Sporting and. Athletic Review

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17246, 12 January 1924, Page 26

Sporting and. Athletic Review

| R. W Orton, who scored a double I century for Wanganui in the second innings of the Hawk* ( up match against Auckland a fortnight back, is an ex-English player. Before coming to New Zealand, he was on*' of the most brilliant batsmen in I lie Buckinghamshire eleven in second-grade cricket in the Old Land. No batsman in the I Dominion (says a northern writer> has more scoring strokes or can sc-orc faster than Orton, but, like all men who take the risks lie frequently has to pay for his impetuosity. He has a good record of solid scores to lus credit for Wan ganui in Hawke Cup and representative matches, and has frequently toured ns a member of the Nomads Club. After lengthy negotiations with the English, Canadian and Chinese authorities, the New Zealand Football Asso ciation is now in the comfortable position of being assured of visits of representative teams from these three countries in the next two seasons. Mr B. L. Salmon, secretary of th© New Zealand Association, jnfoimed an Auckland “Star’’ representative that the position is now practically assured. As it stands now, we (are likely to have either a Chinese or a Canadian team in New Zealand next season, with a very good chance of both being here in that season, or else an English team next season, and the Canadians and Chinese the following season Mr Salmon has received cabled advice fbrom Mr A. E. Gibbs, the New Zealand representative in London, stating that he was of opinion the proposed tour of an English team was not likely to take place in 1924. hut was certain for 1925. and that a definite decision would be made at a. meeting of the International 'Selection Committee on January 14. Respecting the Canadian and Chinese vi-its, Mr Salmon Mated that arrangements were at such a stage that the tours could be looked on as certain, once a definite .decision bad been reached in regard to the English visit The Chinese tour is being arranged through the Y.M.C.A.. and the N.Z. Association has a definite promise that a team will be sent along at the time which best suits the convenience of the authorities in New Zealand, and in circumstances which can raise no question whatever of any private profit. It will be practically on the same footing as if arranged through an amateur con trolling body. The Canadian negotiations are being conducted, of course, with the Canadian Football Association So the dour old Scottish authorities are adamant (says a Sydney writer! They do not want the All Blacks to play in their backyard. IF they had a grievance their attitude might be dis cussed But the New Zealanders whacked them in a hard game in which the Scottish players wore as gallant and as active as their opponents, to their credit be it said. The Scotsmen of the Rugger councils are hard as flint. This tour in the Old Land may do Rugger great good. Or it. may do it great harm. The terms on which the plaver.' are to tour may be acceptable to New ; Zealand Union: Bu: whether it. is wise j flu- that body to tour under such condij lion time alone can tell. *•* | The Paris representative of tli« 1 “ Manchester Guardian '’ says that de ! spite the expected arrival of hundred: I of of additional visitors o the 1924 Olvmpic, Games, no one ha any idea of whore they will he accom modated. Seeing that the Paris hotel arc permanently lull, the committe* is building an •'athletes’ village*’ ad joining the arena. The village consist of special ten-roomed maisonettes, mod ernly furnished, and equipped wit! telephones, hot and cold showers, eacl accommodating three athletes. Ever; nation will have its own restaurant with national dishes. In addition ther. will be a hospital and hank, with spe cial tobacconists, chemists, barbers confectioners. booksellers, a coneer hall and a kinema. The village, whicl will bo ready m April, is heavily book ed up. Primarily, of couise, golf clubs ar intended to play goli with -. but the; have been known to have been put t other uses (writes “ The Tramp ’’ h the Sydney ‘‘ Sunday Sun An Eng hsh girl in Spain (so the cabieman tell US') defended herself with a golf clu against a midnight intruder. That wa a good use of the club ; but he out©' her with another club, which was bad use. 3 had a niblick winch 1 ha discarded, a friend Having lent me mashie niblick, which I preferred, lost the run of the first weapon; bu was recently informed by niv wife tha it was the best implement she had eve seen for “breaking up ’ the soil i the garden beds, which had liardene by the summer sun. The London National Sporting Clu has acquired the freehold of the pre mises, and the directors, for the pm pose of paving off some of the deber tures, have notified that they are pre pared to entertain applications for limited number of lit© members at 20 guineas. The West Coast is not a profession; strong man’s Mecca, says an exchang* "Whenever anybody turns up on tl Coast and murmurs about his muse he is tackled with the task of emula ing Jim O'Connell, then of Ohoka. win twenty-seven years ago, j feats which made him. in the eyes i I the West Coasters, the strongest * | all strong men. For a wager of £SO | travelling strong man. one Faro, h; attempted to accomplish the feats - strength of Jim O Connell. Faro w; required to place 3801 b on his shoulde | from the ground, cany on his bat i 7ewt, and push above Ins head wii | one arm. a weight of 1801 b. Faro a i eomplished the first and last fe: | easilv, but- broke down under the so ! ond. and lost his wager. He is but oi | of many strong men who have trn I these feats and failed Only Ji I O’Connell has been known to succeed ! ' Billy ■’ Herald. who performed j brilliantly at Ryde Baths, is an exai pie of a swimmer at first showing pr j raise over a distance and then clevelo | ing into a sprinter (says the Sydn< j ‘Sunday News s '* When fourtei ! years of age Bill covered 440yds j Grain, and negotiated the half-mile • 12min 40sec per medium of a splend I trudgeon stroke After the advent j Kahanamoku lie adopted the H I wanan’s mode of kicking, and cul | vatecl a. good imitation of the Duke I straight, leg crawl kick. Herald fir ' gained prominence as a sprinter dv j ing the 1919-20 season, distinguishr ' himself ui the Olympic tests. He lat J performed with distinction at the Ai j werp Games, obtaining fourth place the world's 100-metres championshi I On returning from the Games he we i | into business in the country, but l ’ tinned to competition swimming la ,-eason No Australian sprinter h ' with greater consistency. In additi l

» j he has done under 56sec unofficially 1 twice at the Domain Baths. Ho i» unl doubtedlv the speediest sprinter that * we have produced. (A 'Sydney cable c states that on January 5 Herald swam lOOvds in 35 3-ssec—an Australian re- . cord.) W. A. Oldfield, the New South Wales s wicketkeeper, made good in big cricket r from the stars (says an Australian ? writer'. His batting at. Adelaide recenti ly, in conjunction with .Arthur Mailev, 1 must have been an eye-opening thing to the spectators. Oldfield seems to be one p of those fighting diehards in cricket, 1 who rises to the finest that is in him when the road is hardest and the goal obscured by the mists ox impending dec feat. A year ago, on the Adelaide Oval, where the latest match was contested, Oldfield was one of the four young men from Sydney who each made a century, his contribution being 118. A wicketkeeper of his batting possibilities is a tolerably useful man on any side. With the A.I F. team in England and -1 South Africa he demonstrated that no position was too hopeless for him to t grit his teeth and make a big effort 2 with his mates to light out of. Possibly this spirit, natural to the men, was more highly developed than might t otherwise have been the case by their k experiences against the Germans in the * fighting zones of ('ranee and Belgium. An unusual incident occurred during an important golf tournament in Eng--3 land. A player’s second shot trickled j over the green ami the hall dsappeared j under the closed door of the toolhouse near th© edge of the green. There ? was only just room for the ball to _ crawl through th© crevice between th© bottom of the door and the ground. ’ W lien th© players arrived they found tho door locked. Search parties went ' in quest of the man with th© key, and when the door was opened the ball was discovered under a low shelf in the hut. 1 The golfer, crouching under the shelf, played a beautiful shot through the doorway, and halved the hole in five. A member of the Rules of Golf com- : mittee declared afterwards that the ; shot ought to have been plaved from ‘ the hut with door closed. That is a 1 question for links lawyers. J The dramatic ,-ritii of a. blameless

Sydney Daily once had n brief ir.tru sion into sporting: journalism (says i I writer in the “Bulletin”). He wai sent to interview the winner of tlx Lang-Squirea argument, and lie did n —that is to say, he listened in a. dazec way while the conqueror spun an in genuous narrative concerning bashe; on the smeller, crosses on the point and uppercuts on the Darby Kel. ‘An 'r came at me again, and J ups anr chins ’im. and down ’e goes, flat out.' said Bill o’ Yarraside. “T see.’’ • sail the critic' faintly. “It sounds most unpleasant.” Whenever Bill- now a Bun* in Melbourne—recall the incident he becomes a critic himself. “ t ripes !'’ ihis comment. Billy Miske, the American heaw weight boxer, news of whose death from Bright's disease at. St Paul, Minne sota, on January 1, was receivd b\ cable, made his last appearance in the ring in Omoha. Nebraska, when he knocked out. Bill Brennan in the fourtf of a scheduled ten round bout. This was Brennan's first appearance in the ring since he received such a severe drubbing from Firpo, and his showing was so poor that the Boxing Commission decided to withhold his share of the purse (4000 dollars) and to tern | porarilv suspend him pending an inquiry as to whether he was a trier. Eugene Corri, the well-known English boxing referee and writer tells a good one about the early days of sport in France:—When the boxing game was in its infancy in France, the judging of contests on the other side fo the English Channel left much to be desired, and it may be said that the average Frenchman’s idea of sportsmanship was slightly one-eyed. He could only see one man win. and that had to be a Frenchman. One of our boys, a Welshman, was going across to box the. French champion at his weight, and as I wished him luck, he said, “ I'll be all right, Mr Corrie. You know the crowd over there only cheers when its man is getting in some punches. Well, I can tell you it will be all silence when I am boxing. I'll never leave the blighter." He was right in a way. It was all silence until the finish, when the crowd cheered itself hoarse. The Welshman was disqualified.