THE SPORTING WORLD

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 28 January 1939, Page 4

THE SPORTING WORLD

By “ERA”

VARIETY OF PARS FROM HERE AND THERE

Australians Wanted Critics abroad are angling for the Australian tennis team to appear in the Wimbledon championships as without John Bromwich and Adrian Quist the “world titles” would lose some of their significance. Bromwich is regarded in some quarters as No. 1 amateur now that Budge is a professional, and, with Quist, forms the world’s best doubles combination. If they do not appear in England, Wimbledon will be rather fiat as the strength of Continental tennis is revealed by the fact that Germany may rely on Roderich Menzel and Henner Henkel in the German Davis Cup team. Night Club Singer Now Blonde Alice Marble, the American lawn tennis singles queen, used to sing in a church choir. Recently she turned night club warbler. She made her debut at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel. (New York), and she has made it clear that she isn’t going to be just an ordinary torch singer, either. “I’m not going to sing torch songs but love songs and ballads,” she announced firmly. “Maybe I can get into concert work eventually. Tennis is fine, but you have to make a living, and I think singing would make a swell vocation, but I want to do better than just popular songs.” Obo Finds Form Fast, straight-running three-quarter, Prince A. Obolensky, who made front page news when he scored two marvellous tries for England against the All Blacks of 1935-36, may be in the picture against the Australians next season. After his dramatic exhibition against the New Zealanders “Obo” lost all form, but at present he is playing with as much dash and vigour as he did when he was at his top several seasons ago. In a recent game for Middlesex against Eastern Counties, the Russian scored two spectacular tries. In scoring his first, he ran over seventyfive yards and beat half the team before grounding the ball. Time Limit to Test Cricket Advocating five-day cricket tests, an English writer says it will be a surprise if Australia accepts the 30-hours limit. He thinks that drawn tests are boring, irritating and unsatisfactory and threaten to ruin test matches. “We here sometimes pretend,” he says, “that Australian tests are not the major event of the cricket season. This is a laughable self-deception and such a delusion does not exist in Australia. Timeless tests not only suit Australian cricket temperament, but offer a certainty, instead of doubt, to many spectators who have left sheep or shops many miles away intending to see all they can for as long as they can.” Rugby Attacked. Features of Rugby football which have long been a tradition were attacked recently by the noted English critic. Trevor Wignall. Rugby as a spectacle has fallen lamentably, he said. Specialisation may be chiefly responsible, but the retention of rules that are not of the times should also be put up, for judgment. Line-ouls have long been an eyesore, quite apart from the circumstance that they are a sheer waste of moments. The greatest absurdity in present-day Rugby is the drop-out after the ball has gone dead. More than once in a recent match, says Wignall, the entirely foolish dropout was prevented by an opposing forward sticking out his foot. Why cannot it be ordered that the ball must travel a certain distance before it is again in play? The little taps that propel it only yards or inches, and that result in silly scrambles, are not only nonsensical, but actually harmful, claims Wignall. If the unions and the International Board wish to preserve their game, they will have to get busy. * Sound reasoning, this. It is written in England for England, but it applies equally to New Zealand. South Africa, and Australia. “Rugby is not Rugby any longer,” says Wignall. “It is just a negative business of mauls and brawls, with defence of more importance than upright methods and attack.” With a new Dominion season not far away, the words of Trevor Wignall, who is accepted as an authority, are worth remembering.

World Sprint Title Eddie Tolan is prepared to defend his world’s professional sprint title in Australia next year, according to Mr C. J. Stewart, managing director of Maribyrnong Running Company, Victoria. “I met Tolan at Michigan and he was in great condition,” said Mr Stewart, who has returned from a tour abroad. “Since his successful visit to Australia in 1935 he has continued light training. He would have returned here this year if we could have found suitable opponents.” Mr Stewart also saw Jesse Owens, who won the 100 and 220 yards and broad jump at the 1936 Olympic Games, and is now a professional. “Owens has a perfect physical make-up, and is always wonderfully fit,” he said. “He is interested in Australia, and would like to come here later on.”

Don’t Stand Too Close. All cricketers cannot be test match players, and captains and bowlers should remember when placing their field that the men in the team are not Fingletons or Hammonds. Fielding in the “silly” or “suicidal” position is all right for great cricketers, but too much should not be expected from young players. Test match players are men of exceptional ability, and usually they react quickly and move with amazing speed and agility. Generally, too, they have the advantage of experience. There is a grave risk of serious injury to inexperienced players who stand too close to the batsman, and this is especially true when an inexperienced bowler is at the crease. Grimmett and O’Reilly can place a field and bowl to it. That is why they are in test teams. The average bowler cannot do so accurately, and the danger to the fieldsmen is doubled when an inexperienced bowler sends down slows. No fieldsman would be criticised by a competent captain for not undertaking that which he felt was beyond his powers. Cricket is only a game, and young players who do not adopt such an attitude may find their nerves badly shaken after a severe smack.

Barnes a Sport Sympathy has been expressed with S G. Barnes, the Sydney cricketer, in the refusal of the Australian Board of Control to allow him to break his contract, which provides that no member of the Australian eleven may return to England to play cricket for two years. It is regrettable, but Barnes entered Into the contract with his eyes open, comments a Melbourne writer. He cannot complain. It is hoped that satisfactory employment may be found for him in Sydney. He is sportsman enough to say, “1 will abide by my contract.” Grimmett in Hospital The famous Test cricket match bowler C. V. Grimmett has been a patient in Epworth Hospital, Brisbane, for several days, but a very unwilling one, says an Australian writer. Declaring that he never felt better in his life and being keen on bowling every ball he can on the cricket field, he has found the experience irksome and his fingers are twitching to get the cricket ball in their grip. When Grimmett goes out of the game there is a possibility that the name will not pass with it, for he has a son who gives promise as an all-round player. He is only 15 now, but he has been doing well with bat and ball in junior cricket in Adelaide. Owing to his being so constantly engaged in the game himself, Grimmett has not had much opportunity of seeing him in action, but he has great hopes that he will develop so as to keep the name of Grimmett well to the fore. Sport in Germany Germany’s progress in sport, greater than any other country’s in recent years, is due to intensive propaganda, the people’s enthusiasm and an entirely new organisation. It is denied officially that sport is subsidised by the State. Part of the receipts at most sports event* are pooled, and games that make a profit help those that do not. Only football, handball, basketball, athletics, and lawn tennis are said to show a profit, and four-fifths of the help given to the central fund comes from football alone. For sports administrative purposes the country is divided into 18 areas. In numbers, the strongest pastime is gymnastics. Then, in the following order, come football, rifle shooting, athletics, handball and basketball, swimming, lawn tennis, cycling, rowing, canoeing, wrestling, hockey, boxing, table tennis, weight-lifting, ice sports, fencing, billiards, roller-skating, golf, Rugby, bobsleighing and cricket. Although Rugby has only 1882 affiliated members, Germany can now challenge France. There are 107 cricketers and that the sport figures in the list at all is surprising to British observers, who are wondering who introduced it. Should Brake Down Their ardour undampened by a long series of disillusioning defeats, Australia’s tennis scribes are once again trumpeting the tidings that the Davis Cup is just waiting to be picked up by the Commonwealth team. So often has the ballyhoo of these writers been confounded that one marvels at their persistence. But there is a glimmer of light on the Davis Cup horizon for Australia this^ear. Donald Budge, unquestioned No. 1 player of the world, has joined the ranks of the professionals, and at the moment there appears to be no one to replace him in the United States’ team. As the Americans’ winning margin was three rubbers to two, the extent to which his team leaned on him can be easily comprehended. Unless California, home of America’s tennis giants, produces another prodigy, R. L. Riggs and Gene Mako will probably form the backbone of the defending team. And neither of these men can be ranked above John Bromwich .probably the top amateur in the world, or Adrian Quist. Australia can call on the services of such experienced players as H. C. Hopman, J. H. Crawford, and A. Schwartz to support Bromwich and Quist. Incidentally, the Australians should be stronger in doubles play, because America’s strongest combination, Budge and Mako, has now been broken up. It is to be hoped that the Australian critics, in farewelling their team, manage to put some brake on their exuberance, and refrain from repeating the opinion of former years that any teams encountered will provide just so many enjoyably necessary hit-ups on the victory road. Accidents do happen in tennis.