SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 23237, 10 April 1939, Page 6

SPORT IN BRITAIN

VETERAN RUNNERS FINE RECORD [From Our Correspondent.] LONDON, March 16. : ATHLETICS, , In all the long history of the national cross-country championship^—the event dates back to 1879—it can rarely havebeen held under such vile conditions as those prevailing at Worsley, near Man 1 Chester, last Saturday afternoon. At the finish of the 10 miles over plough and grass land Sodden with rain,' the competitors were almost unrecognis-i able It must have been a -heartbreaking experience, and the wonder is that as many as 318 of the 400 runners completed the distance. It was a tribute to the endurance of brain and body that so many young athletes included in most of the teams plugged along to the bitter end. There were, of course, many seasoned runners taking part, amongst them J. T. Holden; This remarkable runner celebrated his thirty-second birthday with a win remarkable alike for the stamina and judgment he displayed. Until a year ago Holden had never won: the national championship,. but, he had won the international title on three occa : sions. When to these performances are added seven Midland championships, besides successes on the track in the A.A.A., 10 miles and six miles championships, it will be admitted that the Staffordshire man must rank as one of the foremost stayers in English athletes. The northern champion, A. E. Tyrer, strove in vain to nold the champion, over the last mile. The Royal Air Force has given us some very fine athletes during the past decade, notably D. O. Finlay (seven times hurdles champion), S. Ferris (so great a marathon runner), and R. H. Thomas, (who held the mile record until J. E. Lovelock ran the distance in 4min 12sec at Oxford in 1932). The R.A.F. have produced a fine cross-country runner in F. H. Reeve. On Saturday he finished, third to Holden anti Tyrer, and is undoubtedly a coming champion. BOXING. Every day modern science is bring; ing about changes in the world of sport. The radio enables enthusiasts to listen to commentaries without visiting the scene of action. Television helps them to see the contest in progress. As the chairman of a football league club put it, “They’ll soon be able to sit bv their, firesides and see 1 the game without coming near us.” It was to protect the “ gates ” that the League decided- there should be no; broadcasting of its matches! For the, same reason the Boxing Board or Control has declared that no bout shall he televised withqut its .permission. It did' not, however,, interfere with the arrangements which had already been made to throw the Harvey-Gams fight on. to the screen, at a-West End cinema. General expectation was that with his advantage of five years in age (the Canadian negro is 37), and-the fact that he is now only a stone lighter than Gains as against a difference of three stones when Gains suffered a yarrow defeat, victory would go to Har-; vey, although opinions differed as to whether he would knock out his_ opponent by the same tactics as he used against Eddie Phillips, or outstay him over the gruelling 15 rounds; The huhlie must have sensed the probable course of the contest; for the attend-, anee was much smaller than one would have expected at a bout for the pire heavy-weight championship. Nowadavs spectators look for thrills, and there were hardly any throughout the 13 rounds, at the end. of which a cut eye caused Gains to,retire. The student found much to interest him in the clever tactics. The coloured Canadian showed fine defensive skill. Haryey seemed more intent on slowly wearing his old opponent down than on bringing the fight to a, summary end! Gains can go into retirement knowing that he has fully earned the: goodwill of all who admire, a clean and straightforward boxer.

CRICKET. The English cricket team left Durban on the first stage of its journey home in a blaze of glory.. In this column a week ago the writer spoke of its being “ all Lombard street to a China orange ” on South Africa winning tho fifth and last test match. Well the whole world thought the same. It certainly seemed to he impossible that any team could score nearly 700 rims on a pitch whereon 1,237 had already been made. Yet England nearly did it, and but for that unfortunate downpour during the tea interval on the tenth day of the match, would have achieved “a miracle.” No need to dwell on the numerous records broken during the game. Perhaps the most noteworthy was the fact that no fewer than 5,447 balls were bowled. Whatever one’s opinion may be of this “ timeless ” cricket. W. R. Hammond of a surety, will for all tiine look back on the two great performances with which he has been associated during the past setfen months—the scoring of 903 by England against the Australians' at the Oval and the 654 for five wickets by England in the match just concluded!. To bo perfectly frank, there is a good deal of disappointment in the Old Country that this play-to-a-finish test was not finished. Even if it was necessary for the English team to travel by the boat on which their passages had been booked, people are asking why ’ they could not have been conveyed from ■ Durban to Cape Town by air. As England had won the rubber the result was of no consequence, but one would have liked the magnificent batting of five English: men. with the unlucky Edn'ch at last coming out of his shell and scoring a grand 219, to be rewarded with something less barren than a moral victory. SOCCER. Why is it that Scotsmen are so conservative in sport? There has long been an agitation for the numbering of players m both codes of football. In Rugby England numbered its players in international matches. Scotland declined to follow suit, until one day King George V. attended a match between the two countries, and expressed surprise that one fifteen should be numbered and not the other. The Football Association has informed the Scottish F.A. that it proposes to number the English eleven taking part in the international match in Glasgow next month. Scotland will not copy England example, maintaining that the position of the player on the field is sufficient to show his identity. Such an arrangement might have been convincing years ago when a player bad his forward position and kept to it. Nowadays the forwards interchange positions so frequently that experienced pressmen are often dubious as to who s who at a particular moment._ Imagine the confusion of the casual visitor who has nothing but the names on the printed programmes of the match to guide him. Numbering the players has another advantage. Any of them guilty of breaches of the rules on the Held of play and bringing down on themselves an admonition from the referee will kuow full well that they will

be identifiable as offenders by the whole of those present. They 'might hesitate before risking such an exposure. The . defeat sustained by Wolverhampton Wanderers from lowly Birmingham last Saturday afternoon must have come as a shock to those who regard the cup a certainty for the Staffordshire club. True the Wolves had four men injured during the course of the game, but unlooked for injuries and illnesses have many times wrecked a club’s prospectSj and the Wolves are no more immune from the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune than any other combination of ■ sportsmen/ "\y_hile the Wolves were falling to Birmingham, Everton was -'increasing , their lead in the 'championship race to three points at Middlesbrough, where they effected a 4 goals draw after being J goals down. There were other heavy scoring games in the first division. At Liverpool, for instance, the Merseyside club and Portsmouth shared equally _8 goals. This performance and a midweek victory at Sunderland have, done something to carry the. Hampshire club clear of the relegation zone and suggest that if they have the good fortune to meet the Wolves at Wembley the Staffordshire side may not have matters all their own way. Promotion from the second division is still in the' lap of- the gods. No. fewer than 10 clubs still have a chance of going up, and every point won or lost during the next six weeks is vital. Blackburn Rovers did not allow tfaeir dismissal from the cup by Huddersfield to depress them,'for they went, to Coventryand beat one of their most dangerous rivals. Even v more surprising was the defeat at Brammall Lane of Sheffield United by Swansea, whose record away from Borne did not inspire confidence in their ability to overcome so powerful-a side as thc Umted ihe fact that the , latter had transferred their centre, Dodds, to Blackpool may have influenced the result, for the dashing Scot' Las shown himself ; to be one of the mosT prolific of scorers when in the mood. Ine other ' Sheffield club, the, Wednesday, fell at Newcastle, and the result enabled the latter to climb' into second position. On' the play Tottenham Hotspur should have beaten Manchester City, the irony of their defeat by 3 goals 'to 2 arising from the fact that Sproston, the England back, scored twice after an injury bad caused him to be put at outside left. As in the Rugby international championship there may be a triple tie in the race for the Association title. England are the present holders of the Jubilee Cup, presented to commemorate the jubilee of King George V. If they pan manage to beat Scotland in Glasgow next month they will share leading honours with Wales and thc Scots, each of whom has two victories to their credit, while England at present can boast success over Ireland. The lastnamed have lost all their three international engagements, the last defeat coming from the feet of Wales yesterday. Wrexham, in North Wales, was the scene of the match. It has always been favoured by the Welsh Football Association, but the governing body is at last compelled to realise that towns in South Wales like Cardiff and Swansea can insure bigger attendances, and Wrexham may see no more internationals. As regards yesterdav’s game, it gave further evidence of the height to which patriotism can raise the,

standard of play amongst the Welsh representatives. Since Bryn Jones made his first appearance for the Arsenal after his transfer from Wolverhampton there has scarcely been an occasion when he has approached his form. Against Ireland yesterday he gave- at very fine display, and with young Cumnor, who cannot get' a place on Arsenal’s left wing, made up the liveliest wing on the field. Though Ireland lost by 3 goals to 1 they had very little the worse of the play, and Doherty, the idol of Manchester City, made many gallant efforts to bring victory to his side. RUGBY. 'Once more the cup of happiness'ha« been dashed from, thg lips of Irish followers of Rugby. .After a. long interval of 40 years there were high hope# that her fifteen would, go through the season’s international campaign Without defeat", gaining the championship and the triple crown. It was riot to be, for Wn* es again dashed the, Irishmen’s' hopes. Nobody present at -Belfast- would call" the result another" injustice tq: Ireland,; though ;tliG; great majority of "those' ‘ jvHp.. -.watched a terrific ’fight on' a mud heap were con* gratuling themselves'five minutes/from the end of the game that if Ireland could not win, at all events, they would draw, and thus be hailed as champions. Wales, whose forwards all through the piece had shown themselves superior to the Irish pack, pressed more and more as time drew near. A fine dropped goal by W. Dines settled the.issue and shook the Irish defence somilch' that th« same player got over for an - unconverted try. As a spectacle' the game was poop. The Welsh players saw to it that those 'dashing forwards got • few opportunities for their devastating rushes and cleared their, lines time and again by long kicks, either ;for touch or down the field. We saw very' few movements amongst the outsides, and the whole display gave further confirmation of the belief that interna* tional Rugby is becojning more and more a matter of stopping the. other, fellow and hoping that a lucky chancf will bring, a score to your own side. Warwickshire are county champion# for the first tiriie. Everybody who like# to see the honours go round will congratulate the Midland county, who just about deserve their success over Somerset at Weston Super Mare. The margin was 8 points to 3—the losers leading by a penalty goal to nil at halftime. The Somerset forwards, worked grandly in the early stages,.and if Harris, their crack stand-off half, had not been absent through injury the Westerners’ outsides would have got many more opportunities than they did. J. L. Giles was in his best form after « long abesnee through injury, while the Scots international, Bruce Lockhart, did his share to ensure victory fop Warwick. GOLF. Professional golf has made its start for the season with the qualifying competition for the 1 Daily Mail ’ £2,005 tournament. We shall have to wait until Saturday to know who have qualified in the south, but the Midlands, north, and west have completed their competitions. A. C. Bignall head** ♦he list of 25 who qualified in the north R. A. Whitcombe and Percy Alliss are amongst six in the west.