SPORTS QUIZ

Korero (AEWS), Volume 2, Issue 10, 22 May 1944, Page 16-17

SPORTS QUIZ

(Answers on Page 32.)

1. After twenty years in competitive sport Stan Lay is still the best javelin thrower in New Zealand. Stan’s best listed performance is a little over 218 ft., a throw which was only four and a fraction inches below the then world record. That was in 1928. The record has soared a little since then. What are the present world figures ? 2. When the New Zealand Rugby team visited Great Britain in 1905 the colour of their uniform inspired an English journalist to write of them as the “ All Blacks.” When Baskerville selected a team to go to England in 1908 to play Northern Union football, the players formed themselves into a limited-liability company and collected quite a bonus at the end of the tour. Consequently they were written up facetiously in New Zealand as the “ All Golds.” How many of the 1905 “ All Blacks ” returned to England with the “ All Golds ” in 1908 ? 3. Those who favour the left hand in sport do not, as a rule, reach the heights attained by their orthodox brethren. Exceptions, of course, have been known. l,n cricket we’ve had Woolley, Bardsley, Clem Hill, and Leyland as batsmen, Peele, Rhodes, and Verity as bowlers. In tennis Norman Brookes won two Wimbledon singles titles. Walter Lindrum is the greatest billiards player of

all time. Only five “ southpaws " have won world boxing titles. In sport is the left-hander specially catered for ? Are there such things as left-handed (a) tennis racquets, (&) golf clubs, (c) billiards cues, (d) bowls, (e) cricket bats, (/) hockey sticks ? 4. The greatest number of consecutive wins by a horse stands to the credit of a Hungarian mare of another generation. The mare, Kinscem, was never beaten in a race and won fifty-four in a row. TheNew Zealand record for a winning sequence is well below that of Kinscem, * but is a little better than the Australian record. What are the names of the New Zealand and Australian record holders and how many consecutive wins did they have ? 5. Billy Wallace played in more Rugby tests than any other “ All Black.” His total was twenty-one tests. Next on the list are Teddy Roberts, Maurice Brownlie, and Mark Nicholls, each of whom played in twenty tests. But Nicholls has scored the most points. His 94 points are just 20 ahead of Wallace’s total. In all matches for New Zealand Wallace scored 367 points, followed by Nicholls with 264. But who has played the most games for New Zealand Rugby teams ? 6. New - Zealand - born boxers «who fought for professional world titles have

not been numerous. Bob Fitzsimmons, though bred in this country, was born in Cornwall, so cannot be taken into account. Tom Heeney, it will be recalled, fought a heavyweight title bout with Gene Tunney in 1928. That contest was the only one on which Tex Rickard lost money as a boxing promoter. Apart from Tom, what other New-Zealand-born boxers have fought for a world professional title ? 7. At billiards Walter Lindrum once made 100 in fifty-six seconds, 346 in eight minutes, 663 in fifteen minutes, and reached 1,011 in thirty minutes. Fast scoring. For the ordinary player the half-hour is usually well passed before the hundred is hoisted. Of course, Walter is a law unto himself in the billiards world, but he has yet to beat the record of our own champion, Clark McConachy, who once made a red-ball break of 915. At snooker, too, Walter has to bend the knee to his nephew, Horace Lindrum. In a game of snooker, if the opening player misses all balls on the table with his initial shot, should the stroke be replayed ? 8. Wembley was the scene a while back of the Association Cup final match at which a wartime record crowd of 85,000 attended. Charlton defeated Chelsea by 3 goals to 1. The all-time record for a Cup Final was made in 1923 when over 126,000 paid to see Bolton

Wanderers defeat West Ham United 2 — But on that day the crowd broke through the gates and it is estimated that over 150,000 were present. The game was held up for forty minutes while the crowd was being “ coaxed ” off the playing-area. In soccer the cross-bar is 2 ft. lower than in Rugby. The soccer bar is 8 ft. above the ground. How .far apart are the uprights ? 9. Allan Ford, Yale University student, has had a really great swimming season. In 1927 Johnny Weissmuller amazed the world by clocking 51 seconds for the 100 yards. This year Ford has lowered Johnny’s figures on a number of occasions. His latest effort for the hundred was 49-7 seconds. The New Zealand record was made in 1940 by an Aucklander. Who was he, and what time did he register ? 10. Another world record which stood the test of time since 1927 but has now been lowered is the American J. A. Gibson’s 440 yards hurdles record. Another American, R. Cochrane, registered 52-2 seconds as against Gibson’s 52-6. The International Amateur Athletic Federation recognized Cochrane’s figures at its last meeting. J ack Lovelock made a world record for 1,500 metres in 1936, but that, too, has been taken off the books. Arne Anderson’s 3 minutes 45 seconds replaces Lovelock’s figures. But New Zealand still has a place in the list of world’s athletic records. What is that record, and who made it ?