SPORT and SPORTSMEN

Star (Christchurch), Volume LXVI, Issue 20296, 4 May 1934, Page 11

SPORT and SPORTSMEN

SEELING, son of the famous Auckland and All Black forward of former years, has joined the Wigan League Club in England. He previously played for the Warrington Club. Dr A. E. Porritt, who has been invited to act as manager of the New Zealand team for the British Empire Games, is a former Dominion champion sprinter, having won the 100yds title eleven years ago. He represented New Zealand at the Olympic Games in Paris in 1924. He was at Otago University at the time and later went to Oxford, where he raced prominently for two or three seasons. A splendid all-round performance was put up during the past season by C. Williams, a member of the Onehunga team, in the Onehunga Cricket Association’s competitions. In batting, Williams scored 1012 runs for 22 innings, being not out on six occasions. With three centuries to his credit, he finished with the fine average of 63.25 runs. In bowing, Williams took 110 wickets for 524 runs, averaging 4.7 runs per wicket. On one occasion he captured the whole ten wickets (says the “Star’-” Auckland correspondent). Wrestling Season. Word was received by the Canterbury Wrestling Association last night that for the opening of the Canterbury season Oki Shikina (Japan), and Charley Santen (United States) would be matched in Christchurch on Thursday, May 17. These two wrestlers will face each other at Auckland next Monday night, and on the same night Michot (France) and Dr Fred Meyers (United States) will be Wellington. Miss Kay in England. The qualifying rounds for the British Women’s Open Golf Championship will be played to-day week, when sixty-four will qualify for the match play, w-hich extends over eighteen holes, until the final, when thirty-six holes will be played. New Zealand has four representatives, Miss Oliver Kay, Miss Bessie Gaisford, Mrs Collinson and Mrs Jacobsen. The event will be played on the Royal Porthcawl course, Glamorganshire, Wales. This course was lately remodelled by T. Simpson, the wellknown architect, who has very strong views about bunkering. He believes in few bunkers, so placed as to tax even the best players, and at Porthcawl he aims at making fifty bunkers do the work of twice their number. He puts a premium on the well-placed shot, while leaving an alternative route to the green, so that the long-handicap player will always have an interest in the game. Although Otago University and Otago have lost the services of Rae behind the scrum, they have gained a most promising substitute in M'Arthur. late of Nelson College, who play- | ed behind the Nelson representative j scrum last season. M’Arthur showed very fine form in the college tourna- j ment between Christ’s, Wanganui Collegiate, Nelson and Wellington, and competent judges marked him down then as a player with a decidedly promising future. E. J. Moss, open golf champion of ! New Zealand, and Fred Rutter, both of Auckland, have issued a challenge to any other two pros, in New Zealand for a four-ball best ball match of 72 holes for £IOO a side. One of the conditions of the match is that 36 holes be played in Auckland and another 36 on any, other course nominated by the players accepting the challenge. After the Tackle. A good deal of confusion appears to exist among Rugby players regarding the play-the-ball rule following a tackle (says a writer in the “ New Zealand Herald ”). In the first place the distinction between a tackle and a collar must be appreciated. A tackle means that a player in possession of the ball is so held by one or more opponents that he is unable to pass or play the ball. In all such cases the player so tackled must immediatelv release the ball, so that it falls to the ground between himself and his oppen- j ents’ goal line. The ball must then j be played with the foot before it may j be picked up. An infringement of this j rule is a penalty kick. It should be noted, however, that I frequently a player is collared without • his being prevented from passing or j playing the ball. In such cases the ball usually rolls clear of the player j who had possession, and it may then ; be played in any manner, provided, of j course, it has not been thrown forward. ‘ when a scrum would follow if the i opposing side did not gain an advantage from the^breach. Percy Minns, Rhodes scholar, Auckland and New Zealand representative and a wing three-quarter of marked ability, played class Rugby for Wellington against Poneke last Saturday. There has never been any doubt about Minns’s pace and determination, but he revealed real quality in his efforts. With little room in which to work, he scored one dazzling try for his side and in the process left All Black Norman Ball absolutely standing (says a “Star” correspondent). Tribute to Satoh. Paying a tribute to the dead Japanese. tennis player, Jiro Satoh, Harry Hopman, of Australia, says:— A gentleman on and off the court, Satoh was beloved in every country to which his tennis took him. A typical example of Satoh’s good nature was in 1932, when he was playing in the Queen’s Club championships. One day he finished early, but on arriving home learned that Crawford and I were playing late in the final. He immediately set out again for Queen’s, and drove us to our London hotel. Crawford says that the only player he has met with equal sportsmanship to Satoh is Vines—l would include Lacoste. Satoh’s best match, he thinks, was when he defeated Austin at Wim bledon last year. Satoh was the first man to conquer Vines’s service. That was two 3 - ears ago, when he defeated the American champion on his own Los Angeles courts.

Against Leicestershire in 1930, the Australians made 365 for five wickets. Their opponents were disposed of for 148, but play had to be abandoned on account of rain. Bradman’s tally wa? 185 not out. Vic. Richardson got 100. Bradman Again. Bradman’s glorious innings against Worcestershire yesterday suggests that he will again be a nightmare to English bowlers this season. After the 1930 tour, “ Wisden's ” said: “ The Australians’ visit will always be remembered by reason of the amazing batting successes of Bradman. He took England and the whole cricket world by storm. . . . Nothing like his series of colossal innings in the Test matches has ever before been witnessed. He put the coping stone on his career when, in the third Test at Leeds, following 131 at Nottingham and 254 at Lord’s, he made 334, which easily eclipsed the previous highest Test score. As if that were not sufficient, Bradman, though failing at Manchester, wound up with 232 in the final Test at Kensington Oval. For Test matches alone, without a not out to help him, he had an average of rather more than 139, with an aggregate of 974 runs in seven innings.” Jack Hobbs’s Ambition. To describe W. G. Grace, J. B. Hobbs or D. G. Bradman as “ the greatest batsman of all tin-Hu ” is to invite indignant rejoinders from the protagonists of the other two and so leave oneself in a minority. But even those who would deprive Hobbs of the title will freely admit their desire to see

this outstanding cricketer start well this month on the last four laps of his run to the double century of centuries in first-class cricket (says a Melbourne writer). Now fifty-one years of age, Hobbs has 196 centuries to his credit in first-class matches —six of them made last season.

Nothing wojild please the Australian touring side more than to see J.B. make his 200th century against them when they meet Surrey on May 30. Good wickets and an early glimpse of his best form and Hobbs might have the chance. If available for each game and favoured by the toss and the weather, he will play in five matches before the Australian encounter. Such a run of century-making wa? not beyond him in his heyday, but at fifty-one the odds are well against it. Nothing is beyond a batsman of his calibre—not even making a comeback to Tests. Hobbs himself -would almost certainly regard himself as past Test match standard now, but B. J. T. Bosanquet, in the “ Daily Mail,” has named him as one of his selections if rain damaged the wickets. Nearest to Hobbs in the century totals are “ Patsy ” Ilendren with 142 and C. P. Mead with 141. The Ilutt Club, led by H. T. Lilburne, has a fine senior side this season, and even at this stage they are firm favourites for championship honours (says the “ Star's ” Wellington correspondent). Besides having a back line which includes All Black Lilburne and North Island representative Killeen and Wellington A or B representatives in E. Neal and Nees, the senior team has a powerful scrum, in the make-up of which is All Black E. Barry and Wellington representatives in Coulston, Peck and Wilson. Canterbury Men Shine. The South Island has contributed a number of excellent backs to Wellington Rugbv and the majority have taken the highest honours in the game. In the half-back position, Rae is from Otago, Kilby from Southland, and O’Connor from Christchurch. The fiveeighths are: Page of Southland, Lilburne of Canterbury and Robins of | Canterbury. Of these players, Kilby, i Page and Lilburne have represented New Zealand at Rugby union, while ! Robins was a Canterbury and Rugby ! League back. Rae, the other player. | has represented Otago and the South i Island. This season he plays in Wel--1 lington for Victoria College Universitv j in the senior A grade second division j and his form has been outstanding. A Canterbury forward who has also i gained Wellington honours is C. Qu^id, | of Poneke. ' The Wellington Rugby Union has j deferred its nomination for All Black selector until its meeting next week or the week after. Mr M. F. Nicholls, the well-known international player, has been appointed sole selector for Wellington, and while he would prove a valuable nomination, his work might preclude his accepting nomination. The same reason also applies to Mr I. N. Millard, who selected successfully for Wellington for a number of years. He Can Kick. Fred Fuller, the Eastbourne and Wellington representative wing threequarter, promises to kick his way into this year’s All Black side. Last year Fuller scored over 100 points in chi’ i football and nearly another hundred !in representative Rugby; this season j he has kicked eighteen points already out of the total of thirty-one scored by his side. Fuller is a brilliant Kick at all ranges from close up out to halfway and in the opinion of competent judges is the finest goal-kicker New Zealand has ever seen. He takes about four steps for all his kicks, whether long or short, while he is an uncanny judge of direction under adverse conditions. James Braid, the famous British golfer, celebrated his sixtv-fourth birth- ! day in February at Walton Heath, i where he played in a foursome during j the afternoon. Born at Earlsferry in ! 1870, Braid first handled a club at the j age of four, an dfor almost the whole ; of the sixty years since he has con- | tinued to play golf. At thirty-one he won his first open championship of | four.

RUGBY FOOTBALL. Attractive Fixture for Oval. OLD BOYS v. VARSITY! There should be a big gathering of enthusiasts at Lancaster Park to-mor-row afternoon, for the main Rugby attraction, the first grade game between Varsiyt and Old Boys, is sure to provide one of the best club fixtures of the season. They are the only unbeaten sides after two games and on their showings will be very keen contenders for championship honours. It is a little early in the season to make predictions as to the chances of the sides, but on results to date and the form shown there should be very little either way. One is inclined to say that if the Old Boys have the weight in the forwards the game will go their way; but the Varsity pack more than held its own against Merivale last Saturday, and the Merivale forwards are a hard and capable, lot. Both sides have excellent backs, with special strength behind the scrum. In that respect the Clark-Cobden-Mortlock trio will probably be a shade ahead of their rivals, though M’Auliffe. Parsons and M’Cormick are a formidable combination. Old Boys and Varsity to date have played fast and capable football in the forwards, and have been the only two sides to show any real combination in the back division, so that their meeting is looked forward to with pleasurable anticipation by all who enjoy a fast and open exhibition. The teams will be selected from the following - : Old Boys—Nolan, Eathorne. M’Phail, Henry. Mortlock, Cobden, Clark, Jacobs. Tweedie. Lowry, Berry, Schluter, Stanlev, M’Phail, Foley, Rankin, North, White. Norrie. Varsity—Fooks, Hayman, S. A. Roberts, Watts Parsons, M’Cormick, M’Auliffe, Andrews, T>. J. Wilson. P. G. Roberts. Hudson, Hamilton, Stewart, F. J. Wilson, M’Kee; emergencies, Uniacke, Coupland, Heenan. Sydenham v. Albion. Sydenham and Albion should have a good match in their encounter at Lancaster Park South. Christchurch beat Sydenham and Albion have beaten Christchurch, but that does not lead to the supposition that Albion will beat Sydenham. Indeed even though they were beaten on Saturday, Sydenham still appear to have the better of the chances in to-morrow’s clash. While the play should be fairly even in the forwards, Sydenham must have a decided margin in the back division, and if the line passes and handles well Albion will have a lot of stopping to do. The teams will be chosen from the following: Sydenham—F. French. .T. TTattersley, R. Brown, W. Brown, R. Wallburton, R. Hazelhurst, L. Brown. O. Hattersley. C. Line. K. Brown, R. Dunlop, W. Fright, J. Gibbs R. King, I. Crockett. Emergencies: F. Newton. G. Brown. Albion—A. W. Roberts, R. Thompson. H. Davis, W. Thomson, J. Hobson, J. Hay, D. Preston, C. Clark, S. Smith, J. Wilson, J. Lake, R. Dasler. W. Sweeney, G. Howell T Russell. K. Oakley. C. Taylor, H. Mooney. Other Matches. At Rugby Park, Llnwood will have a hard day’s forward play against Christchurch, who have reorganised their side to some purpose, as Sydenham found out. With Jack Gaskin hack at first five-eighth and Shirteliffe and Ollivier outside him, and Hart in his accustomed position on the wing, the Christchurch backs will be strong and may take a hand in the attack, hitherto entrusted entirely to the forwards. The teams will be chosen from the following players: Christchurch —Cottrell. Wade. Adorian, Anderson, Rogers. Frengley Manchester, Murray, Gaskin (2), Gordon, Shirteliffe, Ollivier, Fleming, Hart, Fulton, M'Kay, Maxwell. Linwood—S. Loader R. Tliimpson, D. Ennis, G. Matter.son, R. Price, A. Brownlee, G. W. Thompson, B. Bradley, D. J. Qua id S. Whiteford, R. Johnson, E. H. Gregg-, L. Mason, D. Whillans, N. Priest, J. L. White J. Monk, N. M’Clelland and G. F. Stevens.^ Athletic?, an improving side, will meet Merivale at the West Ground at Lancaster Park. Merivale suffered a severe reverse last Saturday at Varsity's hands, hut the side is a solid one for all that, and should he too much for Athletic. The teams will he chosen from these players: Merivale—K. Grant, A. Bullivant, C. Oliver, W. Mann, E. Newburgh, J. Hooper. N. Bouterey, R. Overend, K. Hart land, S. Emerson, A. Bourne, C. Rich. H. Deavoll, T. Rountree, J. Francis, R. May, W. Crofts. Athletic—J. Gillespie, T. Wilkes, C. Woodham, J. Hennessey, J. Burton, C. M’Cormick, L. Moran, R. Poff, J. Vincent, M. Quirk, T. Moran, R. Pender, W. Coll, B. Solomon, M’Kendry. Emergencies: W. Aitken. T. Wesley.

The Tilyards. For some years the Tilyard family of Wellington played with distinction for Poneke, Wellington and New Zealand. A generation has now passed from the active to the ranks of the supporters, but once again the name will be before the public, this time through the agency of the son of Tim Tilyard, New Zealand half-back in 1913 and 1920. The lad, like his father, plays behind the scrum for the Poneke seventh grade side. He showed great promise last season at St Patrick’s College. An uncle, Fred Tilyard, is secretary of the Poneke Club, while another uncle, Alf Griffiths, wa« a Wellington representative and Wellington and New Zealand selector. A cousin. Jack Griffiths, has played fur Wellington and promises to take higher honours. Truly Rugby blood runs in this family. A Wellington representative from the end of the war up to the visit of the English team. North Island forward in 1919 and All Black in 1920, Jack Shearer has again come into Rugby in Wellington, as a coach. Last season Shearer played for and coached i the Poneke second team, which won > the senior A second division after being promoted from senior B. This yea r Jack decided to have a rest, but he received a letter from his former team, which is practically unaltered again this season, and he answered the call by turning up at the Poneke gym. on Tuesday and Thursday. A Hint to Golfers. If a golfer throws the club-head down through the ball, the club-head first striking the ball and then grazing or taking the turf, the head will not be lifted prematurely, nor the gaze ljkelv to shift. But if he attempts to lift the ball bv the “ scooping ” process, the lowest point of the club-head’s arc will be reached before it contacts with the ball, and a dig, a skied ball or a topped ball, is the usual result. When ! a ball is “ scooped,”. the club-head is j ascending, and so arc the body, the head and the eyes.— (Charles Ilendron, | in "Golf Made Easier”). J