SPORT AND SUPERSTITION

Evening Post, Volume CXX, Issue 138, 7 December 1935, Page 27

SPORT AND SUPERSTITION

There is a primitive tendency in all of us to feel awe for something we do not quite understand, writes Jim Mathers in the Sydney •'Telegraph." It is called superstition.

,In sport, this mental condition may be reflected in some peculiar mannerism, as that of the cricketer who never fails to touch the peak of his cap before the bowler delivers the ball. Or it may be epressed in love of a mascot, such as the rabbit's paw snugly tucked away in a boxer's bag.

Sport superstition may have a value. It provides a mental setting for a definite form of activity, which ultimately becomes a help to victory.

In short, the superstition frightens off the "hoodoo" that threatens to engulf the- performer. It sets him at ease. He can play, fight, kick, wrestle with the supreme confidence that his "mascot" is with him.

Les Darcy had a superstition. Every night he fought at the Stadium he walked into the little office, with cap and sweater on, and yarned with Jim Taylor for a few minutes. On other fight nights he merely walked to the office window, procured his ticket, and passed on to the ringside.

The night he fought Harold Hardwick, on February 18, 1916, he entered the small office after he had knocked Hardwick out in the seventh round. He was holding his two front teeth by the roots, which Hardwick had knocked out with a smashing right hand to the mouth. . Hardwick said he would like to have them.

Darcy replied: "I'll consult the dentist first. If he can put them back I'll be better satisfied." The dentist put them back.

Darcy died just twelve months later, in Memphis, U.S.A. One of his teeth had turned septic. 1

Hundreds of explanations have been given as to the cause of Darcy's lamented death, and hundreds of people still claim they have one of Darcy's teeth gold-mounted, but the story just told is the plain truth.

The psychological explanation of Darcy's superstition, as in the case of all others, is that on some particular occasion he walked into the, small office for a yarn, subsequently won his fight,

and, by the process of auto-suggestion, he always walked into the office every time he fought The link having been established, between the office yarn and the fight, it became an integral part of the action. .:

Jack Haines would not enter the ring unless he first.shook hands with Arthur in the passage-way.

Joe Ghnouly lost a fight at the Stadium because some mischievous enthusiast had souvenired his green trunks.

Mark Hough, the American negro, reckons that a rabbit's paw is worth more to him than a whole poultry farm!

Am.br.ose Palmer will not travel without a certain seed, the size of a kidney, in his bag.

Bill Henneberry will never allow brother Fred to fight until he has examined his gloves, for fear of the presence of a pin. Some miscreant fright-, ened the life out of Bill one night by putting a pin in the gloves. Bill Henneberry does not agree that this is superstition.

Claude Varner carried a battered bag with him round the world. It was patched up with sticking plaster. Claude also bathed his face with boiled boots. This was not a superstition so much as an evil-smelling tonic for the skin.

JackDunleavy used to search New York for a blind man prior to every fight.

Major Taylor, the cyclist, would not race unless he had No. 13.

The former New Zealand High Commissioner, Sir Thomas Wilford, always backed No. 13 in his race-book.

Phil Mead, English cricketer, would never face the bowler until he had "dipped his lid" to the umpire fielding at square leg!

Ten years ago, when the Canadian Soccer team was in Australia, the goalkeeper always walked on to the field with a horse-shoe, which he threw into the net before the commencement of play. On one occasion an opponent crashed into the net and planted his face on the spikes that were sticking up from the horse-shoe. That was superstition with a vengeance!