Amateur Athletics

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 18, 22 January 1938, Page 23

Amateur Athletics

SHOULD THEY BE CONTINUED?

LOCAL INTER-CLUB SCRATCH MEETINGS

There is no doubt much to be said for scratch competition and a certain amount of support for" it has been given in these columns from time to time, tut there are, "on the other hand, aspects of the meetings held in Wellington this season that are open to criticism. ,As has been pointed out previously, perhaps the greatest virtue of the meetings has been that they have induced the members of some of the clubs to try their hand at new events and thereby have increased club representation. This, however, has not always been the result. More than once there has been the spectacle of one athlete running on his. own because the others drawn to competewith him have not appeared on the mark. This is not the fault of the pfficials, but at the same time, if, as it is claimed, the meetings are pri- | marily for the athletes, it is not at all I satisfactory for a runner, anxious to i have competition, to find that he has i to run on his own.

Such a case happened last Saturday. The Wellington provincial sprint champion, C. Robinson, was in section two of the A grade 220 yards, and it

turned out that he was the only starter, the result being that he was obliged, if he wanted a run at all, to -go round by- himself. This spectacle -'of Robinson running on'his own followed a fine finish to the first section of the A grade furlong between J. Eastwood, J. Ford, and A. Welpiy. How much more satisfactory it would have been had Robinson also been included in the first race! It certainly would have been of greater benefit to him.

It is the system of grouping clubs into two divisions that is responsible for the possibility of an athlete not being given : a race, for that is what the position amounted to in Robinson's case on Saturday. In some instances events are run as one race and the sectional winners are sorted up afterwards. This does ensure competition for all, but the sorting up process , afterwards often provides quite an unenviable job for officials and makes the whole thing awkward and cumbersome.

LITTLE EXERCISE.

Another disadvantage of the system iin vogue is that whereas in : the past handicap meetings usually have enabled the sprinters to get in two runs in an afternoon, and, if there are heats and a competitor is successful in these, four opportunities of competing, the programme for each of the scratch meetings includes only one sprint. This is held as a rule early in the meeting, and the sprinters thereafter'have no other- event.1 A number have expressed dissatisfaction on this point, and it can be readily understood that a sprinter's dissatisfaction is more complete if. in his particular section of the one race for him of the meeting he has been the only starter.

From the point of view of the public it has been noticeable that the, meetings have drawn no more than a handful of spectators. Admittedly, little or no publicity is given to the meetings beforehand, but, even if the scratch meetings are looked upon really as providing the opportunity for athletes to get into trim for the bigger meetings,, the point is can those in control afford not to bother about the public? At the outset a certain number of spectators attended at Hataitai, but it has been noticeable that the number has dwindle^ with each successive meeting. Programmes with a list of events and showing the names of the competitors are not available to them and they have not known who is who and what is what very often. In short everything has a'ppeared to them probably as being rather a mix-up and there have been times when there has been complete justification for such thoughts. The members of the athletic sub-com-mittee controlling these meetings and those who have helped them have done their best taking into account the limitations in various directions .with which they are confronted. The.real trouble seems to be that the system is too unwieldy for them to handle with facility.,, ' [ , '

VALUE OF SCRATCH COMPETI-

It has been claimed; of course, that graded inter-club scratch competition has been N successful in Christchurch, and in view of the fine athletes Canterbury has had of recent years, there has been the tendency to accept this contention as gospel. But has the graded inter-club scratch competition been responsible for the development of these champions? If the question is given some thought it is questionable whether, it has. The position would appear to be rather that Canterbury just happened to have had these men, for it is difficult to single out anyone at the present time who may be claimed to be a definite product of the scratch system and say that in a year or two he will be worthily filling the shoes of this man or some other. No, in Christchurch many of those who are regarded as being in the front rank at the present t|me, were also the top-flight men when the scratch system of competition was introduced there. It cannot be said definitely, it seems, that scratch competition necessarily results in the building up of champions.

The writer is one who has never had any admiration for the principle of long handicaps, believing that the

Four of the inter-club graded scratch meetings have now been" held,at Hataitai Park and sufficient time has passed to enable j both officials and competitors to weigh up this system •of com- i petition. From opinions that have been expressed lately, there ! appears to be quite a difference of opinion on the nierits of tnese i meetings; in fact, there has been the suggestion that the Welling- ! ton Amateur Athletic Centre: should have a general meeting to discuss the position, particularly as to whether in the light of the experience of the four meetings to date there is -justification for./-, the continuance of this form of • competition.

scratch man should not be called ■apon' to run, himself out, as so often, hag. happened, every time he starts in! order to get a place, but at the same time, after seeing the scratch competi-. tion introduced in Wellington this season in operation, it would appear that the handicap meetings have some very, definite advantages.. Some .'. scratch, competition undoubtedly is/necessary. The two Dewar Shield meetings cater, for this, and either a purely scratch;1 meeting or two "■could be held to sup^ plement the Dewar Shield competition or else a scratch event or events could be included in the programmes for the handicap meetings. Without being.critical of the efforts of those in control of the scratch meetings who no'.doubt' have tried, or most of them at any rate, to do as well, as they can, it would appear opportune- at this juncture for the centre to call a general meeting to consider the ■ advisability of carrying on the scratch competition Saturdayafter Saturday for the remainder ot the season and whether it would be a better plan, if not to revert to handicap meetings, to have at least some o$ this nature.