ATHLETIC SPORTS.

Dominion, Volume 6, Issue 1614, 4 December 1912, Page 8

ATHLETIC SPORTS.

WHAT CONDUCT? t BY THE AUSTRALIAN CRICKETERSON S.S. MARAMA, GREGORY LEAVES THE TABLE. Charges of misbehaviour aro made against two members of the Australian Eleven, who returned to Sydney by the R.M.S. Marama on November 24. Several passengers informed a "Sun" representative that the conduct of the cricketers in question was such • that it should not, in their opinion, be . allowed to pass without investigation. It is alleged that the cricketers referred to became continually intoxicated during the homeward voyage, and on several occasions made public exhibitions of themselves, not by any means calculated _to do credit to the good name of Australian cricket. Syd Gregory, the captain, of the team, declined when questioned on the subject, to admit that any members of the eleven had been guilty of such misconduct. When specific instances wero re : lated to him he refused to discuss them. "You may .be sure," lie said, evasively, "that nothing of the kind occurred during the English tour. If it had the offenders would have been, sent back home." All Due to Two Members. Other members of the team were likewise' loth to talk on the subject, but the following damaging statement was at. length obtained from one of the returned cricketers"There has been a little trouble in the team, but only since wo started on the American tour, and then only in respect of two of the players. These fellows certainly deserve, to- be censured. 'Syd' Gregory, who is one of the finest fel r lows that ever played tho game, has done his best, both by example and personal suasion, to keep the men 1 in check, but they got beyond all control, and have of late completely defied his authority."

A Night-at Auckland. A Sydney resident, who was a passenger by tha Marama, said':—"Misconduct may ordinarily be condoned or even laughed at, but under special circumstances it cannot be otherwise regarded than as a grave offence. I refer particularly to drunkenness. .One is always disposed to treat a.good-natured drunk with indulgence and even hilarity of a mildly riotous descriotion may be forgiven. But when the offenders have been honoured with the sacred trust of representing on foreign shores the country to which they belong, I for one can see no excuse. The Australian Eleven are sent away as representatives of our national pastime, and it goes without saying that tlie.v are expected to behave properly. I don't care what they do in private, .but when they are before the gaze of the public their personalities are naturally carefully scrutinised, and they are regarded. as representative types of Australians. It therefore should be obligatory upon them to behave in a manner which will do credit to the country. "The night before the steamer left Auckland a gang of roysterers kept the whole ship awake, and I regret to say that among their number, were two members of the Australian Eleven. Other incidents during the trip from Vancouver served to make every true Australian on board feel ashamed, and I shall be very surprised indeed if the Board of Control does not take the. matter up. i "My sympathies in the matter are chiefly with 'Syd' Gregory, than 1 whom.'a better behaved and more'unassuming gentleman could not be found. I believe that M!r.- Gregory did his best to keep these men in order; he certainly showed them ■a splendid' example: Though he 6aid nothing about it, I think he. must have felt the action of the players ih question very keenly, for on several occasions, when they were betraying their lack of good manners at the dinner table he rose and left the saloon, before finishing his meal." ...... i.".. in-ni M vniA Gregory a Worried Captain. Other passengers said they remarked that 'Syd' Gregory was noticeably uncomfortable at meals, and that they thought it strange that he left the table on various occasions some time before the others. It became apparent, they said, that he could not enduro the misbehaviour of the men in question. Asked what was the nature of this misbehaviour, they said that while it was nothing very serious, it was not what would have been expected-of gentlemen. * • "It is not so much a question," said one traveller, ''of the degree of misconduct under such circumstances, as of there being'any misconduct at all. Personally, I consider that any ungentlemanly behaviour on the part of those "who are looked .to to uphold the dignity of the noble sport of cricket is. sufficient to invoke censure."