KHAKI AND BLACK

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 134, 27 August 1927, Page 11

KHAKI AND BLACK

SOLDIER OARSMEN ABROAD MEMORABLE IRIUMPEI ON THE SEINE How Healey Lost at Henley

By

J. G. McLEAN, for THE SUN.

in New Zealand collapsed like a pricked bubble ]\ in lJlo, after tlie membership lists of hitherto flourishing clubs had been denuded by the call to service. Such was the generosity of the response that nearly every New Zealand r °"ToL i U o WaS re P resen . ted > at sorae sta ? c or another, in the 1918-19 series ot service rowing events, and in certain instances regattas ot some magnitude were organised by the New Zealanders themselves. ■

IV the war years England learned to respect the New Zealand sports„m_ Bugby players, oarsmen, cricZms —athletes all, they made a magnificent answer to the call to arms, physically virile and aggressive, they tAjbly fought with a patriotism not unanged by a latent urge toward adventure and excitement. That ven..jresome spirit made New Zealanders as soldiers, and after the

*ar their high atheltic prowess put tl.«n on the map as sportsmen. greatest crew ever It was so with the oarsmen. Many gilll consider that Healey’s service eifht, the first crew to represent New Zsal&nd in the official All Black rowirg garb, was the finest set of men that has ever balanced a boat. Such admiration may not easily be neopciled with the crew’s failure at Henley, but that upset was countered by its magnificent victory in the French war series on the Seine. Certain inexorable circumstances decreed that service crews should be subject to frequent alteration. Mep joined erers while they were on leave, or

convalescent after hospital treatment, but when their leisure expired they were packed off back to their units. These were the conditions that handicapped the first soldier crews. Subsequently the commanding merit of their performances caught the attention of the military authorities, and it was through the co-operation of an enthusiastic staff corps that the success-

ful khaki rowing clubs were able to carry on after the Armistice. IDYLLS ON THE THAMES New Zealanders became familiar with England’s rowing waters in different ways. Not until 1918, when sport among the soldiers was thoroughly organised by a high command that now recognised the value of recreation, were they encouraged to form crews and keep in training. Hitherto the Diggers, on leave from the battlefronts, had gained acquaintance with the Thames only through the easy medium of cushioned punts, perhaps