SPORTS BUDGET!

Southland Times, Issue 24888, 30 October 1942, Page 2

SPORTS BUDGET!

No N.Z. Swimming Championships Southland swimmers will be disappointed at the decision to abandon the New Zealand championship meeting this year. There was, however, no other course open to the New Zealand Swimming Council as the Minister of Railways explained that, in view of the War Cabinet's decision about travelling, no permits over 100 miles could be issued in the North Island. There is a possibility of North and South Island championships being held. Weather Permitting Weather permitting the competitions of the Southland Cricket Association will be started tomorrow. Even if the weather takes up the wickets may be sodden, and it may be thought advisable to postpone the games so as not to have the wickets badly cut up at the start of the season. Shortage of Players Though the Old Boys and Invercargill cricket clubs have combined to put a team into the first grade competition, they may still have difficulty in finding a complete eleven. Each club has about four senior players of last season, but it is not easy these days to get younger players who are even up to the lower senior standard now prevailing. Invercargill has one promising young player named Fisher, who comes from Otautau. Five Kitties Thrown The Kelburn Bowling Club’s president, Mr H. Williams, staged a novelty performance to mark the club’s official opening last Saturday. His five grand-daughters, Moira, Eileen, Joyce, Maureen and Coleen, daughters of his two sons, Messrs Laurence and Thomas Williams, and whose ages range from 12 to 18 years, threw five separate kittles simultaneously, probably a unique event at the opening of any bowling club in New Zealand or elsewhere.

All Blacks In Army Lieutenant-Colonel J. R. Page, D. 5.0., also well known as a 1935 All Black, who returned from Egypt a few months ago, badly wounded, and has since undergone a severe operation, is now sufficiently well to have resumed duty. He is at Army Headquarters, Wellington. Cyril Pepper, now holding the rank of captain, and wearing the blue and silver ribbon of the Military Cross on his tunic, is also at Army Headquarters in Wellington, but does a good deal of travelling.

Swimming In Schools Realizing the need to encourage swimming in the schools, the Canterbury Swimming Centre has decided that every interclub carnival this season shall include school children's races, for which points will be awarded. These points will be awarded to the schools represented by the swimmers and the school with the most points at the end of the seaosn will win the trophy. In Southland the school children are already being catered for in the fortnightly race nights, and the clubs are coaching a large number of juniors in the club hours. Senior Cricket Competition The fact that the Southland Cricket Association has received 16 entries for the three-grade competition that is to be run this season is satisfactory considering the shortage of players. All the senior clubs of last season, with the exception of Marist, are again represented in the first grade this season, though two of them, Old Boys and Invercargill, have combined to field a senior side. The Marist Club, which has been very heavily hit by the loss of players, has not found it possible to do better than field a third grade team. Two teams from the Army has brought the number of teams in the first grade to six, the same number as last season. Considering the times the season looks like starting auspiciously enough, but how the clubs will fare as the season progresses is another matter. It is certain that all clubs will be faced with the loss of players through men being called up for service with the armed forces. However, If it is possible to carry through the competitions the association will have achieved its main objective, that of keeping the game alive.

Long Service Rewarded Mr Charles Bryant, of Christchurch, was elected a life member at the annual meeting of the New Zealand Amateur Swimming Association. Mr Bryant has represented the Wanganui Centre on the New Zealand Swimming Council since 1913, and has been the starter at all New Zealand championships since 1918. He has been a swimming official since he started his career with the Rakala Club in 1896, and in the East Christchurch Club has occupied every office, and is now a life member of the club.

Bowling Discovered! Knocking down ninepins in an alley and bowling up to a white kitty are two very different games. This was the discovery made by a couple of American servicemen who attended the opening of the Wellington Club. They expected to find boarded bowling alleys of the American type; instead they found a game played on beautiful turf, the smoothness of which was agreeably surprising. The bowls, too, rather delighted the visitors, even though the bias was strange and took them some time to master. Away back home they used, they said, bowls which were half as large again as the New Zealand type, and which had a thumb hole to give the player a firmer grip. 37 Years President

An enviable record has been established by Mr J. J. Marlow, who was recently elected president of the St. Kilda (Dunedin) Lawn Tennis Club for the thirty-seventh consecutive year. During the whole of this period he has missed only two annual meetings. For over half a century Mr Marlow has been closely associated with the administration of the game of bowls in Dunedin. He was a foundation member of the St. Kilda Bowling Club, of which he is a past president. He occupied a similar position in the Dunedin Bowling Centre, and was also the first president of the New Zealand Bowling Association.