BOXING.

Northern Advocate, 26 April 1921, Page 3

BOXING.

"WORKING" THE REFEREE

In addition to the information already gleaned and published concerning referees, an "Advocate" representative had another interesting chat with a boxing expert, well entitled to speak with authority, upon other phases of refereeing.

Asked whether it was not natural that r-.'ircrecs differed very much in their view.* and methods of judging a fight, thr> critic replied that they did vary in various ways. Some grew quite petulant every time there is even a threat of clinching, while others who understand the game will allow all justifiable license. "There are yet others," he continued, "who are petulant in some moods and mildly contemplative at others, for which reasons the vi-<o boxer will watch points most- carefully. and steer his course according to circumstances. It is a hard thing, one knows, to be called over the coals

when one is innocent, and it is worse, aggravating in the extreme, to be cautioned for holding wihen the other felji"W is doing it, or to be reprimanded for something illegal when one 1 is boxing as fairly as it is possible to box. Yet every boxer has to go through a mill of this description, and those who are -sufficiently toasters of thenipehes to scramble through without losing their heads ar t e the men who finish up in possession of championship oelt?. Boxing is the finest school in the world for learning how to govern one's temper, and the art of putting up with a referee's vagaries is the finest, lesson in the whole curriculum. ' • While on the subject of petulant referees, and to digress slightly from tlie main subject, I would like to know whether you have any information regarding the W.A.B.A. intentions regarding tJie Palmer v. Cadman decision, whether it is going to be brought before the N.Z. Boxing Council. This to mv mind is tho proper thing to do and then Mr Tracey will certainly hear something not to his- beiieiit. The custom in England is for referees to be selected by the principal papers, and though some clubs select their own the referees selected by the sporting papers travel all over Great Britain and the paper is responsible that the nian is adequately fitted for the position. There is no set examination— which there should be —still those who are recognised and appointed are men of long standing and experience in the business. In the case of a flagrant robbery as in the last fight here the referee would be carpeted and warned; a second offence would mean disqualification and consequently no more work. A paper, a club or the Eoyal Naval or Annv Council cannot afford to have this sort of thing happen. I remember a ease in point at a Service'boxing contest. This particular referee had it up again-t one of the boxers for the fot-. lowing reasons:—The boxers were in a rt» * clineh, one boxer held the other. The referee was on the wrong side (just aB Tracey was on fhany occasions, as I remarked at the • time, and Which 1 thought wws done by him purposely) ■ after the decision. On one occasion during tho fight Palmer's hand was held by Cadman, yet the referee did not interfere. Palmer deliberately turned Cadman round ■to, the referee (the latter was «till holding) and looked at Tracey very hard as'much as to say, 'Are you blind?' and then he twisted his opponent away froni him.

"I remember an almost identical ease in which the Teferee did not. take the trouble to walk round to see who was the offender, but prompfly warned the niu'ii who wan being hold. The man scowled f:t the referee, on chat occasion and they were no sooner in a clinch again than tho man who was being held twisted liis opponent round referee for him to see ho was not the offender, but not withstanding this he was immediately disqualified, and the referee of course was ibooed by the spectators who saw more than he. What happened? The management together with the boxer reported the matter to the Boxing Council, two'of the Council out of five were present at Aldershot, they immediately wired to the other three who were several hundred miles away in Scotland with a shooting party. They attended'that enquiry within 24 hour?, ' Result' —Verdict re\ersod and referee disqualified for 12 months. There should,be rules printed for the guidance of referees in this country and they should ,bc disqualified if there were any flagrant case of-incompetency or jobbory.There are rules for the boxers and the Council deals with them without merdy—Murphy and Clabby are crises in point which happened lately, "But to get back to the subject of refereoing boxing shows, matters of this description we will have a chat about later, whqn wo have traversed the present subject superficially, "■My advice to any boxer is to impress the refereo as favourably as possible by oboyiug promptly ond smartly, beam on him, avoid worrying, or annoying him with protests or appeals, and he will grow to like you. Always endeavour to work round, so tha,t he can see what you are doing, when the game is so running, that you are well placed to do 'some pretty, spectacular work especially .when you feel you arc going to be on top for a spell, on the other hand, reverse when you find that you can not very well escape a bad period. '' It may be argued that a boxer will have quite enough work on hand if he is purposing not only to study his op-

ponc-nt, but ft 1 0 beat Kirn, and'that if he iito make a study referee's peculiarities thrown into the bargain his brain may reel under tlie burden? Yes, that- is -all right, but one frequently hears 11 boxer complain that lie liad two men to boat, namely his opponent and the referee. This, although generally an exaggeration, is not altogether wide of the mark, for in order to secure a victory a boxer lias not only to out-point his opponent, but also to satisfy the referee that he has done so; and two minds do not always think alike. Yuo should remember, therefore, ftn-t, that \cu have to win clrr.vly and plainly—to win by clear, elcr.n, clover boxing, and then, as a secondary achievement, strive your utmost to. demonstrate that you have the first without cavil, in the eyes and minds of all the -spectators, and especialv of the referee. ''Some of my latter remarks would come under tricks of the game, legal and illegal of which I am going to speak to you later;" (To be continued.)