SPORTSMAN’S

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 181, 21 October 1927, Page 7

SPORTSMAN’S

LEA VES OF A

NOTE-BOOK

IT IS UNFORTUNATE th-at the circumstances do not permit of the New Zealand Rugby team which is to visit South Africa next year being fully representative of this Dominion, Tince Maori players have not been given an opportunity to TviD places in the team. But the exclusion of Maoris was inevitable, simply because of the conditions which prevail in South Africa. Those people who have been making a fuss on the subject have been blind to important considerations. I yield to no one in my admiration of the Maori who is true to the traditions of his race, and I know that the bad Maori is no worse than the bad pakeha. The Maori is of much the same racial origin as the Englishman, the Scot, the Welshman, and the Irishman, but the conditions of his life and environment through long ages, and an infusion of the blood of another race, have given him a darker skin. But the negroes who so outnumber the whites in South Africa do not know this, and cannot be expected to know it. In the present stage of the negro’s development, it is essential not only for the peace of the white man, but also for the peace of the negro himself, that the social and political dominance of the white man in Africa shall not be threatened If negroes in South Africa saw, or heard of, brown men playing -with whites the news v/ould run through their masses like fire through stubble, and the flames of a restless demand for social and political equality would be fanned. The Maori has political and social equality with the pakeha in New Zealand, but he should remember that he is at a much higher stage of cultural development than the average South African negro, and that he has been in the British Empire about three times as long as many of the blacks in South Africa, and so has had a much greater opportunity for learning citizenship according to its modern conception. Even if the proportion of coloured folk to whites -were the same in South Africa as in New Zealand—instead of being reversed—there would still be good reason for retarding the admission of the negro to social equality with the white in Africa. Another point that is overlooked is that the New Zealand team will go on tour next year at South Africa’s invitation. It is not good form for a guest to dictate the terms on which his host shall receive him. The only alternative to acceptance of the invitation as it was framed was refusal of it. Refusal of it on the ground that Maori players were excluded would have been tantamount to a declaration that South Africa did not understand its own affairs. POLITENESS! During a Scottish county cricket match in which Aberdeenshire was en gaged, one of the supporters of that county took a cigar-case from his pocket and turned politely to the man sitting next to him. “Do you smoke?" he inquired. “Oh yes," replied the other eagerly. The Aberdeen gentleman took out a cigar and lit it. “I just wanted to make sure," he ex plained. “Some people object to cigar smoke." PSEUDO-AMATEURISM. Here is an English paper’s comment on the International Olympic Committee’s decision that amateurs may be paid for broken time when competing at the Games. It is from ‘Sporting Life":— “The volte-face of the International Olympic Committee in the matter of amateurs and loss of wages has caused consternation in this country. That an agreement should have been made with the representatives of the International Football Federation that amateurs may be reimbursed through their national associations, by payments to their employers, for time lost from work to prepare for, and take part in, the Games, is a bombshell to all in the United Kingdom who have fought long and strenuously for the Games to be really afnateur. “The abrogation of the Rome resolution demanding that every competitor at the Games should be above suspicion, and should not be reimbursed for wages or salary lost when competing in, or preparing for, an Olympiad, has staggered the athletic and .foot-

ball circles of England. It has altered the whole basis of things, as it is a proclamation to the world that a fun- ' damental principle of amateurism is not regarded by the Olympic Commit- i tee as worth preserving. “Semi-professionalism has now been legalised. The Games are no longer amateur even in theory. By its ill-advised action the Olympic Committee has opened the door to all sorts of abuses, and now that, the pseudo-amateur will be eligible to compete, why not abolish all pretence, and throw the Games open to everybody irrespective of status? Athletes would then know exactly where they were, and they certainly do not know that now." It seems, however, from references to the subject in other English papers, that only Association football will be affected by this strange decision of the International Olympic Committee. In virtually all the other sports payment for loss of time is forbidden already by the rules of the International Federation governing those sports. MAIL! If all the letters that Jack Dempsey receives in one day were placed end to end they would reach 6500 “letterlengths"—and you may work that out for yourself. Then add to that 500 “telegram-lengths,” check your result, and you have discovered for yourself something that the American prize-fight press agents do not state. What they do state—and it is rather an interesting tit-bit—is that the exheavyweight champion of the world receives, on an average, 6000 letters a morning—sooo from fans, and 1000 on business. Further, on the eve of a battle that number is more than doubled. The fans -want everything from autographs to information about the size of his shoes, and Dempsey’s two secretaries answer them all. It certainly sounds all right, but Dempsey’s “suit of mail" did not protect him much against Tunney! EVERGREEN! Tom Reece, prominent English billiards expert and inventor of the “pendulum" shot, tells the following delightful story in relating the many experiences of the late John Roberts, jun., whom he regards as the “W. G. Grace” of the cuist’s art. It was in a large public billiards room that several amateurs were discussing the relative merits of the various star cuemen of that period. One talked of Stevenson, another of Inman, a third of Reece, but an old fellow in the corner of the room demolished all their arguments, with withering scorn. “There’s only one billiards player in the world," he announced, “and that is John Roberts. No player is fit to hold a candle to him, and there is not a player living who’ll ever beat him.” “Don’t you think," someone observed, “that Anno Domini will beat him sooner or later?" The old man in the corner spat disgustedly. “Him!" he fairly snorted. “No, certainly not. I say no English player will beat him, let alone one of those bloomin’ Italians!" WHAT A LOSS! Even sporting papers condemned a project to hold greyhound races in. England on Sundays. The objection was not to individual sport or teamgames for recreation only, on Sundays, but to organised games and sports being held on the Sabbath for the express purpose of profit. So the project was abandoned. Yet the humorous side of sport has lost something by that abandonment. If the expressed intentions of the promoters had been carried out the result would have been comic. All the bookmakers, were to be reminded that nothing was to be done by them that might be contrary to the traditions of the Sabbath. Presumably they would have dressed in black broadcloth, instead of “loud" tweeds, j and have worn white chokers. Not for them, on that day, the loud, rough voices in which they # would yell the odds on week-days. * Instead, they ■would have chanted in parsonical tones. There was to be no shouting by the spectators. Perhaps they were to sing hymns to encourage their favourite dogs! Mr X.