ENGLISH SPORTING EVENTS

Taranaki Daily News, 2 August 1930, Page 13 (Supplement)

ENGLISH SPORTING EVENTS

A GOLF ENTHUSIAST. FRINGE OF’ WALES AT PLAY. :. . Upeeial’ to -News.) . ■ London, June 12. No golfer has ever played with more thoroughness than the Prince of Wales, and, though he has had .the usual experience in finding -progress slow, his advance has been ’steady, and to-day ■he: can justify a handicap of ten. Indeed,, there are days when he is. a .good deal better. He astonishes everyone by the hours he devotes to practice when his duties allow him to play at all. Most.golfers have-not the patience to go out alone and practice the shots, but. it is not exceptional for tho Prince to-disappear into some quiet corner of the course With■ ; his ..caddie for three or four.•-.■hours, As an indication of hie interest in the giih.ib, he left Epsom immediately the Derby was over, ami within an. hour was. on the first tee of a club .ten-miles away. There he was joined by 'a friend’ and the two American professionals, Deo Diegel and Horton Smith. After'one rpund the Prince and Diegel set out again and, on arriving on one tec, they decided to hai e a .little intensive practice. Here they played drive for"drive, the Prince having* 140 shots in quick succession. . He. always carries a huge stock of balls in a cloth bag and with the caddies scouting out to retrieve .them they went through the lot four times. As a physi- . cal feat it" was .remarkable, but tnc Prince went on after Diegel had had enough and, moreover, played out the. round. As I have said, it was four o'clock when he. started and he did not leave, the club till .nearly nine. The PrinOe likes- playing, with pro--fessionals, <bht it is. probable'• that,."tie would have improved his game quicker if he had been content to put. himself in the hands of one coach, inasmuch a<s each makbs different, suggestions and with all his. enthusiasm he tries first one and then the other. Further, he is tempted to attempt too much in the way of long hitting. Moreover, he lias an enormous collection of clubs, and these, again often lead to confusion. It .is eaid that the Prince's golfing ambition is to become a scratch player, and there is every likelihood of his realising it.. Hie weakness at the present time is in the short game.

SIX A-SIDE rOOTBACL.

AN ASSOCIATION FAILURE. It is one of the most stringent law/ of professional soccer that it shall neither be.turned into a stunt nor exploited for personal gain. It is not permitted either to be placed on a Sunday. There are Sunday matches, but the players who take part in them are outside the pale. But in Scotland, during the closed cummer season, six a-side gamds are arranged and they are nor. illegalin fact, they, attract a . good deaf’of interest. Believing that football might claim a public all the year round, a syndicate was recently formed in London to stage these cut down matches, but from the start the enterprise was doomed to failure. In the

first place, the Football Association issued a warning both to amateurs and professionals that they would be severe.ly dealt with if they played in six a-side matches. The syndicate sought to get over this byrarranging for the men to turn out in masks, and was under the impression that there were plenty of old professionals who would risk being 'discovered. Eventually four teams were put into the field, and they played on the knock out principle, the winners to receive'flOO. So far so well, but the snow was still a failure. There was not more than a handful of spectators, and the syndicate would lose substantially. But there is still a lively interest in the game, and the preparations which the big clubs are making for the new season are attracting considerable attention. The outstanding transfer of the closed season has been that ;&f Gallacher, the Newcastle United .centrp forward, to Chelsea". A stocky lit,tie fellow standing no more than sft.,'Bin., Gallacher is the beet of the centre forwards the game has produced since the war, but unfortunately ■he has never settled down at Newcastle. He has an unfortunate habit of getting to cross purposes with the referee and his opponents and,- wonderful as has been his football, he has not got on -well. Chelsea has had to pay iIO.OOO for him, and only one other man has cost as much. This was David Jack, the Arsenal forward.

ENGLAND OUT OF DAVIS CUP.

• AUSTRALIA’S FIXE EFFORT. • The high hopes of ft complete revival : of. English lawn tennis in the Davis cup competition have again been shattered. After having defeated Germany and Poland the team met Australia at Eastbourne and lost all four singles, the only . success gained being in the doubles. The result was-very disappointing, .but the contest was much closer than-' the final record suggests. For instance, both against J. B. Crawford and 11. 0. Hopman, Australia’s representatives, H. G. N. Lee won two sets and in each case had an even chance in the fifth. Unfortunately Lee’s game is stereotyped. It lacks both variety and finesse. This to a large extent is due to weaknesses. He does not, for example, volley well, and hence he is inclined to play too much from the back of the court. It was the endeavour of both Crawford and Hopman to get him to the net by chopping their returns short, and then either sending him back ! y a deep volley or beating him with a passing shot. But there is little between players who have to go to five sets for a result, and it was so in this case. It was decided that Dr. J. C. Gregory should play in the singles instead of 11. W. Austin as well as in the doubles

with I. G. Collins. Austin, it may be remembered, collapsed through cramp when playing against Germany, and the match was nearly lost as a consequence. There is no doubt that he is the best singles.“ player in the country, but, though he has had a long rest, it was felt that he might break down again and that it was safer to rely on Gregory. The latter took the third set from Crawford, but. he was beaten in the doubles, , taking three, sgts pffi the rpel and>. with within ,anf&cie ibf gbttiiig

. haver been a case of two matches all. ’ Tho. Australians have now left for Milan, where they: will oppose Italy in the semi-final of the competition. It is expected that they will now play through to the final, in which they are likely to oppose America for the right to challenge France for the cup. AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERS. AGGRAVATING 'REGULATIONS/ The regulations to Which the Australian cricketers have to submit during their stay seem to be drawn tighter and tighter. When they appeared at Lords the. other day a notice' was posted outside , their dressing-room : pointing out that the players were not to be -spoken to, whilst a man was placed on guard at the door. Except ■when they - were on the field they did not even speak to the members of the M.CiC-. eleven. What the object of; these restrictions is no one seems to know; From-our point of view, they are mot only unnecessary but ridiculous. Truly the Australians are making a thorough business of their tour, but whether it will help them to win the. Ashes, is doubtful. Everything is now in readiness for the first Test at Nottingham. : The provisional-English team is; what was expected,kwith the exception 1 .that Geary is not' included. On the other hand, there are three spin bowlers in B. W. V. Robins, J. C. White and-Rich-ard Tyldesley. One of them is sure to stand down. Robins, who sends idownthe googlie at a faster* pace than any other man has been able to do. has not. yet played against the tourists, and it i<3 suggested that he has been deliberately kept back in order that he may be introduced at Nottingham as a surprise bowler. In any case,' he is sure to -play, and whether White or Tyldesley goes into the side will depend on the - state of the pitch. The provisional team numbers thirteen, and this rfieans that a batsman will also have to Stand down. It is thought that the Choice resta between Woolley and K. S. Duleepsinhji, but both have'played magnificent crieket lately and it is bad luck that both cannot be included. The young Indian batsman has just scored another brilliant century in the game with Middlesex, and there is no doubt that he. is at the top of his form. Since-the game at Lords the Australians have had an easy time, and the opportunity has been taken to rest Grimmett, the bowler on whom they chiefly rely. Since he reached his thousand rune Bradman appears to have suffered something of a reaction, but Woodfull has made a double century against Cambridge University. Jackson is still unable to get going in the style that was: expected.