ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER

Taranaki Daily News, 30 September 1929, Page 4

ENGLISH SPORTING LETTER

THE FOOTBALL SEASON. POPULARITY OF LEAGUE. (From Our Own Correspondent.) London, Aug. 15. The talk is all of football. Even though the county championship is in a most exciting state, cricket is being speeded as a parting guest inclined to outstay his welcome. The League programme has already started in Scotland, where there is no cricket to make even a feeble protest against the encroachment into summer, and in England the players have taken off the rough edges by training, and have engaged in practice games. In the old days these were usually played behind closed doors. Now, so keen is public interest, that they are thrown open to club supporters, who seek the first opportunity of judging for themselves the team’s prospects. Their main interest is in the new men, how they shape, and how they fit in with their colleagues. But it is very doubtful whether these games are really informative, because the men who are sure of their places refuse to run the risk of being hurt on the. hard ground. There are often nasty mishaps in these preliminary can.ters, and on this account most clubs would be pleased to revert to the old private practice. An indication of the popularity of League football is the amount of publicity which is given tb it. The prospects of every club in the country have been broadcast and almost without exception they are officially described as “splendid.” There is always this optimism. All teams are going to do better than before, .and the hopes are justified to the extent that one Can never be sure how well—or badly—a side may -play. Last season' Everton were all cock a’hoop. They were: going to win the championship, again.. As a matter of fact, they finished near the bottom of the .competition, and their place as champions was usurped by a side, Sheffield Wednesday, who a few month's before had been down in the depths. Who will be the new champions? One might be allowed half a dozen forecasts and still fail to select the winner. But once more, the best teams are likely to be in the hardy north, though the Arsenal aspire not only to be the leaders of the south but the crack a’jacks of the game. There remain, however, comparative weaknesses to be repaired before the club arelikely to realise their highest expectations. It is a little puzzling why London and the south should so regularly be in the shade. One explanation offered is that the climate of the north is more invigorating and that the men in the circumstances keep their form better and longer. POOR SUPPORT OF BRIGHT CRICKET • . ■ ■ ■ ■ ! EXPERIMENTS WHICH FAILED. . It is unfortunate that cricket is being pushed into the background thus early, for most of the county clubs, on examining their finances, find that they have a deal of leeway, to make-up. Only a few weeks remain, and the prospects of recovery are not good.. This .is the one disappointing feature of a season which in many respects has been extremely pleasing. Despite the, keenness of the struggle for the championship, the substantial increase in the percentage of finished matches and . the greater success of the bowler, the attendances at the games have shown a decline. If is impossible to offer any reason for this, for the championship, which is now reckoned so simply and readily that all can understand it, has been more interesting than for several years. But the authorities are naturally concerned, and it is on this account that they are considering further “improvements.” The experiment in the leg-before-wicket rule, has not succeeded, and is to go. The bigger wicket has not made any appreciable difference either to batsman or bowler, and it is comparatively unimportant whether it is retained or not. Possibly this, too, will be abandoned inasmuch as club cricketers are not likely to take it up, and it hardly seems worth while to invite Australia and South Africa' to introduce the bigger stump. Then the professionals are laughing at the. suggestion- that play will be improved by stopping - the publication of averages. They do not,, they say emphatically, affect the..play of any one. As a matter of fact the general opinion is that more harm than good will be done by . tinkering with the game. Meanwhile, the struggle for the championship is being watched with great interest, even if people are not patronising the matches very well. Notts continue at the head and are favourites, largely through their fine array of bowlers, but Gloucestershire and Kent are pressing them closely, and it is likely that the full programme will have to run before there is a decision.

BOXING AND BOXERS. HARVEY AND HOOD. An effort is being made to match Jack Hood and Len Harvey (writes Eugene Corri) ..by the syndicate who, unhappily for themselves, owing to the physical disability of the welter champion, were unable to put them in the ring some time ago at Crystal Palace. Frank Moody, at fatally short notice, took the place of Hood, and Harvey, after knocking him out, had some idea that he might beat Phil Scott, which was a foolish notion. What will be the outcome of the projected Harvey and Hood match it is, at the moment, impossible to tell. I daresay Hood is willing, as is Harvey, but I have an idea that Hood is already committed to a programme that does not reckon with the middle-weight champion. It would be an attractive match, and a paying proposition, I should eay, but would it, whatever the result, enhance the reputation of either man? If Hood were beaten, he might well plead that ho was over-weighted. If Harvey, lost, his stock, as a potential holder of the world’s - middle-weight title, would go down flop. And that, from his point of view, would never do. I am all for fighters operating against those of their ..own particular division. However, we shall see what we- shall see. It is stated that Len Harvey has accepted a challenge from David Shade, '

weight boxer for £lOOO in England. It will be vastly interesting to see what happens. Does the acceptance of the challenge mean that Hai'vey will have to travel to the States? I am inclined to think so. For the reason that Shade, whatever his capacity these days, is not so well-known in this country as to induce a promoter to put up a purse that would be after the’ commercial ideas of the American. Shade ha© been of the ring since a boy. When sixteen he won much distinction in short bouts around San Francisco, and for th© last eight years has met the best in the business. But I rather fancy, that within recent times he has done little fighting of first-rate importance. As a matter of fact, Shade was about the last man I expected to challenge Harvey. Though he has been fighting for many years, Shade ijj no more than 27. BOY FOR THE YANKEES. Harvey with much profit might well undertake a visit to America. He is the type who should do well there. He has the good looks and the personality to capture the Americans. Also, when so disposed, he can fight in the uncompromising way that is after the hearts of the Yankees. Whatever he may decide, I hope he will not remain on the shelf longer than he can help. It 16 refreshing to know that his stable companion, Gypsy Daniels, is about to go into action after a very long lay-off. Herbert Crossley is to be his opponent. Good match it should be, else Mr. Bridgewater, who looks after the interests of Crossley, would not have courted it with the assiduity he has done. MAX SCHMELLING. We are still having strikingly different stories from New York about Max Sehmelling. First, we,had a cable that he had been definitely fixed up -with Phil Scott for a day .early. nex,t month. Then we were told that..the New .York . Commissioners had wiped their -bands of the German for good, and aIL. I really do . hot know; what. to make of the position. Unless the New York tribunal relent, .Scott would not be so foolish as to go out of the State to do battle with the German. For to do that would most probably rule him out of of the championship.. I take the view that a fight with * Sehmelling is not absolutely- necessary for Scott to engage in. It is true that he made the trip' ostensibly to fight him, but such a light was surely never contingent upon Scott being permitted to fight for the title. The primary business of Scott is to let it be known that he bars, no man ; that he .is ready to meet any heavy put up against him. The one and central idea, so far? as Scott is concerned —and that is all we are troubled about —is to get into ithe ring, and go one better than hi 4 opponent, whoever that opponent chances to be. Scott is in the position' of a fighter who must be prepared to fight the rest, one down t’other come on, as we say. His mission in New York is ,to force himself into a bout in which .the title would be involved. That and nothing else. ' ' ' ' TEDDY’S DREAM. ; I. suppose Teddy Bdidock.'will soon be crossing the Atlantic: It is',good? to know that he has seldom, if ever; been out of serious training, and that? at the moment he was never fitter in-his life. It is in his favour that when he arrives-in; New York,, he will not have to go through- anything .like a grinding preparation. . If he has any trouble; at all, it will be in the way. of acelhna.tisation, and in keeping down, to -the bantam limit. He is .overjoyed that everything is now cut and dried for a meeting with. Brown. The suspense which he suffered, wondering if and when he and Brown would be matched, must have - given him no end of worry. ,-. And perhaps that is the explanation why he was not, according to many of those who witnessed his fight with Gideon Potteau at Blackpool, full of life. Baldock long ago set his heart and soul on proving, to'the complete satisfaction of the world, that he is the best of all the bantams,, and he was not happy until he had the definite assurance that he was free .rto. eet out to establish himself as such. > THE TALK OF LONDOJt, A The talk of London this;' v/eekj' as you might well suppose, hasUbebir&he latest victory won by the; bpyV' Pat Daly, over Jack Garland,' army 1, elulih’pion • and member' of-bur Olympic • team, who'' fought at Amsterdam last summer. One dare not 'attempt- to prophesy what the fiiture of Daly will -be. 'His achieveinentsi : ’have been, so astonishing. There has Seldom been a boy, save perhaps Carpentier—who became a professional fighter when he was fourteen years of age—who has accomplished so much. Daly is an •incredible boy. There is very little of him. physically, yet ..he seems ’ able! to take punishment under, which , many a full-grown man would buckle. m. Now, Garland, you may take it from me, is no duffer; anything but that. There have been few better bantams developed in the army within' recent years. Ho is rich in skill, lias,d nice style, is plucky, can' punch to some tune, and has, remembering his years, quite a deal of experience. Yet at Premierland last Sunday he was not only outboxed but outfought'. Whatever doubt there might have been as .to the correctness of the referee’s ruling when the two fought some time ago at Clapton, there was none on this occasion: Daly was the winner beyond question. If Daly holds to his pre-sent-remarkable ability; Baldock will have to look out when he -come home from America. I am almost inclined to believe that, save Baldock, there is no bantam in this country better , than Daly. " ...<<(