Army Athletes Granted Leave At Home

Southland Times, Issue 23987, 30 November 1939, Page 12

Army Athletes Granted Leave At Home

To soldier-athletes the British authorities are still showing great indulgence in granting short leave for match or professional purposes. At the weekly boxing meetings at the Stadium at Holborn it is no longer a novelty to hear it announced that the next bout will be a “ten-round contest between Private Smith and Private Jones.”

In the same way W. Rickaby, who is attached to one of the anti-aircraft units in the South of England, was able to accept some good mounts at the first Newmarket race meeting. Some recent commissions include the gazetting as second-lieutenant of B. 0. Allen, the former Gloucestershire cricket captain. A left-handed player, Allen represented his school—Clifton — in 1931, Cambridge University in 1933, and in 1937 he took over the captaincy of Gloucestershire on the death of D. C. A. Page. He acted in this capacity for two seasons before retiring at the end of last year, when Walter Hammond took his place. Percy Alliss, the golf professional, is also in khaki now, , not a new experience for him, as he served throughout the Great War and was wounded once. Alliss is now over 40 years of age, but has been accepted for defence duties in this country. MIDSHIPMAN IN LAST WAR R. Everett, the steeplechase jockey, is now a Royal Navy Air Force pilot, and he, too, is no stranger to service conditions. In the last war he became a midshipman in 1916, and served until the end of hostilities. Considering his undoubted ability, Everett has not received the patronage he deserved during recent National Hunt seasons. It is now ten years since he rode the outsider Gregalach to victory in the Grand National at Aintree, and five years since his last big success—when he won the Irish Grand National on Poolgowran. H. G. N. Lee, as befits a chartered accountant, has been gazetted to the Army Pay Corps. Lee was for several years a member of Britain’s Davis Cup team, and a most useful one, too. He often suffered the unhappy lot of being a kind of odd man, but when he was called upon to play—and it was often at the last minute —he always put up a good show whether it was in singles or in doubles with a more or less strange partner. He played a big part in regaining the cup for Britain in 1933. Recently he has not been able to spare much time for tennis owing to calls of business.