Sporting and Athletic Review

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17345, 27 September 1924, Page 26

Sporting and Athletic Review

[u past seasons by this time Bill Trembath’s long and painstaking preparation for a strenuous racing season would be in full swing, but so far j there is no indication that the old j champion contemplates a return to the | game he has served so well (writes ! On-Side Mac” in the “Southland 'l imes Bill is getting on into the thirties and considers that it is time ho got out of the game before he slips a bit. further downhill. Many a great athlete dims a brilliant vocord bv staying on too long, but judging on his running last year, it is too soon to say this about Trembath. and tiir* (doaming of the foot-racing track in Maoriland ought to have a lot more good races in him yet. It is to he hoped that the Southland public will have an opportunity of .seeing the greatest and best all round runner ever produced in Southland in action again before his retirement. To quote a remark of Archie Chisholm, who occupies a position in the hushcraft game to-dav very much akin to Trembath's in running, to the writer: ‘‘There will he only one Trembath in our time.” When c ompeting for a sprint , H. M. Abrahams, the Olympic 100 metres champion, carries with him a measuring string and a little trowel. Of course, these are not articles with which to hang himself am 1 Iniry him- I .-••If should he lose. All he does is to measure out. a yard in front of his loot-holes. Some sa\ it is to keep away spooks, but possibly the ritual helps him to obtain his correct balance l-clore springing off tie* mark. Charlie M<* always touches wood and crosses his bauds two or three times before n. No result <il a game in South Africa seems to have created quite such a sensation throughout the Union as tin* victory the llritish team won over Criqnalnnd West, (writes the > peek*. I correspondent, of the London ‘‘Sportsman”). Tin* reputation which tho *• Cries*' enjoy Imre is not. probably, appreciated at I lonic, but Imre they are known as one of the most difficult sides in the country to beat. No touring team has won on the* Kimberley ground since 190.4. the last to go down l.cimg the New Zealand Service side in 1920. •• Among the swimmers who have written American swimming history in recent yours.” L. do B. Handley writes in the New ork " World.” ‘ are men and women who. before they took up natatorial activities, suffered from such varied troubles as curvature of the spine, hip disease, throat or lung aftection*, rheumatism, nervous complaints, constitutional weakness, indigestion. muscular debility, and other dls. And these former weaklings, some of them virtual cripples, were ro-c-in-t meted through 'wimming into sturdy athletes, national or world heai lcr>. ’ ’ James Paddon won the single soup championships of the world from Hadhold on April IS. 1922. successfully defended the title against Hadtiold or July 21. 192.1, against Felton on An gust 11. 192 1. and against Coodsell ' September 2(1. 1924. Now lie has an pounced his intention to retire and. accordance with the rules governing the championships, the title wii 'overt to Hadfield it lie feels disposed to .defend it. Goodscll. whom Paddon defeated on Saturday last, had intended to challenge for a return match, a., be bad the misfortune to capsize after going a quarter of a mile, but he decided to let matters stand as they were when the* possibility of Puddon’s retirement was made known. Paddon i> nearly thirty-eight years of age. aim no clouht this, coupled with the fact (hat from a financial point of view there is precious little in 1 he gave, even though lie was called upon to coni]>ete twice* within the space of live weeks, has led to his retirement. In sculling, as in every other branch of sport, a tests to keep him up to form. A contest at very irregular intervals means' wearisome toil getting into condition after a long spell from training. Tin championship is «»t no financial value to Paddon, and very sensibly he has decided to surrender it. Neither is it of any value to lladtield. In fact, the single sculling championslup is of no value financially to anyone. I »ef’erring to the vidt of the All Macks tho London correspondent of the Star writes: Memory of the All Blacks ut twenty years ago is still fresh. They showed u> a new IHighy. scientific in conception and brilliant in execution. At the time the game in this country had declined and the visitors were triumphant from end to end of the country except in their match uirh Wales. W’e hojKi the new All Blacks will be as fine a side as the old: we are still ready to learn. But tour'•<ts ' vi| l li "' 1 tl'fir task a great deal harder than their iellow couittrvmen ■>l twenty years ago d,d. Kugby has attaint-, 1 a vastly higher standard, and it is thought that the national teams at any rate will give them a hard fight. M lieii Weiesford. of Great Britain, "ho finished second to .7. B. Kelly at Antwerp m 8120. won the single sculls at the Olympic Games, he secured the Philadelphia gold challenge cup, cmhfematic of the amateur sculling championship of the world. It. was held hv I \ . Costello. Philadelphia. who won 't from \\ . K. Garret t-Gilinore on the Srhnkyll.il] Hirer, Philadelphia. on May dtp 1,, the Olymyie try-outs on •lime U Gilmore defeated Costello for the honour of re presenting the I'nitod States m the singles event at Paris. Ito gold challenge cup was subscribed lor by Philadelphia rowing enthusiasts anil presented to .1, B. Kelly, Philadelphia, he won the Olvmpio Singles event in PJgO. lie retired and

' V l ' ' Vil * """ l>v M. Hoover. Dulutli. who w ., s challenged and de- I Hate, by (dim..re last year. The rules j <ll l> are that, it must go to 1, * "inner of the Olympic, event, but the possessor can W. challenged for it I by .any- amateur in the world on sixmonths’ notice. A cable mesago from Sydnev announces the death of Alick the famous stone-waller, who was nicknamed ‘ The Rat.*’ by "NY ], Murdoch. the old-time champion batsman, tie was born in Sydney on March 21, 1859 lu a recent article on ” Some Cricketers T have met.” - .) W in t “The Australasian.” had the following refeience to Bannerman :—’‘Short of stature, disdainful of criticism, a stonewaller of the most pronounced type, a, great man on a side and a beautiful off field, with a magnificent return, the little Sydneyite was one j of the most notable and prominent bat-! tiers that the game has produced, j Although but few of us were inclined, j to become enthusiastic over his stodgy! batting, it must be remembered that lie. registered many sterling performances*

for Australia, as well as for his State, | and that no better or gainer trier trod . the turf. On the cricket field. Banner-j man was associated with at least two j remarkable records. In Sydney against Lord Sheffield’s team, in 1891- 1 2 he and .1. J. Lyons added 171 for th'> second wicket, Bannerman just missing the century. In 1888 when Percy M’Donnell’s team played the North of ; England Bannerman kept an end go-1 ing for and hour for 4 runs on a stickv wicket while the mighty smash- , er made 82. Bannerman has an excel lent record, was a great factor in making Australia famous on the cricket • field, was highly respected by all his ! comrades and possesses such a striking personality that he commands universal respect.” Tn reply to the correspondent who wrote in very congratulatory terms of this department of the Saturday issue of the * ‘Star,” and asked for the publication of certain records, it may be said that an effort will be made to give them next week. I his list, at present, is not quite complete. E. A. Porritt, the New Zealand Rhodes Scholar, is gaining further laurels. At the athletic meeting at Warsaw, in connection with the International Students’ Congress, he won his heat in the* 1(H) metres fiat race ill 11 1-lOsee. and the final in 10 9-lOsec. fu the 220 metres race he won his bent in 22 9-10 sec. the best time recorded in the preliminary heats, and the final in 22 2-10ser. He also finished second in the 110 metres hurdles, won in 10 1-0 sec. It is to bo hoped that Porritt lias taken advantage of bis stay amongst the Poles to advertise the beauties and attractions of his homeland. Ho was the only British competitor at the meeting. At ii.s meeting last week the committee ot the Canterbury Rowing Association discussed < orrespondenee from the New Zealand Rowing Association "ill* respect to a New Zealand eight competing in Australia, the proposal being to send a crew to Sydney in .March next. Two of the most prominent and experienced men in local rowing circles opposed the proposition, expressing the opinion that if a crew were sent it should l>e a four and not an eight. However, the weight of the meeting was against this, and the original proposal was agreed to. Where the idea of sending a crew originated the writer has no definite information, hut it probably emanated from Wanganui. where a little eight-oared rowing has been done. It is stated that there ;ire two eight-oared shells in the Dominion. and it may be here said that there are several reasons why eightoared racing is almost unknown in New Zealand. Expense is one. and lack of suitable water at the main centres is another. Rowing certainly is not making much progress in New Zealand, and while enterprise is to be ' mi mended, it is doubtful if the eighti aided proposition at this juncture is going to do any good. It must be admitted by all qualified to express an opinion that our standard of rowing is decidedly pour, and one would expect j ofl'oiT.s to be directed to elevating the quality, before launching a scheme which bristles with difficulties. The idea of sending a crew across the Tasman looks splendid, but if it materialises ~s our rowing going to be bettered!'' To lick a crew of eight men, inexperienced at eight-oared rowing, into shape calls tor a very extensive period of training, ami that means long leave for the men. to say nothing of the expense. The last match 1 saw ; ,t Lords gate me a heartache 'writes the Hon and Rev Edward Lyttelton in •• The Cornhill Magazine”). The howler too!: a inn of twenty-five yards, and of course

i,:ul <•» save lii, h.-eath b.v walking slonlv to In', starting point Ho pnuude<l 1 lowll a whole over of identical l alis jn>t, outside the off-stump, ami the batsman did not attempt to touch one. ■ ■ . There is only one thing to he done. I lie pitches should he so t reated that, though they would be level, and never dangerous, the grass would restore shooters and cpiite as important give a good chance to an average howler to make the ball turn. That ttiultl be done by rn refill expertmerits mi different soils. The result aimed at would simply he wickets always a hit difficult, never dangerous.

On the question as to which summer sport is most conducive to all-round physical fitness, a London paper saws:--With perfect physical fitness must o« : mental contentment, and so we have to look for this attribute in our ideal summer sport, as well as fn?- a stiffj. eiency of exercise without undue

strain. The best game open to most of us is probably lawn tennis. Golf can hardly be classed as a distinctively

summer sport. and cycling ami rowing both exorcise some muscles at the expense of others. Cricket, too, is intermittent in the amount of effort it requires, and swimming, an admirable exercise in itself, hardly suits everyone. Moderate lawn tennis, as played by tens of thousands of young ]>ooplo as a spare-time recreation, gives a due proportion of suitable exercise to every part of the body and nervous system, without exhaustion. The blood is thoroughly aerated by the exorcise, and waste products eliminated by the resultant perspiration. At the same time, mental abut ness is developed, without any strain of over-excitement.

What is termed a snimming triar*i--tlion was decided in tin*, Seine, at Paris early in August, the distance being about 2d miles. The course is farther than the direct distance across tlie Channel, whose currents, however, prevent a swimmer from taking the

.shortest route, and so a comparison is not possible. Burgess, who swam the Channel, in I SHI, was one of the com]>etitors, and though now a veteran, iii-, powers of endurance seem to l>e unimpaired, as ho swam with all his customary vigour and ease, hut he lacked the speed of his younger rivals. Eleven competed and the winner was ( hietieu. of Paris, whose time was 12h 3min. Chietien had a. bad time over the first half of the journey, and he

was seized with cramp and only sheer pluck kept him going. Burgess finifbc’d fifth.

Now that the Olympic (ia-mes ar over, questions are being asked a* to ■what, w ill be done with the- huge Olympic stadium which was erected at great expense, and with the extensive quarters which were built for the accommodation of the athletes (writes the Paris correspondent of a London paper). The ground belongs to the Racing Club de i-ranee, an;! the question is whether i that body will retain the ground on its 11 accolln t <>r will come to some ar--1 angement with the National AthleticSports Committee to utilise it for all the big football matches and other 1 similar events. As yet nothing has i been, decided, but there are h.oj>es that

the stadium will become the scone of all tlic principal athletic meetings.

The second annual athletic championship meeting for Knglish-born competitors took place at Northampton on

August 9. This meeting was instituted last year and was the outcome of a demand for a championship meeting con tilled to native-horn competitors, and to he quite distinct from tho A. A. A. championship meeting, which is open to all amateurs, and is usually held in .Tunc of eac h year. Although a number of prominent athletes wore absent from the meeting some very good performances were put up. K. J. Toms won the 4 40yds rather easily in 50sec : F. R. Gaby (holder) the 120yds hurdles in To 1-osec ; H. M. Abrahams the long jump, with 23ft Sin; M. C. Xokcs. the hanimer throw, with 158 ft lin. and R. .1. Dickinson the hop, step and jump with -13 ft oin. There wore two unusual incidents in the county match this year between I'ssex and Middlesex. Norris, of Kssox. anxious for runs, and unable to score off Hearn’s slow breaks, began to kick them through the slips and run leg byes, until the umpire ruled against it as unfair play. l.ater. ac hen P. Ashton had scored 31 out of •II in half an hour, ho fell flat when trying to drag Hearne to leg. The ball struck him on the top of the head and lie was given out lhw.