THE SPORTING WORLD

Otautau Standard and Wallace County Chronicle, Volume XI, Issue 521, 11 May 1915, Page 2

THE SPORTING WORLD

March 15. VETERAN SOLDIER ATHLETE. Tlie cross-country championship of the 92nd Brigade at Southend on Saturday was both interesting and an object lesson of the value of military training. Since the present war commenced we have had numerous examples of how soldiering has led to certain athletes making pronounced improvement. Besides this, it has led to many men, who were quite content to be classed with the retired division, coming out again. Week after week.we see names which some of us had forgotten, and the value of military exercises has been proved up to the hilt. This is particularly pleasing to the writer, whose strong leanings towards national military training were partly due to. the conviction that it would be very valuable in bringing about an improvement in the national physiqiue. To" return to Saturday's race! at Southend. It was won by Lieutenant T. Jack, oi the Border Regiment. Many of my readers will hardly need reminding that Jack is one. of the>best long-distance runners Scotland has turned out in modern times. He was generally believed to. have retired, but his soldiering has made him feel so fit and well ihat he was' tempted to don racing things again, with gratifying results. Jack was in very fine form in 1908, "in which year he made a bold show in the 10-mile Flat Championship pf England, keeping with the leaders until the last few lap., when G. Duncan and A. J. Robertson drew out and contested the finish. A week later Jack ran prominently in the Marathon trial for- the Olympic Games, and on' the strength of his performance was selected to represent Great Britain. He was too eager in this, however, cutting out such a pace .._iat he led the . field over the first mile in a few seconds over ,smin. It was just one minute too fast, and Jack wits soon done with. His cutting-down tactics particularly 'harmed the English runners, who had no experience of, Marathon racing, consequently they foeiislily kept in the van", with the result ' that they were dropped irr' the later stages. ■ '•' Jack showed much of •his old form on Saturday, and. he won his race by a matter of 18sec, having fun the trying course of about six miles fn'36min Usee. He was followed home by ftifleman Jarvis, of tlie 14th King's Royal Stifles. Thisi is ths man who created much) talk som^ two months ago by finishing second in a crosscountry ra<;e at Southend, though forced to turn out in military boots and trousers. Another feature of the race was the spiendid manner in which the,. 15th Battalion King's Royal Rifles performed, the scoring "ten" all finishing between the third and seventeenth positions, the winning total of points being 3.02, as against ths Border Regiment's 216. and the 15th Rifle Brigade's 411. About a dozen othei' big military (and v one naval) races were decided on Saturday. One of the most important was held at Colchegter, where 20 teams compete*! in . a race over a course of ajaout eigh. miles. A smart young athlete, iri. Captain P. E. RickarS, of : the 7th Bedford Regiment, headed the field, his time being 48min 7sec. He is a member of the Luton United Harriers, and did. some good performances last season. His latest win puts him among the cracks, and his is another case of big improvement as the result of military training. The .7th Bedford Regiment alsd had the honor of winning the team honors, the scoring* "six" finishing 1, 6, 7, B,' 10", 11 — total, 43 points — which gave them a very easy victory from tlie 13th Reserve Cavalry Regiment (162 points) and the 6th Battalion Northampton Regiment (169 points). BOXING: Military training is resposible. for the reappearance of others besides winners, as we are seeing on the- football field and in boxing circles. Recent mention was made of Iron Hague and his win over Private Wright at Caterham. He commenced Well as a civilian boxer, beating Gunner Moir in short order. He also made a good efiort against Sam Langford in their match at the National Sporting Club, _j terrific punch from the big Yorkshire boxer sending the colored man from Boston to the •boards during the third round. Langford beat his man all right, but Hague showed hexould hit. Unfortunately he would not train seriously, ' and when Billy Wells knocked him out for the English championship he appeared to lose ambition, and soon dropped out of sight. His soldiering in the Grenadier Guards has done him a lot of good, -and he is now said to weigh under 14st (1961b), and? as he is still on the right side of 30, he may yet do big things in the rinsj. Since he 'beat Wright he has been boxing .regularly, and he recently made a match to meet Bandsman Rice in London. This ought to prove whether Hague can come back or not, and it will arouse much interest in boxing circles. , Rumors about Georges Carpentier are pretty "frequent, the latest being that he had been seriously wounded. Fortunately this is not correct, and France's famous boxer is in the best of health. He is. employed as a motor driver, and: when his military duties allow' of it he dons the gloves with some of his comrades Needless to, say, they appreciate the opportunity of boxing with the European cliampion, and it may be taken for granted that Carpentier's example and help will lead to a big btfxing boom in French army circles. The champion is said to have developed considerably sincei he ■ was last seen in the ring, and, all being well, he will soon be>a real heavy-weight in poundage as well as ability. .- —An''lmproving Boxer. - It will not be long, before Harry Reeve, of London, will be irt a' positioh' to demand a- match with some ol tfie> men at the very top of the heavy -weight division. He made further progress last Saturday by easily beating Johnny Holland, the colored boxer from Canada. It was to be a 20-round bout, bufc Reeve outboxed !his rival, who was forced to retire at tlie halfway stage. Reeve held the" advantage in weight, and it sooh became clear that he was a. so the more scientific of the two. Under the circumstances,- it was a tribute to the pluck of .Holland that he was able to last, for 10 rounds. Reeve is eager to meet some of the top-notchers, and he will force recognition before very long. '

— Newman's Fine B_lliards ? — Tlie splendid victory of Tom Newman over Tom Reece in their level billiard match of 18,000 up.- stamps him as a wonderful match player. It was not only the margin of 610 points which proves this, but rather the manner of his victory. One must remember that Newman is only 21 years of age, and -that in Reece, of Old- i ham, he Mas up against a tried performer, ' who less tban a year ago defeated both Gray and Stevenson in the preliminaries of [ the championship. Twice during the opening week he was 1,000 points behind, and his rival led him by 240 points when the final day's play started. This was not- encouraging, and matters looked even worse wher. Reece increased hie lead to over. 500. Most players would have lost heai.l., but } £ wl *^ n his end U P> and breaks of 10k, 240, and 230 enabled him to go to the front. Newman reached, his points in the afternoon, with a lead of 41, having l scored 990 to the 709 by his rival during

I the session. Thus they started the last session on equal terms, Newman l^eing in play with an unfinished i5 to liis credit. Resuming the break, he played grand billiards, and did not put down liis cue until the break stood at 331. There is no doubt this settled matters, for though the position of Reece was no wors© than Newman's during the afternoon session, the Oldham m;in never looked like making a fight of it, his total dining the evening only reaching 180. Newman kept up his form, an incomplete break of 106 enabling him to run out the winner as stated, his average of 44 for the last session being excellent. As a result of the match, a sportsman, who saw the finish, has offered to back Newman against any man in th© world at ]_nglish billiards for £300 a side. This lias brought a reply from John Roberts, who is willing to wager £100 that Smith, of Darlington, can beat Newman. The pair are contesting a level match at Lincoln this week, and when the halfway stage arrived, Smith held the good lead of 1,172 points. Before finishing with billiard topic®, mention must be made of th© splendid break which Gray made on Wednesday. He is trying to concede C Falkiner 3,000 points in 16,000 up, and at one period he had dropped 4,037 points in arrears: His big break of 640 on Wednesday improved his position, however, and another such 'effort will alter the look of things. FOOTBALL. A most interesting match was provided for lovers of soccer at Queen's Club, London, on Saturday. The teams represented the Aldershot Command and the Corinthian men who are now serving. The former included several well-known men who have played for Englisli and Scottish Leag-ue clubs, whilst the Corinthians wfire mainly Amateur Football Association in- ■ ternationa 1 players. It proved a fine maJtch, and but for poor shooting on the part of the Aldershot men, the scores would have been much closer. Lieutenant C. K Brisley, who is in the Flying Corps, scored three goals for the Corinthians, whilst Lieutenant H. C. Bache got another, the only goal for Aldershot being the result of clever work by Sergeant C. W. Higgins. LEAGUE FRAY. Important changes have to be chronicled in the Firsit Division championship table. Manchester City went under (1-0) when visiting Middlesbrough, whilst Uvo other leading teams in Oldham and Sheffield Wednesday picked up a point each by drawing against Chelsea and Blackburn* Sheffield Wednesday followed this up by a sensational win of 7 gods io 0 when receiving Bolton on Monday. As a result, Sheffield Wednesday now tops the table with 35 points for 28 matches, followed by Oldham 34 points for 26 matches, and Evert on .and Manchester City each .with. 33 points for 27 games Interest in the Scottish League championship has been still further increased by Saturday's happenings. Heart, of Midlothian could only draw on Hibernian's ground, each scoring twice, but Celti\p secured both points on Patrick Thistle's ground* the score being 2 goals to 0. This narrows the gap between the clubs by a single pointy Hearts claiming a tota'l of 53 to Celtic's 52.' both having played 31 matches. THE TURF. Tlie most interesting of recent; Turf happenings was the bold effojt of Bullawarra iii the Granby Steeplechase at Sandown | Park. The Australian crack was carrying 171 pounds, and in spite of the weight he jumped splendidly, and sound judges believe he will do well over the big jumps in the Grand National. Bullawarra finished third, Ally SJoper aiid Alfred Noble being first- and second. Both will meet the Australian on slightly better terms in the \3rand National. [Ally Sloper won.— Ed.]