ATHLETICS

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 24 April 1925, Page 9

ATHLETICS

WOMEN OE FAR EAST INTERESTED IN ATHLETICS.

Women of every clime and colour are anxious to eiiior the field of athletics, and Madame Millint, president of the International Federation of Women Athletes, has received enquiries relative to the next Woman’s Olmypiad from India, China, and Japan.

Mrs. Elliott Lynn the well-known woman' athlete, fancies the chances of the African girls. She points out that recently a woman’s 100-yard race was included in track and field events held in East Africa. The long robe worn by the native women, tied under the top of the arm, was not. conducive to fast track work, but they performed splendidly.

“If,” says Mrs. Lynn, “they can be persuaded to adopt a Western garb for athletics, I am confident that the African girls will make their European sisters bustle to retain the laurels of both track and field work.”

SPORT IN ENGLAND. WHAT IS WRONG WITH IT? CHAMPIONSHIPS THAT HAVE DEPARTED. What with gallant Giliigan’s strained thigh, Tate’s stubbed toe, Freeman’s injured wrist and subsequent retirement for a ladylike swoon —that sensational series of disasters to our white-flannelled hopes during the never-to-be-forgotten four Down Under —I* don’t think I’m strong enough for this most serious business, which has somehow or other got wrongly labelled sport, states Jane Doe in the Daily Chroneile. Particularly international sport. A few months ago I had the thrilling experience of being passed by the insurance doctor as a first-class life, but if the company knew what I have suffered during the visit of the All Blacks, and the controversial testiness produced by our lamentable cricket prowess, T should probably be required to double the premiums or forfeit the policy altogether. My complaint. though not found in any medical dictionary, is well known among plain-speaking people with whom I foregather as “a considerable pain in the neck.” And it is a humiliating form of suffering much resented by my proud British blood.

The bitter fact of the matter is our sportsmen, either amateurs or those who are not allowed the dignity of a handle to their surnames have been far to delicately nurtured and. carefully brought up for the rigours of championship games. Let us review the sorry pageant of our dished holies of international honours. • Cricket. —So far, the Australian eleven have pursued the even tenor of their way. No aches, pains or sprains have crippled their efforts or impeded their leisurely walk-over to victory.

Football. —The All Blacks, the first visiting team of any sport which has never been lien ten, left these shores trailing clouds of glory. Nepin, the full-blooded Maori, boasts the marvellous record of having missed no game —a more than wonderful fact when you remember that the busiest men in any English Rugger or soccer riiatch are the trainers on the touchlines, who are kept well on the hop, dofing out the embrocation and applying first aid for windedness, stitches., and Rugger “rash.”

Gfilf. —Hagen won last year with*one stroke, an eight yards putt, and did it without the faintest effort, despite the fact that a couple of thousand people were hemming him around and mentally praying for his downfall.

Polo.—Any one who lias heard the inside stories of the Meadowbrook debacle, the quarrels, jealousies, dissensions’ and the bickerings over the selection of the captain, was not surprised to hear that the only players who showed any skill, intelligence, enthusiasm, and who did their job nobly and well that Saturday, when 40,000 people turned out to see the game, were the —.ponies.

But let us not crow too much over even our horses. When Papyrus crossed the Pond to show a leg with the best horses in U.S.A., the poor darling succumbed immediately on landing there to acute homesickness, and pined away all his chances of victory for the kitten he left behind him jn his English stables.

Boxing.—All our white hopeless ones go down like ninepins to the count, almost as soon as the first bell goes. Only recently, one of them, who has always fancied his chances as a pugilist, distinguished himself at Brighton by taking the 'boards five times in the first round!

General Sport.—Whenever a sail blows away .it is always from a Shapirock. If fin oarsman in the Grand Sculls falls overboard, it is generally an Englishman. When we flv in the international races our engines are often faulty and we trail home, long after everything, including the shouting, is over, like battered homing pigeons. Even when the dear old boat race nuts the Thames on the map each spring, the winning crew is frequently stroked to victory by an American, or there’s an Australian or an Afrikander a t how.

No, wo are not strong enough for sport. If there are any tennis elbows, footballers’ knees, cricketers’ strain, weak stomachs, and similar calamities a store they are always curiously earmarked for our men.

At the moment a somewhat pious fuss is being waged over the legality if boxing. It appears that before a bout can take place at the-N.S.C. every boxer is examined by the medical officer of the club, and policemen from Bow Street warn the management of. what to expect in the event of disaster. L’m all in favour of such proceedings, and they should he carried much farther and include all other sports. There should he a man in attendance, who is i specialist in the detection , ( of glass jaws, weak knees, temperament, a disposition to take too many punches lying down. Alienists, too, for those who think they will .be better equipped to get runs if they carry a couple of black cats in their trousers pockets. Psychoanalysts, in order to discover the presence* in contestants of any complexes, such as too much rain, too little rain; heat, dust, and climatic conditions generally. Pedicurists, manicurists, beauty doctors, trained nurses, and volunteers who will hold their hands and smooth their fevered brows when required. Sometimes I believe ive ought to pension off all our present sportsmen, and let buxom girls have a chance. They so obviously look to be made of sterner stuff.