Handing Out Raps To Olympic Players High and Dry

NZ Truth, Issue 1216, 21 March 1929, Page 17

Handing Out Raps To Olympic Players

High and Dry

BEHIND THE CURTAIN

Australian Olympic Team Inquiry In Oydney APPORTIONING THE BLAME (From "N.Z. Truth. 's" Special. Sydney Representative). The rumors and reports that surrounded the return of the N.Z.. Olympic team have been allowed to sink m the limbo of the past, and perhaps it is just as well. In Australia, however, the trouble with the Commonwealth team is still a matter of moment with the sports bodies Interested. The Olympic Council of Inquiry recently sat m Sydney when Les. Duff, manager of the Australian Olympic Team to Amsterdam, was before it. IT was a modern version of Daniel i thermore, that he made no charge m the lion's den, with Les. playing for this service.

the lead. -,-•■. Although not actually m attendance, on the outskirts of the forest, was "Captain" Vicary Plorniman, the' gentleman responsible for arranging the accommodation' of . the team at the Hotel Velseerbeek, the location of which created round after round of discontent among the team, especially after training operations. Chief of . the Clan Taylor conveyed to Les. the reason for his attendance as if he. was unaware — but dispensed with the police court formality of .the truth- and nothing but the truth. Did Les. flinch? No! _ ___

Nor after crossquestioning running into, hours. Les. had an answer for every query, and,

To cut a ' long story short Duff finally gained a • points . victory^ by a margin as long as your arm, and' left the inquiry board like flotsam and jetsam on the sands— high and dry. Despite the humid atmosphere', Jim Eve, Dave Carter, and Ted Kenny pored over reams and reams of evidence,' with a view of sifting the wheat from the chaff and the appending, of their [findings.

With regard to Roy Horton, the trainer, the publication of whose, diary m "Truth" provided the athletic sensation of the year, he was m the main (regarded as correct, but he was regarded as a triflle unroll-

above all, a soft one . which turned away wrath, and, m cricket parlance, he never gave a Ch lTwas common talk that the executive of the Australian Olympic Federation'was not so ™^, conc^f%Z»rl. the charges against Bolger and Stuart of not playing the game, or the happenings on shipboard. .- ; > It was said it was out to fry and corner Duff respecting certain "furphies" 'current that a sum of 250 sovereigns was, or had. been, paid by a leading Sydney evening newspaper to supply informat.on respecting the doings of the team abroad and at sea. It was also' believed that the Federation wanted to chastise him for daring to disregard the ultimatum of the Federation that neither Mrs. Duff nor Harry Hay was to travel on the same steamer as ; the official team. •So far as .the .press, payment was concerned, it was as mythical as the beloved Grimm's Fairy Tales, and, m the words of Les., he only wished it were true. ■ ■ ■ ■ . . . „, Respecting the shipboard travelling, It was hide as thick as that of ceros to issue such a decree. With the average amount of intelligence, the members of the Federation must have known that their resolution— like the colandei- — wouldn't hold water. It is a free country and, provided one has the wherewithal, and a berth is available, the shipping companies stand not on the order of one's coming or going. ■ ' ' Strange to relate, the chairman of the meeting, James Taylor, was unaware that Mrs. Duff had accompanied her husband until he returned, to Australia. ' ■" ' „ , . ... ■• Accounts have to be audited m time for the big ballyhoo- m Sydney m April, and one or twov minor adjustments have to be made. In passing, it occurs that up to now no reference has been made anywhere ,to the amount of time expended by Les. Duff m raking m " the. shekels— they amounted to thousands— to enable ample Australian representation, and, fur-

able as a witness, especially when he emphatically denied that he had hawked his reminiscences and sold same to the highest bidder. The heads thought otherwise. It will be found that Charles Stuart did not shirk his obligations m respect, to training while on the other side, and the reason he omitted to carry out exercises on shipboard was m deference to the wishes of his trainer, Archie Ferrler. ■ Further, his visits to relatives m I England were with the approval of the manager. Furthermore, the board will find Victorian Bolger guilty of the charge by the manager of his, apathy to training artd failure to obey instructions regarding diet. Also, the board will come to the conclusion that certain mild flirtations did occur on the boat, as is • usual on long voyages of this -. nature, but were of little or no consequence, and that the necessary discipline was lacking owing to the numerical strength of the complement being beyond the control of one individual.