FUTURA

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 24, 13 September 1946, Page 5

FUTURA

TOMORROW’S BASKETBALL CONTEST

MISTS OF TIME DISPELLED (By Beacon Crystal Gazer) Quote: “Basketball today is quick, spectacular, exciting—a game of speed, skill and initiative . . Unquote (‘The Game of Basketball’) Somehow we feel that the writer of the work from which we quote above must indeed have had some psychic premonition, some glimpse into the future to be able to inscribe the above lines. In fact, there can be no doubt about it; by some unknown form of radio telepathy he must have been given the power to foresee a certain date a certain game where teams of unmatched skill battled for supremacy on the basketball court.

By concentration so intense as to be far beyond all except subscribers of the Beacon we also projected our mind into the ethereal wilderness. All was dark and gloomy, there seemed to be a slight drizzle falling. Several shadowy forms hurried past us with umbrellas up. We groped our way along, and then we noticed a vague luminescence on the horizon, and dimly heard the cheering of a multitude. Undoubtedly a politician campaigning for the’coming election. But no! As we bent our steps nearer it suddenly dawned upon us that this was a sports field, and that the multitude was cheering a game of something something . . . Ah, Basketball. Sud- : denly we knew. We don’t know how;: we just knew. This was the Wha-: •katane Domain, and the date was September 14, Basketball Gala Day. The basketball teams battling were a strange mixture. One side consisted of girls, the other—Whakatane businessmen.

We paused to watch awhile—a spectator informed us that this was the Men’s A team; our interest grew as we recognised familiar faces. Yes, there were the goalies: A. Head, A. Turnbull and R. Riddell (the former two were successfully entrancing the girl’s defence, while the latter potted goal after goal—a very cunning combination). At centre, D. Ryburn, S. Pyne and J.f Wilson battled manfully after the elusive ball. The latter had a spare one which he brought out occasionally, mucking things oop properly, until the referee complained. At defence, the public’s trust was placed in J. Duthie, ably obstructed by one J. Henderson and another F. M. Abbott, who was surreptitiously moving the goal post from one side of the court to the other and back again and so forth and so on, making things very awkward indeed, for the opposition goalies. Half-time came, and as the teams collapsed, we wandered with the crowd towards another court where a facsimile of the game we had just witnessed was still in process. At centre, a man was beating himself on the head with a club at regular intervals. “That’s' Frank Cameron,” whispered a bystander. “He does that to show how tough he is. None of the opposition team dare approach him when ’he has the ball. He’s a team on his own.” “He certainly seems to use his head a lot,” we murmered in reply. Two others, also at centre, whom we later identified as .W. Bridger and J. Slipper were engaged in a thrilling game of chess. The goalies, J. Gattsche, S. Hallett and Bill McKenzie were working overtime. The latter dropped the ball through the hoop every ten seconds or so, whilst the other two kept demanding higher wages from a handy soap box. At defence T.- Hall, T. Edwards, and T. Harland complained bitterly of having nothing to do. Known in movies and on the radio as ‘The' Three Ts’ they declared they ,were being treated contemptuously and unjustly. The first named kept talking about a bar, which we later discovered was the harbour bar. Three disconsolate looking individuals squatted fakir fashion on the sideline disinterestedly playing three-handed whist. ‘D. Debreceny, N. Rigden, R: Morpeth—Emergencies’, said a neon sign : above them. Every now and then one threw a brick at a passing player in the hope of getting a game for • himself, but the aim seemed generally poor, for no player was-injured sufficiently for him to leave’Rhe court.

We struggled through the crowd to get closer to the' sideline. Suddenly one of the emergencies fired another brick: Straight across the court it arched and wham! (The bump is still tender, but we expect to be out and about again . next month thank you). So the scene vanished, and only the metpory remained, but that, at least,'wo decided to record to afflict on posterity. . (We shall, we trust, be safely out of reach by then).