Sport And Sportsmen.

Star (Christchurch), Issue 18941, 11 December 1929, Page 9

Sport And Sportsmen.

Mr H. B. Whitta, sole selector for the Canterbury Cricket Association, stated to-day that the Canterbury team to play the Englishmen would be selected on Saturday night. The match will commence on Christmas Eve.

“It is an over-rated game,” said Mr Arthur Greenwood, Minister of Health, at a dinner of the Stage Golfing Society. He said he was one of the chief opponents of golf in the country. The game is responsible for the greater part of our weakness to-day,” he said. “I regard golf as very little higher than fishing,” he continued, “and fishing is the resort of the secret drinker. I am an opponent of golf because it is a foreign game. As Minister of Health I can say one thing in favour of golf—it does take men into the open air.”

x :•: The money paid to A. Falwasser for three years’ engagement by the Wigan Rugby League Club, England, is £BOO, in addition to which he is to receive so much for each match in which he participates. One of the reasons advanced for Falwasser’s acceptance of Wigan’s offer is that he is particularly keen on aviation, and he considers ne will have far greater opportunities in this respect in England than he would have in New Zealand. A telegram from Auckland to the “Star” states that Sarron is at present demanding a £SO forfeit for Grime to make 9st for a bout here on December 27. Grime is reluctant, as he met Sarron before at 9st 21b. Sarron will have another hard fight after his battle with Grime, as he meets Leckie at Napier on New Year’s Day. Sarron was to have met Jack Jones in a return match at Hawera last night, but, owing to a difference in weight, the bout was cancelled. H. G. Stiles and J. Lane, two prominent oarsmen of the Avon Rowing Club, will not be taking part in the head-of-the-river events on the Avon next Saturday afternoon; nor will they be able to compete at the Akaroa Regatta on New Year's Day. Stiles, who, with his brother, <J. Stiles, has performed well at loc&l and New Zealand championship regattas, will not often be available for training this year, and on that score has asked the club to leave him out of the senior four, a position for which he had been selected. Lane, a young and promising oarsman, will also not be available this season. 55 The Auckland Cricket Association has decided to forward the names of Messrs * Duff, Somervell, Turton and Poulton to the Canterbury Association for approval as umpires for the Canterbury v. Auckland match at New Year. A sub-committee set up to report on the Auckland touring team’s forthcoming trip to the South Island recommended that Mr E. C. Beale, team manager, should be granted up to £25. In the event of* a loss on the tour, the committee also recommended that in future tours the associations visited should be asked to contribute to the cost. The recommendations were -approved;