THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 118, 16 February 1928, Page 15

THE OLYMPIC GAMES

REPRESENTATION OF NEW ZEALAND APPEAL FOR FUNDS In the course of an appeal on behalf of the New Zealand Olympic Council for funds to cover the sending of a New Zealand team to the Olympic Games at Amsterdam, the chairman of the council (Air. 11. Amos) and the chairmen of the provincial branches 'say:— “The time has arrived when, if New Zealand is to be represented at the Olympic Games to be held at Amsterdam in July and August of this year, the necessary funds, estimated at 4)10,000, must be collected. The proposal is to send a team of about 20, consisting of swimmers, boxers, track athletes and rowers, and if the above amount is forthcoming, ■ this will be able to be done. Nominations of athletes well up to the required standard have been received from the governing bodies of the various sports bodies. Tn the past the funds required to secure our participation in the Olympic Games at London (1908), at Stockholm (1912), at Antwerp (1920), and at Paris (1924) were supplied almost entirely by the public, but this year the national governing bodies concerned have already donated 4)1000 towards the Olympic fund. In doing so these bodies have strained their available resources to the utmost, and we trust that the public, which has been so generous in the past, will recognise that fact. The Olympic Games are the world's greatest sporting festival, and it is estimated that this year sixty different nations will bo represented at Amsterdam. In the four branches of sport mentioned above the contests at the Games are the official amateur championships of the world, and though it would be idle for us to maintain that in any one event New Zealand can bo certain of. victory, we do submit that the quality of those nominated is such that the Dominion can, as , at every one of the past four Olympiads, be reasonably certain of having representatives in a number of finals. That is the standard set by sporting bodies throughout the world, and it is unreasonable to set a higher one. “The outstanding merit of New Zealand’s representatives in the past has been commented upon the world over, and we have only recently been assured by our new representative on the International Olympic Council, Dr. Arthur Porritt, who secured third place in the 100-metres event at the Paris Gaines in 1924, and who is known all over the Continent and in the United States, that foreign interest in our prospective representation at the forthcoming Games is astonishing. In addition, the British Olympic Council some months ago sent out a special appeal urging that we should be strongly represented, and by the last mail we received an invitation from that body for our team to share the quarters of the British team at Amsterdam —a unique compliment of the regard in which New Zealand is held by the sportsmen of the Motherland. "We are aware that the calls on the public generosity are ever increasing, but this appeal coming but once in four years is, we submit, one to which every person with a proper pride in New Zealand’s standing in the outside world can justifiably subscribe. If- is our strongest wish that the moneys donated should be furnished by as many people as possible. No donation is too small to evidence a keen desire for New Zealand’s adequate representation. "As booking arrangements with the steamer have to be confirmed by March 20, it will be necessary to close the appeal on that date."