STUDENTS FORM SPORTS UNION.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 17729, 26 December 1925, Page 5

STUDENTS FORM SPORTS UNION.

BRITISH MOVEMENT OF INTEREST OVERSEAS. (Special to the “ Star.”) LONDON, November 20. Following a previous note as to the formation of “ The Dominion Students’ Athletic Union ” fuller details of its genesis and aims have been received from Messrs Arthur E. Porritt and V. B. Powell, the two New Zealanders on the executive. Mr Porritt says that the Dominion Students’ Athletic Union is actually the child of the conference of the Imperial students held under the auspices of the English N.U.S.. in London and Cambridge in July, 1924. At that conference the project of having matches in various sports between Home and overseas universities was discussed, and shown to be almost untenable from a practical point of viewowing to excessive expense. Mr Porritt then suggested that it might be possible to use the overseas’ talent actually at the Home Universities — and he consequently, in his own words, got let in for the job of investigating the possibility of developing such a scheme. The result is the D.SA..U., which was actually founded towards the end of last year—but has really only now found its feet, and been put on a sound basis. The union, of which the Prince of Wales will be patron, has Mr Porritt as president, all the Dominion High Commissioners as honorary vicepresidents, and numbers among its officials V. B. V. Powell and W. E. Tucker (of Bermuda, the Cambridge Rugger captain), and many other prominent colonial athletes—including Dr D. G. Bonner (the Australian and English Rugger international and member of the Rugby Council), Clarke (of South Africa—their official tennis Olympic representative), and P. D. B. Spence (of tennis and Rugger fame from South Africa). The Rhodes Trust is also very much behind the union .which hopes shortly to organise some important and interesting games, probably chiefly in Rugger, tennis and athletics. The club made its first appearance at the Civil Service sports meeting last summer, when it had the good luck to inflict upon the Achilles Club their only defeat of the year. The only other fixture definitely arranged at present is a Rugger match with a team of South African students just after Christmas. The aims and objects are to arrange contests in various sports between British Empire University teams drawn from students at the Universities in Great Britain and Ireland, and thereby to encourage the idea *of Imperial sport; to enable Dominion and colonial men to become better acquainted with each other and with men of Home Universities ; to secure public attention for the British Empire overseas, such as might be expected to result from the publicity obtained in connection with important sports meetings; to provide some central organisation through which the Olympic Associations of the British Empire overseas may work at Home, and generally to encourage the true spirit of University sport. Any student from any part of the Empire other than the British Isles doing post or undergraduate work in any recognised University or University College in the British Isles is eligible for membership.