SPORT in NEW ZEALAND

NZ Services Current Affairs Bulletin, Volume 3, Issue 5, 16 April 1945, Page 2

SPORT in NEW ZEALAND

Work and Play

by

R. C. Wilson

The tendency to play seems ,to be quite spontaneous and independent of either example or teaching in both human beings and animals. The play of little children has excited more investigation than almost any other aspect of child life, yet no really adequate explanatory theory has been evolved. ' Various suggestions have been that play may be a preparation for the serious business of life, or merely due to a discharge of surplus energy, or may provide the necessary relaxation from serious work; Children may play for pleasure, to express aggression, to master anxiety, to gain experience, to make social contacts, or to integrate personality. Although it is impossible to decide just why we do play, yet we may draw a very important distinction between Work and Play. A business manager sitting at his desk reading reports is working. The same man on holiday struggling up a mountain with a 50 lb. pack on his back is playing. Thus it would appear that effort, in terms of muscular or mental energy, is no criterion. When ’the Gentlemen meet the Players in their annual cricket matches, the Gentlemen are playing but the professionals are working. As ’both are performing virtually the same actions, it can be seen that the nature of the activity is no certain guide. How, then, can we distinguish between the two ? Play differs from work because the value of the activity is found in the activity itself, there being no further motive beyond this activity. The whole mental attitude is different. In the self-created make-believe world of play the conditions are not inexorable, and . there is a freedom from compulsion to act in accordance with them, or even to act at all.. In playing, we detach or disassociate ourselves from the real world. Briefly, Work is serious and necessary, Play is not.

Where do Games come in ?

Somewhere between the spontaneous, pleasant, unorganized play of the small child and the serious adult business of working wo find games. A game is a form of .play which is governed by definite rules, and usually involves competition between individuals or groups with some definite objective. Every player should decide for himself how seriously he is going to take any game. If he plays

games for fun or relaxation, then he will place games quite neatpure play. If he is more aggressive, anxious to dominate opponents, to excel or achieve high reputation, then he will place games closer to work. In team games the casual player is a nuisance liable to spoil the pleasure of his colleagues. The pure play attitude is hardly practicable in most games as they are played to-day. On the other hand, many people take games far too seriously, striving to win with a grim inflexibility of purpose better suited to affairs of greater importance. Some amateurs are disappointed to find that after practising assiduously to reach greater proficiency their increased skill does not necessarily bring greater enjoyment. The position of a professional is quite different. The playing of games is his work, and he is justified in adopting a more cautious style and attitude to ensure good results.

Any definition or description of a true sportsman is difficult and apt to sound like a moral lecture for the young, but the term is so often claimed by the man who puts 10s. on the tote that some clarification seems indicated. The true sportsman plays hard and unselfishly; wins without exultation ; loses without bitterness or excuses ; plays not only within the written rules but also the unwritten conventions ; and finishes his sporting career with many friends amongst his opponents as well as his own team mates.

In the following list of games many excellent forms of sport have been omitted through lack of space.

Rugby Football.— lt is a commonplace to say that New-Zealanders take their football seriously. Touring teams have been surprised and rather amused at the almost religious fervour of both players and spectators. From the time the embryo All Black is in his primary school midget team he is nurtured on sternly competitive lines. Always before him is some cup, banner, or shield which must be won by the grim accumulation of competition points. Such training produces efficiency and a strong will to win, both of which are characteristic of All Black teams. Friendly games are comparatively rare, and are frequently played in a very slack manner because the players lack their usual incentives. Whether the inter-club fixture system of England could be adopted now in this country is very doubtful, even if it were desired.

All Black touring teams in the British Isles have impressed critics by their outstanding physique. The forwards are magnificent in the loose and lineout, but sometimes shaded in the tight and in hooking. They play robustly and relentlessly and often show disconcerting skill in the open. The backs -show initiative and are

quick to profit by the mistakes of opponents. The more dangerous mid-field penetration is often due to the thrust of the five-eights, whose functions are rather different in British teams. Self-confidence of both backs and forwards is probably the reflection of a national trait developed in a country not far removed from the pioneer stage. ■ln New Zealand itself it is possible to distinguish a broad latitudinal difference in the style of football played. Auckland, finding itself in competition with the League code, has adopted a more open and attractive style of play than is general in the far South. Back play in Auckland tends to be very spectacular, and the forwards shine in the loose and show many of the characteristics of backs. In Otago and Southland hard, solid scrummaging is the basis of their game. Southland is notoriously difficult to beat on a wet ground. Otago has well-knit packs and far from negligible forwards. Canterbury and Wellington usually produce wellbalanced sides ; while Hawke’s Bay in their golden age combined the best points of both styles of play. Lesser unions have their seasons of triumph, but the provinces mentioned above have probably been the most consistent since the Great War.

It is well to remember that attractive football is not necessarily good football. When one team beats another by 27 points to 21 it is obvious that the tackling must have been defective. In one respect Rugby is like chess. To every possible move there is an effective counter — e.g., the perfect orthodox passing rush from a set scrum should not lead to a try, as the defending side has usually one more man in action (the full back) than the attackers. Two \ sides playing perfect football would not score and the onlookers might not find the spectacle very entertaining. Rugby football is in essence a simple game. Victory does not come to the side with a few tricks unknown to their opponents. It is rather a matter of performing certain actions quicker or better than the opposition. When the last Springbok tourists soundly defeated New Zealand teams many irrelevant reasons for their success were put forward. That the Springboks played orthodox football supremely well was often overlooked, and attention was focused on the obvious but less significant dive pass and the distant first five-eight. Their superb scrummaging and hooking gave possession to backs who made very few errors. They reduced Rugby to its essentials. It is not always recognized that there is only a quite limited number of patterns of any importance to Rugby tacticians. Minor variations within the broad patterns may be of great significance, and it is the quick appreciation of such differences that shows the Rugby genius of a player like Mark Nicholls. Perhaps much of the direct appeal of Rugby to young New-Zealanders lies in the fact that the physical actions involved in the game are

for the most part simple. Catching the ball, kicking, pushing, passing, and running are all within the powers of all but the most ungainly. Even the clumsiest may develop into a useful unit in a pack, as there have been stories of players reaching All Black status without quite knowing how to get down correctly in a scrum L

Cricket. —-New Zealand cricketers have neither the skill nor the enthusiasm of the Australians, and their record in international matches is modest. The three touring teams in England between the wars all showed similar characteristics. In each case subtle captaincy made the most of somewhat limited bowling resources; uncertain catching and varying ground fielding compared unfavourably with the outwork of the Australians or the West Indians ; most of the batsmen showed a refreshing desire to hit the ball hard in front of the wicket; in each team a very young player (Merritt, Vivian, and Donnelly) was one of the outstanding successes; each team distinguished itself against some of its strongest opponents ; and the punctuality, modesty, and cheerfulness of the players made them popular with English cricketers even if their gate-appeal was a little disappointing. One regrettable result of the tours has been the loss of many of the best players, who accepted attractive offers from English clubs.

In this way New Zealand lost the services of key men in Blunt, Merritt, Dempster, James, and Dacre at a time when team-building was not easy. As these tourists were primarily Saturday afternoon club cricketers, the standard reached was very good indeed. At his best Dempster is in the same class as Headley, McCabe, and others much better known in international cricket. Had Cowie been in an Australian touring side he would have been hailed as a champion. Wallace played shots that startled the conservative professional bowlers. Incidentally it may be noted here that young players in all dominion sides seem to succeed when on tour in England. In spite of brilliant exceptions— e.g., Denis Compton—young English players seem to take considerably longer to establish themselves in test sides.

Plunket Shield cricket in New Zealand is first class in name and usually in standard. The four provincial teams scarcely deserve thei title: provincial.” For the most part they are composed of. cricketers from the four urban centres, Dunedin, Christchurch, Wellington, and Auckland. Spasmodic attempts to include players from minor unions have done little to remove this long-standing reproach. Much of the minor cricket is admittedly without much distinction, and it is generally understood that any one with aspirations to a New Zealand cap would be wise to remain in one of the four main cities until his reputation is well established. Plunket Shield cricket does not arouse the keen rivalry and fierce partisanship now associated with the Ranfurly Shield. New Zealand has never had its bodyline fever or the kind of internal strife which split Australian cricket just before the 1912 Triangular Tournament. , Through having the same season as Australia, we have too seldopi been able to entertain Australian teams of the highest calibre. •

Mountaineering.— Mountaineering is a sporting activity whose rules are largely unwritten and certainly not obligatory. At the time when the formation of the Alpine Club in England gave a great, impetus to climbing in the Swiss Alps, New Zealand was still in the pioneer stage when life was too strenuous for the settlers to take a kind of busman’s holiday in the storm-swept mountains. A few local amateurs showed an admirable persistence, but no great success attended their efforts to conquer the major peaks until near the end of the century. Visitors such as Zurbriggen and Fitzgerald were technically much superior to the contemporary self-taught New-Zealanders. Later Fyfe and Clark showed enterprise -and courage, while the supremely competent and reliable Graham brothers set a new standard for guides in this country. Tourists still rather monopolized the peaks before the 1914-18 war, and even after the armistice progress was slow for some time. With the formation of enthusiastic clubs in Canterbury and Otago and the revival of the New Zealand Alpine Club a larger number of young New-Zealanders became very active in the Alps.

In few other sporting activities is the penalty for a mistake so severe. ’ In the last few years the increasing death roll in the New Zealand mountains has caused uneasiness amongst the officials of

the New Zealand Alpine Club, which has always preached the sane doctrines of the Alpine Club in England. A younger generation was inclined to take unjustifiable risks, chiefly by going on, or staying on, peaks when l weather and climbing conditions were dangerously adverse. With so many virgin peaks to be conquered and so many new strips to be tried, the New Zealand climber was not tempted to follow a sinister European development in mountaineering. Bored with the conventional safe routes up the mountains of Central Europe, the young “ tigers ” of Germany, Austria, and France, vied with each other in attempting the seemingly impossible. Stone-swept faces subject to a permanent blitz drew them irresistibly. With pitons they slowly engineered their way up such appalling faces as the Eigerwand for the honour of Nazi Germany. A piton is a short tapering peg of iron or steel with a clip at the blunt end to contain a rope. By driving vast quantities of these into rock faces and by the liberal use of rope, routes have been forced up previously impregnable peaks. One school of thought deplores the use of pitons at all, asserting that climbing is reduced to engineering, and that such aids are artificial. As ropes, crampons, nailed boots, and ice-axes are also artificial and on the approved list, the young tigers are not much moved by this argument. What is more open to criticism is the whole attitude towards mountaineering of these courageous, machineminded young fanatics. They are prepared to get their peak at any price, and no route is too desperately dangerous to deter them. Before the Eigerwand succumbed to four days of continuously dangerous and technically brilliant climbing by young Germans it had claimed many victims. On this and other “ suicide ” routes accidents had compelled sane guides to attempt the rescue of parties whose reckless ambition deserved little consideration and no sympathy. Will the next generation of post-war climbers in this country develop along these lines ?

How do the best of New Zealand climbers compare with those of England ? Judgment here is rather speculative, but it would seem that the best New-Zealanders are still some way behind Englishmen on rock, but are at least as good on ice and snow. The mountaineer of this country accepts as a matter of course much trying exploratory work and hard swagging to establish base camps, and has become very resourceful in emergencies.

Tennis. —Tennis has taken a long time to live down its undeserved description of “ pat-ball.” It still finds little favour with the authorities of boys’ secondary schools, partly because its development would weaken the cricket elevens and partly because it is not supposed to encourage team spirit. Surely it is possible for a tennis team of four, six, or eight players who play both singles

and doubles to exhibit the virtues of teamwork. As an aside here, it may be rioted that the spirit of a team may be thoroughly undesirable. Some football teams of this country are fired with a determination to win at any cost, and their undeniably strong team spirit cannot be admired. When team members have common sporting aims and work harmoniously to achieve them, then the team spirit is good. That the individual is thrown more on his own resources in tennis is undeniable, yet expert doubles play requires a high degree of unselfish co-operation. One unfortunate aspect of this game cannot be ignored. In most countries tennis stars have shown a tendency to become very temperamental. The singles player in big tennis is subject to a most searching scrutiny. Not even the slightest gesture goes unobserved, and the temptation to play to the gallery and cultivate tricks of showmanship is difficult to overcome. Between the poker face of Helen Wills and the eloquent grimaces of the mercurial Borotra most tennis players of lesser fame should be able to find a happy mean. It is scarcely necessary to cultivate an Oriental impassivity in playing a game for fun, but some discipline is advisable.

New Zealand has hot had any great degree of success in Davis Cup contests, and the value of entering some of the teams has been questioned. The benefit to New Zealand tennis is not always obvious when the team has consisted of “ exiles ” who have lived overseas for many years, have gained most of their experience in tournaments in other countries, and have little prospect of ever returning permanently to this country.

Since the days of Anthony Wilding, when New Zealand was associated with Australia as “ Australasia,” no New-Zealander has been in the first flight of world players.

Golf.— one time in New Zealand history, Rugby football was the dominant winter pastime, almost to the total exclusion of any other. Now an increasing number of young footballers take

up other games on leaving school or university. Association football, harriers, hockey, and golf have taken an increasing relative proportion of players in the last twenty years. In times of international crisis (test matches v. Springboks) most New-Zealanders revert to type and flock to football-grounds, even though they have not seen club games for years. But on Saturday afternoons and Sundays many athletic young men spend all their time on golf-links. To the uninitiated, golf probably appears as the most silly of all ball games, but very few scoffers have failed to change their opinions on closer acquaintance with it. Unlike most other games, golf does give plenty of time for thoughtful planning. Between shots the player can consider all the possibilities of the situation, weigh up the tactical situation, and generally fall victim to a lively imagination unless he has schooled himself otherwise. The highest class of competitive golf is a very stern test of nerve discipline, so much, indeed, that • some very famous players (Henry Cotton, for example) have had to go to great trouble to overcome physical effects of the continual nerve strain. Finalists at Wimbledon, contestants for a world boxing title, and opening batsmen in test cricket are usually under less nerve strain than golfers in championships. Medal play is most exacting and onerous, while match play is preferred by most because opponents do occasionally make mistakes. The modern golfer with his tremendous bag of clubs cultivates a grooved swing and simply selects the club for the task before him. A small rangefinder attached to the caddy would be of great assistance to this robot type of player. His mechanical efficiency is amazing when the difficulty of correctly hitting a golfball is considered. Failure to hit a cricket-ball on the driving part of the bat is fairly common even with good batsmen. Anything like the same degree of error in golf would be most disastrous. Most of the controversial questions in golf are of lesser importance. Caddies would no doubt favour the limitation of the number of clubs permissible for any one player during a round, and little can be said for the retention of the stymie, which gives Chance one more gratuitous opportunity to frustrate skill.

Athletics.— Some harriers run long distances solely for pleasure, but most other athletes participate in competitive events. The rigorous training schedule necessary for success in athletics is a considerable tie on the young amateur who has to earn his living for five or more days a week. New Zealand figures in both track and field events are good, though not startling. The outstanding athletes in the last twenty years or so have been long-distance runners. It is not easy to explain why some countries with limited populations— e.g., Finland and Sweden—have excelled in distance events. The effect of climate on physique and temperament may be an answer. Lovelock still holds the Olympic Games record for

the 1,500 metres, Boot has the Empire Games 880 record, and Matthews the Empire Games 3 miles and 6 miles records. Rose ran some . extraordinarily fast miles when the world figures were not so near the four-minute mark. When the 8.8. C. Brains Trust recently considered the question of the ultimate limits of speed in human beings, Dr. Julian Huxley was inclined to think that this has already been reached in the short sprints (110 yards and 100 metres). Possibly more accurate electrically controlled timing devices may lead to records being expressed in hundredths of a second, yet it is incredible that man should run the hundred yards in, say, five seconds. History has shown the danger of using words such as “ impossible ” and “ incredible ” when speaking of human effort, but even the most credulous can hardly expect a hundred yards to be run in much less than nine seconds. The four-minute mile may not be far away with Haegg and Anderssen so close at the present time. Some new technique may lead to improved figures in field events, as has happened in the past. Another dangerous method of setting up record figures is to use stimulants recklessly. This" growing practice in all fields of athletic endeavour is to be deplored, although there seems : to be no way of preventing or checking it.

Swimming.- The competitive swimmer has to work hard at his training, but the average New-Zealander seems to get more simple fun and pleasure out of swimming than out of any other physical activity or game. The usual frequenter of the sea or baths spends most of his time in playful antics which come close to pure play. The amount of really serious training to be observed is small. Swimming is well organized and very popular in this country and the standard is creditably high. Women have set up better relative figures than the men, who often found themselves outclassed in Olympic Games. Owing to the wide seasonal variation in temperature, all-the-year-round training is not possible except in those centres which have tepid baths. . The teaching of swimming is not yet up to the standard reached in some other sports, although there are some very good coaches in the country. L -

International Games

Most critics doubt if international contests promote the amity and good-fellowship claimed by the organizers. The Olympic Games have gradually become too keen altogether, and after the last Berlin meeting British participants suggested that the time had come for a less ambitious undertaking limited to those countries with a clearer conception of amateur principles. The Nazis exploited the Berlin Games for propaganda purposes, and their peculiar racial theories prohibited any real spirit of friendliness. When national prestige becomes involved in any form of sporting contest, the event becomes a grim struggle for supremacy, a struggle which can be enjoyed by the players only in retrospect. “ National prestige ” is a dangerous abstraction here, as in more serious international affairs.' England discontinued her annual Rugby fixture with France for reasons which seemed adequate enough to the English. Central European States have recorded some sanguinary Association matches, and several Davis Cup contests have led to disgraceful scenes owing to excessive partisanship. Education of the spectators may provide the solution of this problem. Even in the British Empire, cricket, which is recognized as the universal cement, has occasionally failed to bind closer the ties joining England and Australia. Some rather pathetic cant is talked about cricket, and touring teams are told ■that they are ambassadors of good will so frequently that they could be excused for regarding themselves as unpaid members of the Diplomatic Corps rather than cheerful young men who want to play a game. Any sporting touring team need have no fears about this cement racket. It may be noted here, not in any cynical spirit, that a touring team which manages to lose its more important fixtures is usually more popular than one which is uniformly successful. International ski meetings just before this war produced so much electrical tension that even the tact of the British lightningconductors only just averted open clashes.

Ancients v. Moderns

How frequently this hackneyed topic appears either openly or faintly disguised in sporting publications, and how often pavilions have echoed to the sound of angry ancients countering modern heretics.

Any truthful veteran will admit that the giants of his youth gain in stature with the passing of the years. For obvious reasons it is pleasant for him to think that his own particular generation was of unparalleled brilliance. Against this natural aberration must be balanced the tendency to assume that the New must inevitably be better than the Old. With so much ballyhoo about progress ringing in our ears it is easy to forget that change and progress are not synonymous.

Few games or sporting activities provide unchanging standards as a basis for rigid comparison. In swimming and athletics the: stop-watch provides incontrovertible evidence that the modern is superior.'' Golf does provide a standard with its Par 'or Bogey,, but change in other elements of the game has complicated the: problem. The modern golfer produces much lower average scores, enjoying the advantages of having better clubs, balls, fairways, greens, and coaching, but having to contend with longer courses, more severe bunkering, and fiercer competition. Most critics agree that Jones, Hagen, Cotton, Nelson, &c,, would overwhelm old Tom Morris or Harry Vardon. In tennis, W. T. Tilden would probably have been much too severe and versatile for H. L. Doherty,, and the disparity would be even wider in the corresponding women players. Few in this country would place recent All Black teams at the same level as the All Blacks of 1904-5 and 1924—5. Arguing about cricketers is exasperating. When Bradman’s run getting iscited, the ancient merely remarks that modern bowling is much weaker than in the days of Grace and Trumpet, and that the overprepared doped wickets of to-day are all in favour of the batsmen. Modern mountaineers perform amazing feats, but they will in all probability never live long enough to be able to defend their own particular generation against the moderns of 1980. Dempsey and Tunney could keep the giants of the past busy enough in the boxingring ; and so it is with most modern exponents. More people played games in peacetime than ever before in the history of the world. From large numbers there is tnore chance of producing the genius and certainly of reaching a higher standard of performance.

The Ideal Coach

The football coach in an American university may be a much more famous personage than the titular head of the college. In New Zealand no coach has reached this dizzy eminence, yet the importance of his unobtrusive preparation is generally recognized. What are the essentials of the ideal coach ? Perhaps nothing else is quite so important as a white-hot enthusiasm for the game, the kind of enthusiasm that inspires players to stupendous efforts to achieve proficiency. Any simulation of enthusiasm is unlikely to deceive even the youngest of players. Enthusiastic ignorance would not accomplish much, so the coach should have a sound knowledge of the theory and practice of the game, these preferably being based on personal experience. The aura surrounding a past player of fame gives his lightest word a staggering weight, but the great player infrequently makes the great coach. He should have considerable powers of critical observation— i.e., he must be able to. understand the significance of what he sees during a match or practise. It is here that the brilliant coach differs from the good

■coach. He has the penetration to see the possibilities of quite small incidents and from the slightest clues to realize the potentialities of ordinary-seeming players. The coach should be able to take a dispassionate view of all his problems, not permitting himself to be swayed by any bias or personal considerations. He should have confidence in himself and in his team, and it is even more important that his team should have implicit confidence in him. A nervous, jittery coach may easily produce a jittery team, while the overconfident coach might easily field a team suffering from the same dangerous complaint. • Once again, any simulation of confidence is readily recognized. As a coach deals with human beings whose personalities are diverse enough to keep an expert psychologist on his toes, he must be tactful, sympathetic, or firm as the occasion requires. He must suit his methods to individuals. The overconfident or selfish ■ must be gently subdued, while the diffident must be built up. The coach must have patience and perseverance and, for his own personal comfort, a reasonably thick skin. He will be praised (rarely) . and criticized (often) without much discrimination, for it is true to say that a spectator watching a team play one match only is not in a position to make many safe deductions about the calibre of the coach. Teams with mediocre coaches have played consistently brilliant football throughout a season, while even the best of coaches has his lean years. Some coaches become most enthusiastic and energetic when they have a set of fine players to mould into a team, whereas they soon wilt and droop when their group shows little ability or promise. The ideal coach would work harder with indifferent material than with good material. One point cannot be too much stressed. The real test of any coach is not whether his team wins or loses, but what he has accomplished with the ■ material available. That the -ideal coach should be a perfect sportsman in the best sense is sufficiently obvious ,to require little emphasis here..

QUESTIONS

A prominent official once suggested that the Ranfurly Shield should be dropped in Cook Strait. Would football in New Zealand be more healthy if his suggestion were carried out ? In American football, replacements are frequent and many ; .in Britain, replacements are not permitted. Do you think the usual New Zealand compromise is satisfactory ? Some New Zealand schools actively or passively discourage the playing of Association football, as its introduction might tend to weaken the Rugby teams. What, do you think of this attitude ?

The laws of Rugby state that any player who persistently infringes any law may be ordered off the field. Would you like to see this enforced ?

Which was the best provincial XV in the period between the two wars ?

Should New Zealand cricketers on tour overseas be bound by contract not to accept positions there for some stated period after their return to this country ? • z Do you think there is much justification for keeping the appeal in cricket ? Would it not be better if the umpire gave his decision without any prompting, as he does in so many other games ? “ Baseball is a much more lively game than cricket and would suit the New Zealand temperament much better.” Do you agree ? “No game is worth playing that is without risk.” Do you think that padded and protected cricketers can afford to be scornful of tennis players on these grounds ? Would you like to see inter-school tennis matches encouraged in boys’ schools, with the awarding of school colours for team members ? Should professional guides be expected to attempt the rescue of a fanatical party on one of the “ suicide routes? Is solitary mountaineering justifiable ? Should Great Britain permit other countries to make an attempt on Mt; Everest ? So far all the expeditions have been British, and permission for any other parties has never been seriously considered. “Teaching swimming is dangerous, because more people who. can swim are drowned than people who cannot swim.” What do. you ■ think ? Should a coach teach his team to play good, sound football, or ’should he concentrate on match-winning football much more limited in scope ? ~ New-Zealanders have, as Metcalfe puts it, a strong sense of morality, underlying their -sporting' activities. At its best, sport encourages a feeling of community among members of a team, between teams, and between teams and • spectators ; it promotes leadership and co-operation; its true success depends upon fair play. If you accept these underlying values as desirable and aren’t put off because you have so often heard them invoked cheaply, do you think they could be transferred to other social activities, to industry, to business, to cultural institutions ? Or do you think that the sportsmanship of games encourages in any case that virtue in other aspects of life ?