SPORT IN BRITAIN

Evening Star, Issue 19790, 14 February 1928, Page 4

SPORT IN BRITAIN

[From Oub English Correspondent.]

LONDON, December 28, SOCCER.

Association football players and the supporters of the game are not easily daunted by adverse conditions. Whilst the gales, snow, and frost stopped many outdoor pastimes during the Christmas holidays, nearly all the big league matches were decided, thanks to the enterprise of those concerned in clearing snow off the playing Helds. Upsets of form are usually associated with the festive season, and it is by no means uncommon to find home clubs having bad lapses. The theory is that the hospitality of their friends has something to do with this, and that 'a team on tour, carefully watched by manager and trainer, is more likely to play up to form. This hardly holds good so much to-day as it did twenty years ago, the modern player being more careful of his health and trained to place discipline on himself. There has been a slight dosing of the ranks among the leading clubs in the first division of the league, and Everton’s lead is not so pronounced. The leaders led off the holiday mutches by visiting the Arsenal and the London Club showed excellent form when scoring tho odd goal in five. Everton did hotter when receiving Cardiff City—a dangerous team at any time—and managed to bag both points, the margin of victory being 2 goals to 1. Cardiff wiped this off the slate in the return at Cardiff, victory going to the Welsh club'by 2 goals to 0. Thus Everton only secured 2 points out of the three holiday engagements, which was hardly up to championship form. Huddersfield and Leicester have come well to the fore, and another slip by the leaders will even matters up. Huddersfield secured 4 points during the holidays, ns after losing at Portsmouth by 2 goals to 1, the team received Sheffield Wednesday and got home by 1 goal to 0, Going on to Sheffield for the return, Huddersfield brought _ off a great win, registering 5 goals without response This was one of the big surprises of the holidays, and the success of Huddersfield will encourage the players concerned in the race for league honors. The rise of Leicester City has been remarkable,' the marksmen of the club having been in rare form._ Receiving Tottenham Hotspur, the Leicester Club ■scared half a dozen times, whilst their visitors only found the net once. Following this, Leicester _ gave another fine display of goal scoring, their Burnlev vis-tors being defeated by 5 goals to" 0. Burnley did better in the return, but in spite of being on “ foreign ” soil Leicester shared the honors in°a draw which produced on© goal for each side. Thus Leicester registered 5 points out of a possible 6 in the holiday engagements. As a result of these fixtures Everton heads the first division with 30 points for twenty-two matches, Huddersfield claiming 26 for twenty-one games, and Leicester City 26 for twenty-threo engagements. —Chelsea Slipping Back.—

The big lead which Chelsea held in the second division is slipping away, and the struggle between the Stamford Budge Club and Manchester City has again become a close one. Barnsley beat Chelsea 3 goals to 1 and Grimsby also shared the honors when receiving the Loudon Club, each scoring once. Thus Chelsea gathered in only 1 point out of a possible 4. Meanwhile, the Manchester City Club came well to the fore, victories being gained against Preston and Barnsley . The first match was at home and ended in a triumph for Manchester by 3 goals to one, whilst the other fixture at Burnley was of greater merit, the home side going under by 3 goals to 0. , Chelsea’s lead has been cut down to a single point—3l points for twentyone games—but Manchester City has played one extra match. Glasgow Rangers and Motherwell are both going strong in the Scottish League championship tournament. The Rangers beat their Aberdeen visitors by 5 goals to 0, whilst Motherwell proved victorious by a like margin when visiting Dumferline. Another leading club in Celtic did fairly well to visit Hibernians and share the points, each scoring twice.. Rangers now lead Motherwell by a single point, hut with a game in hand, which is a very useful advantage. RUGBY. Adverse conditions led to most big Rugbv fixtures being cancelled or postponed”. The chief of these was the London v. New' South Wales game at Twickenham, but it is Imped another date will ho possible. The English selectors have adopted a bold course in picking several young players for the international match against New South Wales. Owing to a wrenched muscle, W. W. Wakefield is not playing, nevertheless the pack looks a good one. W. J Taylor, of Blackheath, who played so well in a recent trial, has been picked as one of the wing three-quar-ters, and he may prove worthy of this distinction. Sir T. C. Devitt is on the other wing, and he is the only one of the three-quarters who has previously played in an international. T. Lawson, of Workingham, and D. T. Young, of Richmond, are new' caps among the forwards, so that the team includes five new' internationals. CRICKET. Home cricketers are naturally interested in the now talent revealed during the first test match between South Africa and the M.C.C. touring side. H. Promnitz has certainly jumped right to the fore, and his five, wickets for 58 runs suggests that he is going to be of great help to South African cricket. The excellent batting of C. L Vincent must also give wide satisfaction in South Africa, his defence against Geary and Hammond being the more creditable because many notable batsmen had been sent back quickly. Geary and Hammond certainly bowled well for the tourists, and the Gloucestershire man has again shown that he is not only a great batsman but also a test match bowler. The touring side is not really representative, too much depending on a few batsmen, though in the fixturo under notice Sutcliffe, Tyldesley, and Hammond rose to the occasion and laid the foundation of a creditable victory. SCULLING. The Barry family has long been to the fore in the sculling world, so that the success of Bert Barry in his race for the world’s sculling match against Major Goodsell, of Australia, at Vancouver is no great surprise.. He never showed his proper form in the first race, hut steady training soon led to encouraging form, and the victory of the young Putney oarsman comes as no surprise to his close friends, who have predicted a Dig career for him. The loser. was unfortunate during his training, and muscular rheumatism gave him a lot of trouble. Under the circumstances it will come as no surprise should a third and deciding match between the nair ho rowed, and perhaps on the Thames, which is Barry’s home course ‘ ATHLETICS.

Few athletic fixtures have been possible during the Christmas holidays, the snow-covered country making running dangerous. Arthur. Newton of South Africa, is not having the best nf luck in connection with his projected attack on the 100 miles road record. The Bath road, over which he is to run on January 7, is impossible in places, and if a postponement be possible he would he wise to delay his attempt, whilst a track would certainly be preferable to the open road, jjewton and iV. G. George, the

holder of the British record for one mile, met at the Mitcham A.G. track recently, the two famous runners having much of interest to say to each other in long-distance running. The veteran knows every inch of the Box to London road, and he is well qualified to advise Newton regarding the ups and downs, particularly that portion of the course over the famous Wiltshire Downs. Field events find little favor in England, and save for M. C. Nokes, tho Oxford blue, there is not even one performer up to Olympic Gaines requirements. He won the English hammer-throwing championship in 1923, 1924, 1925, 1926, and is still right in the front rank. In other field events the outlook is not good, and it is therefore very satisfactory to note that S. A. Lay, of New Zealand, Ims just set up a splendid javelin throwing record of 218 ft 2|in. On tins form Lay stands a great chance of gaining a win for the Empire at Amsterdam next August, and it is also well to remember that A. W. Winter, of Australia, won the hop, step, and jump at the Paris Olympiad with a record performance. With South Africa capable of putting great sprinters and hurdlers into the field the overseas pares o‘ : the Empire look like helping matters. Very excellent reports are also heard ot a Canadian marathon runner, so that ■ where the Motherland fails the dominions may come to the rescue. What a pity it is that the forces are divided, as with on© united team for the Empire a much better showing could bo expected. . British sportsmen who met L. Murchison at the Olympic Gaines of 1920 and 1924, and again at the English A.A.A. championship games of 1.E6, were shocked to learn of his death. He was a likeable and unassuming young man, and his ability as an athlete far above the average. He and Charley Paddock anxiously approached the writer early in the Pans Olympiad to know what sort ot a starter -Dr Moir was. They were relieved to be told he was good and “ square,” something they soon found out themselves. Murchison will best be remembered in England for his great sprinting when winning the 100 and 200yds championships at Stamford Bridge in 1926. His 21 3-sseo for the furlong was excellent, the first half ot the race being around a turn. BOXING. British boxers are learning the lesson that the only safe way to win a contest abroad is by knocking out their rival. George Cook had a bit of this at Rome a few days ago, when he appears to have outpointed De Carolis, the Italian heavy-weight crack, but the judges gave their award to the home man. Ted Moore was also adjudged to have lost on points when he met Leo Jacovacci at Milan on Monday,. a further illustration of the point. Decisions by judges and referees often give much dissatisfaction, and this happens in England as well as in other countries, a notable example being the chief bout at the National Sporting Club ten days ago. This is another strong reason for calling all international bouts a draw, 1 should both boxers last out the stipulated number of rounds. Such an understanding would do away with ‘ charges of bias, and lead to better i contests. The gain to British boxing ! would be enormous, and the clever “tapper” would soon give way ( to the 1 virile fighter, which is the sort of ; citizen the Empire needs. 1 Mick Hill, of. Tooting, probably 1 thinks the E.O. a good way to win ‘ bouts, and he went all out in his con- ’ test against P. Vally at the Ring yes- ’ terday, with the result that he • stopped the French boxer in six ■ rounds. Vally is a newcomer,' but he 1 put up a, plucky fight.