OUT DOOR SPORTS

Observer, Volume 7, Issue 236, 21 March 1885, Page 6

OUT DOOR SPORTS

BY REFEREE.

NOTICES. Secretaries of all kinds of Clubs for the promotion of out-door sperts will confer a favour by communicating any items of interest connected with their sport, game, or pastime ; more especially loith respect to coming events. Short sketches of sporting or pleasure excursions willlie welcome, and questions on, all matters connected with sports will he gladly answered. All communications must be addressed to "Referee."

EVENTS TO COME.

March 28 — Hanlan r. Beach ; £500 a-side and championship. April 11. — A. A.. Club Sports, Domain. April 11. — Ten-mile Championship Bicycle Race ; Domain. April 18 —Intercolonial eight-oared race ; Parramafcta River. D. Craig v. G. Cutler, half a mile, £50 aside, April 21sfc, at Cambridge. Ponsonby Regatta, Easter Monday. April 25. — Intercolonial Eight-oar Race ; Parramatta River.

ANSWERS TO CORRESPONDENTS.

J.H. — Craig and Cutler aye matched for £50 aside over half a mile. Race to be run at Cambridge on the 21st April. Cutler receives £5 for expenses in going up.

Football meetings are being held in Canterbury and Otago. Wake up, Auckland secretaries, the cold weather is commencing. " Velox," in the Referee, states that it is more than probable that Langdown will come up here to contest in the Ten Mile Bicycle Championship. Mr Johnson Thompson, "Wellington's "Jumbo," footballer, who was here with their team some few years back, has left for Victoria, and had a presentation made to him before his departure from Wellington. The race, over half-a-mile, between Geo. Cutler and D. Craig, for £50 a-side, will be run at Cambridge, on the 21st of April. Both men are training carefully, and, no doubt, the struggle will be a hot one. Waikatoites are sticking to Craig to a man, and no doubt but what he will give them a good run for their money. The feather-weight champion, W. Murphy, who has been at the Thames lately, had another match on Saturday night last. He tackled an infant weighing 12st 4lbs, and as Murphy only sealed Bst Slbs, it was a great performance to knock him out as he did in two rounds and one minute. The Thames boys stuck to their man gamely, but when they saw he was licked by such a little 'un, they gave Billy as hearty a cheer as man could desire. The match for £50 a-side between Cutler' and Craig is already exciting some interest;, and money is freely offering from Craig's side, especially since Craig won the Demonstration Handicap so easily. There is no doubt but that Craig is a wonderfully-im-X»roved man since he ran here at the same sports last year, and his recent performances fully warrant his having a call in the betting. Eayner and McKune met at the United Service Hotel on the 13th, and arranged a 12 -hour walking match, to come off in the Theatre Royal on the 11th of April, for a stake of £50 a-side. Mr H. N". Abbott, as stakeholder, received the first deposit of £10 per man to bind the match. It will be a very exciting affair, as Rayner had, up to this occasion, been unable to arrange a match since his arrival iv ]>s"ew Zealand, and this is, as it were, his debut on our sawdust. There is no doubt but that Eayner is a warm 'un, and in McKune he will meet an opponent worthy of his steel, that is to say, of his boots. The Sydney Evening News says: — C 'A prize fight for £500 a-side was settled in the vicinity of Marrickville the other day. The contestants were a clerk employed in a leading colonial monetary institution and a wellknown provincial boxer. The fight was arranged to take place at five o'clock that morning, but owing to the presence of the police in the neighborhood, the contestants did not begin their truculent encounter until nearly 11 o'clock. At that hour both men, stripped to the waist, and with naked iists, stepped into a well-arranged 24ft ring. The manager of the institution of which one of the contestants is a clerk, was present, and offered long odds on the representative of his establishment. The fight is ■described as having been most brutal, and lasted until half-past two o'clock. The seconds of the provincial man then thiew up the sponge. Their man was in a weak and exhausted condition, and fearfully cut and bruised. His opponent was punished very severely. The select few who witnessed the encounter returned to town shortly after three o'clock with bated breath, and with an air of innocence as of nothing beyond the ordinary had taken place. The result has caused several thousands of pounds to change hands." Thus "Mazeppa," in the Saturday Advertiser, shows up the pretty little concoctions by which men fool and gull their fellows. The words occur iv Rayner' s speech, at the close of the six days' "go' in Dunedin: "At the termination of the go-as-you-please contest on Saturday evening 1 , Rayner, who covered the longest difct mce, returned

thanks for the fairness with which he and the other competitors has been treated by the spectators. He also took occasion to announce that he and Swan had been ininducsd to come over here under conditions which had not been adhered to. Two local sports were named, who, he said, wished to arrange two matches between Scott and himself, with the prior understanding that Scott was to Avin the first, a twenty-four hours' match, and he the second, a fortyeight hours' contest. He was willing to walk for either twenty-four or forty-eight hours against Scott for £100 a-side, would put £o0 of his own money up, and would provide that, in the event of his (Rayner's) losing, his share of the gate money would be handed to his backer. Mr J. Baxter then offered to risk £o0 on . Rayner, in a match with Scott. It is probable that the men will meet, and if they do, great interest will bo shown in the race." . Do these " fake ups " account for Scott's phenomenal series of wins, I wonder ?