GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24896, 8 June 1946, Page 4

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

(By MILES.) Coaching In Football "In your competitions you have an entry of 153 teams, a record for New Zealand, and that might be some satisfaction to the Rugby Union,” said Mr A. Fanning when a deputation of coaches waited on the Canterbury Rugby Union on Tuesday evening. "In Christchurch,” continued Mr Fanning, “you would have plenty of good players if they had their legs cut off. It is a sorry position when the big boot becomes the foundation of football.” Mr Grant, another member of the deputation, said the standard of play rested with the coaches, and with the co-operation of referees and the union, football might be improved. Up to the present a haphazard arrangement was made for meetings. Mr Grant said a film showing the correct method of scrummaging should be made available to coaches, for at present no one seemed to know the new rules. The coaches wished to know whether they were connected with the Rugby Union, and they hoped to become part of the union. The duties of coaches were many, and included the appearance and behaviour of teams on the field. Mr W. E. Maxwell, president, said the were doing great work, the union was behind them 100 per cent., and was anxious to help financially or in any other way necessary. Disappearing Golf Balls

The small boy menace in these days of shortage of golf balls is not confined to Auckland golf courses, as several members of the Christchurch Golf Club have reason to regret. The practice of the marauders is to hide behind the hedges at holes adjoining roads, or in the lupin on adjoining paddocks, wait till players have driven, dive out from cover, grab the balls, and light out for the horizon before the anguished golfers have time to stretch their middle-aged legs in futile pursuit. Two small girls performed this thieving trick last Saturday. In Australia crows frequently emulate the urchins. At Canberra even Billy Hughes, then an ardent but extremely unproficient golfer but gifted in profanity, was reduced to spluttering impotence when a crow pounced on his brand new ball and disappeared with it into the neighbouring scenery. A recent visitor to Australia says that balls are in such short supply and. crows have recently become such a menace at Elanora. one of the Sydney links, that five women had to give up play in a tournament because the birds had flown off with their balls. “Innocent and Uneducated” "The British League footballers were a bit sceptical about stories of our innocent, uneducated savages, when a slim aborigine strode up to them on Nullarbor Plain,” writes W. F. Corbett in the “Sun,” Sydney. The aborigine had three pennies on a “kip” and wanted to play them "sudden death” two-up, crying shrilly, "Two bob I head ’em.” The writer saw the aborigine toss heads four times in succession. Some Digger crossing the plains had given him two “double-headers.” Soccer the Popular Game

The Rugby Union and Rugby League codes both have good followings in England and Scotland, but far and away the most popular game is Association football. When Scotland beat England at Hampden Park, Glasgow, on April 13, 139,000 persons paid for admission. On the same day, on the Murrayfield ground, when Scotland beat England at Rugby, the attendance was 60,000. In England Soccer is taken seriously, and apparently some men (like the small boys who perch themselves on every point of vantage to see a Rugby match in New Zealand) will go to any extreme to see the game. Recently a steeplejack, William F. Pratt, of Birmingham, one of three who climbed a 30-foot girder at Villa Park football ground during the Charlton v. Bolton Cup semi-final and walked for 40 yards along a narrow girder oyer the heads of the crowd, was fined £5 for committing a disorderly act. The prosecuting solicitor said the crowd was greatly angered by the conduct of the men, which imperilled the lives of many other spectators. Unattractive Bouts Christchurch people have not been fortunate in the two professional contests between the wrestlers Blomfield and Newman end the boxers McMullan and Underwood, presented to them after all other associations had opened the roped-ring season. Many wrestlers are just showmen, and the better the showman the better-paid the wrestler. Neither Blomfleld—possibly ageing with the years of war service—nor Newman, carrying at least 201 b of superfluous condition, is built for gymnastics or fairy-dancing, and all Newman had to recommend hi. i was a look of injured innocence when Blomfield swung elbow jolts that did not do any damage. Blomfield and Newman cannot be recommended for any business that demands showmanship. The amateur bouts preceding the “battle of the pros, were passably good; but even in these there was a monotonous sameness in the work of men who had possibly trained together. As in the professional bout, playfulness was much too obvious to an audience that was keen to be entertained. Veteran Golfer to Retire

News Of the retirement of Mr H. B. Lusk, headmaster of King s College, Auckland, will be* welcome to his many friends in Canterbury, since they will nope to see him once more on annual pilgramages to Christchurch. A famed cricketer, Mr Lusk was equally famous as a golfer (he won the New Zealand amateur championship in 1910), and stlllwlelds a useful club. Though his length is not what it was, he is still deadly accurate with his shorter shots. The writer remembers a bitter experience at Shirley just before the war. Lusk, waiting with a four at the eighteenth tee, suggested to the following four an eight-ball "bob-in scramble for the last hole. It' was a sad moment for the other seven when, , after covering the pin with his drive, Lusk holed his next from 100 yards and collected from all concerned. This fatal accuracy was contracted at the expense of small Jjoys of Christ’s College, who frequently spent half a lunch hour .retrieving balls that Lusk, then a master at the school, practised lofting over the football goal posts. A hillock that stops a Slightly faded drive from ORorkes tee at Shirley is still known as Lusk s Knob. High-grade Boxing

The Christchurch Sports Club need not be discouraged because its two Professionals. McMullan and Underwood, failed to give a big crowd value for the price of admission when they met in the Civic Theatre last Monday. McMullan was at a disadvantage in that he had to carry a man who fought him with only one hand—his left. Underwood’s right was never in action, for the very good reason that it was not fit to' be used with any power behind it. Underwood, however, showed himself possessed of a left and if he ever becomes fit and well, and again meets McMullan, he should have a comfortable win. What the spectators expected and missed in the professionals, they found in the amateurs. Each bout was full of pep and vigour; and the one between Godfrey Jackson and Archie Cahill provided many of the highlights of boxing Cahill, one of the cleverest young boxers seen in Christchurch for many years, was faced with a big problem in Jackson, the southpaw. It was a bout of clever footwork, evasion, riding tne punches.” and taking-blows on the gloves; and in between this very clever defence these was a willingness to mix it, not with wild swinging or In-fightmg but with goad, honest, straight-out punching. Every punch had sting behind it. The Christchurch Sports Club is deserving of every credit for the conduct of its opening fixture. The amateur bouts were really good, boxers helped by parading promptly, and there were no Irritating delays between bouts. Boxing is definitely coming back in Christchurch with the new blood that has been introduced Into the executive. Aspiring Rugby Stars

A few "pointers” to young players on how to get into the representative Rugby team and how to keep in it were given by Mr Norman McKenzie, former Hawke s Bay sole selector, at the Hastings Rugby Club’s jubilee celebrations on Saturday. He humorously advised aspiring young players always to cultivate the good opinion of reporters and so get their names in the paper, and the selector then, of course, had to take notice of them. When in the team, then it was necessary to "play up” to the manager of the team by carrying his bag and getting the room next to him. A final tip was to get a seat next'to the proprietor at the meal table at hotels, for the proprietor always got the best of what waa< offering. Another hint to forwards who wear headgear is this: always wear white headgear. Some players have attained representative honours because they are “snowy” or “ginger-top.” Cricket Beason in England The cricket season, which began this month in England, is, according to a recent cable message, arousing particular interest. Not only is the season the first in which county matches On a pre-war scale have been played for six years, but also the tour of the Indian side, ana the selection, at the end of the season, of the English team to tour Australia, are sure to add interest to the game. It seems certain that a number of new players will represent England in the next Test series. . Servicemen who had the opportunity of seeing some of the one and two-day games in England during the war were very impressed with the bowling of A. V. Bedser, a medium-paced righthander, who plays for Surrey, and he appears to be a likely candidate for selection. In a recent match against the M.C.C. he took six wickets for 14. Among the well-known players of pre-war days, the names of W, R. Hammond, L. Hutton, L. E. G. Ames, and D. Compton have appeared in the cabled scores of county matches. Hammond has already scored three centuries, and appears certain to lead the English team In Australia.