SCRAP BOOK JOTTINGS

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Issue 65, 3 April 1937, Page 14

SCRAP BOOK JOTTINGS

INTERESTING NEWS ITEMS

Young Socoer Player Signed. The youngest player ever signed in the history of the club, William Sandiford Mitchell, has been registered as an amateur with the Oldham Rugby League Football Club. Mitchell, who will be 16 next Septemer, learned his Rugby football at St. MatY's School, where the headmaster is Mr. J. Coulthard, a former Wigan player. Mitchell fe 5ft. 7in. and weighs lOst. 71b. 4. ^ £250 a Second. Furtlier evidence that boxing is out on its own as sport's greatest moneyspinner is revealed by the astonishing earnings of Joe LOuis, who is the the highest paid man in sport. He has boxed just 25 rounds since turning professional in 1934, and earned £142,385. ACtUally he got £752 a minute for his flghts til 1936. For his last fight, Which lasted 15 seconds, he received £Sg5 a second! No wonder he demands £20,900 for a fight in Lon- ! don.— Daily Sketch. 4* Jt

Right iA it Again. Paddy Slattery, south Australian jockey, could not do a thing right a few weeks ago, but lately he has been right in the thick of it reeling off winners by the yard, two and three a day. His best work has been done on Milethias, whose winning record has 'been four straight. She is trained on a farm at Bownians, and W. A. Frazer makes a habit of taking races by the roll. He did it with Flying Marco. Frazer says that Milethias and Faddy Slattery have not yet finished their run, but he is reckoning without ihe handicapper. ♦ * *

Farxtes in 1988. Kenneth Farnes may be. the giant of the M.C.C. cricketers, also the best ali-round fast bowler, match in and match OUt, and a very useful field, with hands that generally hold catches. But he is no W. G. Grace with the. bat His top SCore is 26, in the early picnic match in WA.. His biggest scpte is 12 twice). He had four innings ort the Sydney Cricket Ground and made one run. Nevertheless. Farnes may be no easy bowler for the 1938 Australian Eleven to master. Experience on ihe tour ls likely to have moulded him into a bowler of speed comparable with the best ihat England has had to tickle the Australian bats. Maori Rugby League Tour, There is much Rugby League activity in ttew Zealand, and a Maori team td tour Austraiia is being considered, states an Auckland cable in a Sydney daily. A very promising extension of the eode in the Auckland province ls assured in the southern portion — the King Country, with Taumarunui as the centre. City teams Mmade missionary visits last year and probably eight senior town teams wiE be engaged in the first officiai championship. There will also be second and third grade sides. An international of other years, W. H. Milne, Who played in Austraiia for a time, is at the head of the movement. In South Auckland the Rugby League has acted on a suggestion made by Mr. . H. R. Miller, and, havinu ac-

quired a considerable area of land near Huntly, is now proceeding with the making of a headquarters ground, where matches will be centralised. A prominent businessman recently admlred the enterprise so much' that he donated £250 towards the project. The area will be ready for play this season. * * 4* R. K. Oxenham's Criobet Service. Queensland's great all-rounder, R. K. Oxenham, though not the fine player he used to be, made an appreciable inerease in his batting and bowling figures during the Sheffield series this season, writes "The Gabber" from Brisbane. Starting with 154 wickets, the same number as W. J. Whitty (S.A.), he passed those of M. A. Noble (N.S.W.) 158, Blll HoweU (N.S.W.) 159 on his way to a total of 167. His figures are wohderful for one who did not have the opportunity of playing Shield cricket before the 1926-27 season, He was also disadvantaged by being in a side the opponents of which often required only one innings, which meant that he had fewer batsmen at whom to bowl. He also did practically the whole of his Shield bowling on pitches protected from rain. Oxenham has made 2314 Shield runs, and if he is able to hold his place next season, he should reach the top of the Queensland aggregates. F. C. Thompson made 2458 runs, and E. C. Bensted 2327. Despite oxenham's noticeable decline in form, he may be able to hold his place for another season, With Cook batting and bowling as well, Oxenham's place will be easier to fill. 4s ♦ 4 Sheffield Shield. Victoria won the Sheffield Shield for the sixteenth time in beating South Austraiia at Adelaide. Batting, a century by Lee excepted, was bad: bowling, but for a wonderfm burst by McCormick, not overgood. The South Australians went in first, and were all out for 182 (Hammond 35, Bradman 31, Badcock 28; Fleejrwood-Smith six wiclets for 66). At stumps Irst ciay Victoria had wiped off 97 of the runs with two wickets gone. Lee who openod, was 42, and things laoked rosy. It was a faded rose early on Satui day. Waite and Grimmett started to take wickets, and only Lee looked like helping the total ahead of louth Austi alia's. He was still there — 109 not out— when the others had all departed, the total .213 (Waite rour wickets for 35, Grimmett three for 52). McCormick made a bird of it. He got Walker, Ryan and Whitington with 37 on the board, then Bradman for eight and Badcock for a duck - in allf nine for 40. The total was 79. Rigg and Lee had up 22 of the 49 required by stumps and the kill was delayed till Monday. Ihen r^ee went before the runs were made. Victoria won by nine wickets.

Best All-rounder. Charlie Holland (Midland C. atwl A.C.) was recently presented with "Cycling's" Best All Rounder Tfophy , for 1936 at the Royal Albert Ball. Holland, who finished fifth in the Olympic Games road race in Berlin last year, had an average speed of 22,097 m.pJhu for 50 and 100 miles and 12 hours— the three trials upon which the event is based — a record for the competition. * * Not Afraid of Bogey. Money matches in golf are very common and as far back as 1849 Alan Robertson and Tom Morris beat the brothers Dunn for a stake of £400. In 1868 Lord Kennedy and a Mr. Cruickshank played a match of three holes for £500 a hole at St. Andrews. Piay started at 10 p.m. and the only light was given by lamps stuck on the fiagpins of the three holes; it is not known who won this extaordinary match.

4* & 4; Bradman and Hobbs. D. G. Bradman, who has equaiiea the feat of J. B. Hobbs in scoring 12 centuries in Austraiia-England tests, has played only 40 innings in these games, compared with 71 by Hobbs. Bradman's achievement also far outshines that by Hobbs, as his 12 cen- . turies include two over 300 and five others over' 200. Hobbs' highest score was 187. 4 4 ♦ Rugby League Ghanges. In the eomiftg Rugby League season in Sydney, the clubs are to open their membership lists to the public. Seagon tickets to cost very little, considering the entertainment provided, will be

issued. These are to tairy the privilege of membership With the right to VOte at the general meetings, including the annual meeting when the officials are chosen each. season. The idea is taken from the Melbourne clubsl It Will be a drastie change, as hitherto dub memberships ia ng&r/ cases have been very close. * 4sNext Year's Golf Venue. The championship committee ott vtt . Royal and Ancient Golf Club of St. Andrews has ahnounced that ihe amateur championship of 1938 will be piayed at TroOh Club. and the Opeh championshi pof 1938 at the Royal Cinque Ports Club, Deal Half the qualifying rounds of the "Open" will be played. at the Royal Cinque Ports afld half at Royal St. George'a Sandwich. 4 4 e Outsfamding Batmian. Most runs in senior club cricket in Canterbury this season have again been compiled .by W. Hadlee, of the Old Boys Club, His total for the 10 championship rounds is 721, with an aVerage of 72.1, highest score 144 This was for 11 innings, once not out. Strangely enough, it equals his aggregate in the 1933-34 season. Hadlee k only 21 years of age, and yet he has been playing in provincial matches f oi four seasons on end, making frequent high scores of a century or more. Hc is a member of the New Zealand team which left on a tour of England last Saturday. 4 * *

World Soocer Cup. Twenty-five countrles, including thc trish Free State but no other British team have entered for the World As sociation Football Cup competition be played in France next year. Witu four exceptions, of which the Unite: States is one, all the teams are European. The best chance of success ap pears to be held by Italy, which won the tTophy in Rome m 1934. Austria Hungary and Czecho-Slovakia mlgh: be grouped as second favourites. Somo of the matches will be played in th; French provinces, and for the final, in Paris, a ground is being enlarged tc hOM 100,000 si>ectators. The cofites; win give a further stimulus to a gam: which in most countries now hoids first place for popularity. * * 4* Klricwood in Texaeu Joe Kirkwood, who visfted Nev. Zealand recently, is without doubt onc of the greatest shot-makers the worl : has seen. "Down Texas way" the natives erected a tablet on a tree ti commemorate a remarkable shot o his. Kirkwood had put his drive behind the tree and was stymied for t direct shot to the green. The erow . thought he would ehip the ball t safety. Kirkwood had other idea . for he hit the ball right across a rlvcand the crowd began to laugh, think ing that it would finish in a water grave. But Joe had hooked ; cleverly, and the ball. circllng roui like a boomerang, finished on tu. green, where he holed his putt for ■ birdie three. That was a shot tha" will always be recalled, as the table will also testify the deed. * * * Money In Snooker. I met in Coventry recently one the joint promoters of the Joe Davi Horace Lindrum snooker monc match, writes a London journalist This is the first occasion on whicl. he has ever dabbled in a billiards o snooker promotion, and he has cer tainly stepped into the business at thright moment. Before a frame had been broken enough seats had been sold in advance to pay the playert purse money and the expenses cf run - ning the show. The profe^ionu snooker stars are now drawing monej on a scale comparable with the palmiest days of professional billiards ithis country. I don't suggest tha; they are pulling in anything like th. old Walter Lindrum figures, but th busy snooker men can make a corn fortable £40 to £50 a week. The discovery — and believe me it was a dlscGvery— that snooker possessed more spectacular appeal than billiards has onened up a new era for our pntfessors of the cue. The snooker bigshots have been playing to paekea houses In more than one provincial -city during the present seasoa.