EMPIRE GAMES

Manawatu Standard, Volume LVIII, Issue 74, 24 February 1938, Page 2

EMPIRE GAMES

BOXING AND WRESTLING. COMMENTS BY JUDGE. Comments made by Mr G. AYatchorn,. of Palmerston North, on the wrestling and boxing at the Empire Games in Sydney have particular application in view of the fact that he was a judge at the boxing, being one of the three judges in the finals, while he also saw every wrestling bout. In an 'interview with the “Standard,” Mr Watchorn gave interesting information on the performances of several of the contestants and described in particular a bout in which the Palmerston North boxer, J. Collins, was engaged. Originally Mr "Watchorn went to Australia quite unofficially, but on arrival there he found that there might be some difficulty in securing a reasonably good seat. However, through the good offices of Mr G. Aldridge, secretary of the New Zealand Boxing Association, and on account of his own qualifications, he secured recognition, and when Dr. J. P. Kenny, of Western Australia, was unable to fulfil his appointment as one of the judges of boxing, Mr Watchorn was chosen in his stead. Mr Watchorn witnessed every wrestling- and boxing bout,, and of the 3b displays with the gloves he was a judge of 29. STANDARD OF BOXING.

“The New Zealand competitors were rather unfortunate in meeting tough opposition,” said Mr Watchorn in speaking of the boxing, “but all of them put up creditable performances. Some critics have commented that in the case , of- boxing the standard was rather weak, although in one or two instances some excellent bouts eventuated. Of those which were outstanding, Joubert (South Africa) and J. Gagnon (Canada) put up a great performance in the final of the njweight division, and it was only ni the last round that Joubert went ahead. A. W. Henricus, a coloured boxer, of Ceylon, was a very popular winner in the final of the featherweight section, and he adopted the _ old straight-up Jem Mace style of boxing. W. H. Butler (England!, a bantamweight, was another who had a good left, and in his final bout with ri. Kuoesen (South Africa) gave a very interesting display of scientific boxing. Unfortunately the majority of the boxers forgot they had a left hand, and seemed anxious to beat the other man by brute force instead of outboxing him. J. COLLINS’S BOUT. “The Palmerston North boxer, J. Collins, met W. R. Felton ( Rh °; desia), and had Collins used his left as he does in Palmerston North he might easily have been adjudged the winner. As it was, the first round was fairly even. Collins tailed to use his left hand and mixed it with Fulton, who has a fairly rugged ype of physique. The Rhodesian bored in most of the time, but I thought that Collins had shaded him and gave 20 to Collins and 18 to Fulton. In the second round it appeared to me that Fulton’s seconds had told him to keep on top of Collins, for those were the P tactics he adopted. There was a hurricane start to the round, but the speed gradually slowed down and I thought Collins was again slightly ahead, the ,margin bemg aoout the same. My award was 20 points to Collins and 18 to Fulton again. The last round was a fine one. lhe Rlio desian did not let up and kept on top of Collins all the time. Condition told in the finish and the Rhodesian won the bout by a small margin of points, although Collins seemed to be coming away at the finish. Collins certainly lost the b 9?? t > , but did not disgrace Palmerston North.

WRESTLING DESCRIBED. “The wrestling was practically all won by the Australians—the bantam, feather, welter, light-heavy, and the heavyweight divisions. “^dieweight was annexed by T. Evans, or Canada, who is, I beheve, an Oiympic champion. Our entrants did not appear to be familiar with the Olympic rules, under which, if an entrant s shoulders are momentarily on the that constitutes a fall, there must be a pause, but not three seconds as we are used to here. In several instances they did. not even know that a fad had been given against them. Ihe same thing happened Seur at 6 last Olympic Games, when the Australians protested very strong;y against the P ruling. . However, the Olympic rules governing wrestling appear to be quite satisfactory, and it might bo advisable to adopt them throughout New Zealand, One tiling the rules showed, however, was that the aggressive wrestlers .handicapped themselves by taking chances, whereas the man who remained on the defensive and waited for an opportunity—sometimes by luck much more than management—had the opportunity to pin. his man. “Of course, these bouts were all held in the stadium at Rushcutters Bav, and on the final night the place was packed out. If I had not been one of the officials I would have been | well away from the ringside. Some of the visitors from Australian States were unable to obtain ringside seats Dryden (New Zealand), who defeated the colossal Scotsman, A. Dudgeon, who weighed about 20 stone, in the elimination bouts, met J- Knight (Australia) in the final of the lieavjweiglit division. Knight is the present Empire champion, and only in the last minute or so did he manage to pin Dryden. .Dp to that time the £i£” wer 5 e even. «nd it ». toun as to who was going to be the whiner. After the bout was over Knight said that Dryden, who is a farmer at Featherston, was one ot the strongest men he had ever tvrestled This was only about Diyden’s fourth appearance in the ring since he has taken up the sport. He has promised me that if we find an opponent for him he will be pleased to wrestle in Palmerston North during the season. GENERAL IMPRESSIONS.

“Generally, the Games were most interesting indeed, and they were conducted exceedingly well,” Mr Watchorn added. “The'only thing about which there was any trouble was tho diving, and personally I thought that it was wonderful. The hero of the Games was C. H. Matthews, of Christchurch, who won the three miles and the six miles. The mile was rather disappointing to New Zealanders, as vve all expected P. V. Boot to emerge the winner, but he was decisively beaten by J. W. Alford (Wales) and G. I. Backhouse (Australia), Boot being about two yards behind the second man. However, Boot won the 880 yards in very fine fashion by about 20 yards from F. R. Handley (England), who was second.”An enquiry elicited the information that a badge Mr Watcliorn was wearing was one issued to officials and competitors. It entitled the possessor to entry to a special enclosure re-

served for competitors and officials and to free rides on the trams or ferries while in Sydney. Mr Watchorn, a$ one .of the three judges selected for the finals of the boxing, was associated with Messrs A. O. Bern (Victoria) and C. Proctor (Queensland).