BOXING Drill Hall Held To Be Ideal For Indoor Sport

Grey River Argus, 14 October 1949, Page 3

BOXING Drill Hall Held To Be Ideal For Indoor Sport

Preliminary arrangements tor the 1950 New Zealand boxing championships, to be held in Greymouth next Septemebr, were discussed at length at a meeting of the executive of the Greymouth Boxing Association last evening.. The president of the Association, Mr A. Beban, who will officiate in a similar capacity on the New Zealand Association, was congratulated on his efforts in that he was instrumental in getting the championships for Greymouth. When he explained the manner in which he went about getting the championships, Mr Beban was heartily applauded. It was for a two-fold reason that he wanted to have them here, he said —firstly with the local Association at heart; and then for the asset it would be for business people and the town in general to have upwards of a thousand visitors here for a few days. Tentative arrangements were made, and a committee was set up to make an early start to ensure the success of the championships. It was decided, on the motion of Mr J. Finlay, to ask all country clubs to send delegates to the next meeting, when concrete proposals could be formulated. He suggested that ev.ery endeavour be made to get the public boxing-minded, and to encourage as many tourneys as possible with a view to finding some really worthwhile talent from which to select a formidable West Coast team.

On Mr F. W. Baillie’s suggestion it was decided to write to the N.Z. Council, asking for dates to be allotted for the championships. On the motion of Messrs Hall and Sweetman, Mr Baillie was appointed t oact as secretary during the course of the championships.

The possibility of holding a tourney at Runanga was discussed, but as the Miners’ Hall was available in midweek only, the idea was ruled out. The chairman said that he thought the Drill Hall would be an ideal place to hold indoor sport, such as boxing and wrestling. Mr Baillie said that his firm had stored material in the building, but they ha<| been instructed by the lessee of the building to remove the material within the next week or so. The Marist Brothers’ Sports Organisation had applied for the use of the hall for their boxing tourney, but permission was not obtainable.

The chairman said that if the hall was going to be demolished, he thought that the Association should enlist the support of the Government in order to renovate it and thereby make it into a much needed amenity for the town. Mr P. Sweetman said that when they requested the use of the hall previously the answer was in the negative.

Mr Finlay said he thought the lessee’s biggest worry was the likelihood of a fire. The chairman said that the Association could take out an insurance policy. Mr N. Kiely said that the Association had tried previously, but did not seem to get far in the matter. The hall would make an ideal community centre or gymnasium for indoor sport. The town had a population of over 8000, and the youth were deprived of the benefit of physical culture and indoor sport through the lack of a suitable hall.

Mi’ Finlay said that if the Association could get the hall and have it done up, it would be an ideal place to hold the championships. Rev. T. G. Campbell had started a physical culture class in shed at the Trotting Park, but it had since been closed. It was decided that Messrs Baillie, McGlashan and the secretary draft a suitable letter to be forwarded to the Government asking that something be done in regard to finding a suitable hall for indoor sport. It was decided to donate two guineas towards the Geo. Aldridge Memorial Cup which is given each year to the N.Z. bantam weight champion. It was stated there had been a suggestion at the annual meeting of the N.Z. Council that an All Black v. Springbok boxing tourney be staged during the course of the Empire Games.

It was decided to ask the Council to forward V. Tuck’s miniature cup to go with the Parisian Cup he won at the 1948 championships. Messrs McGuinness and Hall were appointed to act as stewards on behalf of the Grey Association at Blackball to-morrow night. The Nelson Crek Club is to be asked to send down two delegates to meet the Grey Association to clarify a matter that club is in doubt over.

Mr Finlay gave a comprehensive report on the West Coast team that attended the New Zealand championships. Eder was decidedly unlucky in losing his first match to Adams, who went on to win the title. Curtis suffered from stage fright, and performed accordingly. The behaviour of the team was exemplary. In his opinion, Mclvor, from Hawke’s Bay, was the best boxer produced in New Zealand for 10 years, concluded Mr Finlay. Present at the meeting were Messrs A. Beban (chair), R. Hall, T. Heslin, H. G. Carter, F. W. Baillie, N. Kiely, T. McGuinness, J. Finlay, F. Costello, L. McGlashan and P. E. Sweetman (secretary).