MID-WEEK SPORT

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26410, 14 March 1947, Page 8

MID-WEEK SPORT

CURTAILMENT SUGGESTED AUTHORITIES’ PREDICAMENT From E. G. Webber, Special Correspondent. Rec. 9.30 p.m. LONDON, Mar. 13.; The Government’s request to sports bodies. ■ that mid-week sport should be curtailed as far as possible during the present emergency, creates a number of very complex problems for British sport administrators. Association football, racing and, later, cricket, are likely to be the most seriously hit, but as discrimination in favour of any one sport will obviously be fiercely resented* by the remainder, it is evident that any general curtailments must apply to all forms of mid-week sport likely to distract workers from industry. It has been made plain the the. Government request is in no sense a directive, but merely an effort to en- - list the willing co-operation of sports bodies. If this is not forthcoming, however, plain hints have been given that the Government is prepared to , take the necessary measures to enforce its wishes. Obviously, the Gov- . ernment would be unwilling to regiment sport, if it can be avoided, for, as several newspapers have alreadypointed out, the restriction of football and racing particularly will be m°st unfavourably received by the public, which already feels that the shadow of austerity hangs .too oppressively over it. Sports leaders,. however, from the general tone of their comments upon their meeting with Mr Chuter Ede, plainly realise that they must be prepared to make sacrifices, and the majority of them are already conferring upon the best means of carrying out the Government recommendations. Many Matches Postponed Association- football authorities, aB controllers of Britain’s most popular national winter sport, are in a particularly difficult situation. The unprecedented spell of bad weqther, which, after seven weeks, is only now fighting a rearguard battle.with a reluctant thaw’ has, already caused 'an accumulation of 164 postponed matches in the English Soccer League competitions. Under the system adopted by the league, all teams in the four divisions must play each other in order to decide what teams should be promoted from the lower divisions, and 1 which should be relegated. „ ' Normally the competition would at present be at its most interesting point, ' but if the mid-week games are eliminated and the season ends, as at present intended, -on May: .10, oipy.Tl. Saturdays or bank holidays remain To complete the competition and to play off the 164 postponed matches. Even without - the postponed matches a number of clubs will have played only 35 of The 42 scheduled games by May 10.' The season has already been extended by one week, and recently the league rejected proposals to extend it further to May 17. The objection to the extension, of course, is that if Soccer continues during May it will seriously interfere with the cricket • season, particularly with the South African cricket tour, which is due to begin at Worcester on April 30. Cancellation Possible The general attitude of Football League authorities is that the Soccer competitions cannot possibly be dp? cided on an abbreviated programme at short notice, and that if all the g-mes cannot be played they may be forced to cancel the competition and possibly award the league championship to the club with thfe clearest margin of points. This will prove a very big disappointment, both to the clubs and the public. Every Saturday the major Soccer matches in England and' Wales drew upwards of 1,500,000 spectators under normal conditions, while the majority of clubs have laid out large sums of money in acquiring star players. In addition, they have already lost very large sums in gate revenue owing to cancellations. The result is likely to be that the smaller and less wealthy • clubs will be seriously hit, while even the wealthier clubs will be forced to trim their sails to the latest chill winds of austerity. The Football Association Cup Competition, which is run in conjunction with the league’s, but under a knockout system will not be affected, for it has now reached the semi-final stages, and both the semi-finals and final have been fixed for Saturdays. Next to Soccer, racing will be the most seriously affected of the national sports, and here again the administrators will be confronted by very difficult problems. The winter racing season has already been completely disrupted by the weather, and it is feared, if mid-week meetings are eliminated, that'the spring and summer racing programmes will be similarly dislocated.

The major change so far announced is the alteration of the date for the Grand National from Friday, March 28, to Saturday, March 29, but it is also expected that the date of the Epsom Derby will be changed from Wednesday, June 4, to Saturday, June 7, and that the date of the Newmarket Two Thousand Guineas will be altered. Obviously, the whole programme for the flat racing season will have to be drastically revised. The only active demonstration against the Government’s measures so far made has come from supporters of greyhound racing. A small group of these staged a protest meeting outside the Home Office during Mr Chuter Ede’s conference as a remonstrance against the continued closure of. the greyhound tracks, imposed at the beginning of the fuel cuts. Greyhound racing, however, is conducted mainly at night, and is, therefore, unlikely to be as seriously affected by the midweek restrictions as other sports. ?