SPORTING

Evening Star, Issue 15035, 18 November 1912, Page 4

SPORTING

GOING FROM HOME FOR NEWS. The Sydney ' Arrow' of Saturday, October 9, contains the following note':—-"Mr J. M'Mahon's many friends will be pleased to hear that he has, been appointed chief stipendiary steward by the New Zealand Racing Conference. With his lengthv experience in Sydney to guide him, the're is no doubt as to Mr M'Mahon's tilling the position satisfactorily. According to present arrangements he will leave for New Zealand on the 23rd inst. - ' ROWING. Home sportsmen are considerably disappointed and upset over the opinions expressed by Mr Middleton, who coached the Australian eight which won the Grand at Henley from Leander, but lost to the latter at the Olympic regatta. His accusation of non-sportsmanship against Leander stamps him as a poor loser, and will mar the popularity of any other Australian crews which may visit England. Mr Kirby, captain of the Leander crew, flatly contradicts Mr Middleton's statement that the Leander men failed to congratulate the Australians at Henley. He savs that whilst he was discussing" the incidents of the race with Mr Middleton they were frequently interrupted bv Leander men anxious to congratulate Mr Middleton on his share in the win.

Perhaps Mr Middleton's most silly charge is that Leander instigated the movement which led to the Englishmen onlv rowing one race on the final day at Stockholm, whilst the Australians were allotted two. The arrangements were the outcome of a conference among the representatives of all the crews and the Swedish officials. If the luck of the draw favored Leander, that was fortunate for the Englishmen, but nothing against their sportsmanship. As a matter of actual fact, Leander beat the Australians in the preliminary heat on the Thursday, and it was the Englishmen who had to row twice on the next and final day. They disposed of Berlin in the semi-final, and then defeated New College, the latter having drawn the bve in The semi-final. From Mr Middleton's charge one would think the Australians had rowed a race prior to meeting Leander, which is not so. As to liis statement that the station favored Leander bv I,} lengths, anyone who saw the Stockholm course will know the absurdity of this, as it was as nearly straight as possible. Leander trained on after Henlev. and beat the Australians fairly and squarely, and thev deserve due credit. Mr Middleton's'ridicule of the Leander men's "swank," pink socks, turned-up trousers, and affected speech one can understand, as no doubt all this strikes a genial Overseas Briton as strange. Nevertheless, these pink-sock wearers are made of the right stuff when it comes to real business, as has been proved on the field of battle, as well as in sports and pastimes. Some of Wellington's best officers were real " dandies." and kid ,gloves often cover a hand which can hand out, the punch.—London correspondent.

The go-as-you-please character of the Durbanville farmers' race meeting (says a South African exchange) is amusingly instanced by the fact that one of the officials used the number cloths to indicate tho positions the horses had drawn for the start. He did not recognise that they were to show the number on the card. There was naturally a great deal of confusion, and several races were decided before tho official was convinced that he was in the wrong.