WORLD OF SPORT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LVI, 31 December 1924, Page 7

WORLD OF SPORT

EVENTS IN ENGLAND

FIRST '•SOCCER’ - INTERNATIONAL

(From Our Own Correspondent.) LONDON. October 23.

England has a sorry record in Association football since the war, and the victory gained against Ireland on the Everton ground this week was very pleasing. There should, of course, have been no doubt about the result, but in these days Ireland draws heavily on their countrymen engaged in the game in this country, and hence are able to place a very much stronger side in the field iaan would otherwise be possible, if they selected men from their own clubs. * Under these conditions they had won one and drawn two of the last five games prior to this week’s contest. On the present occasion they were defeated bv three goals to one. The authorities have declared that a determined effort is to be made this season to improve England’s position, and several experiments were made in the team which beat Ireland.

Though the result was satisfactory, the form displayed, however, left a good deal to be desired. A young player named Bedford, from the Blackpool Club, was tried *at centre forward. Last season he scored more goals than 'any other player in the League, and there is no doubt that he is a very dangerous man in front of goal. .He scored once on this occasion, but !ie was not a real success. However, men with far greater reputations fiyed no better. Walker and Tunstall, who formed the left wing, were expected to be a great combination, but the latter was sadly disappointing, and Walker descended almost to the level of his partner. The most unsatisfactory part of the team, however, was the half back line, and it is

possible that this accounted for the little success achieved by the forwards. The defence was sound'enough, but ft was clear that many changes will have to be made for the game with Scotland. This does not, of course, take place until the last- month of the season.

In the League Huddersfield still have the distinction of being the only undefeated club, but though they are at the head of the competition, both_ Notts County and West Bromwich Albion are level with them oa points, the _ Yorkshire club’s only advantage being on goal average. This equality amongst the leaders suggests that the play is on a common level. Indeed, the Arsenal, who are tenth on the list, are only three points in the rear. So far tlhe season has been more notable for the failure of certain sides than the successes _of others. For instance, Sheffield United have won milv one of eleven games, and Cardiff City,'who held the leadership until the final match of last season, 'have done little better. Other very disappointing teams have been Bolton Wanderers and Everton.

EXPERIMENTAL BILLIARDS The billiards match between Newman and Smith, under the experimental conditions laid down by the champion, attracted a good deal of interest, but I am afraid only in the sense that any novelty is likely to do. There is an impression that the public are .getting tired of seeing big breaks. That, at any rate, is what is said, but I do not think so. So the new rules were framed to make the game more difficult, and in tills they undoubtedly succeeded. Whiie at t’nies fairly substantial breaks were made by both Newman and Smith, they had to’ struggle so ha•••! for the points that the methods scum ! laborious. The result \vas, in fact (hat the game was robbed of some of itf meet attractive features. Indeed it war n bilhT.rd?', and the play. deserved to bu called by some other name. It is" possible that top-of-the-table play, wliuih lias been brought to such a fine and calculated art, tends to become monotonous, and Newman’s proposal that the red ball should not be replaced on the same spot after it- has been potted twice lias something to commend it. At any rate, it opens up the game and introduces new methods of break building. But if the authorities adopted the change there is little doubt that the professionals would quickly overcome the difficulties which they experienced at first, and that in a short time points would be scored with equal facility under the new laws. It is likely that tjiis part of the experiments will be yoffsidered, but the suggested abolition of the “D” in baulk can never be carried out, for tine simple reason that it makes some of the chief strokes in the game almost an impossibility. . . .. . . ... ..

ABOUT ROLAND TODD’S Iff IN Mr Eugene Corn, your boxing correspondent, writes: — “I find there is a sharp division of opinion as to the ynerit or otherwise of Roland Todd’s victory over Joe Bloomfield at flic beginning of the week. On the one hand it is laid down that our first middle-weight has still one of the. most wonderful of all defences and that lie remains a tremendously difficult man to beat. On the other hand—and I am disposed to share this view—it is held that Todd is not so good'as when we saw hip? ftgfWlSt Augje ‘BMeF: I jj? not see how he can be; neither iodd nor any other man can expect to be up to concert pitch after many months of idleness. " ffovyever, it is to be hoped that, now he has become active again, he will see that It is a long time before hp curls up in his shell. Talking about the danger of laying off for an indefinite period, T wili wager that when Dempsev fights again we shall all be saying that he is on the down grade, and this the champion himself fears. “In his ease it is not his fault that )J;ore are such long intervals between contests. For really, whatever the big dvupi beaters may say or claim, they ore ns far off digging HP it PffiP wOI W of a fight with Dempsey as ever, -the cock, as represented by Firpo, will not fight again. People would not tumble over themselves if Tom Gibbons were brought out once more. Wills, in my opinion, has very obviously passed his best. But we have yet to make sure that Jack Rennault, one-time sparring pgrtper tq Dempsey, is as formidable as he has bpep represented. ... “I believe Dempsey is quite honest when he tells me, as he did in a letter I had from him the other day, that he has never been out of fighting shape. But the long holidays he is obliged to take are all against him. So with Todd, Jack Bloomfield, and the rest, who are prope tq hibernating.

-TO BOMBARDIER'S DESIRE “I took the opportunity of trying to find out during the Crystal Palace tournament, at which I w2s pleaded to help in the refereeing of the many contests, whether Bombardier Wells really intends to come back. I found that, although he was much out of condition, he had seriously thought of trying his luck once more. I was very pleased to learn from him that he will not fight again, unless bp satisfies himself on the score of physical fitness. It would PPi't *ne very much to see Wells make an unholy mess of things if he came back to the ring. , . ~ “About this tournament at the Crystal Palace. Although it did not introduce us to any young heavy-weight of championship, possibilities, it certainly proved that there are no end of youngsters who are starving for a chance to appegr before a bi£ public. If we are to' discover better boxers, if we are to improve the standard apd Rio general character of boxing, I believe we may only do so by having as many open competitions as possible. In a way the

Crystal Palace tournament meant the getting back to the old- days. It was certainly such another competition that brought Charlie Mitchell to the front. ■"“I thought the best and most promising youngster at the big glass house at a soldier named Harvey (Ist JDev«s), who put up a truly great show in the final of the bantams. He was beaten, it is true, by Kid Socks, of Bethnal Green, who, by the way, improves every time I see him, but Harvey is so surely of the right stuff that 1 nope iie will stick to the game whenever lie is free from soldiering. “And now about Billy Mack, of Liverpool, wliose 15 rounds contest with Joe Kolfe, the Bermondsey welter and prodigy exf ‘Peggy’ Bettinson, at the National Sporting Club, I saw last Monday night, I have an idea that lie was far from satisfied with the verdict, although many felt that they would i c*t have enjoyed the joh of finding the winner at the close, I formed the opinion that Rolfe just got home.

ROLFE’S GOOD SHOW “Mack is a very good boy, and we should hear much of him iu the near future. 1 was much taken by the ruggedness of Mack, and, like Rolfe, he was splendidly conditioned. It was not a contest remarkable for brilliance, but it was nevertheless one that X enjoyed. This victory by Rolfe must be deenn-.l to have appreciated his stock consider ably. Between ourselves, 1 feared that be would be without the experience to outpoint Mack; indeed, at one stage it seemed as though Rolfe would he punched into defeat. His gameness was wonderful, and now, since Johnny Bas ham, 1 understand, will help to add to his boxing knowledge, Rolfe may bo said to have got fairly on the ical to championship class. “If 1 have a fault to find with him on Monday it was that once or twice he was afraid to let his natural self rip. All the time 1 thought, he was fearful of making a boxing blunder. He suggested that lie had brought his copy book from the class room. However, the experience he gained by his fight with Mack must do him a power of good. ‘ Such a full-blooded tryer as which made him a loser on points, but, Rolfe is bound to make headway. He could not possibly be in better hands, and with all the encouragement that Bettinson is giving him, I shall bo very disappointed if he does not realise the expectations of his discoverer. You may take it that Rolfe will be again seen at the club very soon; and, now 'he has won against such a capable performer, be need not fear his next opponent, whoever he may be.’’

THE TURF Nothing in the way of a race between only two horses, writes Centaur, your racing correspondent could have exceeded the brilliance of what was seen when the Duke of Westminster’s Twelve Pointer (favourite for the Cambridgeshire) and Mr A. R. Cox’s Caravel (tlhe Manton representative of the Cambridgeshire) met/m Cesarewitch Day for the Select Stakes over a mile, with the first-named —the elder by a year—conceding lOlbs and winning by a short head. I cannot recall anything like it for years past. The circumstances were rather peculiar. In the first place, those very fine horsemen, as well as jockeys, Bernard Carslake and Frank Bullock, were the riders concerned, and the latter was on a horse wliose capacity to stay a mile was open to some doubt, though as this was a match he was apparently hacked with immense confidence. It was anticipated that Bullock would “wait” on the other one, whatever the pace, and so Carslake was forced to assume a role which lie dislikes, and which could not be in favour of the older horse, who Ims usually won his races after being waited with. Thus dial they come across die fiat, and every now niid then C'avslnke would take a look back to find out where Bullock was, what lie was doing, and when he was going to challenge. The point is that Carslake did not allow himself to be surprised. Ho had started to work in real earnest on Twelve Pointer just as soon as Bullock did on Caravel. This happened immediately after leaving the Bushes, and from that point we saw a magnificent finish, quite reminiscent / of when Neil Gow heat Lemberg for the Two Thousand Guineas of 1910.

Caravel gained, and I am pot sure whether he drew level—lf. must have been a very near tiling, Both jockeys redq at- their best, without relying on their whips i ip fact I thought the horses were too close for whips to he used. Had a dead-heat been signalled no one would have been surprised. As it was, Twelve Pointer had got hoone by a short head, due to the quick way Carslake had set him going before Bullock could get his speedy horse to grips. Bullock deserves the greatest praise for the way he rode, and ait-Myther it was a most exhilarating episode, especially coming as i,t (Bd a tie? the shock administered by the Aga Khan’s 100-1 Charley’s Mount in tlm Cesarewitch. It is appropriate to mention here that the Aga Khan has secured first retainer on the services of Carslake for next season. It. will be recalled that this brilliant jockey won the St, Beger on Salmon Trout for tlm potentate. Carslake’s scvf.nftidT fl'Otn the stable which li? served so faithfully for fiffiij# YURT-Sr—- that at Slockbridge controlled by '‘ A tty ” l’ersse—is a perfectly friendly one. When the opportunity serves, Carslake will, of course, ride for his old stable, but in the meantime Mr Persse has engaged Gmvy Beasley for 1925. fias made an excellent- choice for,’ since coming over from Ireland a couple of seasons ago, Beasley has proved himself a first-class all-round jockey —as good “over the sticks” as on the fiat —and at no - time in his career has lie ridden better and maintained a higher standard of merit than during the present campaign. While on the subject of retainers, T may mention that Joe has no superior, if an evuud, ip races over a mile--r-wj!! \veaP. the King’* colours next s ofi s °U i Archibald, the American, remains associated with Gilpin’s stable, though actually first claim on him is held by Lord Woolavington, who has a lot of horses also under the care of Fred Darling at Beckhampton; Gordon Richards, just out of his apprenticeship, and one of the most promising of tlhe younger school, will be leading jockey to Captain Hogg’s impound stable; while Frank BujtdcH will continue to ride as first jockey for Lord Astor. Though I imagine Mr Cox, as the owner Picaroon, one of the best two-year-olds of the year, will have sonrm claim on him.

Picaroon, ns ft plainer of fact, won tlie Middle Park Stakes—“the Two-year-old Derby”—-in the most convincing style from Sir John Bother ford’s Solaris by a length apd p half, with Mr H. E. Meri'is; 1 Manna a neck behind the second, and other good two-year-olds like Sir Edwgrd Huiton's Ooojah, Sir G. Bullough’s El Cacique, Sir A. Bailey’s Commuter, and Mrs Whitburn’s Field Argent, in the rear. Picaroon is a delightful colt with a quiet, sober, temperament, length and scope of physique reminding one of the wartime celebrity, Gay Crusader. Manna is unquestionably a C °R class, but without Die liberty of action of the other. Possibly i the handsomest horse in the field, however ,was Solario. He has commanding size, substance, splendid limbs, and that character which one looks for in an aspirant to classic 'honours. El Cacique, the Argentinebred one by Tracery, is only of average size and, perhaps, less than that. He seems to he a fiery sort, and, after tearing his way to the post like a mad horse, he was far from docile op arriving there. Cppimutep i? an imposing, big cp|t (in the same stable as Solario); while Oojah has been liked ever smcp he first appeared iu public.