TOPICAL TATTLE

Evening Star, Issue 23702, 9 October 1940, Page 5

TOPICAL TATTLE

NEWSY NOTES ON SPORT [By Hooker.] A Family Affair. Four members of the one family played for the Parnell second division in its last three games this year in Auckland Rugby. They were Alexander, Hector, Walter, and Donald M'Donald, the first-named being a forward and the others backs. In the game against Eden, .Donald scored most of Parnell’s tries. All four are also well known in the boxing ring in Auckland and Hamilton.

Champion Athlete Retires. The national 220yds track champion, J. Ford, has finished with serious athletics. He may potter around just to keep in condition, but he won’t toe the mark again in open competition. Ford, who came to Wellington from New Plymouth in 1937, did very well here, especially since he had only one year (last) free from serious muscular trouble (says the ‘Sports Post’). He made a late start in athletics, particularly for a sprinter. He was 23 when he became a devotee, and 28 when he took his New Zealand title last March. Ford was no stylist. Sticklers for text-book accuracy of form would have shaded their eyes in horror. But he got there just the same. There was a dash, a spirit, about his work that made one forget that he was scarcely a piece of well-oiled mechanism. After all, courage is something which always demands admiration, and Ford had a ton of it. Given Game Best. Jackie Parker, former holder of the New Zealand amateur bantam-weight boxing title,' and Dominion representative at the Sydney Empire Games in 1938, has given the game best. He did not appear at the Wellington championships this year; the previous season he won the feather-weight title, but was eliminated early at the national meeting. A really great little scrapper in his early days, he scarcely bore out this promise later. Since his return from the Empire Games his appearances have been spasmodic. Fine Tribute. The death on active service recently of B. H Black, former English Rugby international, who was in New Zealand with the 1950 British team, drew the following tribute from a ‘ News of the World ’ writer;— A magnificent specimen physically, Black was considered tough even among the tougn forwards of international Rugby, but he is likely to live in the memory of Rugby men for one incident above all others. Oblensky was made famous by the try which he , scored for England against New Zealand at Twickenham in 1936. In the same way Brian Black will always be remembered for the penalty goal he kicked to save the game for "England against Wales on the same ground in the 1934-35 season. Wales led by 11 points to 8 with only one minute to go, and victory at Twickenham apparently within her grasp at last. Never before had Wales won there, and this seemed her golden opportunity. Another Veteran Wins.

This has been a year of success by veteran athletes, both in Australia and New Zealand. Almost rivalling the success of 46-year-old B. R. M'Kernan in the TemukaTimaru road race and 37-year-old George Austin in the New Zealand marathon championship was the performance a few weeks ago at Manly (New South Wales) of Alleyn Gainsford. who is 38 years of age. The Sydney veteran won a 15-mile open scratch race. He has been running for 18 years and has won this event six times—from 1926-29 (inclusive), 1934, and this year. He won the New South Wales 10mile championship from 1924 to 1928, and also holds the State 10-mile record. In his latest win Gainsford held off a much younger athlete to win by three yards.

Rugby Club's Meteoric Rise. Takapuna’s surprise Rugby victory over Marist at Eden Park was the culminating point in the club’s meteoric rise to winning the Auckland Rugby Union’s senior championship for 1940 (says the ‘ Auckland Herald ’). The club first came into being in 1934, when a highly successful season was experienced. With the help of two former All Black players, M. Corner and W. Hadley, the- club’s senior team, which started in the lower division, has done well in the past three seasons. The total membership of the club is at present well over 300, and many of the original committee are still associated with it.

Louis To Retire? Colonel D. Walker Wear, a member of the New York Athletic Commission, predicted recently that Joe Louis would retire as heavy-weight champion at the end of this year. “ I talked with Louis recently and he is all wrapped up in his riding stable near Detroit. He has never cared much about fighting, and now' I think he definitely has decided to retire. He simply has lost'interest in the game.’!