TOPICAL TATTLE

Lake Wakatip Mail, Issue 4328, 24 August 1937, Page 7

TOPICAL TATTLE

NEWSY NOTES ON SPORT

Loss to Canterbury. Canterbury’s loss is going to be the gain of English county cricket. Frank O’Brien, captain of the St. Albans ! senior eleven, and a Canterbury and ' : South Island representative, will play ’ | for the Northamptonshire County | Cricket Club in championship matches I during the latter half of next season ' , (says the ‘ Zealandia ’). O'Brien is 26 years of age, and last season his average in Plunket Shield matches was 43, his highest score being 113 against Otago. His favourite scoring shot is a powerful on drive. He is a sound field at cover or extra cover. O’Brien is an old boy of St. Bede's College. ’ Deserved All He Got. > German sports pages viewed > James J. Braddock’s defeat by Joe Lewis with sardonic satisfaction. ; It was the consensus of the papers that the man who “ dodged ” a fair fight with Max Schmeling got what he deserved from Louis. Indignation ran high in some papers, ; which pointed out that a negro, already decisively defeated by 1 Schmeling, is going around calling 1 himself the world champion. [ Not Such a Phenomenon. “ I have not seen Joe Louis in the > flesh, but unless the screen version of ■ his contest with Braddock is wholly • misleading he is not the phenomenon he seemed to be when he crumpled Carnera and smashed Baer,” writes B. ; Bennison, London boxing correspondent of the ‘ Star-Sun.’ “ And Ido also venture that Louis has not been up against such a knowledgable boxer as is Tommy Farr. A great deal will, of ■ course, depend upon Farr’s readiness or slowness to acclimatise. He will find conditions enormously different from what he has been used to at home.” In an interview with Bennison, Len. Harvey, ex-champion of England, said that Farr would be more likely to win against Louis than against Max Schmeling. Auckland Swimmer for Dunedin. A real acquisition to Otago swimming is W. War ien, a keen Auckland surfman and swimmer, who has taken up an appointment in Dunedin and has joined the Kiwi Club. For some years Warwick Warren was a members of the Takapuna Surf Life Saving Club’s team, and was also secretary of the Fastern Suburbs Amateur Swimming and Life Saving Club, which, though one of the youngest clubs in Auckland, is now one of the strongest. Warren is a former winner of the Auckland junior beltman’s championship, and was a member of the Auckland provincial champion rescue and resuscitation team in 1936-37, taking part in the competition against the visiting Australian team. He swam first in the junior surf race for three years in succession and was placed fourth in the surf race at the New Zealand championships at Wellington last season. In Dunedin he will take up surf work with the St. Clair Surf Life Saving Club. He is a very fair free style performer over 100 yds, which he has covered in 62sec. Warren also played Association football for the Y.M.C.A. senior eleven, and was an Auckland junior representative player. More recently he has given good service to the game as a junior referee. Big Doings in Sydney. Outstanding international events to be staged at the Sydney Cricket Ground next year are the British Empire Games, test and State matches between the All Blacks and Australian and New South Wales teams, and possibly a triangular League football tournament between Australia, New Zealand, and France. International Sides Compared. Mr T. H. ißosward, the well-known New South Wales Rugby administrator, who has managed teams on tours of New Zealand, is of the opinion that the 1937 Springboks are very much like the 19U4 British team, which came out here under Bedell Sievright. The 1901 backs, he says, were perhaps better than the Springboks this year, but the Springook forwards have shown a finer knowledge of forward play. Test Cricketer’s Escape. 11. Gregory, the Australian test cricketer, had a narrow escape from injury recently. A gas bath heater he and his father were experimenting with blew up almost in his face. No serious damage was done, but Gregory’s eyesight was somewhat affected for several days following the accident. Latest medical opinion is that his eyes have suffered no permanent injury. Unorthodox Rugby. When the combined London Rugby side met the 1912 Springboks, the home forwards did not trouble about pushing or hooking in the set scrums (says an exchange). The moment the ball went in, all but the front-rankers broke up and swarmed round upon the South Africans’ second row, where the ball was generally held. The Springboks could not counter this most unorthodox football. They were defeated —one of the three losses suffered by the team. London’s Latest Swimming Pool. London's latest swimming pool, an open-air structure at Brockwell Park, was opened recently by the mayor of Lambeth. The bath enclosure covers an area of two and a-qnarter acres, and the swimming pool is 165 ft long and 90ft wide. There are two terraced areas for spectators and a cafe planned to serve the public as well as bathers. The pool holds 600,000 gallons of water which can he filtered in five hours. Large dressing rooms have been provided for children, and there are 162 cubicles and 880 lockers. The cost of the pool was £26,000. Boxer and Footballer. Ambrose Palmer, the Australian champion boxer is playing football again, and is strengthening the Footscray nick (says a Melbourne paper). He is a strong, manly player, and his experience in the boxing ring has taught him restraint and an observance

of the laws of the game. There is no sport in which a breach of the rules brings disaster so promptly. One foul punch in the boxing ring brings instant disqualification, and thus boxers have to keep themselves strongly under control. The discipline of the ring is insistent and compelling. I recall such fine sporting footballers as Tom Duggan, of South Melbourne; Mick M'lnerney, of Carlton; and Bill Lang, of Richmond. They were strong but scrupulously fair, and Ambrose Palmer follows their good example. Never Count Your Chickens. “ Never count your chickens before they’re hatched ” is a slogan that might well be adopted in Rugby football. There is a story going the rounds that when it was decided that the Miller’s Flat team should provide the curtain raiser to the Otago-Southland Ranfurly Shield match by a game against Kaikorai, who were runners-up in the Dunedin competition, and had only three of the regular side out of the team on the day of the Shield game, Miller’s Flat naturally appreciated the sporting gesture of the Kaikorai team, which is reported to have expressed a willingness to ease up a little after 10 or 12 points were on the board, and to make it a good friendly game. It did not turn out that way. however, and although two or three of the regular members of the country side did not make the trip to Dunedin Miller's Flat was quickly into its stride, and did not look back, running out winners by 17 points to 6. There is a moral here. Boxing in Sydney. Back in Dunedin after a long absence is Mr Tom Batt, the donor of the Batt Cup, which is competed for annually for the two-mile harbour swim under the auspices of the Otago Swimming Centre. Air Batt was also one of the early members of the Otago Boxing Association, and he told the writer that of late boxing had been at a low ebb in Sydney. Fred Henneherry had made a good come-back, and recently at Leichardt Stadium fought Max Raynor, who got a very much-disputed decision over the former champion. A return bout had been arranged. Generally the attendances had been poor, but when a good drawcard, such as Ron Richards, who was a very fine fighter, was engaged the fans attended in force. The fighting element in Sydney at present is very weak, he states, but Mickey Miller and Jerry Leonard (who is now in New Zealand) were both promising boxers. Cohen, who graduated from amateur ranks after being selected to represent Australia at the Olympic Games—he did not make the trip—is shaping very promisingly, and if nursed along he should develop into a good boxer. Mr Batt expects to be in Dunedin for some time.