GAMES AND PLAYERS

Press, Volume LXXXII, Issue 24914, 29 June 1946, Page 4

GAMES AND PLAYERS

ATHLETIC SPORTS

(By MILES.)

Standard of Play

A discussion on the standard of play in the senior championship was opened at this week’s meeting of the management committee of the Canterbury Rugby Union, when Mr J. N- Clarke said the kicking by inside backs was overdone. Judicious use of the line by the inside backs is not poor football. The - trouble is that these inside backs do not give the outside men a chance tp show what they can do with a ball; and if all the players do not get a chance •to handle how can they be expected to improve? Davis Cup Pre-View?

The first Wimbledon tournament for six years has made a good start, although the standard of the entries appears to be much below that of former years. The tournament may provide an advance test of strength for the Davis Cup challenge round—almost certainly between Australia and the United States —since these countries are each represented by a player who is expected to find a place in the respective cup teams. They are the brilliant 20-year-old Dinny Pails (Australia) and the American, J. Kramer. • Kramer has been out of tennis • through military service for some four years, but he is still regarded as America’s chief hope in quest of the Davis Cup. He plays a much more dynamic game than Frank Parker, American champion for the last three years. However, too much significance should not be attached to the result of any meeting between these players—or to Pails’s recent defeat by F. (“Pancho”) Segura, of Ecuador, who is ranked third in the United States. Pails has had desperately littfte time in which to become acclimatised to conditions - markedly different from those tp which he is accustomed. The Americans, if they reach the challenge round, will themselves have to overcome that trouble, a very real one on the fiery courts and in the heat and peculiarly bright light of Australia. Many famous players from the northern hemisphere have found it difficult to' do themselves justice in the Commonwealth. Golf Rules

Not one golfer in a thousand is fully acquainted with every rule of the game. That is not to be wondered at, since knowledge of all the rules requires a straining feat of memory. It is nevertheless disturbing to find how many experienced players disregard the most common rules—not merely those that call for expert interpretation in unusual circumstances. One should be spared the too frequent embarrassment of replying, “You mustn’t ask me that," when an opponent or marker asks, “What club are you using here?” This is clearly an infringement .of the rule that one may not ask or accept advice except from one’s caddy or one’s partner. The rule about taking the pin in match and stroke play is another that is not always understood. Too frequently again, a player in a match game considers he is “entitled to the pin” if outside 20 yards from it. He is not, af course. The 20-yard rule applies only to stroke play and the opponent in match play' has a perfect right to take the pin when the enemy is well outside the sacred 20 yards. This rule is worth consulting. Boxing Arrangements Upset

The injury to Bos Murphy has upset arrangements for professional boxing as nothing else could have done, for nearly every association in New Zealand had been dangling tempting baits before the eyes of the welter-weight champion. Murphy, too, had arranged a nice, little programme that would have earned him anything up to £lOOO before going to Australia to fight for big money. After the announcement of Murphy’s injury, comes news from Australia that Patrick has surrendered the welter-weight title, for which Clarrie Gordon and Tommy Burns are fwo of the logical contenders. With Patrick out of the way, Murphy would stand a good chance of becoming welter-wesight champion of Australia. While Patrick is prepared to defend the light-weight title he, like Murphy, has let it be known that he is not in the game for the benefit of his health, nor is he prepared to be a sacrifice for fight “fans" by meeting men heavier than himself. Both Murphy and Patrick are talented boxers, qjjd believe in commercialising their talents.

British Open Entries There will be disappointment in the United Kingdom at the comparatively small entry of American players for the British open golf championship, which will commence at historic St. Andrews on Monday. The only American entry of real consequence is Jimmy Demaret—and he has not been able to foot it with such consistently brilliant performers as Byron Nelson, Ben Hogan, and the American open winner, Lloyd Mangrum. Gene Sarazen and Tommy Armour are veterans who have probably gone on a sentimental journey, in the faint hope that they may recover the form that once made them famous. Joe Kirkwodd, the former Australian, is in the same class. The chances of the holder of the title, Richard Burton, on the form he hhs shown in America and in England this season, appear to be slight. Dai Rees and Henry Cotton may be the most’ formidable of the British professionals. Australians will watch with interest the performance of Norman van Nida, the diminutive Queenslander, who has been doing well in several 'British tournaments; and if Bobby Locke (South Africa) can hold his recent form he will not be far away at the seventy-second hole. St. Andrews, however, has made and unmade some notable reputations; and even if the best Americans are not there the first post-war championship will not entirely be robbed of interest. Dunedin Casualties

D. Doak, a former Southern representative, and a possible Otago selection, and J. G. Mullins, who played for Canterbury against Otago in 1944, and now both playing for Dunedin Training College, collided when tackling a Southern player last Saturday. Both were taken to hospital, Doak with a broken nose, abrasions, and concussion, and Mullins with a cut under an eye. Southern, now leading in the championship, won by 6 points (two penalty goals) to a converted try. The Otago selectors are having their fair share of trouble, for on a recent Saturday the brilliant L. W. Deas injured a wrist, and A. M. Botting had to leave the field because of an injury in the Otago-Canter-bury University match. Coming on top of the transfer of the best full-back, Webster, to Invercargill, Otago’s prospects of lifting the Ranfurly Shield are becoming dim. French Rugby League

League football has a strong hold and strong supporters in France. The Vichy Government had closed down on professional Rugby and had confiscated the French Rugby League’s funds, leaving it owing a substantial sum of money to the British Rugby League. This apparently was a small hurdle to men of substance behind the French Rugby League. Enthusiasts like Jean Galia and Paul Barrier© (the latter was a captain of the Maquis during the occupation) sprang into action when liberation came. They communicated with English Rugby League officials asking after old friends and for English teams to be sent to France. Moreover, they started with a clean slate. They privately found the money owing to the British League and have lodged it with Cook’s in Paris for the use of British touring teams. Airmen Golfers

The return to form of Jim Ward (several times Canterbury champion), as shown in his 72 at Shirley last Saturday, was welcome. The course is being played from short tees at present, but this would not affect Ward greatly, as he is a prodigious hitter when on the job. In any case there is little run on the ball just now. His outward half included two twos and his return in 34 included five threes. Jim had a long spell from golf while he was flying Beaufighters overseas. Maurice Blank, another overseas airman, turned in a 72 at Waitikiri, which was also a fine performance. Flying certainly does not affect golf, unless it is for the better, as witness Laurie Blair’s effort in winning the South Island championship at Easter. Bailing out of a badly smashed bomber has evidently not affected his rlerves. It is good to see‘the keenness of these young players returned from the war.

Old-Time Cricketer One of Canterbury’s best-known early cricketers, Mr W. “Billy” Frith, celebrated his ninetieth birthday this week. Frith came tew New Zealand as a boy, and first played for Canterbury in 1877. He is described 'in Mr T. W. Reese’s book as being a “happy-go-lucky but nippy player, a heady left-hand bowler, quick to spot batsmen’s weaknesses, and a brilliant fieldsman close in, especially to his own bowling.” Billy Frith was also a useful bat, perhaps better than he was credited with being, because of the large number of good batsmen in the province in his time. His first game for Canterbury was sensational. At Auckland in 1877 he took three wickets for three runs off 15 overs, while at the other end D. Ashby took five wickets for two—Auckland making only five runs off the bat in a total of 13. In the same season Frith took eight for 26 against Wellington, three for two against the first Australian team. He toured Victoria with the Canterbury side and topped the batting and bowling averages. On one occasion he took eight for 18 against Otago in an innings in which' G. Watson scored 176. In 1881 Frith played for Otago but returned to Canterbury after one season. In 1889 he transferred to Wellington, and his first-class cricket career : ended two or three years later. In 1903, however, he played for Wairarapa against i an M.C.C. side—26 years after his firstclass career had begun. In all, Billy ; Frith took 121 wickets in first-class I cricket, at an average of 11.5, and aver--1 aged 14.3 runs with the bat in 41 innings.