Manawatu Daily times Professionalism in Sport

Manawatu Times, Volume LIV, Issue 6885, 15 April 1929, Page 6

Manawatu Daily times Professionalism in Sport

WEEK Mr. L. B. Franklin, of Melbourne, before the National Council of Education at Vancouver fiercely attacked professionalism in sport. Ever since the defeat of Napoleon was'v attributed to thn playing fields of Eton, English people have been supposed, and perhaps really inclined, to regard Test matches as indexes of national greatness/while professionalism in sport has been regarded as a dark and mysterious force threatening the integrity 1 of the Empire. ,Yet it must be admitted that a great deal of sanctimonious nonsense is talked about the playing of games for money (says the Christchurch Press). There is nothing immoral in a man’s capitalising bis skill at a game, so long as he does it openly and honestly. Everyone who plays golf, for example—even the minus eighteen duffer—has hopes of improving his game and is glad to pey for the services of a man who can show him how to hit the ball more often and further. Professionalism is well established in a case like this, and the game is the better for it.* The danger to the spirit of the game arises when professionals are employed to win matches, and when professionalism masquerades as amateurism. Tho professional who is merely a teacher, as in golf, is a valuable asset to a game, but where, as in Association and League football in England, the professional is employed to win matches, the value of those games has deteriorated accordingly. In cricket the professional is usually both a teacher and a match winner, and in his latter capacity his influence on the game has been questionable. Some of the stodginess of modern cricket is almost certainly due to the professional’s desire to keep up his average, by which his commercial value is assessed. The clubs themselves are largely to blame in this matter, since they sp often select coaches for their playing rather than their coaching ability, though the two do not necessarily go ’together. But commercialism does most harm in those games in which the rules regarding amateurism are nominally strict and yet in practice evaded. It is amusing to read the exhaustive regulations of the Rugby code on the subject and then reflect on what has taken place in recent years in New Zealand in inter-provincial football. In both athletics and tennis—we are not now reierring to New Zealand—there is the samo disparity between the theory and the practice of amateurism. The moral seems to be that we should regard professionalism as inevitable and endeavour to regularise it rather than to drive it underground.

Special rates levied by the Makcrua Drainage board Last year totalled £13,912 and this year the estimates indicate that this amount will be decreased by £867, as the amount it is proposed to levy totals £13,015. Sir Joseph Ward Announced bn Saturday that Cabinet had decided to dovelop tho school dental clinics service, so as to apply to all children on tlio present basis of standard or ago The work is now confined to children attending public schools. j

During tho course of Hon. E. A. Ransom's inspection of tho Manawatu* Oroua River board’s district on Saturday morning, Mr. J. Linklater M.P. took the opportunity while the party was at the Ihakara hill, Shannon, to point out to the Minister the dangerous nature of tho incline, mentioning the accidents which had occurred there of lato and suggested that road improvements at this point would provide suitablo work for unemployed during the winter. Mr. Ransom promised to give tho matter full consideration.

Mr. J. A. Nash M.P., has been advised bv the Hon. H. Atmore, Minister of Education, that Cabinet has approved a grant for improvements at the Central school dental clinic. The Australian Press Association has been officially informed that the impending gubnernatorial changes in New Zealand and Tasmania have been suspended owing to the elections. A loan of £50,000 is recommended by the works committee of the Dunedin city council to make provision for repairing the damage caused by the recent floods, states a Press Association message. W. Hazlelt, All Black Rugby player, is unlikely to play this season, according to reports from Southland. He has just taken over a new sheep station, and may not be able to spare the time from his run. The Postal authorities have received cable advice from Sydney that the Ulimaroa which left at noon on Friday for Auckland, carries 126 bags of mail from Australia, three from other places and 185 parcel receptacles. The particularly heavy rainfall yesterday afterppon did not appreciably affect the level of the Manawatu river. Reading on tho flood recorder in the Palmerston North telephone exchange remained constant throughout tho day at 2ft 3ins. above normal level. An Apiti ratepayer who resented the imposition of the 10 per cent added to unpaid rates wrote to the Pohangina County council on Saturday, stating that the council had singled him out for a target on which to drop its bombs but he and Iris fellow ratepayers would not forget them at the next council election.

The Ashburton County county passed a resolution protesting against the constitution of the Advisory Transport board, as the farming community had not sufficient representation. Tho chairman said tho counties with only one representative, would have very little say in the recommendations, although any reductions in license fees or petrol tax would bo made up by county ratepayers.

A keen observer of the peoples of the various countries' that he has lived in, Mr. J. Gehring, who is spending a holiday in New Zealand from Chicago, believes that a separato American racial type will arise from the inixturo of nations that now lives in the United States. It was marvellous, he said, to see and hear children whoso parent.} spoke nothing but—for example—Ger man, assimilato English as soon as they could speak, and always answer their parents in that lauguago instead of the one in which they were addressed. These children understood German, but could not and would not speak it. It was tho samo with all Amcrican-born children of foreign parts. Tho children were American in speech and thought, although their parents could not speak English.

An arresting statement made by the Director of Town-Planning (Mr. J. W. Mawson) at Masterton was that the amount that must bo spent in widening unduly narrow main streets in New Zoalnnd towns and cities was negligible in comparison with the amount that might be saved by reducing the width of streets that were needlessly wide. In many cases it would be highly advantageous to reduce tho width of streets in residential areas and thus save the money now wasted annually in meeting needlessly heavy street maintenance costs . The Tight policy in such areas was to move the fence lines forward, whilo keeping the building lines where they were. The disposal of tho surplus street land would bo a matter to be dealt with by the local controlling authority. In some instances the land might be sold or leased to the owners of frontages. There were cases in which it would pay the local authority handsomely to give away this surplus land..

Some marvellous escapes from serious injuries in motor car accidents at times occur, but it would bo hard to beat the following: Mr. F. Piper, of Kotemaori, was driving around a narrow bend at the Mohaka deviation when he suddenly met a car driven by Mrs P. Cooper, of Wairoa. A head-on collision was averted by the former slowing his car around, the wheels going into the ditch. At this juncture ho lost control and the car shot out of the ditch across the road again, striking tho rear of Mrs Cooper’s car, which was now at a standstill, and went over the bank making a drop of 30 feet and coming to rest upside' down. Inside Mr. Piper’s car were his wife and two children and Mrs Wood and child, of Kotemaori, but beyond a few scratches to one of the children no one was hurt, but the car sustained considerable damage, and small damage was done to the Tear of tho other car.