THE PLAYGROUND.

Southland Times, Issue 18969, 16 June 1923, Page 12 (Supplement)

THE PLAYGROUND.

The British Labour Party, which has been giving the Government a hot time recently, challenged their oppesants to a cricket match, their challenge was accepted, •nd the match is to take place at Lords. It was agreed at the meeting of the Southland Acclimatisation Society the other night that the Society should keep an eye on the Mataura river this year, as it had been freely stated last season that quinnat salmon had been seen in that river. In the Empire Stadium at Wembley there are two tracks, one surrounding the playing field, four laps to the mile, and the other the 220 yards straight. This is the only straight run of its kind in Europe. Experience has shown that with a straight run competitors in a 220 yards race have a much better chance of accomplishing a great performance than they have when taking curves or awkward corners, with consequent readjustment of balance, loss of speed, or running wide. To get this 220 yards straight run a special tunnel has been constructed under part of the super-struc-ture of the Stadium in the West Wing. America is suffering badly from the •‘endurance” dance crate. A young woman danced for 69 hours at Eastport (Conn.l before the police ordered her to stop, while a one-legged youth danced continuously fcr 24 hours and one minute at Cleveland, Ohio. Six dancing-mad couples who started at midnight an attempt to dance s« days continuously aboard a yacht, abandoned the attempt. They put out to sea to avoid public interference, but nature intervened, and all the couples were seized with a bad bout of sea-sideness. Policeman on duty at Tiverton (EngJ, 1 hearing a flutter in the River Lowman, investigated with their electric torches, and found an otter dragging a duck under some bushes. Some minutes later the duck reappeared, pursued by the otter, and made for the bank. Its beak and part of its head had been bitten off. The duck had to be destroyed. The Wyndham Bowling Club are in fear that their green may be destreyed by the

spreading roots from the line of huge trees which serve as shelter from the prevailing storms from the west. These trees have obviously neen allowed to develop to a size beyond what is useful. They should have been kept dwarf by lateral trimming, says the Herald. The evil effect of tree roots may be seen in various places, where asphalt paths are fractured by the roots; and it may be expected in time that the tennis courts will have their surfaces damaged if the roots are allowed to spread unchecked. Part of the line of trees, being not too large, may be kept under control; but’ the remedy with the larger trees must be the drastic one of cutting them out altogether if the courts and greens are to be saved.

That athletes are coming to their best earlier than in the old days is indicated by the great performances of recent date by competitors for athletic honours who are still in their teens. The other day an 18-year-old schoolboy was credited in Am eric r with running 100 yards in 9 3-sth, a fifth better than the brilliant performance of the South African High School boy Betts at his last school sports. In the recent try-outs in the Philippines for the 1923 Far Eastern Games an 18-year-old schoolboy, hortunato Catalon, was credited with 9 4-sth on three consecutive days. Five w’atches were on the races and several of them caught him at 9 3-sth. Young Catalon won the 100 and 220 yards in the Far Eastern Championships in 1921 and it is intended to send him to the Olympic

Games next year. Charlie Paddock will have to look to his laurels if these youngsters keep going at the present rate, but

the cheerful little Californian may have given the game best. He has been on deck for a good long while now. Los Angeles made a big bid for the 1924 Olympic Games when it became knowm that Paris was having difficulty in obtaining the needed Government appropriations,

but France smoothed out her difficulties in time and Los Angeles then sought the 1928 games. However, the Olympic Committee considered that many of the nations would be unable owing to economic conditions to finance an invasion of the States, and so Los Angeles will have to wait till 1932. At the same time the committee sanctioned an international meeting at Los Angeles in September of this year to dedicate the Californian city’s new stadium. Australia and New Zealand is a good deal interested in the efforts of the Western American city to get the Games, as it would mean considerably less travelling and expense for these countries. The English cricketers who toured NewZealand last summer were commencing to arrive home in “fragments” late in April. Hon. F. S. G. Calthorpe, who played so well against Southland, broke the journey at Toulon and went on to Monte Carlo with his wife. Most of the rest went overland to England, where A. C. Wilkinson had arrived some time before by the American route. The last heard of Colonel Hartley and Gibbon was that they were fishing up in the North bland, but no doubt they are well on the homeward journey by this time. Gibson was to have returned io the Argentine, where his people hold extensive tracts of country.

A message from Madrid to the French sporting Press describes the increasing popularity of football in Spain. A considerable section of the general public now prefers watching football matches to bull fights. So great is the new attraction that the Ronda Arena in Andalusia, which was formerly used for corridas, has now been transformed into a football ground, and even in Seville, popular interest in football has grown to such an extent that a bull fight arranged for last Sunday was postponed as it clashed with the football match between the Seville and Europa clubs for the championship of Spain. The jazz craze in America has had curious development, and the marathon dishwashing record of the world has been claimed by Miss Susie Hetlock, of Punxsutawney, of Pennsylvania. Susie (22) obtained a job in a kitchen of the Pantali Hotel several months ago. P'riends were discussing marathon dancing, and the conversation eventually centred on the subject of cleaning the family plate. A wager was laid, and the winsome Susie starter! on her recordmaking dishwashing expedition. Using only the old-time methods—a dishcloth, pan, hot water, and soap, Miss Hetlock continued her operations for thirty-one hours without a stop. She won the wager, and the hotel manager rewarded her by ordering a twoday vacation. The Victorian Athletic League has suspended for life G. Getson, middle-distance cash runner, of Christchurch, who was alleged to have competed ift Australia under an assumed name. Getson's case has hung « fire since November last, and the decision of the Victorian League automatically puts him out of the game so far as New Zealand is concerned, under a reciprocity agreement between the league and the New Zealand Athletic and Cycling Union (says the Sun). Thus is lost to the sport a stylish and very fine runner, perhaps the beat half-miler in c.vh athletics in the Dominion. It is rather difficult to understand a report from the other side that the Tasmanian Amateur Athletic Association has decided to take steps to obtain recognition as a world’s record of the performance of Andy Stuart 37 years ago, in throwing a cricket bdl 124 yards on the Hobart sports g ound. The generally accepted cricket bdl record is that of R. Percival on Durham

Sports and Pastimes.

Sands about 40 years ago, when he sent the little sphere flying over a space of 140 yards. It is reported that quite a large number of people who like to back their opinions of boxers lost some good coin of the realm last Saturday evening, through confusing g.Tack Heeney, who was beaten by Brian McCleary, with his bigger and better brother Tom. says the Christchurch Sun. Bull-fighting seem? to have lost its punch for the Spanish races. Over in Spain they are getting very keen on both football codes, while in Mexico, according to American consular observers stationed there, baseball is gradually usurping the bull-stabbing game. THE REP. TEAM. WHAT ABOUT THE COACHING? LESSONS FOM A RECENT MATCH. (By “Censorious.”) “ You'll have a good rep. team in Southland this year if you coach it properly.” This remark was made by a visitor from the north, a man who has had a big hand in big football in this country, a man who knows what it means to coach a team, and his insistence on the coaching of the rep. team recalled the fact that last year’s arrangements were tragically inadequate. They also drew attention to the result of last Wednesday’s match which disclosed many interesting things, among them the wonderful advance made by the Marist back division and the poor showing of their opponents, who have been for three years together under the one coach. Anyone who can recall the first appearance of the Greens this year will admit that Wednesday’s backs showed the hand of a practical coach. It is possible that Star has not had enough practical coaching, but has been talked to overmuch.

Remember this fact when you come to consider problems in connection with the reps.

A few years ago Southland won the Ranfurly Shield as a result of steady coaching by specialists under unified direction. There was a discussion in that year, and in the following year on the merits of certain coaches and some straight talk resulted, but the back play in Southland has deteriorated since that time. The Selectors this year, we are told, have the matter in hand, but one is not satisfied at the vast quantity of work they are pushing on to the shoulders of Mr J. W. Stead, who is a selector, and is engaged in delivering weekly lectures to the senior players, as well as coaching a club team. What the Union needs, however, is a system of coaching which will prepare the men for these lectures. There is room for a tremendous amount of work in teaching the players how to handle the ball, how to kick, how to do the myriad things which belong to the mechanics of the game. Forwards and backs require instruction in the elementary things in the squad drill of the game. When they can pass, when they have an idea of work in concert, they will find lectures beneficial. But what on earth is the use of filling a back’s head with beautiful tactical schemes if he cannot pass? It is practical work in a hall that our reps, need so that every man is a footballer equipped for the game, and it is impossible to secure the results unless the qualifications and limitations of men are realised. It is absurd to ask Mr Stead to take up all this work—we know what it meant in tjie past —and if it is anxious to make the most of the material we have available the Rugby Union does not want to go repeating its old blunders. Let the members of the management committee cast their eyes over the season’s play and see if on the progress of the teams they are entitled to load Mr Stead with all this responsibility. Are the mistakes of last year to be repeated? Or are we to have again the troubles of the past when the selectors of the day put up the case that a rep. team could not be coached ? And were blown out on it! The S.R.F.U. must realise that the team wants organised coaching, and that nothing has yet been done to suggest that this essential to the province’s success this season is going to be secured under present arrangements. Let me remind the S.R.F.U. of the past. Does the past assure the management committee that the present arrangements will ensure adequate coaching in practical things? Next week the S.R.F.U. should go into this matter and overhaul the I arrangements before it is too late. Practical coaching first and then the lectures. And remember that the sound lecturer on tactics is not necessarily the effective coach!