LEAVES OF A SPORTSMAN’S NOTE-BOOK

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 151, 16 September 1927, Page 10

LEAVES OF A SPORTSMAN’S NOTE-BOOK

Canterbury could! At last the province has got its name on the list of winners of the Ranfurly Shield. It has deserved the inscription earlier, for in several seasons it has been worthy of the honour, but time and tide had not coincided for it then. So. even if the trophy has been won from a team that has been beaten by other provinces, Canterbury. is entitled to be satisfied. IN THE SPRING O’ TH* YEAR! There is a slang word which expresses admirably some of the sentiments which are heard about this time of the year. The Wellington Cricket Association has had the grandoise sentiments exposed to the air lately, and probably some of the delegates to the Canterbury Cricket Association will admire them to-morrow evening, when their annual meeting will be held. The slang word is “guff.” The best way to produce a fine lot of guff is to suggest the introduction of a district scheme in cricket, or the limitation of the number of teams m a competition. Then we will hear the noble-sounding guff that the game is for the player, not for the spectator; that cricket is meant for men to play, not for them to win competitions; by. Those sentiments really are sound, in themselves, but they are guff wnen they are used as a veneer over selfish motives. . . There is no keener opponent ol reduction of the number of first-grade teams than the player who wants to keep his first-grade status without practising or without helping his club in any way off the field. These are the first to trot out noble sentiments about every man having a chance to play the game, and so on, and they urge that limitation of teams prevents some men from playing. Of course, it really does not. Where there are too many teams in tie first-grade the older and lazier players are able to keep the younger and keener men from rising to the top. If they merely' wanted to play the game for the game’s sake, and did not care whether or not they had first-grade status, they would be content to find their own places lower down, and give the keener men a better chance to rise. I am a long way from suggesting that all opponents of reduction of the number of first-grade teams are of that ilk, or that there are not many of the older players who arc quite content to play in second and third grades. But some of the arguments I have seen and heard on the subject do taste very strongly of guff. Keenness of competition is necessary not only for improvement of a sport, but also for ensuring that each "player shall find his true level. And there is more sport in contests between men and teams approximately equal in skill than there is in contests between the fit and the unfit. LUGUBRIOUS? Dr. 11. T. J. Thacker and Mr. E. Ij. McKeon want League Rugby dinners to be “toned-up” by the players wearing dark suits and black bows. Evidently they want the proceedings to have a funereal tone! CHEEK! Tex Rickard, promoter of boxing contests, certainly has plenty of assurance. Recently he offered his stadium to the former Archduke Leopold of Austria as a suitable arena in which to settle his alleged differences with Count Szechenyi, the Hungarian Minister to the United States. The offer was made when newspapers reported that the Archduke Leopold, who is now in Los Angeles, had challenged Count Szechenyi to a duel, and that the duel had been accepted, but that the Archduke unfortunately lacked the 5,000 dollars necessary to cover his trip back to Hungary.

Rickard’s telegram to the Archduke was as follows:—“Your Highness, may I not tender to you 5,000 dollars and the expenses of your duel with Count Szechenyi, and also 20 per cent, of the gate receipts, provided the affair of honour is held under my auspices at the Yankee Stadium before Thanksgiving Day, and also provided that it is held with eight-ounce boxing gloves, this offer being subject, of course, to the approval of the Ne*v York Commission.”

It is certain, though, J-at neither th. Archduke nor the count would "tun l?nge Rickard for butt:ner in for duel with him would he outside theiJ code of honour. * r IN PASSING The members of tie Canter burr Rugby League's exec itive may v captives of Dr. Thacker's bow ar’d spear, but they will not become ca-i tives of his bow and collar. DOG IN THE MANGER A curious sidelight or. the Dempsev. Tunney match, which is to be held Chicago on September 22. is thrown by a recent issue of a San Francisco paper. It says: Xew York takes an odd slant cn the proposed Dempsey-Tunney mate Now that it appears there is considerable danger of the championship tilt being staged in Chicago, the Xeiv Yorkers declare that Rickard proaised them the match ar.d sav that he will be called an ingrate if 'he turn* them down. Yet only a brief year ago members of this same Xew York Athletic Commission which is now reminding Rici.ard of his promise was instrumental m driving the promoter out of Xew York City and into Philadelphia. After the deed had been done the New Yorkers came to a realisation of what they were losing. It makes all the difference in the world whose ox is gored. THE BOOKIE’S ERROR A punter who had just made a small bet with his bookie remarked casually, “By the way, Alf, you gimme a bad

half-crown in me winnings over the last race.” “Wot,” snorted the bookmaker, “me? Never! In all the 20 years I have been in business I never gave or took a stumer ’alf-dollar. Why, me lad, I can tell ’em by the touch. Absolute instink, you might say. Any ’ow, I suppose you managed to git shot of it all right?” “Oh, yes,” grinned the punter, as he moved away, “I’ve just given it back to you.” MORE STUPIDITY Some of the people who are associated with the control of sport in Europe seem to be too stupid to understand what amateurism is. Following the foolish decision of the Olympic Games Committee about out-of-pocket expenses for amateur boxers, comes news of the amazing decision of the International Cyclists’ Union Congress at Cologne to permit second-class riders to compete for money prizes without losing their amateur status. The congress solemnly debated the question whether riders who were not skilful enough to compete, with any prospect of success, against first-class professional riders, should be permitted to take part in events h>r which money prizes were offered, ana still remain amateurs! One can imagine a real old - Bull, conscious of his superiority, sh**" ing his head and saying “Foreigners are queer in their ways.” /r* is one occasion on which the old Jcnn Bull fashion of looking at things , tinental could be excused. The eigners who arrived at the highly re* markable decision at Cologne are a cidedly queer in their ways! DISTURBING The futuristic golfer with coloured clubs and a belief that colour concentration was not the only 5® , of a disturbance of the holy c f~ n #hp St. Andrew’s when the contest Wf British open golf championship started. Men of quite another w thinking caused a flutter —but it not the kind of flutter they desr< to The enterprising gentlemen wn vaded the holy of holies of the g world were bookmakers, eager‘to f They were escorted, politely, firmly, from the links. It p books on the open champicnsn-P of course, that golfers a - re .^Y er Z\ f k»betting—perish the thought- . * di _. cause the crying of the odds wj®tract the attention of players trying to concentrate on theirBut what about a silent totans*

Mead's Hundred H undreds.—A ■ ling subscription has been dre d in England to reward theL. l Sniphundreds” of Philip Mead, the Hanj£ shire professional. One rea ®.. jupvanced why it should be * m ported is that Mead, who >vas ... ior , at 'B7. attained the coveted jjap an earlier ag s that either he is ward or Hobbs; another i!l * co mp’ ete the first left- hand batsman to co r the great achievement, tlioug t 0 hard to see precisely whatui do with it. Philip is Surrey-born. might still be playing for svrr a- bly though he was 1 ega "3®“ ‘S „ ive nun promising youth, they didti S he e nough chances at the o ■ • , a( ~ turned his eyes elsewhere, . 4Jte cording to 1i - S. Altham, e ver most readable book on cr .ire written, lie eras so hard up h j s j that he had to walk to n«- Hants Fortunately for tim Surrey are neighbouring counties.