SPORT &. PASTIME

Maoriland Worker, Volume 2, Issue 74, 9 August 1912, Page 6

SPORT &. PASTIME

The groat race for the world's sculling championship between Ernest Barry, of England, and Richard Arni-t, of Now Zealand, was rowed on the Thames on July i?i). The resuU— u four-lengths victory for tlio Englishman—was totally unexpected in this quarter of tho globe-, in which the Maorilandor was liolcl to bo, invincible. Said word has now boon expunged from the lexicon of local sportdom. The daily paper headings of the cabled reports toll the story of the race; "Birry wins. Arnst outstayed. Enr:lifhman superior in rough water. Uounr-s a warm favorite easily. Artist rowel to a. standstill, ftoadheat, Ihe New Zonl-indor steps." '(hat's all lii'M— was lo it. Recently interviewed by :ni American lady reporter if Iw did not think that in beating J< itri- s in , di'moli.-hod tho supremacy of the uliile race. Jack ■Johnson replied: ''Why, f haven't, got much patience with tli.il/ Kind of talk, ma'am. I kinder think tho white race will get along with its finance and its architecture and its literachoor and wireless telegraphy just as well as if MY. .Teffries had beaten mc instead of mc boating Mr. Jeti'rios. The greatest fighting animi'l known is a gorilla. Tt's so strong and savage that a grown-up one was never captured alive. If a gorilla was shut up in a room with mc and Mr. Jeffries, ma'am, it would kill us both, but that wouldn't prove tlint the gorilla race was better than the human race." n . " » The annual report of the New South Wales Cricket Association shows a credit balance of £"1080, which is a record. # * • "Bring 'em all on: one a week for as long as they last. . I'll whip, tbe entire lot, but I must hurry., because I surely will retire, at midnight liexb Labor Day." This was the confident statement made in Juno to a New York pressman by heavyweight champion Jack Johnson while discussing his plans for the immediate future. "There, are a lot of 'white hopes' around, eh: . Well, if they can command any banking in the way of purses T'll take a shot at all of them—without exception—-one week apart for as many weeks as there are fighters or as long as tho inducements last," he. continued. "That's how confident I feel that I can clean up the entire, lot. There are good reasons for my retirement. One, and the chief one, is that I am going in business and will have a line place. As for the money end nf the game, I have enough to keep 40 wolves from tho door for the remainder of my life. So I don't have to fight. Neither do I have to go into business, but I want to .become a respectable citizen. Eighteen years in the fight game! That's long enough. Yes, you can bet your life that I'm sincere about this retiring business. No more for John Arthur Johnson after next September." Notwithstanding this declaration, it is now known that Johnson has signed a contract to come out to Australia and fight under TT. 1). MrTntosh's management in September next. "Rugby is declining!' . Such a statei ment is uncalled for, and not in accordance with facts, says a Wellington writer, and the people that make it arc only giving voice to what they msiro to sco come about themselves. The figures prove that the partisans of Rugby football in Wellington are increasing as tho years go by. « * * Jack Johnson has announced that if Joe Jeanette wants to fight for the world's heavy-weight championship he must first meet Sam Langford. "Then I will meet the winner in Australia," he added. The champion will sail for Australia carlv in September to fight Langford and MoVea, for which matches ht> has already signed up. * » • The title of "champion sculler of Now Zealand" has evidently faded into oblivion, says the Sydney "Sun." It is held by William Fogwell, of New South Wales, who, by virtue of his defeat of George, Whelch' at Akaroa, brought tho ■ title to Sydney with him. With Webb and Whel'ch in retirement, there is no one to dispute his ownership to it. It was .generally thought that ex-cham-pion William Webb would "come again" after his defeat by Harry Pearce, but nothing has been heard of him since. For a moderate-sized man ho was good, and might have been heard of for some time after he got the championship from Charlie Towns, but he had the misfortune to come, out at a time when a man of Arnst's calibre was hovering on the horizon, and not only that, but to strike Arnst at a. time when he was rowing at the zenith of his form. * * * Everybody is talking of Macartney just now, says "Cricket." The little man has made a wonderful start on his second tour in England. It is early yet to say that he will outdo Trumper's record of 190' i, but less likely things have happened. Never before has a colonial batsman scored three successive centuries during a tour here. One is more surprised than ever that the selectors should not havo thought C.G.M. good enough for a place in tho Australian Eleven in the first four matches of the last rubber. Even when he did get in Bardsley was left out. Neither is a man to be omitted lightly, even if he should seem out of form. # # # In view of the likelihood of Joe Jeannette and .Tack Johnson meeting in Sydney, Jeanette's opinion of the world's champion is interesting. "For the past year," he says, "both, my manager and myself have tried to ob- j tain a contest with Jack Johnson. We s have repeatedly sent him challenges, all j of which ho has ignored. This 'moving} picture' champion, who, by a lucky break at Reno, became world's champion, now refuses to defend that title-. I hereby defy him to meet. mo.. I further add that his refusal to fight mc is due to cowardice. He knows that he will lose his title if ever he meets either Langford or myself. I have whipped him decisively several times in Philadelphia, and he deliberately quit with mo in one contest over there. I say 'quit' because when I had him bad he maliciously fouled mo to save himself from defeat. He knows better than anyone else that ho is a four-flusher, and that his ability has been over-esti-mated by the newspaper men, but now that he has a chance to laud over his betters, he intends to hold that title as a club over the heads of the promoters and fighters whom he knows can whip him. I will not say 'knock him out, , lor ho has not enough courage to stand up and figlitiand be knocked out. I know that I can beat him, and I know that the public would like tn sco the. title cliango hands. Now, Mr. Johnson, aro you a lighter or a four-flusher?" 1

A. A. Lilkw. the. famous Warwickshire H'irkr't-kocpiM , , has signified his retii'piiK'iu- from Jir.st-c'liif-s crick* , ! by publishing a book of reminiscences. Sum-ming-up tlio giants of the game, lio awards pride of place to W. G. Grace, j "tV greatest all-round cricketer ot j a 11 .,. Anluir Shrewsbury Ik; thinks j "tin* premier profession:) I batsman," Victor T rum per "tho greaiest batsman Australia has produced.' , C. Hill "unequalled amongst- left-hand players either in Australia or elsewhere," and J. McC. Blackhnm "tho greatest w ' c " ket-wepper" lie has "ever liar] the privilege ot sreinc:.' , "But,' , be adds, j "as n bai-sman pure and simple Ranjifc-; sinhji unr|iit'stioii:ib!y Mas greatest of all. 11 ,1 stood upon a pinnacle." T.mi O'Eourke thinks quite a lot about his proiogn, Ai Palzpr..and wants j tho world to know jtisb what -he thinks. : So he is carting tho lowa farmer around | vim Slates and letting everybody hear what ho has himself to say, as well as sco for themselves. "Al Palzer," ho says, "is the most promising material for championship calibre before the boxing; world to-day. You all know what lie has accomplished in the short time he has been at the game. His greatest fight, and the. one which placed him p.s a prospective worthy opponent of Jack Johnson, was the knocking out of Al Kauffman, who up till then was regarded as tho best white heavyweight in tho world at that time. Palzer had only a few months' experience, practically, when he stopped Kauffman, a veteran, as fighters go. Since then he has been under my guidance, the object of which has been to develop him to whip Jack Johnson, and I think he has the makings. He is not a naturally clever boxer, and depends on his ruggedness and aggressiveness to carry the fight to his opponent and beat him down by main strength. Realising that this would not get him very far with a man of Johnson's skill and hitting power, I am teaching him the defensive art and tho finer points of the offensive game to reinforce his natural fighting ability. He has proved himself an apt pupil, showing an eagerness to Irani and a quick intelligence that has made him improve, every clay. I am confident that he is the one- man to-day who stands a show, and a good one, of beating Jack Johnson." i* » • On Wednesday night, July 17, .Tack McGowan, cue time lightweight champion of the Commonwealth, was sparring with his pupils in his gymnasium in .Melbourne. Tho, morning following he. was dead. McGowan waa coaching some of his lads, and was apparently in the best of health. Suddenly ho became faint and while resting collapsed. He was taken to the hospital, and died there about 12 hours later, presumably from cerebral hemorrhage. "Gentleman Jack McGowan," as ho was often referred to, was one of the fairest and most humane boxers ever seen in the ring. A gentleman in. every respect, he was admired even by those who disliked his calling. His behaviour, both in and out of the ring, was exemplary, and his sudden end has deprived the sport of a participant who assisted to raise its "tone" to a considerable degree. Me-, Gowan was a man who looked after the money he mado in the hempen square. Ho did not throw it about recklessly, and consequently he was the owner of a deal of property in South Melbourne. Ho did not! drink,, ho did not even indulge himself, to tlm extent of smoking. In fact, ho was a clean-liying man in every way. McGowan's star was at its highest about 1901, in which year he won the lightweight championship. Tho majority of his battles were fought in Melbourne, and he put; up unquestionably great fights, Tim Hegarty always proved a stumbling-bloefi to McGowan —he was always just too good for Jack—but among those who went down before the dead boxer may bo mentioned M'feko Walsh, "Cakewalker" Ted Savral, "Cocker" Tweedie (four times). Jack Blackmore, Mat Mitchie, Bob Hollo, Charlie Frost, all front-rank and hard, clever boxers at that time, and a number of others.