-of-the-table game. Wo sliall see in the future, for his physique is good enough to give him every chance." A HOPELESS TASK. ATHLETIC CONTROLLERS BAFFLED. A somewhat peculiar position arose nt a meeting of the council of tho New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association called for'last night. Eight members : ..of .the council attended, but in the absence of tho secretary, the minutes and the correspondence," a deadlock arose.. One. section of the meeting wished with the meeting after tho correspondence had been foun(l amongst the secretary's papers,-, but another section wished to adjourn? -Further complications ' wero tidded when tho chairman attempted to ring up'the secretary's residence on the telephone. Tho telephone is one of tho 73 cut off by tho Uooding of the underground conduit'near tho Chamber of Commerce. When matters were still in this state two membeys put their heads together, and pleading urgent engagements elsewhere left the room, apparently under tho impression that their departure left the meeting without a quorum. They mado a miscalculation, however, as the number left in tho room just mado a quorum. - •• • ' The half-dozen members who were left struggled valiantly to carry tho meeting on, but the first two letters'read convinced them that the task was hopeless, and the meeting adjourned for a week. BOXING. THE RUDD-BLA CKMORE HITCn. The contest between J. Blackmore and "Bill" Rudd, which was to havo (aken place in Sydney last week, had to be postponed. When tho men submitted themselves for medical examination (says the Sydney "Referee") Blacktnore passed all right, but -Itudd's physical condition was not at all satisfactory, consequently the match was put off. On April 25 Rudd submitted himself again, and tho doctor stated that all was right then—the trouble liad probably occurred through overtraining. The contest has now been set down for next Wednesday , night. SWIMMING. THE WOIISER BAY CLUB. The Worser Bay Club held a concert and dance at the kiosk, Worser Bay, on Friday evening, when the prizes won by the older mem liers of the club were , presented by Mr. J. Brodie, Mayor of Miramar, -who is also .president of the club. Mr. J. P. Luke, member for the Suburbs, was also present. The younger members received their prizes on Saturday afternoon. Mr. Brodie, in tho courso of lus remarks, pointed out how the club was helping youthful resident's of the borough to swim, and stated.,that it was intended to carry on tho same good work next season. The value of the prizes allotted during the season had totalled <£20, and this compared well with some of the prize-lists of the largest clubs in New Zealand. In addition cups and medals had been donated by residents. Musical items were contributed by Messrs. Archer, Drury, and Moore, songs by Messrs. Meredith, Bock, and Green, and a recitation by Mr. Mitchell. The following is tho list of prize-win-ners:— V. L. Allen (first 100 yds., second 50vds„ and winner of the Brodio Cup for 1910-11); H. C. W. Blick (first 100 yds. Ladies' Bracelet); S. Brailsford (first 50 yds. junior, and winner of Mrs. Doughty's medal); A. Crowther (second 220 yds. event); B. Doughty (second 50yds. junior event); J. Ewing (first 50yds. event); G. Green (first 100 yds. event, second 100 yds. Ladies' Bracelet); L. Green (second 100 yds. event, third in half-mile); I'. Gray (second in half-mile, and winner of Blair medal); J. Heath (second 50yds. event); 11. Silver (second 100 yds. event, first 50 yds. event, first in half-mile, and winner of Blair Cup and medal for 11)10-11); L. Rountree (first 50yds. junior event', first 150 yds. event, and second 50yds. event for juniors); R. Mackay (first 50yds. event junior); S. Murrell (first 220 yds. event); F. Swan (second 50yds. event); L. Silver (fourth in half-mile): A. Shearer (first 50yds. event); F. Wilton (second 150 yds. event). Mrs. Doughty has announced her intention of presenting a silver cup to he won outright, for competition among boys under 12 years of age. It is understood that this cup is to be won by the boy who makes the most improvement in swimming next season. PHYSICAL DRILL CONTEST. ' Teams representing St. Vincent and St. Anne's Cadets met at the Town-Hall la.it evening in a physical drill contest, which resulted in .an easy win for St. Vincent ; by 10 points. The result reflects credit . to the winning team, as they-lu-.vc not , been long formed, and have had only four weeks' training with the rille.