THE BEST CREWS

Evening Post, Volume CIV, Issue 46, 23 August 1927, Page 3

THE BEST CREWS

ROWING IN.-, ENGLAND

A CONFLICT OF STYLES

UNIVEESITY CONTESTS

• Rowing men in England and Australia have long been aware that a coach-

ing heresy existed at Cambridge known as "the Jesus style," associated with Mr "Steve" Fairbairn, of' Victoria, writes the London correspondent of the Melbourne "Argus.',' In opposition to the majority of coaches, Mr Fairbami urges that "the long swing" is not everything in a good rowing style, and prefers to train a brew by Insisting. upon blade work. . "Make the blade ring as: it strikes the water "is Mr.-.Fairbairn's maxim. Crews which tollow Mr. Fairbairn's training methods use a 24-inch instead of a 16-inch slide, and a swivel instead of .a fixed rowlock. Hitherto" Oxford University has preferred the, orthodox maxims of Dr. G. C. Bourne, a coach who has not only trained many university and college crews, but is also the father of a famous Oxford rower. Dr. - Bourne rowed bow in the university boat race of 1882, and Mr. "Bob" Bourne, his son, now Unionist M.P. for Oxford City, helped to defeat- Cambridge in 1909 when D. C. R. Stuart was in the losing crew. This season, however, Exeter, an Oxford crew, departed from the Bourne gospel, and asked Mr;. bairn to coach them for the summer eights. Exeter bumped the fifth boat on the river, Merton, and got within a few feet of New College on the second night. . .

: A sharp controversy, is bow in pro- , gresß upon the importance of the long ' saving in rowing, as opposed to lively blade work. Mr. FairbaimV^idea is to concentrate upon leg-work upon the spring from the stretcher. Ha says that the slide should be'moving back as the blade strikes the water. A good coach should not concentrate upon "body form," but should get the ■blades moving through .the water at a maximum speed. Defending his method this week, Mr. Fairbairn aaid that he sought to concentrate an oarsman's mind.upon propelling the boat, forgetful of the body. "Thus the subjective mind was left to control body movements, unconsciously, and consequently truly. As .for the success which has attended his methods of coaching, Mr. Fairbairn points .out that, since 1905, Jesus has " had more Blues than any Cambridge college except Trinity, and-has won no. fewer than fifty sets of oars. Moreover, at Henley, Jesus has. done : better in eights than any other Cambridge, college, while Selwyn, coached on the ■same lines, won the Thames Cup last year. London and 'Thames, coached by Mr. Fairbairn, have also been very successful. However, Dr. Bjmrne and his Oxford friends remain unconvinced, and they hint that, if Oxford colleges follow the lead of Exeter College, and adopt heretical styles, this .will auto- »

matically debar their men from being invited to row in the university trial eights. -■.;■.■■■ .-.'; "-' Mr. Charles S. Cunningham, of Melbourne, contributed a column article to the "Daily Telegraph" recently, in. which ho said that he had seen the best crews now at work in England, and was impressed by the bad consequences of "the use of the slide in, the catch." In some English crews this' is so pronounced that it results in a great part of the stroke being rpwed/'fixed seat." In other crews the shoulders rise earlier, but in no case is the catch made by the lift of the shoulders only. "Who invented this?" asks Mr. Cunningham, "and why?" He adds that this feature of present-day rowing in England is a defiance, of the great necessity, co-ordin-ation. ."I do not care, how much strength and what physical condition it attains . by long practice, such a crew would stand. no chance against a combination equal in other respects which co-ordinates-the use of backs, legs, and arms in one magnificent effort! to push the. boat past the point where the blade takes the water," says Mr.- Cunningham. '.'The strong laboured style of English crews compared with the apparently effortless swing of crews rowing as I. advocate is, in itself, so con-vincing!-that; if rowing men had. an opportunity for comparison,.they would not require me to make these Comparisons." Mr. Cunningham addud- that he did not want English readsrs to think that Australian rowing was faultless. Whatever good standard had been attained was due to English oarsmen such as the late W. B. Woodgate. But Australians had never been content to assume that the last word had been, spoken, .and-had been, assiduous in experimenting with boats. He suggested that English rowing men should a jbe open to new ideas. Mr. Cunningham said some interesting things regarding the forward swing, and its influences upon deep, and,easy breathing, and was critical of the English habit of aJlowine the shonlders to be "unlocked," in order to get what was apparently* longer reach. In Australian rowing the shoulders were knit, the chest iully expanded, and the biceps had contact with tlie chest on each side. Thus, when, the _body sprang up from the hips, a rigid, unostentatious catch was instantly applied- without that "relocfcint" of the shoulders which was otherwise necessary. .

Eton leads the English public schools m rowing, but Shrewsbury, Badley, and Westminster also -contribute rowers to *G t vV?f SSly crews occasionally. Most ?2 ' n r-Ps Omerßß»nP to Oxfora or Cambridge. . Thirteen weeks' active practice go to the creation of the university "eight" which rows on thl Thames^ each year. When Oxford and Cambridge reassemble after the summer vacation, the college captains senTia the names of-promising men to the -presidents ana two trial eights are nSde up, coached by the president and seSetary respectively. Rnallv, the uL HT, +he Sele?T t6d ' Ca»^i4e training over a three-mile course at Ely, and OxThn ,° n f ? 6 ThameS ' near Nu^eham. STJBSSS