SPORT & PASTIME

Maoriland Worker, Volume 3, Issue 78, 6 September 1912, Page 6

SPORT & PASTIME

British Decadence in Sport WARRNAMBOOL ROAD RACE. AUSTRALIAN BOXERS v. VISITORS. ALL SORTS OF SPORT. To be a boxer in Paris to-day is semething like being a gladiator in Rome in the times which Whyte .Melville described. The boxer is nattered, feted, and caressed; and if the everdue Ro-o-lution were to come to France 10-day, Georges Carpent.ior would l.rolubly be the new Napoleon. Bam McYca, alter leaving Paris, wrote with glorious simplicity: "I was the King of France." The boxer is the hero of the hour. Alfred Watson, who is "Rapier" of the "Sporting and Dramatic,"' says: "Defence of butting may be set- forth on the ground that it provides recreation and pleasurable excitement, enhanced by the fact that a winning hot is a vindication of good judgment. Anything which agreeably diverts thought from the worries of a workaday world is to be accepted gratefully, and a day's racing assuredly docs so." y. » MBnnibnrdicr Well*, the English henvyweight boxer, is said to he like Peter Jackson—-too wasplike in waist-build, which indicates sprinting rather than stoushing quality. # » * Tlie New South Wales and Victorian Rowing Associations art* co-operating in an endeavor to secure a visit from a crew of English oarsmen in 191.3. ,-. « X The United States Lawn Tennis Association has cabled its inahilit.y to send a. team to compete for the Davis Cup. Regrettable. . * * Barry has accepted Pearco's challenge to row for the world's sculling championship, and is willing to meet him at any time. Pearcc proposes to leave Sydney in March next, and to row the race in July.

I The Australian cricketers were com--1 plete'ly obliterated in the third testi i match against England—-literally stamped out fiat and trodden in the mire. ; Admittedly, they had rather the worst of the luck and the weather was vile— 'all along the English summer has been i a record for wetness —but there is no i questioning the superiority of the English team to the Australian tourists. It. jis obvious that the latter had a very ! pronounced "tail," which was made ; more apparent owing to the sucres- ■ sion of bad wickets experienced during tho tour. Thus England canto out> on ' top in the lirst—and probably' last— I series of triangular tests, and retained the "ashes" which Warner's team took • away with them upon the conclusion of the recent Australian tour.

! The London "Daily Mail" is furious 'over tho failure of tlic English athletes in the. Olympic Games, and screeches into the eats of Kugland to wake up and get busy in time to avoid humiliation when the next, games are held in Berlin. The. best way to describe Hie .catastrophe is to i[iiote the. scathing denunciation written by Mr. W. Reach Thomas on his return front Stockholm. ''Great. Britain has suffered hiss of name and fame in very serious measure jat the Olympic Games," ho wrote. "As ■ a team Great Britain did not make even i a bid for victory against either gymj nastic Scandinavians or athletic Americans. Wo could not run, so it appeared, either long distances or short; we could not jump, either broad or high; we could not throw the javelin; we could not dive. In some of these events we | did not seem to try. Men collapsed I between the heats and the finals. Alj most every runner but tho Oxonians Iran much below his form; and lid so j largely fiocauso training was' not ' strict. The team, indeed, did not train :to win. did not run to win, was not nri ganit-ed to win. Tho men accepted defeat, as if the Olympic Games were n ; competition of parlor tricks in a pro- : vincial drawing-room."

"Simplicitas"relates in the "Lyttelton Times" how he happened to drop into the Christchurch Museum one day recently, and wandered into the zoological department, where are the mortal remains of the racehorse- Traduecr. Then l was only one oilier person in the room, an elderly gentli-wan, who seemed attracted to Traduecr by some subtle, bond of sympathy. He felt Traduecr's hocks and fetlocks and shoulders, or the places where these parts of his anatomy used to be, and then stood rff and gazed in tho direction of the collection of bones with a faraway look in his eyes. Jl> was evident he was musing. Perhaps he had once, won money on Traduecr, or, more likely still, he- had lost money. "Simplieitas" drew nigh, and murmured something about Traduecr having been "a great horse in his 'day." "Fie was," said the old gentleman, drily, "but I like him better as he is. f like to sec him like that. He is so beautifully, so absolutely dead." And the old gentleman then stalked away and left the narrator wondering. What, did he. mean?

The announcement of the abandonj merit of the. world-famed Warmambool j load race for tin's year has caused a j great stir throughout Australasia, and from all parts of the Commonwealth I and the Dominion the Dunlop Rubber iCo. is receiving expressions of regret and disappointment that Australasia's greatest cycling contest will not be held this season. Many supporters of road-racing have written suggesting 1 that it may not yet be too lato to hold , the big race this season, but tho Dunj lop Co. hold out no hope: in this direction. However, the company anticipate ; that the Victorian trouble will bo quickjly and permanently settled by tho formation of a road board to control VioI torian road-racing, and all going well, j tho Warmambool tvill ho held noxt year, when the company hope to ,have rlio support of the road riders who have done so much towards building up the reputation of tho great road contest. With Dave Smith and Hughio Mchegau out of Australia the scarcity of local boxing talent is remarkable, remarks Sydney "Sun." Look at tho following list, and it will be seen that tho local boxers who can he looked to to put, up decent, fights against, the visiting French and American rontin- ! gent can almost bo counted on the fin- ! gors. Hero they arc: — i Bantams: Teddy Green (Sydney), | Charley Simpson (Victoria) : Featherweights: .foe Russell (Queensland). : Lightweights: Frank McCoy (Vie- ' toria.i, Jack Read (Sydney), Hock JKeye (N.S-W.I.

Welterweights: Nil. .Middleweight*: Bill Rudd (New Zealand). Tim Land (Sydney).

lleavvweights: Al. Thompson (Sydney), Bill Lung (Victoria), L«s O'Donnell (Svdncy).

And when those eleven men are analysed, it is doubtful whether any one of them can be regarded as a champion. Where the real trouble lies is in the total absence of welterweights, and in the fact that there are only two middleweight* to battle for the country. The lightweight brigade is almost' as bad. hut there is the possibility of 31chegan retunii)i'.i from England in a. hurry, and with the Australian champion on hand thing- "ill not be. so bad. JESSOP THE SMITER. Against tho M.C.C. Australian tram, G. L. Jessop gave an exposition of his famous whirlwind hitting, and the other day came a cable slating that the Gloucestershire smiter had scored of> in 26 minutes for his county against Kent. When Jessoj) hits, The fielders spread. With brows besflonmed and furrow-ed ; Not that they have to sprint so much— That's no pari of the".lesson touch," Because he hits the ball so hard

Along the Munot.h mid venial sward That often ere Ihry start to sprint The umpire's arm conveys v hint, And signals " 'Neither hound orr" From Master Jessop on the spree ; H breaks their coolness all to bits When .Tcssop hits. When Jessop thumps, The tnindlers peak, And pine, and dwindle, so to spedk : For good length balls lie makes long hops— He cuts, he pulls, he drives, he chops; The best of stuff seems second-rate — Mere schoolboy rubbish, for its fate Is but to swell tho Crouclicr's scores With strings of sixes, fives and fours A long, long line that gives them' gloom— What-' Will't s(retell to the crack o' doom ? Indeed, the bull can't find the Mumps When Jessop thumps! When Jessop's in— The news spreads like a Taping fire, And City men have one desire — To close their ledgers eagerly, And swiftly skip where they may see— A weakness which I can't: condemn—The Gloucester smiter "getting them," Smiting the bowling hip and thigh. And grave and reverend seignors cry: "Lay on. M'Jcssop; hit like sin!" 1 When Jessop's in. —Exchange.