OFF THE FIELD

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 78, Issue 7015, 4 February 1949, Page 5

OFF THE FIELD

NOTES FROM HERE AND THERE GAMES AND PLAYERS (By “Breakaway”) _ Collecting Their Share Local athletes continue to collect their share of the trophies offering at the various open meetings of clubs forming the Waikato Centre of the N.Z.A.A.A. A team from Te Awamutu competed at Morrinsville last Saturday and performed creditably without gaining a victory in the final of any event. The best performance was that of J. Sizemore in the shortlimit 100 yards in which he was placed third in a “blanket” finish between C. Parker, of Hamilton, H. Vosper, of Cambridge (last year’s Waikato junior champion), and the local sprinter. Parker was timed to run the 100 yards in 9.8 sec. off scr. (an unofficial Waikato record) and Vosper and Sizemore started from 3 yards. There was a slight following wind but officials agreed that it was of no assistance. This effort by Sizemore is the best he has given for some time and he will give the sprinters a hard job at the the Centre championships to be held at Taumarunui towards the end of this month.

Successes at Cambridge At the Anniversary Day meeting at Cambridge on Monday, Sizemore won the 220 yards off 14 yards in 21.8 secs. His team-mate R. Horan ran third in the quarter mile event from 26 yards, which was won by a limit man (50 yards) in 47.6 secs. G. Yates (re-handicapped 3 yards following his victories at the local meeting) won his heat of the 100 yards, but failed to gain a place in the final. In the junior events Peter Norris notched a second in the 100 yards and a third in the 220 yards. Wealth of High-Jumpers

It'is many years since the Waikato Centre has had high-jumpers of the calibre of R. McKenzie and G. Jefferies (Paeroa) and M. Keliher (Hamilton) and it is quite probable that the National title will once again come to this district. McKenzie annexed the title last year with a jump of 6 feet, but on two occasions this year has been beaten by his club-mate Jefferies. Keliher has also bettered 6 feet this season. At an athletic meeting at Auckland on Monday the Waikato representatives excelled themselves when McKenzie and Jefferies cleared 6ft lin. and Keliher 6ft. The 6ft lin. recorded by the Paeroa men is the second best performance in the Dominion this season. The best is to the credit of J. Borland (Otago) at 6ft 2in. The Otago man is also credited with the best performance by a New Zealander for this event with a jump of 6ft 2Sins, created at Auckland in March, 1947. Busy Period for ‘Swimmers

Within the next two or three weeks local swimming enthusiasts are due for a feast of the sport. The Te Awamutu Swimming Club will hold its open carnival on Saturday week when an attractive programme has been drawn up to cater for all ages. The following week the club has been fortunate to secure the services of three New Zealand women national title holders for a short period. These champions are Misses Ngaire Lane, Betty Casey and Helen Forsythe. Both these attractions should draw a good response from the public.

Match Winning Effort One of the most pleasing displays of clean hitting of the cricket season in the Waipa Association’s competition was witnessed on Monday when the Kaipaki batsman W. Powell, compiled a brilliant 87 before being dismissed. The games on Monday were the first of the one-day fixtures and called for quick run-getting and Powell certainly went for the runs. Joining his skipper, H. Goodwin when the scoreboard read 8 —2—2, Powell soon mastered the attack of the Frontier Road side and in his tally were included two sixes and 10 fours. The partnership for the third wicket between Powell and Goodwin added 108 runs before Askew clean bowled Powell, whose performance was all the more remarkable owing to the fact that he suffers the disability of the loss of a hand and holds the bat with one hand. Powell has an exceptionally keen eye and hits anything on the wicket very hard. This player also bowls an above-average delivery and, although not gaining a wicket, he sent down 14 overs for only 38 runs last Monday.

Good Average A fine average in Waikato Shield games has been compiled by the Paterangi opening batsman, R. Tarr, for the Waipa representatives. In the three games decided this season Tarr has scored 63, 48 and 30, which gives him the average of 47 runs for each visit to the wicket. This batsman is more solid this season and is extremely hard to shift once he has settled down. More Chances Needed!

Watching the Frontier Road side in the games this season the writer cannot understand the policy of the captain of the team not making much more use of R. Haycock in the team’s attack. The figures of this player warrant a bigger share of work with the ball. His slow break deliveries are just the variety needed from the medium-paced bowling of the captain, G. Ellis, and J. Askew and W. Haycock. In the game played last week R. Haycock bowled only two overs for nine runs, while Ellis and Askew sent down 14 and 17 overs respectively for over 50 runs apiece and only one and two wickets. With a big partnership being staged variety of attack in most cases has the desired effect. In World Class

Dave Sands, the Australian aborigine, whose brother, Alfie is campaigning in New Zealand at present, would be light-heavyweight champion of the world if he could get Freddie Mills into the ring, it is felt in Australia. The Australians work it out this way: It took Mills eight “rounds to knock out South African Johnny Ralph recently. Just before this, Australian Alf Gallagher drew with Ralph—and seemed unlucky not to get the decision. In 1946 Sands knocked out Gallagher in three rounds, and Sands is a much better fighter now than he was then. A better Hne on Sands’

form may be gained when he meets Bos Murphyi in a few weeks’ time.

Wounded Even at Snooker One of the most-injured men in sport can now record a wound from snooker. He is Bert Tinklin, aged 38, of Blackheath, near Birmingham. His professional football career began at Grantham, where he broke a leg and bones in a hand. It carried on to Aidershot (two broken ribs) and Watford (internal injury, crutches for 15 months). He took up cricket, was hit by a rising ball which broke his nose and splintered his jaw. Then he decided to give up field sports for a time, but the hoodoo stayed with him. In a game of snooker a ball cannoned back sharply and crushed one of his fingers.

Champion 4n the Making Kevin Clarke, a 17-y ear-old schoolboy, cleared sft. Ilin.-at a sports meeting held at Perth last month, and equalled the West Australian junior (under 19 years) record set in 1941 by John Winter, high jump champion at the Olympic Games held at London. Clarke, who only began jumpinglast year, has had little coaching, and good judges expect him to cauee sensations before the athletic season is finished.

Glittering Money Prizes “What is happening in the world of big Soccer? Surely the limit has been reached when we have scouts from leading clubs touring Europe with a mission to induce players to leave their native land and come over here to join Football League clubs,” writes G. Wagstaffe Simmons, in Sporting Life, London. “South African newspapers, in particular, are very bitter about what has been happening. They have made vigorous protests against—to quote one leading journal—(‘agents from England dangling glittering money prizes to players we cannot spare to go to the Mother Country to play football.’ The question is asked: ‘ls it because League clubs are out to save transfer fees that they come to South Africa to steal our players, and not pay one penny of compensation to the clubs that have coached them, trained them, and given them the opportunities to play, without which they could not have attained their present skill?’”

Jottings The Sydney University sprinter, John Bullock, regarded as Australia’s big sprint find, raced against medical advice and collapsed half-way through the first heat in the 100yds in the Australian championships, which La Beach won in his first appearance in Australia. Olympic Games 200 metres champion, Mel Patton, has announced that he is retiring from athletics because of family responsibilities. Patton’s recent 100 yards run in 9.3 sec. is claimed as a world record. Patton, who is married and has one child, said he wanted to devote more time to business.

The Panama sprinter Lloyd La Beach lost his voice in Sydney and had to talk in subdued whispers. He denied that he had a cold, and said his throat trouble had been caused by too many interviews with press and radio reporters.