AMATEUR ATHLETICS

Opotiki News, Volume II, Issue 253, 1 November 1939, Page 3

AMATEUR ATHLETICS

NEW INTER-CLUB SCHEME

" (By Shot Butt)

Opotiki athletes-will be interested in a scheme for Bay inter-club competition for athletes but at the same time will feel rather mystified as such a competition' has been in vogue for several seasons having been sponsored bv the Opotiki Amateur Athletic Club. Opotiki athletes have always strongly supported clubs throughout the Bay, and) even though the new move might be considered a counter agaiust the Opotiki annual inter-club meeting, local athletes will no doubtshow their sporting spirit by .supporting the new move. A meeting of clubs was held recently in Whakatane and it was decided to procure a banner lor Bay of Plenty inter-club competition, the first meeting to be held at Whakatane. About the only lifference between the new scheme and that run by the Opotiki Club is that the Gisborne Club will not be included. ■ Owing to tlie- difficulty in securing sufficient time off, the competition for the Moody banner has always been held at Opoti--ki, and representatives of other clubs have competed from as far-away as Whangarei and Te Awamut'i. I'iilortunately, although Opotiki has always sent good teams to special meetings held by other Bay clubs, tin- same spirit has not been extended to Opotiki, and on one occasion a Bay duo, after promising to send a team to compete at the Moody Banner competition, actually put on a sports meeting on the day fixed for the Opotiki meeting, with the result that no competitors from the dub came to Opotiki.

The idea of a competition confined to Bay dubs only is quite a sound one, provided the meeting is heli.li in the different centres in rotation and each centre is fairly supported by the other dubs. There is no reason why the Moody Banner competition should not be supported by other Bay dubs, but if this is not done, it would appear that there is some likelihood of non-co-operation from this end of the Bay in connection with the new scheme.