THE SPORTING WORLD.

Evening Star, Issue 14999, 5 October 1912, Page 12

THE SPORTING WORLD.

(Feom Odb London Correspondent.] August 23. / ATHLETIC TROUBLES. There .ire weighty difficulties to be overcome before England will take that prominence in international athletics which the natural ability of the island's athletes would allow of. The controversy over the lessons of the Olympic Games has shown the wide difference of opinion which exists in this country. One would expect unity in a crisis, but such is far from being ths case. One party think we should withdraw from the Games, because they consider our opponents' ideals of amateurism are not up to ours. One could feel sorry for such poor sportsmen were it not for the loss of prestige to the Empire through such people. Fancy talking about England's high ideals of amateurism to people who witnessed the behaviour of some of the .English runners at Stockholm! Some of our runners think far rue-re about winning a prize than the honor of representing their Empire at the Olympic Games. Only last Saturday, at Holmfirth, a numbeT of runners returned to the dressing tent and declined to compete unless the bookmakers were allowed t-o ply their calling. A number of bookmakers then interviewed the officials, and pointed out that sports were being ruined through the stoppage of betting. This is nothing new. and merely illustrates what the writer aione has advocated for years—viz., that the giving of money prizes would be the salvation of amateur athletics by weeding out a big proportion of the athletes now competing for prizes. Whilst we have such a mixed class competing as amateurs, it is only to be expected that the public school and 'varsity athletes will not be verv eager to support open, competition. They are often assailed for adopting a seemingly snobbish attitude, but the writer thinks this is unfair to them. _ 'Varsity sportsmen, as a body, do not mind playing with or against the laborer, as instanced by Oxford taking part in the Southern * Counties Crosscountry championship, and also what we see in golf, cricket, tennis, rackets, and the Association football field. Being classed with athletes whose general behaviour and language is a disgrace, and having to share a dressing room with runners who sadly need a bath, is quite another matter, however. We want the support of public school and 'vareity athletes, not only because they have the time to train, but"even more because their behaviour on the field of international fray will not lower us in the estimation of foreigners. —Jealousy.— _ Another difficulty in England is the terrible petty jealousy to contend with. Some of the writer's best friends are members of the Amateur Athletic Association, yet he is compelled in common honesty to say that the body named has not shown the enterprise which the athletic situation of the present day demands. Two voung bodies composed'of enthusiasts have"come into being in recent times, they being the Amateur Field Events Association and the Athletes' Advisory Club. The members of these bodies have given up time and money, and. put in a lot of spade work, in their efforts to bring about an improvement. Instead of being praised, their efforts are coldly received, and in some cases cruelly assailed and misrepresented. It is often, said that any man who works for England must be prepared to accept plenty of abuse and little praise, and some of the enthusiasts are finding this out. Some of the severe 'critics are self-styled authorities, and think they ought to be the leaders infcny movement for reform. If they are left out or do not receive an invita"tion, they slate the movement, and Being poor sportsmen, misstate facts and create all sorts of false charges. The writer happens to know several enthusiastic 'varsity then who would gladly help in any movement to bring about an improvement in athletics, but they say they do not feel inclined to have their motives misstated by socialistic critics who are openly hostile to the Empire. Sir A. Conan Doyle intends to make a public appeal for funds for the purpose of trying to develop talent for the next Olympiad, but there is a great difference of opinion on this policy. The Atheletes' Advisory Chib (formed by the writer last November, foreseeing the debacle at Stockholm) intend to push on with their policy of trying to discover and develop talent anions'the lads of the nation. Other efforts will also be made, and the good work of the Amateur Field Events Association is also bearing fruit. In this crisis it is unfortunate that Lord Desborough finds the calls on his time so great that he is resigning from the chairmanship of the British Olvrnpic Conncil. It should be made clear trlat he announced bJ6 intention of doing so prior to the Stockholm Games and before the present controversy arose. He has done freat work for the Olympic movement uring the past 12 years, and he is one of the few British officials who seem to be able to meet American and foreign Olympic officials and make them feel kindly disposed towards England. No one has been named as his successor, but it would not surprie the writer should iSir Arthur Conan Doyle be approached. SWIMMING. The improvement shown by J. C. Hatfield since the opening of the season has been very pleasing to English sportsmen. A successor to Taylor and Battersby w.is badly required, and it looks as though, the Middlesbrough youth will fill the bill. He did very well at Stockholm, and that he is

still improving was shown at Redcar recently, when lie won the 440 Yards Saltwater Championship of Northumberland and Durham in smin losee. This is an improvement of 7sec on the previous best for the race, the old figures having been accomplished by P. Graham. Another fine recent swim was that accomplished, by Miss V. Neave, who won the open mile promoted by the Jeresy Swimming Club in Slmin 41 4-ssec—a record for a lady in open water. Experience and youth were in opposition in the long-distance championship race from Kew to Putney on Saturday. Old stagers in H. Taylor and T. Battersby found a worthy rival in W. H. Melhuish, who was fourth last year. 'Die youngster showed great improvement in the race under notice, and had the satisfaction of beating BatteTsby after a great struggle, though he was compelled to put up with eeoond honors to Taylor. The latter retains his form wonderfully, his win on •Saturday being gained by 40see. There was a strong tide, so that the 5m 60yds only occupied Taylor 64min 7 2-ssec, which has only once been beaten. REMARKABLE GOLF. Although J. H. Taylor, of Mid-Surrey, h.as won the Open Golf Championship of England four tames, and is now 41 years of ago, he is evidently bent on doiry more remarkable things. Ho and Edward Ray, of Ganton, were at the head, of affairs at the conclusion of the fourth round of the German Open Championship at Baden Baden. They each had a score ot 279 for the 72 holes, and so agreed to play another 9 holes to decide the matter. Good as Taylor played before, he now excelled himself, accomplishing the holes as follows : —2, 3, 2, 3, 3, 4, 5, 3, 5, giving him a 28. His rival took 34 strokes, the honors went to the veteran, who hails from Westward Ho. FOOTBALL. Football is again in full swing in Scotland, a feature of the opening clay being the many changes in the personnel of the teams. Many players from English clubs have crossed the border, which is a decided change from 15 or 20 years ago. Montgomerie, from Oldham, seems to be a good partner to Hogg on the right wing of the Glasgow Rangers' team, and the pair played a prominent part in the four goals the champions put on acrainst Airdrieonians on Saturday. Falkirk's front rank has been strengthened by the inclusion of H. Orr, of Barnsley, and it was only the grand goalkeeping of Mulrooney which prevented Falkirk from doing better than draw against Celtic. ► Third Lanark showed capital form when beating Hibernians, the winners having imported D. Steel from Tottenham Hotspurs, Gemmel of Sunderland, O'H'igan of Greenock, and Anderson of Newcastle. CRICKET. It is _ good to know that some of the Australian cricketers are paying a short visit to the United States. As they also hope to _ arrange some basball matches, their visit should lead to mutual good. There is great merit in both games, and room for each in every country. If cricket obtains a wider hold in the United States there will be good reason for hoping that the rules will be so altered that more life is infused into the pastime, and that natehes u.ay L-: completed in a day. Any Englishman who has watched first class baseball must have been impressed by the really wonderful fielding. The snap and life of the fieldsmen make the leisurely movements of so>:ie of our English cricketers appear very marked. We can improve by watching baseball, and the visit of the Australians to the States is sure to lead to good. Big scoring has been out of the question lately, the wretched weather having made the pitch favor the ball. Sensational doings have consequently been the order, and bowlers have reaped a harvest of wickets. Smith took six for '26, and East five for 13 on behalf of Northamptonshire against Derbyshire, and Forester, of the latter county, captured seven wickets for 18 runs. Big as these performances are, it was left for Hylton-Stewart to accomplish the great feat of the week. Playing for Somerset against Worcestershire, he dismissed six batsmen for 3 runa, which must be something like a record for first class cricket. —The Test.— The public have supported the Australian v. England test match at the Oval very well, in spite of the terrible weather. Much depended on it, the authorities having agreed that the winners should be adjudged victors in the triangular tournament. The first featura was the opening partnership of Hobbs and Rhodes for England. Their 107 for the first wicket is still an- - other great performance, and far better than it looks. Hits which under ordinary circumstances would have gone to the boundary only meant 2 or 5, and Hobbs was batting nearly two hours for his 66, hitting four 4's. Rhodes made 49 in two hours, a 5 and three 4's being among his strokes. The value of their performance wa3 great, and once the bowlers were tired Woolley was able to gather in 62, which included eleven 4's. —Our Bowlers.— The great Barnes again distinguished himself, and he is indeed a wonderful bowler. For some extraordinary reason Fry put him on to bowl at the "opposite end to thai at which he did such fine work against South Africa. At 77, however, Barnes spoke to Fry, who took Dean off, and gave Barnes his favorite end. Woolley took up ,the attack at the other end, and after that the Australian batsmen had a bad time, for the last eight wickets went down for 51 runs after the change referred to. Barnes bowled Bardsley by a wonderful ball. The batsman did not attempt to play it, thinking it was going behind his legs, but it broke so much that he was bowled. Barnes sent down 26 overs, and took five wickets for 30 runs; whilst Woolley secured five for 30 as the result of his 9 overs and 4 balls. His performance is not to be compared with that of the Staffordshire man, however, as lie was not bowling when the pitch was fairly easy, as was "Barnes. The second innings of England enabled Hobbs to scors 2,000 runs'in test cricket, which is a record for an Englishman, A. C. MacLaren coming next with 1.931. Hobbs now has every prospect of surpassing the records of C. Hill and V. Trumper, of Australia, who have 5,000 and 2,900 to their credit. C. B. Fry also did himself justice by keeping his end up for 5h 45min, eight 4's being included in his 79. After he went, Hazlitt got wickets fast, the last five English bats only adding 10 runs. Australia never had a chance of_ getting the 309 runs for victory. The wicket favored the bowlers, and Hazlitt's seven for 25 had prepared the public for more sensations. It was Dean and Woolley who came off this time, their " bag" being four for 19 and five for 20 respectively. Rhodes wanted one wicket to complete hi.-: 100 in tests, and Fry gave him a chance, but a dropped catch prevented, his bringing off the feat, which was hard lnck. IN GENERAL. The Quidnuncs won the International Cup at the Deauville polo' tournament, beating the Burley team (which included D. Milburn and two other Americans) in the first round, and the Lambs in the final. Remarkable high-jumping was seen at the Vittel Horse Show, Biskra, of Australia, and Montjoie, of France, clearing 7ft Bin, which is a new record. Although the French eight who did so well at Henley were expected to score at the European championship on Lake Geneva, the victory went in another direction, Switzerland and Italy finishing ahead of the Paris oarsmen. H. G. Cook, of the University C.C., covered 209J miles in the Anerley Cycling Clnb's 12 hours' unpaced road race. J. Driscoll intends having a shot at the woi-ld's light-weight championship, and the feather-weight champion may succeed.