Sports Commentary

Otago Daily Times, Issue 26633, 2 December 1947, Page 8

Sports Commentary

- By The Sports Editor ___

A Sporting Team When the Mayor, Mr Cameron, asked the citizens to give him a team he could work with, he certainly received a team in the sporting sense, as the record of his new council indicates. The Mayor himself is a former champion of champions at bowls and one-time president of the Dunedin Bowling Centre. He has been closely associated with the Zingari-Richmond Rugby Football Club from his youth, and he was president of the Otago Cricket League. Three of his sons have played for the Carisbrook Cricket Club, and two of them, Don and Harold, represented Otago. The Deputy Mayor, Mr L. M. Wright, is president of the Pirates Football Club and a former well-known Otago field athlete. During one period he was a member of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association.

Mr E. J. Anderson, a former president of the Dunedin Returned Services’ Association, who topped the poll in the council election and is the new chairman of the Transport Committee, was prominent in Associatiftn football circles as a player and administrator, and as president of the Otago Football Association. He is a keen bowler. Mr D. C. Jolly, chairman of the Reserves Committee, has been an outstanding participant in many branches of sport. He represented Otago at Rugby in 1907, has been a member of the Otago Rugby Football . Union since 1928, and was president in 1939. He was a foundation member of the Otago Council of Sport, and is a good golfer and a keen bowler. A son, J. L. Jolly, played for Otago in Plunket Shield cricket and one of his daughters has represented the province at lawn tennis.

The chairman of the Works Committee, Mr L. J. Ireland, is a former president of the Otago Hockey Association, and was a representative player for many years. He has achieved considerable success as a bowler.

Mr R. F. Barr, chairman of the Gas Committee, was a first-class track sprinter in his University days, and represented Otago. He also played Association football and is a useful golfer. The most notable sportsman of the council “ team ” is one of the newcomers, Mr J. G. Barnes, a former New Zealand mile and cross-country champion and one of the best distance runners the country has produced. Mr Barnes won races over all distances from 50 yards to 14 miles, and when his .running days were over he did a great job as secretary of the Otago Centre of the New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, relinquishing the office to serve with the R.N.Z.A.F. He was shot down and was a prisoner of war in Germany.

Mr C. J. Hayward, a new member of the council, was prominent in hockey and is still an active umpire, while Mr W. S Armitage, also serving his first term," was chairman of the Management Committee of the Otago Cricket Association, and played in senior Rugby and cricket while attending Otago University. Mr E. J. Smith, who was also a member of the council on a previous occasion, played Association football for High School Old Boys and Rugby at the University, and also participated in lawn tennis and bowls.

Mr W B. Taverner, a former Mayor of the city, was prevented by a disability from taking an active part in sport, but many sporting organisations in the city can testify to his personal interest in their activities. Mr T. K. S. Sidey is a member of a family which has had a close association with the St. Clair Golf Club. The course was laid out on a property belonging to the family. Sir Thomas Sidey, his father, was president of the club until his death, and Lady Sidey is president of the Ladies* Club. Mr T. K. S. Sidey maintains the family association with the club as a member of it, although not an active player. He is a keen mountaineer. Mr N. D. Anderson, formerly Mayor of St. Kilda, has been long associated with surf life-saving activities in his district and is also interested in amateur athletics. Slow Golf The Match Committee of the Otago Golf Club is to be congratulated on its well-planned organisation in connection with the 72-hole Otago Stroke Championship, played at Balmacewen during the week-end. But there was a fly in the ointment, and it was one on which the best-laid plans in stroke tournaments “ gang aft agley.” Like the bludgeon of taxation, the slow golfer is always with us, but for some reason or another he seemed to be more than usually with us, so far as the field at Balmacewen was concerned. In spite of all that has been said and written about slow golf, a remedy that can be applied as a panacea has yet to be found. In America the rules of golf provide for slow play, but the transatlantic defintion of “undue delay” has not found favour at St. Andrew’s. The Royal and Ancient believes that the best solution is to be found in the good sense of the players concerned in a specific hold-up, and with a little thought irksome bottle-necks could in most cases be avoided. The fact remains, however, that the enjoyment of many players at Balmacewen during the week-end was marred by prolonged and frequent waiting on tees, and this raises the question as to whether a 72-hole stroke match, with a mixed field, in which the players range from scratch to 24 handicap, provides the best answer for a two-day tournament. During the final round there was a father-and-son incident on the third tee, which must have epitomised the feelings of many of the tail-enders in the respective draws. After waiting for some time for two matches to extricate themselves from the gully, a player tipped his young son and said: “ Share that with your brother, and tell Mum that I hope to be round before dark."