THE SPORTING WORLD

Evening Star, Issue 15463, 9 April 1914, Page 2

THE SPORTING WORLD

[Fhom Otjb English Cobresfondent.]

LONDON, February 27. ATHLETICS.-

It is very pleasing to be able to refer to real progress' in regard to England's preparations for the next Olympic Games. |. First"of all, the British Olympic Association have appointed a fmancial committee, with Mr Hayes' fisher (a- member of Parliament) at the head* fpp the purpose of collecting the necessary fnnds. The awtleraap named says-the plans proposed and in regard to sending'our men to Berlin will'cost £40,000. He is eon fdeht the money will be forthcoming, and always provided the schemes appeal to the/ sporting public, there should he no. difficulty in getting it. Nest, we liaye considerable activity on thei p§Vt of the Amateiir Athletic Association, which must prove of great benefit to the cause of athletics. At the last meeting it was-resolved that additional events (Qlympio) bf> added to the programme, and aJsS that the championships be decided on Friday and Saturday, instead of on one ■fay, as before. Another excellent step is that the association are inclined to join the International Athletic Federation. Many now recognise how shortsighted it was to hojd aloof from an alliance with the athletic bodies of Canada, .Australasia, and South Africa, as mooted by good oversea sportsmen in the past. Had this been done we should have had a powerful PanBritannic Athletic Union, which would have' played a big part in international sports. As it is, the various parts of the Empire are playing a solo hand. i: Apropos of this, the sooner authorities and the Home authorities can unite for the holding of a British Empire athletic championship the better. At "the onset this might be held every fourth year, say a few wee}?? ahead of the Olympic Games, which would serve as a splendid trial for the festival. From all this it will be gathered that matters are moving in English athletic, circles. Perhaps the authorities in Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa may see the great benefits, which would accrue if thoy joined hands with the Home authorities in holding a British Empire athletic championship in London in June of 1916. This would Jje a dress rehearsal for the Berlin Olympiad, and the experience gained by the competitors would be invaluable. England has a fine stayer in E. Olever, who hails from Hallamshire, a suburb of Sheffield. He is the present Northern and National cross-country champion, and also the 10-mile flat champion. Though beaten by 6. W. Hutsou in the four-mile championship, they were together for 3| miles, the threemile mark being passed in 14min 36sec. He is a deep-chested young athlete, and has an easy style, so that he tills the eye as a Marathon man. England will not win that all-important race until really class runners try for it, and it would be interesting to see Glover among the entries for the next Polytechnic Marathon. Glover's latest performance was to beat a big field in the Northern Crosscountry Championship at Haydock Park, and he is showing form which points to big things this season. BOXING. The victory of Pat O'Keeffe over Harry Reeve at the National Sporting Club on Monday entitles him to hold the Lord 'Lonsdale belt, emblem of the British •middle-weight championship. O'Keefia has had-10 years longer at the game than his rival, and he was clearly the more scientific, The bout went 20 rounds, and demonstrated that the winner has lost his old ability to punch hard. Even more interesting was the contest between J. Sullivan and. J. Harrison, both past holders of the middle-weight title. Harrison seems to have lost his form completely since he was defeated by Harry Lewis, of America, at the National Sporting Club. Sullivan has had a strange career. After beating the late Tom Thomas for the championship, he was knocked out by Billy P&pke, of America (after outpointing the visitor , for several rounds), and his two defeats during his Australian tour greatly diminished his record. He shaped like a real champion on Monday, however, having Harrison so at his mercy that the latter'* seconds gave in for their man in the fourth round. Of course, he was not severely tried, but if Sullivan could show the earn© skill and aggressiveness in all his contests he would go far. RACKETS. With the 15th Sikhs not defending their title, the Army Rackets Championship this ,week attracted only three entries. By virtue of an easy win (4-0) over the 12th Lancers, the 2nd Battalion King's Own Yorkshire Light Infantry were entitled to meet the Ist Rifle Brigade in the final. This attracted a distinguished company (including Lord Roberts) to Princes Club on Wednesday, and the play was worthy of the occasion. It was only after a keen struggle that the Yorkshire representatives won the opening game at 15-9. Another excellent struggle provided a like result in the second game. The Riflemen made even a better fight in the third game, though forced to acknowledge defeat at 15-11, whilst the fourth resulted in favor of the Y.L.I, by 15-9. The winners were Capt. A. C. G. Luther and Mr C. E. D. King, whilst Capt. D. Ovey and Mr E. S. B. Williams did duty for the Rifle Brigade. THE TURF. As the race draws nearer it becomes evident that the public fancy J.utteur 111., Covercoat, and Jacobus for the Grand National. Readers will not need reminding that the first-named has been a strong fancy of the writers since the weights were published. The French crack is now first favorite, and, all being well, he will be a big fancy on the c'ay. Jacobus certainly ought to do well, tut the writer cannot possibly see how Covetfcoat, last year's winner, can be claesed with Lutteur 111.., yet he has i-een eet to concede lib. The next few weeks fill give sportsmen a chance of seeing how some of the cracks are- shaping, ai.;l it may bo possible to write more definitely shortly. BASEBALL. The visit of the Chicago wid Xcv Vork baseball teams to London this week has created much interest in sporting circles. The visitors were greeted by several wellknown Home sportsmen at a luncheon held at the Hotel Savoy on Wednesday. Lord Desborough gave 'hem the "glad hand" on behalf of English siorifiinen generally,, and expressed r>-gret that the short notice had not allowed, him to get the use of Lord's Cricket Gromil for their exhibition match on Thursday. He pointed out that they would have a critical spectator in King George, whom he termed one of the best judges of sport in the country. The American speakers were at pains to point out that they were not striving to supplant cricket with baseball. They wanted, however, to introduce the game, and in return hoped England would send I her cricket and football teams to America. ' There were 15,000 spectators to see yesterday's game at Stamford Bridge. The Wonderful fielding, accuracy of the returns, the attempts of the pitcher and fieldsmen to induce rivals to leave the bases were points much appreciated. The uncanny pitching also evoked much enthusiasm. Each side had scored 4 runs after 10 innings, but finally Chicago won by 5 ruas to 4.

' i"OOTEALL. Of-tha eight ties in. the third round of the Football Association Cup, the outstanding matoK was that between Aeton Villa and West Broiqwich Albion, on tho former's ground. No fewer than 65,000 spectators paid £2,800 to see the local rivals struggle for the right of going into the next round, and eventually the Villa prevailed* Bache and Hampton scoring to the goal by Bowser for West Bromwich. Manchester City brought off a big surprise by winni'ig"(2-l) at Blackburn, and Queen's Park .Rangers delighted Southerners by gaining the day (2-1) at Birmingham. ' " Lucky Sunderland entertained Preston (scoring two goals* without response), and have been drawn at home against Burnley for the fourth round. The Villa must visit Sheffield Wednesday and Manchester City will receive Sheffield United, whilst Queen's Park Rangers will tackle Liverpool on the latter's ground. LACROSSE. The composition of the teams representing Oxford and Cambridge in the annual lacrosse match, at Lord's Ground yesterday makes interesting reading. The Rhodes scholars at Oxford were very much to the fore, Cuuadions in A. Ewart, E. Siddall, W. Nason (all of Manitoba, University), ,and W. J. Pearoe (of M'Gill University) finding places. The United States was also represented in the person of W. C Johnson (of Brown University), whilst 4. Q. Marehail (of Auckland) kept up the reputation of Australasia. Save for 0. N. Thompson, (of Grahamstpwn, South Africa), all the Cambridge players were home men, and no fewer than six of them from Ley's School. Considering tho speedy and scientific nature of lacrosse, it is really surprising that jt is not more extensively played in England. It ought to prove very beneficial to runners and swimmers, and would keep them fit during the offseason. Yesterday's match proved too one-sided to be verv interesting, the Oxford men being brilliant.' T&6>. fine combination, speedy running, and accuracy in throwing -the ball to unmarked players led to a big win, the sgore being 15 goals to 1 in their favor. IN GENERAL.' The annual hoekey match, between foid and Cambridge resulted in favor of the former by 2 goals to 1. Jesus College retained the head of the river in the Cambridge University Lent races. Ten thousand spectators/ saw England's amateur "soccer '* team ' defeat Belgium at -Brussels on Tuesday, the visitors scoring 8 goals to 1 by tho Belgians. Wales surprised Scotland in the hockey international at Aberdeen on Saturday, Avinning by 3 goals to 1. A well'known sportsman has made a wager of £20,000 to £5 that neither of two named individuals can travel _ from London to Capo Town within a period of 14 days, any means of locomotion bar train being permitted. The individual toboganning championship of the famous Cresta, Run at St. Moritz has bean won by Lieutenant V. F. Gibbs, pf England, with Americans, in Messrs H. Martin and C. Brown, second and third.

..Zinfanlet, winner of the Gold Cup at Ascot, and also of the Coronation Cup, dropped dead at the SnailweM stud, New market, early in the? week. He was 14 years of age, and by Persimmon out of Madora. The Captbridge University golfers showed excellent form when . opposing Woj-plesde-n, winning Halfway through the..Heat of the London tournament between Stevenson '(scratch) and Newman (rec. 2,000) the scores were virtually equal, without counting the handicap, Newman having scored only 5 fewer points than Stevenson. G- Carpentier has virtually fixed up to meet J. Jeanuette in a boding match at Paris. __^__