CLUB COMPETITIONS

Evening Post, Volume CXII, Issue 104, 29 October 1931, Page 20

CLUB COMPETITIONS

BY "No TWO"

A START MADE

THE SECTIONAL SYSTEM

Many of the clubs are now making a start with their competitions, in which much interest is being shown. Somu cluba have adopted tho sectional system, ;which they may find somoivhat cumbersome and unwieldy. The two-lifo or euddun death system is probably better. The trouble with playing off competitions by sections is that it ontails making' arrangouu-nts for perhaps half a dozen engagements, and difficulties crop Up if players fail to attend, and when tho time draws near for the section play to finish a rush sets in and only three or four games are played. With the two-life systom there is only the ono engagement and a player who defaults entails the risk of having his name struck' out. From that point of view it is much'simpler than the sectional system, - under which one labours under tho difficulty of having too many uppointments. to make with different people, often entailing extension of time, and then, perhaps, knocking out fey default a man whohas been trying to .make appointments for games,' but without success. Fairs for Practice. i Although the rinks game is the stauBai'd gamo, pairs will always claim any (Amount of popularity. JTor practice in the ait of bowling pairs can not bo ex.Celled, and the young player should reJnember this. The lead in tho pairs £ame has to take his place at the head and exercise so'mo degree of responsibility in directirig his skip, and th.is in. itself is valuable in giving 'experience in variety of shots. In the rinks game the young player in his capacity pft lead, after playing his bowls, as often t# not Tetires to the bank and takes no further interest in the proceedings Until called upon to perform again. He thereby gains the minimum of experience. As a-matter of fact, it is doubtful whether in a rinks game of 21 heads lasting, say, two hours and a half, the individual player .has much" more than ten or fifteen minutes' bowling, so it can be seen that for tho novico rinks do not provide a very great deal of practice as compared_ with pairs. To cultivate a good delivery much more good can be derived from playing pairs than ■ rinks, as in a game of 21 heads 84 bowls are sent down as against 42 in rinks. In Dunedin pairs tournaments ■re very'popular, especially in the evenings, and a well-known bowler, with a high degree of skill, recently remarked to "No; 2" that any success that had come his way was due entirely to what lie had learnt in playing in pairs years sgo in Dunedin. Centre Tournament Tees. No reduction is to be made in tho entrance fees for the Wellington Centre's annual ~ Christmas ' tournament, •which opens on- Boxing Day. Perhaps owing to the influence of tho hard times of the last year or two and the consequent disinclination -of some people to embark on expensive holiday tdurs, the number of entries for last year's tournament was large. There may be a similar result this year. As the centro provides the afternoon tea and pays the collections for the green keepers, thus' avoiding further calls upon the entrants for the tournament, itjisl thought that any reduction in tho entrance fees is scarcely warranted. K.Z.B.A. Finance. The levy of 6d ' a member duo to the New Zealand Bowling Association xniist be paid by Ist December if tho 25 per, cent, reduction is to bo earned. "While on the" subject of finance it may be mentioned that the New Zealand Association has a reserve of about £800, Tho association gave £100 to the .Hawkes Bay Centro to help those clubs whose greens suffered by the earthquake, an action which naturally met with unanimous approval. It is well that the' New Zealand association should have adequate moneys in reserve to meet sudden contingencies like that which arose in Hawkes Bay, but no doubt the present-reserve is high enough'and, thero is no need to go in for an unduly great accumulation. The big tournament pays its way and this, with the levy on clubs, generally leaves a- small surplus each year. When yearns come hero from abroad there is expense to meet, but even so, the accounts generally come out about square. If the accumulated fund became too .high "it would be difficult to resist a demand for reduction in tho levy. Barnett Tiki Match. The date will be fixed soon for the Barnett Tiki match with Christchurch centre. 'On account of Christchurch boing unablo to send a team to Wellington' last year, the idea is to play two irtatches this year, Christchurch to visit Wellington some time next month, and Wellington to .visit Christchurch to play the second game just before the Dominion tournament. By so doing the^order'for subsequent matches will be -in proper rotation. late Mr. H. Watson. ' Mr. W. L. Currey, of Brisbane, writes as follows in ."Bowling Life," 3ydney, about the late Mr. H. Watson, of Christchurch, who died on board tho steamer UlimaroaTwljen nearing Wellington on SOth September:— ' "Queensland bowlers wero shocked to hear of the death bf Mr. H. Watson, cf New Zealand, and all extend their' deepest sympathy to his family in their great loss. Tho writer skipped against tho late Mr. Watson in the Test match Australia v. New Zealand, with which the carnival concluded, and he impressed all with his genial personality and his qualities as a bowler. I stated after, that match that he played the best individual gamo against me at tho carnival, and I know keen judges who were,present have stated that his driving was as good as they ever witnessed. His untimely passing will be a great loss to the gamo in the Dominion." .Mr. Currey, ,who paj's this graceful tribute to the late Mr. Watson's memory, fought out the. final of the Australian rink championship against W. Blearih (Victoria), the latter eventually "winning by 28 to 21. Growth of Game in N.S.W. The game continues to make steady progress in New South Wales, as tho following table prepared by Mr. Jas. Wall) patron, N.5.W.8.A., shows:— Year No. of Clubs. No. of members. 1880 ' 4 200 (approx.) ' 1890 10 580 1900 15 1050 1910 ' 34 2160 3020 67 3750 1030 ■ 111 7500 1931, Oct. 126 8000 (and over) Mr. Wall mentioned in "Bowling Xiife" (Sydney) that a number of other clubs are in course of formation, and ho felt sure that had things been normal for thVpast year or so, an army <ot 10,000 bowlers would have been playing the game in New South Wales to-day. Australia v. New Zealand. The following account of tho Test jnatch, Australia v. New Zealand, is

supplied by Mr. W. Chegwidden, of tho Newtown Club, who visited Queensland with the New Zealand bowlers last August:— Many bowlers lined the banks at South Brisbane bowling green when the Test match between Australia and Now Zealand was played. The green was playing truo, aud thero was little wind to disturb the run of the bowls, tho result being that tho bowling was of tho highest standard. Four rinks aside were played, Australia being represented by a rink oach from Queensland, Victoria, and Now Soutli Wales, and a combined team from Tasmania and South Australia. As the 'bowlers from West Australia had left for home earlier in the day, that State was not represented. Currey (Q.) v. Watson (N.Z.): For tho onlookers this game was of the most interest, and a fine exhibition was given by both sides, tho game ending 25 all. Dobbie (Vie.) v. Robertson (N.Z.): There was some wonderful bowling seen in this gamo in which F. Dobbie, the Australian singles champion, was skipping against A. H. Robertson, the runner-up. Dobbie had a rink of champions, including A. H. Stanley, last year's_ singles champion of Australia as third, and S. Philips, the Victorian singles champion as second. Eobertson was-forced to drive every other end, often with success, but he could not always hold the shot, for Dobbie was in great drawing form, and was also using his firm shots with deadly accuracy. Tho result'was that the Now Zealander was outclassed, the odds against him were too great and he went down 34 to 12. ; Sargeant (N.S.W.) v. Naylor (N.Z.): Saxgeant, with his New South. Wales rink, had a fine battle throughout with Naylor, who was putting up a brave fight. Naylor led in the first five ends, but the North Sydney skip leaped ahead and finished five points up, 25 to 20. Boatwright (combined) v. Bremner (N.Z.): Boatwright, of Tasmania, was matched against W. Bremner, the champion.of New Zealand, and the outstanding feature of the game was the sure driving of the Enzedder. He seldom missed, and time and again the jack was sent out of- bounds. BoatWright's men, however, served him better than Bremner's team, and the victory went to this Australian team, 29 to 19. The New Zealand teams wero:— Suhan, Bray, Casey, Watson (s); Sandin, Pascoe, Hunt, Eobertson (s); Frost, Kummer, Parker, Naylor (s); Everitt, Sutherland, C. Hardley, Bremner (s). Aggregate scores: Australia, 113; New Zealand, 76. The Unbeatable Shot. Several writers have been advocating the abolition of tho unbeatable shot, and to make it possible for a player to be ablo to get tho shot under any circumstances, irrespective of where the jack lies, writes "Boomerang" in the "Sydney Eeferee." In other words, this; Assume that two rinks or singles players are level on the last end in the game. The first bowl sent up flukes tho jack into.the ditch, and lies right on it, an "unbeatable shot." It is contended by these writers that no shot should be unbeatable, and they wouid therefore, put the kitty up on the edge of tho green. Certainly there is no other place one could put it, that is clear. ... . . ' ;Biit to be successful, and free from arguments, that - would be .an -impossibility, and the proposal falls to the ground. If the kitty could bo satisfactorily placed I would be with the reformers, but I will endeavour to show how any attempt would fail. In the first place who is going to do the job? The right cannot be given to either side. Where exactly would the kitty bo placed? And who iB to say whether it.-is- exactly "on the edge" or- partly "on the edge." That is to say':'lf'it was a fraction in towards the centre of the green, it would favour the bowl lying "a measure" with the shot in the ditch, and if it were a fraction the. other way about it would favour the ditch shot. There would be arguments galore. There might be a bowl or bowls at either side of a placed jack, and who is going to so place the kitty "on the edge" of tho green aa to be dead square with the kitty in the ditch? Already a law says you must not lift the jack in the ditch, so that another would have to be placed on the lip. Now, hero is the fatal point: A player sends a bowl down, and it "dies" right on the &pot—covering it —where the new jack lay. What tuno would the band strike up then, suppose you? No, the unbeatable shot must romain. The happening is a very Tare one whero a player carries a jack into the ditch by a fluke, and already we Have sufficient to contend with in tho shape of problems without making any more. Honouring Past Club Members. It is unusual at club openings in Auckland for the club president, supported by members of his executive, to comprise the official rink to play against the president of the centre, or his .representative, and this compliment to the centre has been followed during the present season. A novelty wa3 introduced at tho opening of tho Onehunga green recently when the "reigning" president, Mr. I. J. Sutherland, was duly placed against the official representative of the centre, Mr. H. C. Clarke, but instead of beiag assisted by the present executive, six former presidents completed the rinks. Mr. Clarke was supported by Mr. Walter Davis, elected president as long ago as 1910, Mr. H. J. Davies, 1908, and Mr. E. Buchanan, 1928, while Mr. Sutherland had Mr. F. C. Marks, 1924, Mr. M. H. Wynyard, 1902, and Mr. S. H. Davenport, 1926. It seems to be a particularly happy thought to bring into the forefront the worthy veterans of a club's younger days, who have done so much to bring it into its present flourishing condition, instead of letting them think that they are put on tho shelf when they no longer participate in their former activities (writes "Trundler" in the "Auckland: Star"). There was no difficulty in making up these rinks, for there, were also present Messrs, J. Clarkson, 1916, H. E. MacKenzie, 1918, and T. S. Bassett, 1920. Nine ex-presi-dents on the green, in a club where it has been customary for the president to hold office for two years, is probably not far short of a record for Auckland. The Retort Courteous. When a New Zealand visitor .protested ' that Frank Dobbie should not be allowed to run up the full length of the head, remarking: "We don't allow this running up the green to the head in New Zealand!" Percy Sapsford, to whom the remark was directed, replied: "And we don't allow stepping off the mat in Australia." "I played against two different New Zealanders, Messrs. Sandiu and Eobertson, and I would not say for a moment that either had an advantage over me," writes "Boomerang" in the "Sydney Ecfcree." "If- it were my job to alter rules, I would take the first opportunity of scrapping our two feet on the mat rule, and adopt the freedom-giving mode of the Now Zealanders."