ATHLETICS.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 12761, 3 October 1919, Page 2

ATHLETICS.

ODDS HDD BIDS OF SPORT.

NOTES FROM ALL QUARTERS. (By QUIDNUNC). BOX INC. W. Senior the West Coast boxer. j? as re to Westport from the tront. Senior was a pretty handy boxer ' J J O I LrLm? r the farces, and it is now stated that he has made considerable progress during his absence, freqnen boxing with good men having improved t™ out of all knowledge. £ Ho toS part m a number of contests, bis prizes amounting to seven medals and a cup. After getting settled down to civilian In el senior intends to take up boxing again and will endeavour to secure matches in the middle-weight class. ■ Jk? professional middle-weight championships will be decided at Wellington about October 20. the contestants being Heeney formerly of and Denny Murphy. As an amateur Heenev won the welter-weight championship a i Wanganui in 1914, and while abroad he took part m quite a number of bouts, some of them at the National Sporting London; the form he showed r£ ceived very favourable notice from the critics. He has made one public appearance since his feturn. and won comtortabiy. Murphy is a veteran by companson having taken part in numerons professional bouts in pre-war days, both here and in Australia. When Vince Blackburn, the Sydney feather-weight, who recently returned from a tnp to Manilla, and Siivino Jamito, one of the team of Filippino boxers at present in Sydney, met at the Stadium, they drew an attendance which was m keeping with those which were recorded when the la te Les Darcy was the public idol. The pair put up a rattling contest which Blackburn won. Jamito, it might be mentioned, is a bank clerk in his native land, and is able to speak English fairly well.

ATHLETICS.

. Ibere have been a number of inquiries lately (says a Sydney paper) as to whether a man can play League football and still remain an amateur. The League has made provision for this by the adoption of the following rule: “ Players may be either amateur or professional. An amateur player shall not be allowed any expenses other than legitimate travelling and accommodation expenses, and when on tour shall receive travelling and accommodation expenses on the same scale as the remainder oL the team. An amateur living and playing in the metropolitan area shall not receive any expenses.” There arc thousands of players in the metropolis who do not receive any monetary gain from playing, and who buy their own uniforms. Nevertheless, the Sporting Federation classes every League player as a professional. A number of sportsmen have to play League football as amateurs and take part in amateur sports, but they have been told that they would have to give up the League game or retire from amateur athletics. They retired from amateur athletics.

American papers report the death of E. C. Carter, probably the greatest distance runner that America has known. He was at the top* of his form in the early nineties. The Marathon race is omitted from the Olympic Games which are to be held at Brussels in August and September, 1920.

TWO GREAT BOXERS.

WILDE Als T D GRTFFO COMPARED. Great little fighter and boxer as “Jimmy” Wilde, the world’s flyweight champion, has proved himself in his remarkable career (says London “ Sporting Life”), there are still those among the older generation of critics and fight-followers who will tell you with absolute conviction that there have been others just as great, if not greater. And as you have no possible means of proving them wrong yon have just got to let those old-timers have their way. It is no use arguing with them. For thn present generation Wilds is good enough, and it is very probable indeed that those who know him now and are alive a quarter of a century hence will be just as assertive in declaring Wilde to be the boxing marvel of all time as are those oldstagers who at this date tell one that Pedlar Palmer and the Australian, Young Griffo, for instance, when at their best, would have made Wilde look foolish. Tnliy “ distance lends enchantment to the view” of some folk when they look back upon the hecticyears of youth and early manhood and before iruddle-age has begun to sap their enthusiasm and to rob them of their capacity for hero-worship. There is no doubt that Griffo was a wonderful defensive boxer When he was in America he frequently wagered large sums of money that he could stand on a pockethandterchief. not move from it in three minutes of boxing, and yet not let an opponent’s glove land on him. But the writer has also known Wilde to wager that a man could not hit him in a given time while he, Wilde, stood in the one place, and it is eloquent evidence of Wildo’s adroitness that i nail his years of hard contests he has seldom been “ marked,” and has neither a broken nose nor a “ tin ” ear at this date.

Marvel as Griffo might have been as a defensive boxer, it has never been claimed for him that he was a “fighter” of the match-winning type we know Wilde to be. A boxer who goes out to win his contests as Wilde does is bound to be hit sometimes; he cannot, expect to give all and receive nothing unless opposed to absolute “ duds.” It is as an argressive, daring, fighter-boxer that Wilde, wo believe, will bear comparison with all the Griffos and other lights of the former days. Wilde is not content to stand still and merely make opponents miss him and cause themselves to look foolish- Tempe.-aroently he is built for fighting, and so it is the other feUbw* who has to all the ducking and slipping when Wil le is about He is not afraid of be’ng hit, and> l*ecause he wants to (get in a big hit on his own, he takes many blows he would not take were he a less aggressive and more cautious lexer- And let it bo said that to see Wilde at his very best is to see him after he has been hit and hurtThn all the natural fighting spirit of the little man is roused, and one sees the high quality of his courage.

CRICKET STORIES.

SOME FUNNY INCIDENTS. Cricket enthusiasts (says a London papers) are discussing the merits of the past and present—the older men always seem to remember something of the “good old days,” while the younger generation boast that the like of Hobbs and Barnes never lived. Extraordinary feats were certainly accomplished in those older days. Who in these days of boundaries would believe that a hit for thirtyseven had been made? Yet it did occur under the following conditions. Pitch was situated on the top of a hill, and the batsman drove the ball over the brow of it. Nearly the whole of the eleven fielders took part in halo.

mg its return, but the final throw to the wicket-keeper was missed, consequently the hall travelled down the other side of the hilL The fielding performance had to be repeated, and thirty-seven runs were scored before the batsmen stopped. The late W. G. Grace has many times led the fielders a dance. On ona occasion a return to the wicketkeeper bounded into the champion’s shirt, and he continued to run until his bit was a “ six,” much to the amusement of the spectators and fielders, Who could see the ball sticking out of his shirty—but coillS not touch it—until lt W.G.” was ready. Jupp and Sontherton collared Grace, and asked him for the ball, but the doctor was too old a hand to be thus caught. “No, thank yon,” was the laughing reply, “ you don’t get me out that way. Take it yourself, Jupp!” A few years ago a most amusing thing occurred when Surrey were playing Sussex at Hove. Adams was the last Surrey man sent into bat, and when he arrived seven runs were required to win. Henderson, the other batsman, whispered to Adams: • “ Just beep your hat in the bole, and leave me to make the seven.” Adams, however, disobeyed orders, for he hit the first ball delivered to him in such style that it secured a' four. The very next ball he managed to send for a three, thus winning the match himself. Peate, the famous Yorkshire bowler, was once placed in a similar position, on a more memorable occaaoen, bat with a less happy result. He was keenness personified whenever be turned out—always with, an eye for the humorous- He was one of the eleven in a famous match between England and Australia when the latter won a thrilling game by seven runs. When Peate, who was nothing of a batsman, went in last mam, ho waa solemnly adjured to keep his end up, and let C. T. Studd (one of the finest batsmen that ever stepped on to a cricket field), who was at the other end, do the scoring. Peate just as solemnly promised to obey orders. But, alas for human frailty! The very first ball the Yorkshireman received he tried to put over the fence, with lamentable consequence to his wicketWhen he was asked by the angry officials why he had not done as he was told to do, he calmly replied;—“ Well, you see, I didn’t think Air Studd was to be trusted.” A player who had just as much confidence with a little more justification behind his conceit was Howell, the Australian. Howell at this time was a bee-farmer in New South Wales, and had visited Sydney in an np-country match His bright batting had led to his inclusion in the New South Wales’ eleven again Stoddart’s team. When the English captain and J. T. Brown were well set and had collared the bowling, Howell blandly informed Syd Gregory that he was certain he (Howell) could get them out if given a trial. The home captain was ai his wits’ end as to who he should put on next, so was willing to try an experiment. He put the bee-fanner on, and was both surprised and gratified to see Howell not only clean howl Stoddart and Brown, but four of the later batsmen as well. Thus Howell was discovered as a bowler. Everyone remembers how ba slew Surrey by taking the whole of the ten wickets in the county’s first innings for only twenty-eight runs in his first match in England in 1899.