LEA VES OF A SPORTSMAN’S NOTE-BOOK

Sun (Auckland), Volume I, Issue 240, 30 December 1927, Page 10

LEA VES OF A SPORTSMAN’S NOTE-BOOK

THE COUNCIL of the New Zealand Football Association, having exhausted its funds, it ought to go into liquidation and allow its members to form a limited-liability company with the title Super-Optimists, Limited Capital, Unlimited Faith. Their faith seems to he that of Micawber. Two years ago the association gained £2OOO from an art union. That money has gone west now, the greatest loss having been on the Canadian team’s tour. Yet the council has been making arrangements for a visit from an Australian team next year, and talking of getting the South African team, which will probably be in the Commonwealth in 1928, to extend its tour to New Zealand. There has been talk, also, of more overseas tours in 1929. But the association will not have any art union to provide it with money to burn. Association football certainly is advancing in New Zealand, and the controlling body’s desire to improve the standard of play is commendable. But it should not attempt to liy before it learns how. The splashing of money on tours by overseas teams before it has brought its finances into such a sound condition that it can withstand the losses of a season of unsuitable weather will only retard the proper progress of the game. MAORIS AND SOUTH AFRICA. ' The complaint which was made by some people in New Zealand about the exclusion of Maori players from the New Zealand Rugby team that is to visit South Africa has been referred to in English papers. London “Sporting Life’s’’ comment on it is:— “New Zealand is not to blame in the matter. It is powerless, so severe is the colour line drawn in South Africa, and even the South African authorities could not countenance the presence of a George Nepia in the side. The Maoris arc, of course, and always have been, welcome over here. They constitute a part of the Empire of which we are proud, but, unlike South Africa, there is no native lation in these isles that might easily constitute a menace if at all encouraged.” THE INDELIBLE DOG. What with trainers who dope their charges, and backers who throw glass bottles at the dogs which they would like to see lose, greyhound racing does not to be quite the cleanest' of all possible sports (says a writer in the “Manchester Guardian.”) The proposal that the Greyhound Racing Association should now insist that each dog should have its name tattooed on its ear—“to eliminate the possibility of substitution” — suggests another variety of undesirable enterprise. Is it that the wicked owner or trainer, having won several races with a brown dog, suddenly decides to dip it in a vat of aniline dye and turn it into a black one in order to baffle the bookies and the Greyhound Racing Association? Or is it—

The powers that be in New Zealand are not going to let the tin hares do wliat the rabbits have done.

since borzois are now being introduced into this branch of sport—that the authorities want to have the authentic greyhound unmistakably and indelibly marked, lest someone should try to introduce one of last year’s candidates for the Derby into the arena at Belle Vue? HIS ERROR. On a very hot afternoon a member of a cricket team utilised his spare time in having frequent recourse to a barrel of cider kept in the pavilion. When it came to the thirsty one’s turn to bat, the captain of the team was dismayed to find that his man was not strictly sober. The skipper, who wanted runs greatly, said to the delinquent:—“Now, look here, Jimmy, you are in a disgraceful state. However, I’ll forgive you if you make a few runs. Be sure you aim at the lefthand ball.” Jimmy went to the crease to be ignobly dismissed by the first delivery he received. When the defeated batsman returned to the pavilion the angry captain said to him:—“'Why didn’t you aim at the left-hand ball as I told you?” “I did,” said Jimmy contritely, “but the mishtake I made was thish: I tried to hit it with the right-hand bat!” VARYING STYLES. Apparently, the English and French styles of Rugby do not blend successfully. A. Verger, who figured with such success at stand-off half when France beat England last April, and who is now in England, could do nothing right in this position for the Harlequins, who thereupon tried him in the centre. Here again Verger somehow did not fit in with the general scheme of thihgs, although it was obvious that he is a player of International standard. Now the Harlequins are moving him out to the wing, and it is hoped that with more space in which to move the flank position will suit him better. Verger himself admits that he finds a big difference between English and French Rugby. The same thing applies, though probably to a less degree, to New Zealand and English Rugby. A case in point is that of K. R. J. Saxon, who played stand-off half for Cambridge and England some five or six years ago. On his return to New Zealand he coached the first fifteen at Nelson College, where he was a master, but, though he played one or two games in firstgrade football he somehow did not fit in, and finally gave up the game. Incidentally, he is now back in England teaching at a school near Cambridge. He assists in the coaching of the Cambridge backs. Another school master, a heavy and aggressive forward who played a hard but scrupulously clean game, recently went to Cambridge. There he played for his college, but was not awarded his Blue, simply, according to another New Zealander, because his play was too hard. MR X. Were they wrestling or fighting bouts that were staged at the Town I-lall on Boxing night? They may have been wrestling.