FROM FIELD, FLOOD, AND RING

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18382, 28 September 1929, Page 15

FROM FIELD, FLOOD, AND RING

A cable states that Fidel la Barba, the ex-flyweight champion of the world, is at present visiting London. He announced that he was shortly quitting the ring to take up stockbroking. La Barba was in Australia at the beginning of this year and undefeated. He beat Billy M‘Alister, Willie Smith twice and Billy Grime. He received a trouncing from Kid Chocolate on returning to America.

Three London golf professionals, T. H. Cotton (Langley Park), J. H. Taylor (Royal Mid-Surrey), and James Braid (Walton Heath), joined F. J. Bradbeer the local professional, in exhibition rounds over the course of the Saunton Club at Braunton (Devonshire), to mark the official opening of the new club house. Cotton, with a brilliant round of 75, which lowered by 2 strokes the record of the course, led in the morning medal round, in which Taylor was second with 82, Braid and Bradbeer each needing 84 strokes. In the afternoon Bradbeer beat the two veterans in a fourball match by 1 hole.

Ted Morgan, the world’s amateur welterweight champion, w’ill make his first appearance as a professional at Dunedin to-night, when he will be opposed by Steve Hughes, formerly a well known Otago amateur. Hughes was amateur lightweight champion of Scotland a few years ago, and in 1927 was narrowly beaten by Armishaw, of Auckland, in the semi.-fina 1 . of the New Zealand welter championship. Turing professional, he was knocked out by Dave Palmer, an Australian fighter, after shaping disappointingly, and well below form. He fought much better in his second fight against Fred Smitheram, which he w*on. He is fighting* much stronger than he used to, and there are many here who reckon he will extend Morgan. Morgan is a solid and aggressive fighter, and a hard body puncher, but Hughes is a clever boxer with a good straight left, and a useful right cross, and the fight may prove a closer affair than some people think.

Johnny Leckie is at present staying with Mr R. Cuttle at Palmerston, and already he has thrown off the listlessness that he carried v:hen he met Sammy Shack recently (states the “Otago Daily Times”). Leckie has been indulging in road work, and has found no dearth of sparring partners in the specially fitted up gymnasium at Mr Cuttle’s home. Leckie was offered a fight with Shack by the the Southland Association, but he is unlikely to accept this as there is a difficulty in finding a suitable date. There are plenty of fights ahead of him, however and in additions to Palmerston North, he will probably be seen in action in Auckland, Napier, and Greymouth.

' The Northern Boxing Association is awaiting a reply from Lachie McDonald regarding a match against Artie Hay. The date suggested is September 30, and it .is understood the bout will be for the limit pure, £l5O.

Billy Grime has approached by the Northern Boxing Association for a match with Johnnie Leckie, but so far he has not replied, although it is known unofficially he is prepared to make the trip, states the New Zealand “Herald.” As he has now beaten Sarron, who lowered Leckie’s colours, Grime and Leckie would draw a record house.

Feet play a great part in golf. The shoe must be comfortable, yet fit well enough to avoid Sloppiness. There are as many fancies in shoes as in clubs, and everyone must suit himself. A heavily calked shoes, on a dry course, hurts the feet, and yet may be the essence of comfort (and wisdom) on a wet, greasy tee. Whatever the conditions, the sole must hot slip.

American lightweight Lou Bloom, at present in Australia, is prepared to visit New Zealand if matches can be arranged. The Yankee is a capable boxer, but the dearth of good lightweights in this country makes it a difficult matter to accommodate him. Bloom recently again lost to Billy Grime, but gained a decision over Norman Gillespie a few days ago.

It is stated that R. Hillary, the exTimaru runner, will join up with the Civil Service Club, Dunedin, where he new resides, and to which he should prove an acquisition. He was a decidely useful cross-country man a couple of years ago, and should strengthen Civil Service team, which fell off last winter, though it did possess one of Otago’s* best cross-country, men in E. C. Brown.

The selection of the New Zealand ladies’ hockey team, which is to take part in the Empire hockey tourney in South Africa next year, was to have been announced early last week, but the team will not now be known until 2nd October owing to the attitude taken up by the South African authorities over the number of players to be sent. They advisted the N.Z.L.H.A. that fiffteen players only could be- sent. That meant that under the most favourable circumstances there would be only four emergencies. For a tour, say, of Australia extending over a few weeks four reserves might be sufficient, but the visit to South Africt will entail an absence from the Dominion of about six months, and the N.ZL.H.A. does not intend to send a team which, through lack of extra players, may make a poor showing. Illness and accident have to be reckoned with on such a

long tour, and obviously it would be waste of money to send away a team which could not do justice to itself. The N.Z.L.H.A. has cabled to South Africa expressing its views, and an early reply is anticipated.

Hommy Mclnnes is back in Scotland styling himself Australian, middleweight champion says a writer in the New Zealand Sportsman. Mclnnes has been matched to fight Steve McCall, the winner to meet Alex Ireland for the Scottish championship. The winner of that series is then to meet Len Harvey for the Empire championship. s

Many different ways of using a right to the body are instructed in the gymnasiums about the city, says Dave Smith in the Sydney “Referee.” I taught ray pupils to counter a lead with? a light left to the body following up the movement by a hard, fast right to the same object. A right body counter is executed in the following manner: A leads a left to the head; B ducked to the left and well forward, at the same time driving the right, with the knuckles (inside the glove) perpendicular, hard to A’s short ribs, at the same instant straightening the left leg and pivoting on the ball of the right foot. The left glove is raised in front of your face, the elbow below. This is used as a guard against any blow in return,, and if you so desire, and see an opening, you lead your left to your opponent’s face, straightening up with the blow. This punch is very severe. You also can hook from the position after using right body counter. Leading straight lefts to the body or heads is, to we old-timers, a dangerous practice; but it mainly depends on your opponent's position or stance. As I have stated, you can get away with it at times.

Length played a great part in the Australian golf contests, and there is no doubt that the golfer who aspires to first rank fame must have the long drive and second in his bag if he is to succeed outside his own little circle. Morpeth is a strikingly long hitter. Those who saw him play the first at the Hutt will remember his drive, a straight true ball sweetly hit, that finished all but on the green, all of a 290 yards shot when the turf was sodden. His statement that Kapi Tareha could not come within 35 yards of A. Hattersley the promising young New South Wales player, is not agreed to by MTntosh, who has seen both, and, in his younger days at Home, all the long British hitters, Ray, Mitchell, and others. M'lntosh is of the opinion that Kapi’s ordinary ball, when he is not trying for length, would outreach either Hattersley or the longer British hitters. It is Kapfs perfect pivot when he considers the secret of his length, and he maintains that in this respect Tareha’s game is equal, if not superior, to the world’s best. In other words, Kapi, 'striving after length, loses it, but in the length of his wooden shots in his average game he outclasses some of the finest players in the world. This may provide food for thought to the average slogger, whose tee shots, if he paid /attention to as perfect a pivot as his build Would allow, would gradually increase in length all through his game, instead of futilely hoping for length only from the set-teeth swipe at the long holes.

When the American boxer, Claude -Wilson, who was beaten twice by New Zealander Johnnie Leckie, goes back to America, he will take back with him very unpleasant memories of Norman Gillespie’s right hand, says “E.T.C.” in New Zealand Sportsman. The latter, how light-weight champion of Australia, bumped the American at Brisbane with disastrous results for the pocky Claude. As early as the first heat, Gillespie tagged to Wilson’s chin a dandy right and, for the Yank, the earth went up and the heavens came down for eight seconds before the blessed old globe righted itself and the stricken one righted himself from the horizontal. The American was badly shaken; but kept going until the sixth. He kept making the fight, but hiai style was just what Gillespie wanted. Norman nailed him with everything as he came in, and, throughout, held more than the upper hand. At the conclusion of the sixth, Wilson’s plight was all too apparent and his seconds threw in the towel. Wonder what his friends in America will say when they read of his defeat on a t.k.0.? The perky Claude passed a similar remark about Johnny Leckie as the latter was passing into the dressing room after having been beaten by Pete Sarron and quite loud enough for Mrs Johnny Leckie to listen-in to. Anyrate, Pete Sarron, with a decisive win over the New Zealand, paid as fine a tribute to a scrapper as anyone could and which did not, indirectly, say much for Wilson’s early remarks on the possibilities of the Dunedin man, especially when he, Wilson, was on the wrong end of the stiek—not once, but twice. Germany defeated the British Isles in the Davis Cup contest, but the result was in doubt right up to the fifth set in the last singles match, which was between Prenn and Austin. With i two matches apiece, the excitement was 1 tremendous when Prenn and Austin were opposed to one another. Austin j took the first set, and Prenn then won I two sets, but the Britisher evened by j winning the fourth set. Towards the I end of the set Austin was attacked by j cramp, which continued almost right i through the fifth set, and he fell down

at the beginning of the seventh game, and lay there until carried off the court. He was compelled to default with Prenn leading 5-1 in the fifth set. Prenn won the match, 4-6, 6-2, 6-4, 4-6, 6-1. It was in the third set that Prenn, who was obviously tiring, started to take longer rests between games when crossing over than is usual, and the result was that Austin was always ready first, and had to wait while his opponent was being “towelled.” Austin showed his annoyance. He looked up at Messrs. Sabelli (the British manager) and Collins in the stand, and remarked, with sarcasm, “Technical strategy.” Prenn looked done as iie struggled for breath, and the perspiration ran off him in streamy fought on, his play still being of a better standard than Austin’s. Prenn 'was without doubt indulging in dilatory tactics, and Mr S. W. Merrihew, the American critic, summed the matter up correctly when he said: “Prenn took a little too much time, he even laid himself open to being warned; but if he crossed the border line it was by so little that a warning would have been sufficient.” Austin thought Prenn wasted time, but there was no reason for Austin to unduly hurry in the way he did, consequently .making matters worse for himself, the result being cramp in the fourth and fifth sets. Gregory, as captain of his side, protested at Prenn’s delay half-a-dozen times, but the only result from the protests was that Prenn was forbidden to occupy an arm-chair while he was being towelled between games. After the third set, Prenn left the court for the ten minutes’ rest, as Austin was also consequently compelled to do. English players are not accustomed to an intermission after the third set, but to players of nearly all other nations it is the accepted practice. Austin was back in court with time to spare, but , Prenn was two minutes late. Gregory protested, and Mr Merrihew contends that Gregory, as captain, “was justified in asking for a default, and, on a strict technicality,, it should have been granted.” Gregory appealed to Mr Sabelli, the British manager, for help, but the latter waved him aside, refused to leave his seat or to assist Gregory in any way. British officials do not look for victory by claiming a default, and evidently that was Mr Sabelli’s reason for declining to interfere. When Prenn played Tilden and Hunter in the singles the Americans, being old campaigners, dallied just as long as Prenn did, so beating him at his own game. Had Austin taken his time just as Prenn did he might have got through without cramp, and without losing his temper.