SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Evening Star, Issue 17031, 30 April 1919, Page 2

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

[By Ex-Champion, for Dunedin ' Star,'] LONDON, February 30. NOTABLE SPORTSMEN. Death has been busy in the ranks of sportsmen of late, and it is to be regretted j that once more allusion has to be made to the passing away of men whose names were familiar m different branches of sport. It is only recently that Lieutenantcolonel W, A, L. Fletcher, D.5.0., was elected chairman of the Management Committee of Henley Regatta. Be was looking forward with great keenness to" the aquatic festival in 1919, and his death from .pneumonia, following influenza, at the age of 48, is a great loss to rowing. The deceased served in the South African War, and it was there he gained the D.S.O. At the start of the present Great War he joined the King's Liverpool Regiment, and rose to the rank of Lieutenant-colonel. In addition to ■being slightly wounded, he was alsogassed, and this undoubtedly affected his lungs and mad a him more susceptible to the ailment which carried him oft'. As an oarsman he had a great career, and, iollowing successes at Eton, he stroked the Oxford 'Varsity eight which proved successful against Cambridge in the boat race of 1880. He was also in the winning Oxford boat in the next three seasons. Another notable performance was that he was in the Leauder eight which won the -Grand Challenge Cup at Henley in 1891 in the record time of 6min 51sec. The following season he also figured in the Leander -eight which won the Grand, whilst, with Vivian Nichols as a partner, he carried off the Silver Goblets. A like success attended his efforts the following i vear, V. Nichols again being his partner | m the Silver Goblets. following his I active participation in rowing, he played ; a very great part as coach, and the class ! of sportsman he was was shown by his '' offering his services to Cambridge as a coach when that 'Varsity had experienced \ a long run of non-success. There is a great deal in this last action, and one can feel admiration for a man who devotes his attention to coaching what may be termed a rival organisation when the situation appears to demand it. CRICKETERS. The Homeland and Australia have suffered losses from the deaths of A. Drake (of Yorkshire) and C. E. M'Leod. The former was only 55, and during his asso- I ciation with Yorkshire he gained a fine j ail-round record as a h-jwior and bats- j man. He reached the t-.-p of his form in 1313, when ho took 102 wickets, and headed the county averages. The following year he surpassed this by taking 155 wickets, and in that season had the distinction of taking all 10 wickets in the Yorkshire v. Somerset match at Weston-super-Mare. , M'Leod paid two visits to England in 1599, and again in 1905, and though he did nothing sensational, he showed good all-round form both with bat and balk He was move successful during the latest tour, when he secured 91 wickets and 722 runs. The recent meeting of county _ secretaries at Lords Ground is a pleasing reminder that more normal times are at hand. A very satisfactory list of fixtures lias been arranged for 1919. and in which three test matches against an Australian service team figures. It is hoped nothing will arise to prevent the Australian fighters carrying out the plans made, and, all being well, we shall see them opposing an English eleven towards the end of June, at the end of July, and the middle of August. Though nothing has been said about the matter, it _ is hoped by all patriots that the home side will be picked from cricketers who have served. It will be no credit to cricket should any player be chosen who has avoided service" by obtaining protected occupation during the war. LAWN TENNIS. The open championships will be decided at Wimbledon in June, and our players will be tried highly should Miss M. Bjursdet, -the great Norwegian player, compete, as expected. This lady has been doing snlendid work in the United States, her victims including the young, lady who won such laurels in England when known as Mav Sutton. The English-bom American is"now married (Mrs T. G. Bundy), but still keeps up her tennis. Regarding i the player from Norway, she is described a3 a splendid specimen of womanhood, I and. as a masseuse by profession, she would understand the advantage of physical culture. No one who attended the 'Olympic Games at Stockholm could fail to note the grand development oi the women gymnasts who represented Sweden, Norway, "and Finland in the exhibitions, etc. They were mainly chosen from the teachers 'of gymnastics and physical culture, and were actually professionals. BOXING. If the projected plans of the Amateur Boxing Association are carried out, we shall see some very interesting boxing in amateur circles. The idea is to hold and individual army championships, public schools championships, another meeting for hospitals, 'varsities, and cadets, and also the regulation championships for all amateurs. This is "some" plan, and one hopes it will he carried through. The gathering at the National Sporting Club on Monday evening, the 10th inst., was like pre-war times, the Covent Garden establishment being well filled with most of the leading home patrons of boxing, plus a good muster of sportsmen from the United States and Canada. The attraction was the 15-rounds contest between Sergeant E. M'Goorty and Sergeant H. Roloh, of the Canadian army, lhe American is a well-tried performer, and his many contests in his own country and other lands have made his name famous. Rolph came here from Canada with a well-deserved reputation as a rugged hVhter with a big punch, and ho has upheld it. He had a slight advantage over the U.S.A. man in height and reach, but it soon became evident that M'Goorty was hv far the more resourceful boxer. From j the third round the bout looked good for him and he brought matters to a close in the Whth round by practically knocking out Rolph. RUGBY FOOTBALL. Matches in which New Zealand players took part were the most important in connection with Saturday's Rugby fixtures. Great interest centred in the visit of a Maori team to Swansea, where the visitors gave a fine exhibition on the hard and Frozen ground The cold must have severely tried the visitors; nevertheless their passing was excellent, and they came

out on top by two goals to a goal from a mark, In justice to Swansea Jt should be stated that an injury to a player duced the team to 14 for three-quarters of the game. Another New Zealand win was registered at Torquay, where the United Ser» vice team went down before the All Blacks by 9 points to nil. History repeated itself at Llanelly at the week-end, when a local Rugby 15 beat a Maori team in a sensational match. This recalls a match between a visiting Maori team and Llanelly 30 years ago, when the Welshmen beat the men from Australia by a try to nil. In the match under notice the home side were at a disadvantage so far as physique was concerned, the -visitors being far the heavier team. The lighter Llanelly forwards, however, showed remarkable skill, whilst the tackling of the home men was really brilliant, Several times in the first half the home men looked sure to score, but something went wrong at the critical moment. The second half was well advanced when a mistake by ono of the Maoris in their own "2S" gave a chance to the home men whioh was quickly seized, and Evans got over for a try. A few minuteß later an infringement by the visitors led to Llanelly being awarded a penalty kick, and as this was successful the Welsh side cam© out on top by 6 points to nil. As to other matches, the Australian eleven piled up the tremendous score of 50 points to nil against the Flying Corps. Even this tall scoring was eclipsed by Leicester, the "Tigers" beating Bedford by 71 points to nil. Another important Rugby fixture was decided at Richmond, where a Canadian team defeated the Public Schools Service team by 5 points to 3. The South African United Kingdom eleven was opposed to the rest of the South Africans in a trial game, the former winning by 23 points to 3. Overseas Rugby teams are now settling down in anticipation of the great international match, and it is evident from the. performances we have seen so far that the Mother Country will be hard put to it to hold her own. Several of the important soccer matches on Saturday attracted between 20,000 ami 30,000 people—very clear evidence that the dribbling code has not lost its popularity with the general public. One of the most important matches in the Lancashire section was that in which Stoke beat Liverpool by 3 goals to 1, thereby dispossessing Liverpool of second place in the table. Everton secured another 2 points by beating Port Vale by 3 goals to 1, and there seems little likelihood of the leaders losing their position. The two Nottingham teams are practically neck and neck in the Midland section. SKATING. Opportunities for skating in England are few and far bctyioen, and as a rule the fixing of the date for the championship heralds the breaking up of the frost. • Practically this is what happened this year, as no sooner had the Lincolnshire Skating Association appointedv a day for the holding of the championship on the marsh near Spalding than a thaw set in. This made the ice soft, and was all against fast time. Consequently, the returns on the watch were not- favorable to the competitors. The race ultimately ended in a victory for Walter Pridgeon, who covered the one mile with three sharp turns in 3min 40sec, winning by a few yards from F. Meggitt. As this made the third successive victory of Pridgeon, he made the handsome silver cup given by Mr W. S. Royce, M.P., his own property. AMATEUR BILLIARDS. The resumption of the billiard championship both for amateurs and professionals has created a large amount of interest. The final of the amateur event brought Mr S. H. Fry, ex-champion, and | Lieutenant Symes into opposition. It was a well-decided final, with Fry comingout on top by 271 points. On the first day Symes made a splendid break of 224, but he never got far away from Fry, though he was just in front by 26 points with the match half over. Fry got to the head of affairs on the afternoon of the second day. and commenced the last stage with a lead of 88 points. On resuming, the challenger increased his advantage, and at the last session returned an average of 21, which is a very excellent performance indeed. The winner's average for the final came out at his best breaks being 118, 108. and 104, whilst Symes made one three-figure break—viz., that of 224. It may be added that the winner ranks as one of our foremost amateur golfers, and for a man of 50 years of aae he- is certainly a fine all-round sportsman.