Players And The Game

New Zealand Times, Volume LII, Issue 12151, 30 May 1925, Page 17

Players And The Game

The “All Black Eight” have left their mark. Sydney High School won the Head of the itjver in the Great Public Schools races on the Parramatta. It was their first appearance in the Australian classic contest, but Sydney Grammar. St. Jo*epli’e, and the Church of England School were behind them at the finish. Mr Hancock coached “High” in the methods of the victorious New Zealand crew. The women's golfers’ schedule: Napier open tournament, September 15th-18th; Ma nawatu, October, 6th--Bth; Wanganui, October 10th-13th; New Zealand championships (Miramar), October 15th-22nd. Yale University will send a crew to Henley this year to row in the Grand (the "’eights” contest). The last time • crew from the famous American ’varsity appeared at Henley was in 1896, when it was beaten after a desperate race. This year the crew will contain more than one member of the wonderful crew that beat all comers on the Seine in the last Olympic Games. It won all its races “on the hit.” ’Varsity may be undefeated in the senior championship, but so are Poneke Tnat tact was brought home to Bugby fans very forcibly on Saturday when the red and blacks held and beat their old rivals Athletic with obvious ease There was only one team in it when the second spell began, and it was a team with a great set of forwards They say tnat Poneke had Adame, a West Coast representative forward on the bank on Saturday, waiting for a casualty which did not come, and that a Horowhenua representative forward was forced to play junior in order to get a game! The rowing season is officially over, bat in winter there is often very calm water, and lately several oarsmen have been oat on it. When they win races next season, some men will call them “lucky.” Two New Zealand-born professional boxers hid fair to make names for themselves. Charlie Purdy has the makings of a second Griffo, the great, artful dodger; and Beg. Trowern, .in his second cash light, drew with the ex-feather-weight champion ot Australia, Era. Baxter. Trowern is a real fighter, and his bout with Jimmy Hill at Wellington should De a thrilling affair. , A competition for Bugby barrackers'. What is the funniest remark you have heard at Athletic Park? Here is one nomination. The referee had been Whistling almost continuously, but finally the scrum got down and a passing rush began. The whistle sounded again. And one veteran spectator growled: “Aw, get a job on a tram ”* The Football Oup which the English 'Association has presented to New Zealand is expected to arrive in the Dominion shortly, but the council of the. N.Z.F.A. has not decided what to do With it. At the moment the Chatham Cup is the equivalent of the English Amateur Cup, but the council should enoourage entries for the trophy from all parts of the Dominion. Wellington will be well represented this year, and it will be eurprising if Y.M.C.A. does not represent Wellington in the later stages. Clarxie Blackburn, the New Zealand Welter-weight professional boxing champion, was among those granted reinstatement to the Bugby Union code this week. A great deal has been heard of late about the Soccer casualties. Two Institute players are out for the season because of broken legs. Some say there is too much rough play, and that clumsy methods of attack are* the primary cause of all the accidents. But talk leads nowhere. When two teams are keen and determined to win, there is always the liability to accident. Must every sculling match be preceded by six months of talk ? The negotiations between -Major Goodseii and “Paddy” Hannan and Tom Saul are like the negotiations between Jack Dempsey and Harry Wills, except that they haven’t lasted so long—yet. The Wellington Boxing Association sell to their patrons a well-arranged programme, but accuracy is not its strong point. In one paragraph the

names of Ted Scott and “Scott” _ Greathead were confused. During the last tournament, Les. Murray’s name appeared under a photograph that was certainly not a snap of New Zealand’s premier light-weight. The athletic conquests ot Paavo Nurmi. William Ritola, A. O. Stenroos and others have given Finland the greatest advertising of its history. A Finnish diplomat estimated the minijmim valuo of the athletes’ accomplishments at 10 million dollars, and declared that their advertising value surpassed even that of Finland’s declaration of independence New Zealanders can start now and estimate the advertising value of the 1924 All Blacks. Hawke’s Bay had six representatives in the All Blacks last year, and with four in the New Zealand team this year the red-hot enthusiasts there arc feeling almost satisfied. But only almost —they want Sam Gemmell in the team. In a £2OO professional golf tournament between G. Duncan and K. G. Wilson, Duncan taid Wilson the deadliest of stymies. Wilson selected a niblick, chipped his ball neatly over Duncan’s and holed; out in doing so he actually hit the ball twice. Click! Click 1 It was almost imperceptible, but the referee counted it a double hit, and penalised Wilson a stroke for it. Two hits at the ball by Wilson, pine a penalty, made three strokes. Then the referee was shown rule 14:— “If a player when making a stroke strikes the ball twice, the penalty shall be one strike; but he shall incur no further penalty by reason of his having played the ball while moving.” Wilson won the match. No woman has swum the English Channel, but Helen Wainwiigbt, the all-round champion of America, will make an attempt in July, after four weeks' training. In the opinion of Jnbez Wolff-, who has made 21 unsucccsslul attempts, it is most improbable that a woman Mill ever succeed. One great handicap is that a woman has to wear a costume, while malo swimmers set cut on the long journey clad only ■n “grease and goggles."

Winter tennis has a few devotees in i Wellington, Iu Auckland they are forming a club (membership limit, 48) to play on the four new chip courts at Epsom. They mean to have the courts lighted for night play, too. The Suva bowling season opens in July. The enthusiasts there have a new green in the making; it is situated on the waterfront, in lovely surroundings, aud already it is almost fit to play on. About thirty Australian bowlers will bo there for the opening, and a New Zealand team is expected later on. The wrestling boom in Australia shows no sign of breaking. A - club (amateur and professional) has been formed in Sydney, and when the American fleet arrives the wrestlers among the navy men will find worthy foomen. When the referee at Dunedin put hie hand on Lachie McDonald’s shoulder Hughie Dwyer was surprised, but scarcely as much as the Napier boxing enthusiasts were surprised when they got the news. They think a lot of Dwyer in Napier; in a sense he made Ifis name there. He and the Napier Boxing Association have done each other a lot of good, financially. If provisional arrangements hold good the New Zealand Bugby League team will leave Auckland by the Moeraki for Australia on July 3rd, and play the following matches:—July 11th, V. N.S.W.; July loth, v. Combined Universities; July 18tb, v. N.S.W.; July 22nd, v. Newcastle; July 25th, v. Queensland; July 39th, v Ipswich; August Ist, v. Queensland; August sth, v. Toowoomba; August Bth, v. Australia. The New South Wales League has advanced the cost of assembling the team. Now what game is this?—“You may think it joy when your ma6hie shot goes straight to the green and drops Near that wind-tossed flag in the distance there and bounces just once and stops; But sweeter far is that glad ker-plunk—and I sing to its fair reuown—That clickety-clop of a wellplayed putt, and you know that your ball is down. If the New Zealand Bugby Union wants to see another international team in these islands next year it had better pin its faith to France. The Springboks are. not likely to tour for at least four or five years. They intend to concentrate in /‘home affairs.” England won’t tour next year, and may invite New South Wales to send a team Home in 1927. But the N.Z.B.U. can’t go far wrong if it induces the French to send a strong team. There is never the brilliance about a hard forward game that is seen in a clash between opposing backlines of speed and cleverness. But on the football field the forward is still the king of contests. The meeting of Poneke and Athletic on Saturday showed just’ • how thoroughly a solid pack can bat:ter its opponents into impotence. The Athletic men did not’ look like having a chance in the second spell, and all their early advantage from a fresh breeze was worth nothing to them on the score board. It was more an exhibition of tactics than a ltugby (spectacle. but as such an exhibition it was worth watching. The lawn tennis boom of 1924 is likely to be eclipsed this year, the experts say. About 191 tournaments nave been officially sanctioned.- Taking a fair estimate of 200 matches in each tournament, nearly 40,000 matches will have been played before the end of the season. “Twelve matches, roughly.” This was the statement made by a player in application to the New Zealand Bugby Union for reinstatement, when asked how many games he had playeu League. Now what did he mean? The quarter-mile in 36 4-ssec. But it wasn’t done on foot. Charles Gormau, the Canadian skating star, broke the world’s indoor record iu New Brunswick recently. Petone lead, Wellington College follow. Following is the position of the leading teams in the club championship: jPetone 63, Wellington College 58, Athletic 50, Wellington 47, Ber bampore 38, Oriental 35, Old Boys 33, Poneke 29, Hutt 28, St. Patrick’s College 23, Eastbourne 21.

The familiar football barracker, the man who knows a lot more than the referee, is again making himself heard on Saturdays. They have their remedy: both the Bugby Union and , the Football Association are short of referees.. Wellington Watersiders Soccer Club is in tho doldrums. Two years ago they lost Dan. Jones and one or two of their crack players, and they have never recovered. They had some fairly, good players last year, but most of them migrated elsewhere. Has too much poaching been going on in Wei. i lington ? Two or three of the leading clubs in Senior A and B have come to light with new players. It does not tend to make the competitions keen when one or two clubs are so markedly in the ascendancy. Just before he sailed from Paris for the United States, Arne Borg, the Swedish swimmer, whom the Australians liked, delighted a huge crowd at the Tourelles pool, where the lasi Olympic aquatics were held, by winning a 400-metre race against a team ct four good-class swimmers. In the last 50 yards he crept up, little by little, to win eventually by margin of 4-ssec. His time was snun 6 2-ssec. Prior to this, the Swede bad won a 100-metre level race without difficulty in 69sec. The Wellington Bugby Union, conserves its funds this year by sending no touring team afield, The season s representative fixtures will be nine in number and are as follow: —June 3rd v. All Blacks, at Wellington; July Ist v. Taranaki, at Hau'era; August stb, V. Southland, at Wellington; August Bth v. Canterbury at Wellington- September 3rd v. Wairarapa. at Wellington ; September 12th v. Otago, at Wellington ; September 26th v. Auckland, at Auckland; September 30th v. Wanganui, at Wellington. Only two visits will be made, to Hawera and Auckland. Montagu Alfred Noble (to his friends “Monte,” to the barrackers “Mary Anne”) is evidently a believer in the principle that old international cricketers should serve the game as administrators when their active days are over.. By an overwhelming vote Australia’s greatest allrounder has just been elected a trußvtee of Sydney Crioket Ground. M. A. N. is a fashionable dentist in Macquarie street—Sydney’s Harley street —but he 1 still plays chib cricket with Paddington, the club where he and Victor Trumper began. Onlv three amateurs are rated as scratch golfeis in the new revised list ; of national handicaps issued by - the Royal and Ancient Championship Committee of St Andrew’s. They are C. J. H. Tolley, B. H. Wethered, and Sir E. W. E. Hoiderness, each of whom has at one time or another won the ’ amateur championship. The handicap list contains 800 names. There are only nine with a handicap of I.; 52 are given 2, and 176 are allowed 3, which to the average observer makes Great Britain’s amateur golfing look in a somewhat poor state. The tightening up of the handicap means that the ultimate winner of tho amateur championship will have to play his best in every round of the tournament, as all competitors play from scratch, and only players with a national handicap of 4 or better are eligible.

RUGBY MOTBALL JUNIOR CHAMPIONSHIP POSITION OF THE TEAMS. Following is the junior championship table to date :

Matches Points Ohp. P. W. L. D. for agst. Pts. Athletic 5 0 0 31 23 <0 Berhampore .... . 5 4 0 1 61 17 9 Old Boys 3 0 2 65 23 8 Porirua 5 4 0 36 26 8 Eastbourne 3 4 0 43 35 6 Johnson ville . 5 3 2 0 55 43 6 Oriental 5 2 2 1 54 51 5 Petone A ft 2 2 1 38 48 5 Marist A . 5 2 2 1 31 32 5 Selwyn 5 2 2 1 33 38 5 Ponelte 2 1 0 24 14 4 Wellington .... . 4 2 2 0 26 36 4 'Varsity A 5 2 3 0 42 54 4 Technical O.B.. . b 2 3 0 30 43 4 Hutt 4 1 2 1 33 15 3 Training Col. . . 4 1 3 0 35 6 2 Marist B 4 0 0 0 5 92 0 I’etoae B ........ 5 0 5 0 33 68 0 'Varsity B .. .. 5 0 5 0 24 104 0