A SPORTING MISCELLANY

Thames Star, Volume LXII, Issue 17385, 24 March 1928, Page 5

A SPORTING MISCELLANY

FROM ALL THE WORLD OVER. GAMES, PASTIMES, SPORTS. '‘''l SCISSORED, PINCHED & STOLEN, fl A javelin throw of 216 ft. 3iin, was registered by. the selected Olympic, re- . predsentative, S. A. Lay, in an exhibition at a gymkhana conducted by the V Egmont Agricultural and Pastoral As- pt! sociation on Wednesday. Lay's previ-, ; .'#*jj ous best for New Zealand and Australia was 209 ft. Jin., at New Ply- y mouth, on February 4. Wednesday’s vij&g effort is only 2ft. din. short of the 'y-t;-world’s record of 218 ft. As he , : 0 had the advantage of a light cross-• breeze a new record for Australia and New Zealand is not being applied for. ■ agl The Americans, having regimented golf, are finding, as others have done, ' 1 that that sort of thing palls, so 'they /l?; have introduced what they call “iiuprovements.” Golf would seem to have enough hectic moments for most peo- l?||| pie as it is, but a nation that is ad-. dieted to Tabasco sauce is capable of fi<| anything. The new game is known as ,i‘ “Bridge golf.” It is played as a four- y/fi bailer, and the partners bid on the basis of their aggregate scores for the hole. For instance, at a hole bogeyed at' six a pair might bid twelve, and the opposition, ten* or the latter might fiivivf] double and be redoubled. The play is‘>;,a for so much a'point, as in a Bridge , rubber. What they think of the inno-. vation at St. Andrew’s Old Nick only, knows, and £h© chances are that he would be ashamed to repeat it : . ’ At the annual meeting of the Canterbury 'Rugby Union the president, Mr. S. F. Wilson, said it had been suggested by an outside union that in view of the depletion of provincial teams y3|§! by the South African tour, Ranfurly Shield games be not played. The vb-V"’ speaker belieyed that there wasjnot a y. delegate present who would support such an idea-. Shield games should be i||| played, and they would give a chance - ? to many young players. A player was rushed by the crowd, and struck a heavy blow on the nose' '', ■ ; after a football match at Sittingbourne ■V? Kent. The match was between the-'fijM local club and Gillingham, _Reserves.',] ■One of the visiting team, it is alleged,, . ‘ I kicked a Sittingbourne man, bringing fij him down and causing him to retire |||| from play. When the final whistle , blew the player who was believed to > i : ||| have offended was attacked by the’ crowd- Police, players and club officials had to escort him to the dreeing-) room. . fifi^jf The women’s athletic federation _in;.g|* France —the Federation Feminine '|§||j Sportive de France —is the poorest -of|»|i|| the sporting federations in France, and is inclined to bewail its lot .(says Lon- oi|j|i don Sporting Life). While others obtain large subsidies, its meagre .'xjjjjlm 40,000 francs annually from the Ministry has now diminished to 20,000. M. Herriot -has been approached, with the ? idea that he may be able to induce greater consideration for the ladies.'%ip| We think the Women’s A.A.A. would be over-pleased to receive an equivnr |jlg lent from the British Government; but can scarcely visualise that body ap- s||| proaching the War Office for an addi- ' tional grant.

Many oeople were under the impression that the injury sustained by F. J. , v Grose recently would preclude the pos- ;Vp sibility of his appearance on the rac- pg| ing track again, and the news that he- 11 is making a splendid recovery and that he will probably be able to ride once more in the course of a few months ; is very welcome (says a Dunedin d'y writer) It would he a severe loss to the Dominion if Grose were germa** % vnently out of action. The hope is that he will make a complete recovery, and _ be able to resume the sport in which } .* he has met with such outstanding sue. - cess. - ' •- t An enthusiastic sportsman at Kemp-. ton Park climbed over the rails, mount- ||| ed a riderless horse and rode it back; to meet the jockey, who had been hurt < yg in a. fall at the last fence. Unfor-, ; tunately, his zeal and his apparent knowledge of the rules of racing were not appreciated by the local police, who are reported to have escorted him " •.? off the racecourse. The horse was the "rev Glangesia, one of the three run- ggg ners in the Uxhridje 'Cta f . jockey; Farragher, remounted, and by riding oast the judge, gained the L IS which went to the owner of the third, I suppose (writes a racing correspondent) that very few people, not e$- ;sgj eluding many regular racegoers, are g aware that under the rules °.f racm anyone can get up on and finish on horse whose ioclrev has been temporarily disabled, providing the conditions of the race are not violated. For in-. stance, if the race was for amateur g|| riders only, any person holding a pro- , fessional license could not do so, while -Mt of course there was the question weight. H. Escott and D. Dale, the trainers, have both, in recent years, caught loose horses aud ridden them home, and I believe it is common on ; ; |g| courses in Ireland for spectators to do this. But the most remarkable mcident of this description in my expertence was at Calcutta, where a many weighing certainly not less than 14st., m caught a. loose horse four or five fences yMj from the winning post and won on despite a fall at the last jump. -/£ How Grimmett bowls, according to an Otago critic“He has a peculiar _ round-arm action, and as lie biings his hand from behind his hack and bowls.yip at almost medium pace, it is practi~,y|| coAlv impossible to pick, as the ball left his baud’, which wav it is likely to break. Although one could see little of the wav he held the hall, it ap- F; peared that he gets all the spin witlVr||g his fingers. He has wonderful over the ball, and the amount of turn he can get and the pace lie can make from the wicket are remarkable.”

Dunedin cricket enthusiasts were not impressed by the manner in which '.?|p impressed by the manner in which Ponsford and Woodfull compiled their Cy\. scores, says the Otago Daily Times.. “Though they made 214 for the first wicket, all that could he said of them ws that they played correct, orthodox cricket. They took no risks, and many a loose hall did not receive jlie treat- ij merit it merited. Their batting was . stolid.” . . -.. -'i

• TJie Association football world is about to receive an unprecedented shock (says a London paper of January 19). A famous international player connected with one of the most renowned clubs in England is to Come under a prolonged suspension—not lor breaking-the laws of the game in relation to a brother player and not for any infringement which necessitated his being ordered oh' the field—but for his undisciplined and coarse language to one of the best known of League referees. The circumstances were reported to the F.A. and it is understood that the governing body have taken up a. strong attitude in the best interests of the game.

The wisdom of the old golf precept. “Don’t press’’—i.e., don t try and hit too hard—has been exemplified, by a recently-invented apparatus for testing the speed of a swinging\club-head and its actual velocity at the time of striking the ball. A series of stiff wires is arranged, and the club-bead brushes these in turn as it passes, each wire electrically recording the moment of impact and thus enabling the speed of the duli-hend to .be judged. The gadget shows that “pressing” actually retards the club, and that a greater velocity and a longer ball are obtained by the natural swing, which was what the patriarchs were preaching before electric-recording machines were invented.

Australians was oiie of the main features of the 1913-14 tour. Sixteen matches were played, and, although only half were won by the visitors and the other half drawn, few of the teams, made anything like a showing against them. The majority of the games were so one-sided that, but for the opportunity they afforded of seeing Australia’s champion cricketers in action, little public interest might have been taken in them. The team played a record-breaking innings against South Canterbury, when they scored 922 for nine wickets. To this total J. N. Crawford, the famous' ex-Surrey and South Australian batsmen, contributed. 354. Other big totals made by the. visitors were: 700. v. Southland; 058, v. Auckland; 653, v. Canterbury; 610 for six wickets, v. New Zealand; and 510, v. Manawatu. The finest innings of the tour was that played by Victor Trumpet* against Canterbury for 293. Trumpet* ami Arthur' Sims, the ex-Canterbury find New Zealand player who was largelv instrumental in bringing this Australian team across the Tasman, ltd a partnership' for 433 against Canterbury. Sims made 184 not out. For the whole tour Trumpet’ scored 1246 runs in fifteen innings, an average of 83.06.