TOO TAME.

Hawera Star, Volume XLV, 22 August 1925, Page 16

TOO TAME.

AMERICANS ON OUR SPORTS

AMUSING COMMENTS. New Zealand sports are slow, or at least that, is tlie opinion of the American officers and men who were specta- . ovs at Ellersbe and various parks oh Saturday. Possibly when Aucklanders see the exposition of American football and baseball to ho given by the visitors this week they will be similarly niienthusiastic. Jt is hard at first jump to take a keen interest in sports to which the spectator is a sranger. Baseball or Rugby “fans” are not the product of a moment; the taste is not spontaneous, but acquired. For the spectators in their immediate neighbourhood a party of American sailors watching Soccer at Blandford Park provided no- little amusement. It was obvious that they did not know the game, but the Royal iNavy was playing Thistle, and as a matter of course they had decided to “root” for their cousins in the same profession. Apparently Association rules make for a much more gent'e game than American football, for: although they appeared to take an interest in tlie game, the visitors sometimes expressed a little contempt in their remarks. “Say,” said one to his companions. “I’d sure like to see some of our girls back home playing this. game. Suit them fine, I guess.” When a Thistle p'ayer was injured and the St. John Ambulance men rushed on the field to his aid, “Jackie” brought the house down by asking, “W’hat they gonna do, arrest him?” As the player was carried off there was a chorus of “Well, now that- looks like something familiar, don’t it?” Inquiries elicited the information that die American game invariably provides a series of “knock-outs,” each side havin': Quite a reserve of players on the side line readv to take the places of the “fallen.” The League football game at Carlaw Park was also voted too gentle by the few Americans who found their way there. * ; . “Very slow, your game,” Said one. “Why' we only have time tc. publish our dead every three months.” When a long pass was missed there was the quaint comment. “Why, they’re playing too wide.” The sailors barracked in unison and quite impartially.

oiving vociferous encouragement to Citv and Devonport by turns. The Rugby game at Eden Park had most followers from the fleet, but their voice l was lost in the crowd of 14,0(10 spectators. Fair quotas fo'uml their way to Ellerslie. It could not bo said that-they took close interest in the racing, although natura’ly quite a goodly pile of sovereigns was left in tlie totaUsator at the end of the day. Rut horse racing in America is not a universal sport as in New Zealand. Racing is carried on in only three out of tlie forty-eight States of the Union—New York, West Virginia and Kentucky. When asked how the luck was going, an officer said: “My pn-1 here said. WVe’ll hack that horse,’ and I said ‘Fine.’ When the race finished my.pa 1 said tlie horse was a ‘swine.’ I figure vour horseracing is just like our baseball. If you want to throw the game you can throw it. Now, our national game is baseball, and we bet- on high, ruin, just as you do on fast runs. Generally we follow form, but. there is nulling’ in our game sometimes, and the outsider chance romps home. You’ll always get that where there’s betting on sport. But it has been a real pleasure to see your Ellerslie. It i K surely one of the world’s show horse paddocks.”