LOSS OF £240

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 60, 8 September 1937, Page 5

LOSS OF £240

LAST ATHLETIC TOUR

A LESSON LEARNED

Reporting to trie council of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association last night, the secretary, Mr. H. McCormick, said that the loss on the tour by the two Japanese athletes, Murakoso and.Togami, last season, would be about £240.

The chairman (Mr. H. I. Austad): It is certainly not very satisfactory, but I am afraid we anticipated that we would lose somewhere in that vicinity." • ■ ■■ ■ ' ■ . Certain factors had accounted for the result, said Mr. McCormick, the main one being that the "gate" receipts were much below expectations. In addition to that extra expense had been involved through haying to engage the services,of an interpreter and companion to'the two athletes, and also there was the fact that Togami became ill in Christchurch and there' were certain hospital expenses there to be met. The Auckland centre showed a net profit of £50, Wellington about £45, and the Hawke's Bay-Poverty Bay, Canterbury, and Otago centres in the vicinity of !£2O to £25 each.

"I think we learn' as we go along from these tdurs," commented Mr. Austad, From this tour they had learned that a team coming from a long way overseas was very likely to result in a loss unless there were good local men to match-race the visitors again, as was the case in the great contests between Randolph Rose and the American Lloyd Hahn. ''It does definitely seem from the results of this Japanese tour," he added, "that in future we shall have to confine our activities nearer to home and possibly encourage more frequent visits from Australia unless we have local athletes of good calibre to match the visitors against." .

Mr. McCormick said that the, council had rather expected that the Canterbury distance runner, C. H. Matthews, might provide Murakoso with keen competition, but unfortunately that was not the case.