SPORTING AND ATHLETIC REVIEW

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17182, 27 October 1923, Page 6 (Supplement)

SPORTING AND ATHLETIC REVIEW

Th-o annual report of the New Zealand Amateur Rowing Association, headquarters at Wellington, contains the following reference to the interprovincial fours : —The inter-provincial fours event was held under the auspices of the Wellington Rowing Association at their regatta on February 24. and there is no doubt this is a race which is steadily growing in popularity and interest. Five provinces were represented, last year’s winners, Canterbury. being again successful, Auckland. and Marlborough receiving second and third places. The race itself was keenly contested, and. though the water conditions were not altogether r ,r »od, necessitating the course being shortened a little, the form shown by the placed crews was favourably

commented Upon by many ex-rowing men who followed the race with great interest, and but for the fact that the Srmth African athletes were also somjpeting in Wellington on the same day no doubt a much larger attendance would have been present. The council thinks this annual figture has now become firmly established, and confidently looks for the support of other provinces. which have not yet competed, on the next occasion when the race is held, which. according to conditions, will he on a South Island Course.” It ' be noted that the report states t,xat the race is “steadilv growing in popularity and interest,” which does rot coincide with the opinion in Christchurch that the event is of no interest, and should be abandoned. Christchurch

crews have won the event on the two occasions on which it has been confuted —at Lyttelton and at Wellington ' ,r ~-and on neither occasion would tho champion crew of New Zealand—Wanganui—deign to compete. Had they done so it is fully admitted that they would have won. The report further says that the ‘‘form shown by the placed crews was favourably commented upon bv many ex-rowing men.” The form shown was deplorable, and indi-

cated how low was the standard of the Dominion rowing. The report also refers to the counter-attraction of the South African athletes competing in Weljipgt-on on the day of the race.

There was no such counter-attraction, but the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Championships were being held and amongst the compe titers were the American team and Carr of Syney. The South African athletes were in New Zealand the previous year. Once upon a time rowing in Wellington was a live sport; for some years it has been very small potatoes, and why the Dominion Rowing Associations don’t transfer the headquarters of the New Zealand Association to a centre where the sport fs actively conducted, nnd where its interests would receive keen attention is possibly duo to the fact that local interests are of more concern than the general welfare., It would. be interesting to know in what direction the New Zealand Council has ever moved to advances the sport.

Women athletes in Wellington comprise a branch of the Wellington Amateur Athletic Club, and their first annual report just issued strikes a confident note. Now the committee suggests that consideration should be given to the advisability of extending the operations of the club ar.d going in for a more varied programme by including the low hurdles. long jump, javelin throwing, and putting the shot (811>).Your committee would like, to .state.'’ concludes the report, ‘‘that it still adheres t-o the principle adopted at the start of the season of refusing to allow its members to take part in races over 220yds or in any event that is likely to cause undue strain. We would also like to add that not- in one single case has the strenuous season bad any detrimental effect on the constitution of our members. On the contrary, the general improvement in health anu physique has been most marked.” Memories of one of the late Victor Trumper’s most remarkable feats are recalled by the announcement of the retirement from grade cricket in Sydney of D. A. Gee. It was on January 31, 1903, that the pair named made history by scoring together 423 in the short space of 135 minutes for the first wicket of Paddington against Redfern on the latter’s ground, which measures 120 yards by 100. Of that number Gee made 172 and Trumpet- was not dismissed until he had scored 335. Paddington altogether obtained 618 for nine wickets (innings declared closed) in 235 minutes. Trumper took exactly 180 minutes to complete his 335. and at one stage scored 50 runs while his partner scored five. • The Cyril Whitaker memorial fund has closed with a total of £7O, which the promoters, Messrs C. 11. Fielding (New PlymouthV and Chas. Peoples (Auckland) consider will fittingly effect *:he object of having an adequate headstone erected over the ill-fated boxer's grave (says the Auckland “Star”). From all parts of the Dominion friends 2nd admirers of young Whitaker's clean, sporting character have contributed in amounts ranging from a shilling by lads interested in amateur boxing, to guineas by sportsmen and sporting bodies. Contributions from the West Coast. Wellington, Taranaki, and elsewhere, forwarded to Mr Fielding amounted to £33, Mr Peoples’s list brought about £9 10s, and a list opened by Mr Henry Donovan and supported by the Marist Brothers’ Old Boys’ Rugby League Club added £l7. the Christchurch Sports Club and Southland Boxing Association subscribed live guineas apiece, while the Taranaki, Westport, Ashburton and Whangarei Boxing Associations were also contributors. Arrangements for the erection of the memorial, suitably inscride, are now in hand. Aucklanders are looking forward to the time when fifteen-year-old Piri Page has reached the age when she can enter for the longer distances in the New Zealand swimming championships. They are confident that there will be no doubt as to who is the lady champion of New Zealand when Piri is old enough to compete. The suggestion that baseball should be established here is one that should receive every support locally (says the Southland “Times”) when the circumstances in connection with summer games here are considered. There is no recognised summer game in Southland. In other countries cricket predominates in the summer; but in Southland there is no summer game that gets the support football does in the winter. Cricket can hardly keep its feet. and. although one or two enthusiast it* cricketers at the Rugby conference put in a, strung bid for assistance for their game, there can be no question that the president- of the Rugby Union. was correct when, he said | that -cricket did “not take on here. It I ! was suggested that the Rugby Union should hand Rugby Park ever to the Cricket Association vnd til

would bo well ; but in the light of past experience the Rugby Union cannot be blamed if it looks on the suggestion with no very favourable eye. Baseball presents possibilities as a summer gam© her© that ar© better than any other gam© to keep footballers together during the summer. Tennis courts could quit© well be put down in addition on the outside of the playing area. The Rugby Union has made a forward step deserving of every credit in taking up this question of summer games, and it is to be hoped that the clubs will give them the support it deserves.

Declaring that E. A. M’Donald is probably as fine a bowler on English wickets as on any on which he has olayed. A. C. MacLaren expresses the opinion that the ex-Victorian’s presence on the occasion of an Australia Eleven’s next visit should influence the results to a greater extent than that of any other player on either side. New Zealand intends to send the strongest of athletes available to the Olympic Games in Paris next year, and to defray the cost, which will be considerable, the Council of the Olympic Games Association has decided to organise a Dominion-wide “ queen ” election. The scheme was outlined at a meeting of the council last week. It is intended to invite nominations of candidates from all sports bodies, and other public or semi-public bodies, including citizens’ committees and clubs or associations throughout the Dominion. The. four centres, Auckland. Wellington. Christchurch and Dunedin, are to regarded as separate electorates,

and the country districts, including the various provincial towns, will constitute other electorates in their respective provinces. Taranaki and Hawke’s Bay will each be. a single constituency. Marlborough, Nelson and Westland, combined, will form another separate voting area. This method has been suggested with a view to making the voting as nearly equal as possible on a population basis. Each electorate may nominate as many candidates as it desires, and at the conclusion of the voting period the winning candidate in each district shall receive the votes secured by the remaining candidates in her electorate, and the leading queen candidate in the electorate which records the highest aggregate of votes shall be regarded as the winner of the contest. It does not follow, therefore, that the highest individual record will win the contest. The prize to the queen of the Dominion will take the substantial form of a trip to the Empire Exhibition, to be held in London next year. Return fare from New Zealand to London will be paid, together with an ample allowance, the total value of the first prize being assessed at £4OO. Other prizes will be allowed the run-ners-up. An age qualification is to be set, and no candidate will be accepted who has not passed her nineteenth birthday. The Olympic Council hope to raise £20,000 by the effort.

About thirty years ago Sydney was afflicted with Sheffield handicaps as badly as it is now with pony races (writes a “Bulletin” correspondent). Botany and Carrington were the principal tracks: shoos, trunKs, towels nt;u

a trainer were the tools of the runner’s trade. Thousands lived on the game. One well-known bookmaker had a terrace of houses as his “stable.” with some sixty runners . and. their trainers installed in it- As it’\is;hovv with popies, nearly every tradesman with sporting tastes and a little money or even a regular screw, was “backing” some runner during the time he was training, relying on a plunge when iiis man won to recoup him tenfold or a hundred-fold. But squaring and double-crossing and general rascality finally .settled the game. Champions won on their own without Jetting their backers know; punters “balanced” their runners. Lead insoles were artistically inserted in running- shoes. The climax came when, after a series of ramps and swindles and sclilenters and red-hot heats which nobody wanted to win, Frank Smith, the boas promoter, stood out on the tracks and cursed the running fraternity to the umpteenth generation. He told them he would live to see them all running their best for a tenner instead of the £SOO and £IOOO purses he had accustomed the pod. to expect. He did, too. A year later boatloads of chastened and hard-up runners would- be seen heading for Manly to run like redshanks for a £2O stake. Quite a few of “the heads” in the pony game to-day learnt the fine points of their unsavory business on the old-time cinder-tracks.

Firpo was pretty confident in his ability to defeat Dempsey. The day before the bout he made the following announcement : —“ I am in good shape. 1 feel like fighting ns T never have before. In the arena there will be many voices raised against me—some will shout for me. In far-off coun. tries, wliere Latin tongues are spoken, they will be expecting me to - win. J arn confident. I am not afraid. If I am knocked down again and again I will come up again and again. There will be no towels tossed from my corner. I don’t think Jack Dempsey can beat me and I don’t think he can stand up under my punches. T came to the United States to win the world’s title. T conquered every man that stood on the road to the big test. On mv body there are no scars of those battles. In my heart there is no fear of anv living thing. I think I will conquer Dempsey.” The British Olympic Association (writes a London correspondent) is already busy with x»reparations f or the Paris games next year, and. apart from the proposal that a United Empire village should be set un on the outskirts oi the French capital to house ail the Empire toams, there is n suggestion (which has taken practical shape) that the cream of the Empire’s athletes rhould be selected for a match against America at the Wemblev Em pire Exhibition, immediately after the Olympic Games. This proposal, needless to say. is meeting with hearty support on all sides here, and will no doubt be welcome to athletes in the Comonwealth. Those in England who may not be privileged to make the journey to Paris would like to see the champions from overseas in action against the best available material. "Whenever a football match in Melbourne is invested with more than the usual degree of violence, the experts of the Press solemnly avow that the game is degenerating (writes a “Bullej tin ” correspondent). If this is the case, the game has been in process of degeneration ever since it was founded, for never a season goes by without numerous uots of ruffianism on and off the playing field. TThy is it that- the Australian code of football attracts a higher percentage of bad sportsmen and imbecile followers than any other pastime? Among the crowds who at-

tend Melbourne matches, partisanshij gets to the verge of idiotic prejudice You will hear men normally decern j and intelligent abuse the umpire } roundly for a. fancied error of judg j ment, and urge their favourites on tc j misbehaviour. Knowing the capacity I of the Melbourne barracker for cowardj ly reprisal, the savants of the dailies urge that the umpire be empowered tc | order a player off the field if he ini dulges in push tactics. Seeing that the umpire has been half-killed for alleged favouritism to one side or t’other, what would be his fate if be suspended one of the gods of the game at a critical juncture? If he got away from the ground alive he would have to go about for the next month in armourplate. Rugby football has made a start, but it is only in Males and some of the provincial centres that matches have so far been played (writes the London correspondent pf “The Star,” under date September 6.) Tn a fortnight, however, the game will be in full swing in all parts of the country. It is to be a season of varied interests and importance. From a sentimental point of view th«=* match which is to be played in the Close at Rugby School to mark the centenary of the game will make a big appeal. The contest will be between teams representing England and Wales on one side and Scotland and Ireland on the other, and although no more appropriate vemie could have been chosen than tho birthplace of the game. it is unfortunate that the accommodation will not allow more than two thousand people to be present. The match is being promoted by the Rugby Union and already they have allotted all the seats. The news that "Wilfred Rnodes, the old Yorkshire player, headed English bowling average for the season, brought tears to my eyes (writes a Sydney “ Bulletin” J seemed to hear again an early gramophone record, dated Heaven knows when—“Mr C. B. Fry proposes the toast of Cricket.” The speech was relivered in a studied University accent, and was accompanied by loud cheers at tho right spots. It began with an apologetic declaration that the toast might have been proposed by a greatah cricketah, and there were shouts of denial. “Yes, gentlemen,” the speaker proceeded, “ there are Cianv greabah,. but ! yield to no man ; no, nor to any woman—not even to my little daughtali—in love of cricket. And when T say that 1 mean not the cricket of Wilfred Rhodes and Victor Trurnpah. but the. game universal. The game of the village green, the Australian hush, the South African veldt, and wherever the English language is spoken. Gentlemen, I foresee the time when cricket will be the bond of union among the nations; when the only guns will be made by Moil* and Gunn, and the only cannon-balls be Wisden’s specials. Gentlemen, I give you Cricket, the bond of union, the basis of understanding, the Game of Games!” A good many years after the putting of that record on the gramophone, or whatever it was called at the time, the World War came to pass. As regards the name of Rhodes the speech is still up-to-date.

“ Any chance that athletes from other countries ar© going to have an easy time wresting the world’s track and field championship title from the United Staes at the Olympic Games in Paris next summer.” says an American paper, “is today considered out of the question by those who saw a num her of the leading amateur athletes of the United States compete in the preOlympic. Carnival held in the Y ankee Stadium under the auspices of the Wilco Athletic Association on Saturday (September 8), as these athletes showed that they are little, if any, below the standard set in previous games. A heavy rain interfered with good performances toward the end cf the programme. There were three performances of more than passing interest. J W. Ray. Illinois A. 0.. famous miler, won the one-mile run in the splendid time of 4riiin 14 4-osec*. Loren Murchison. Newark A.C., won both the sprints, taking the 100 metre dash in 10 4-osec and the 220 in 21 3-osec. L. T. Brown New York A.C. and former Dartmouth College track captain., again showed that he is one of the greatest high jumpers of all time bv winning that event with a leap of Ott oin.” Other good performances were bv V. Ascher. Chicago, who won the 400-metre run in 49sec: R. B. Watson. Illinois, who won the 800 metre run in lmin 55 1-5 sec: D. Hubbard. Michigan, who cleared 23ft 4sm in the broad jump; and O. Wanzer. New York, who put the shot 47ft lOin. CRICKET STORIES. SOME OF RANH’S FEATS. Some good cricket stories are to be found in plenty in Mr E. H. D. Sewell's ‘‘The L.og of a Sportsman.” Her© is a yarn about the great Ranji:— *‘ It is a true story that on one occasion when Sussex were in the cart —fancy a team containing ‘ Ranji,’ Fry. Brann. Newham. Vine, Kiilick, A. F.. Rolf, Cox, and Tate ever being in such a predicament in cricket of 1922!—it was put to the meeting and carried, at a dinner on the second night of the match at which Fry, Brann, ; Ranii.’ and their host were seated, that -the. only way to save th© game next day was for ‘Ranji to bat all dav. “Right! 1 he said, ‘I will.” “ ‘ But you won’t if you go fishing to-night,’ said Fry, knoAving ‘ Ranji’s weakness for roach. ‘ Ranji * promised faithfully he’d leave the rod alone for that occasion “ But as he told me years after, when everybody was fast asleep he crept downstairs about 2 n.m., got out of the study window and across the lawn, and put in three good hours or so at one of his favourite pastimes, and was back in bed again before the house was up. Next day he went in early and was not out when, the match being sure to end iri a draw, it was decided to draw stumps at six o'clock. Such complete mastery over th© bowling only one other player ever showed.” (Tlie “other player” "Mr Sewell is referring to is. of course, the immortal “ W.G.”) Here is another tale about the same wonderful batsman :—“ On another occasion Mrs Fry’s governess had en- • tered in one of those competitions which promised large sums of money ; to the successful guesser of the score 1 or any cricketer in a given match, th© [competitor to name the player and his score in one of the matches stipulated by the paper which was running this profitable pastime. This lady had

named 1 Ranji ’ to score a certain number of runs—l7s was, I believe, tho figure—at Hove against Lancashire, though the county does not really matter. On th© morning of the match it got to ‘ Ranji's 3 ears what a heavy responsibility rested on liis shoulders. He proceeded to make th© actual figure, and then got out.” Brearley, th© famous fast howler, who was a wonderful jumper, once made a “ bet that be would he back in the dressing-room at Old Trafford inside three minutes, having completed an innings. He won with fifteen seconds to spare. The other party to the wager certainly did its utmost to win, as on emerging from the pavilion Brearley saw that the pavilion gates were firmly fastened ! He obviated delay here by jumping the gates. His only fear was that the first ball would not be a straight one ! But it was and, racing back_, lie won a bet which nobody but be could have won.” BIKES THAT DIED YOUNG. FREAK MACHINES OF THE EARLY DAYS. "When bicycles were first invented there were some queer freaks among them (says an English paper). In the British, French and American Patent Offices are kept drawings and specifications of hundreds of freak machines, practically all of which were consigned to the scrap heap after a. more or less brief and inglorious existOne of the earliest of these was designed nearly a hundred years ago by a Frenchman named Julien. There were no pedals, the necessary rotary motion being imparted to the driving wheel by means of the rider’s feet being pressed alternately on a succession of downward curved spikes which projected from the rim at regular intervals. In effect the machine was a sort of movablo miniature treadmill, and the labour involved in propelling it must have been prodigious. There were two large wheels to the contrivance, each fitted with an auxiliary cog-wheel. and a small trailer wheel behind, with a ratchet arrangement designed apparently to prevent the whole box of tricks from i mining backward down hill. An invention which certainly possessed the merit of originality was patented by an American named Landis in 1861. This consisted in a combination of rocking-horse and bicycle, the horse being mounted on top of the machine and cranked to the wheels in such a way as to cause the rocking motion to turn them. Many people have been struck with the notion of using one big whegl onlv. thereby converting the bicycle into a monocycle. Most of these single wheel freak machines are of wonderful and weird construction. In one type, for example, the rider is perched above the centre of gravity, his perpendicular position being retained by means of weights attached to the forks, which, with this end in view, were extended down below the bearings. In theory this may be all right. But as in practice a rider weighing, say, twelve stone, would want about a quarter of a ton attached to the bottom ends of the forks to enable him to maintain an upright position, the plan has its obvious drawbacks. Another type of monocycle, the invention of a man named Schaffer, went to the other extreme, the rider being entirely caged up inside a. huge wheel about ten feet in diameter. How lie was to escape from his revolving prison in case of a collision, or if it chanced to get out of control, the inventor diil not deign to explain.