Flashes From Fields of Sport Abroad

Manawatu Times, Volume LV, Issue 6864, 21 May 1932, Page 11

Flashes From Fields of Sport Abroad

A Costly Race The race for the world’s professional distance cycling championship, which was held at Copenhagen some months ago, lias cost the International Cyclists Union a hundred thousand francs, in addition to its ordinary expenses. The race was awarded to Falk Hansen, of Holland, and Lucien Michard, of France, was placed second, although most of the people at the finishing-point, including the newspaper representatives, considered that Michard had won. Photographs also showed that the judge’s decision was wrong. As action by Michard would have involved risk of suspension, one Passemart, a Paris tradesman, who was financially interested in the machine ridden by. the Frenchman, sued the International Cyclists’ Union, for 100,000 francs damages, and the first civil Court of Paris recently awarded him the verdict, thus reversing the result of the race. # # # “If the international season has taught us anything,” says the London “Daily Mail’s” principal Rugby critic, “it is that English and Irish football is making an advance, that of Wales is stationary, and that of Scotland has definitely gone back.”, * * * The owner of Forbra, winner of the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree a few weeks ago, is a retired bookmaker. Two days after the race ho was singing in the choir of his parish church; he is one of the leading members of the choir. And his name is Parsonage! * * •» ' Loud speakers were brought into use on a golf course near San Francisco recently, for announcing the progress of a match. Some golfers we know would never need the use of loud speakers 1 George Beamish, big forward of the British Rugby team of 1930, who has been captaining Ireland of late, announced, a few weeks ago, that the 193.132 season probably would he his last in “big” Rugby, although he may assist the Royal Air Force team for another year. In club Rugby Beamish played for Leicester, as well as for his unit of the R.A.F. * * * Some Repetition Of History A very interesting thing about this year’s boat race between the universities of Cambridge and Oxford was that Colonel J. 11. Gibbon, an old Cambridge rowing blue, took on the task of training the Oxford crew. An English critic remarks that he certainly brought the members of the Oxford eight to the post in a much happier frame of mind than for many years past, and he had taught them to drive the boat w’itn their legs. Probably .if lie had had another month in which to . train the crew he would have instilled into it the uniformity which is essential to success. It is remarkable that Gibbon, an old Cambridge blue, should have been called upon to try to retrieve the fallen Oxford fortunes in exactly the same "way as the late Colonel W. A. L. Fletcher, an old Oxford blue, tried to do| for Cambridge in 1898. Cambridge lost that year’s race, but in the next year Fletcher produced a crew which was probably the best ever seen on the Cam, with Oxford’s coach of this yean, J. H. Gibbon, himself at stroke, and which broke a long run of Oxford victories. * * * The amateur middleweight boxing championship of England lias been won by Fred Mallin for the fifth time, equalling the record of his elder brother Harry in' the same championship, Harry Mallin, though, was twice the Olympic middleweight champion, as well. if * . * At the annual meeting of the Joint Advisory Committee of the British Golf .Unions it was reported that there was a largely-increased demand for the services of the staff of the Board of Greenkeeping’s Research Station by golf clubs throughout the British Isles and overseas, as well as by other .sporting organisations. As a result, it was decided to enlarge the scope of thfl work of the station. if * * Dominion Students Beaten For a Rugby match, in London recently, Dominion and Colonial students in England turned out what was,, on paper, a strong team against the United Hospitals, although it was not the strongest they could have had if all the best of the Dominion students in England had been available. W. E. Tucker, the old English international, who was born in Bermuda, led the pack, included in which was T. G. Osier, who played for Western Province against the New Zealand team which toured South Africa in 1928. Stanley Osier, who also played for Western Province, and for Soutn Africa in the first Test in 1928, was one of the centre backs. There were three New Zealand students—J. E. Oiesen, A. M. McDonald, and E. B.E. Taylor —in the side, one Australian, and ly South Africans, in the team. At haltlime the Dominion students led by hvo points to three. But the United Hospitals won by 19 to five. In the second half the Hospitals got too much ball, and with their centre backs, one Ot whom was T. E. Jones-Davies, clever Welsh member of the British team, m New Zealand in 1930, playing particularly well, behind improved forwards, they had plenty of chances, and would have scored even more often if their three-quarter line, as a whole, had handled the ball with precision. * * * The only unbeaten team after three series of matches in the Sydney Metropolitan Rugby competition was Western Suburbs, which, before the competition opened, was regarded as one of the weakest sides. The Western Suburbs forwards, packing 3-4-1, have been beating opposing 3-2-3 packs regularly for the hall. * * * Yorkshire, Somerset, Surrey, Leicestershire and Northamptonshire are among the first-class cricket, counties which have new captains this season. There are so few good. amateurs. to take on the exacting duties of captaincy that many of the county.clubs are very uneasy about the future in this respect. * * * Remarkable Rugby Record A remarkable record in club Rugby in England has been set up by the Liverpool University team. In five months of football, less a Christmas vacation of just on a month, the team played 37 matches, winning 35,. drawing one, and losing one, and scoring 820 points against 208. Its one loss, was suffered on a day when four of its men were playing for Lancashire against Northumberland and three other first-team men were absent, and its drawn match occurred when its four county men were away. From the beginning of the new term, in January, to the end of the Season the team played 18 matches and won them all. Of the 820 points no fewer than 627 were scored by five backs, two of whom have been members of the side only since the turn of the year. One centre three-quarter, J. Heaton, scored 346 points—42 tries and 103 goals, conversion, field, and penalty—in the season. The other centre three-quarter scored 42 tries, one of the regular wing three-quarters scored 31 tries, and the other scored 20. The fly-lialf scored 13 tries.