CREW FOR AMSTERDAM

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 318, 31 March 1928, Page 11

CREW FOR AMSTERDAM

CAN THE FUNDS BE RAISED? # PICTON MAN IS SURPRISE CHOICE WITH a cheery optimism the New Zealand Olympic Council has gone ahead and selected an eiglit-oar crew to compete at the Olympic Games at Amsterdam this year. At present the funds are not in sight, but the council evidently hopes for the last minute support of some openhanded financial magnate.

TX any case the support received hardly justifies the hope that another £3.000 can be raised in the short time available. It is a pity, for it is in rowing more than any other Olympic sport that New Zealanders could count on successes. Further, there are some six rowing events on the programme, and the crew’s chances would be as bright, in the four-oar and pair-oar events as in the eights. The honours attached to such victories, and the advertisement derived from such competition, can hardly be overestimated. The Government realises the publicity to be Sained, and will probably subsidise the council in its efforts. The crew selected is almost entirely the crew stroked by Healey in the Possibles-Probables race at Wellington last Saturday. This crew consisted of Healey (stroke), Brooker (7), Brough (6), Morris (5), Styles (4), St. Clair

(3), Brown (2), and McAra (bow). Of this crew McAra is the only one dropped, and to fill his place and to provide two emergencies McLean, Duggan and Oblsson have been selected. The features of the selections are the inclusion of Ohlsson, the dropping of Sandos and Hegglun, and the almost entire absence of Wanganui men. The last feature is hard to understand. The Wanganui Union crew, which carried, off the Champion Fours includes at least two men who must have been considered possible selections, besides Healey, the stroke. These are Moss and Kruse, both very good oarsmen. The Wanganui provincial crew contained another oarsman who had strong claims for inclusion in Carlson. Yet only Healey has been selected. There seems a possibility that the selectors had some feelings of resentment against the Wanganui Association for its apathetic reception pf the Olympic Council. Next to Healey, Sandos, the Hamil-

ton man. was probably regarded as the biggest certainty for the crew. His showing in the Champion Fours was hardly convincing, but not sufficiently bad to justify his complete exclusion. His form in the interprovinciai race, was quite up to past standards, ana one finds it hard to account for his drop from favour. Hegglun is in a similar position. He must be given most of the credit for the wonderful effort of the Wairau crew in the Champion Fours, and he is recognised as a very shrewd and capable oarsman. Possibly his age—he is 46 this year—was the deciding factor in his non-inclusion. SURPRISE SELECTION The surprise selection was Ohlsson, He is a member of the Picton Club’s junior four, which won a couple of races last year, and was picked in the Marlborough provincial eight—rather luckily, it is thought. Very few considered him as a possibility for Olympic honours. He is heavy—l2st 61b, and 6ft lin high, but he can hardly be called a polished oarsman, and he has certainly had very little experience. The remaining members of the crew all have established reputations, and are of remarkable height and physique. The average height of the crew is 6ft 2in, and the average weight 12st 61b. These are two exceptionally high figures for rowing crews. Nearly all the men have previously competed in crews representing New Zealand abroad. Healey, in addition to his war-time experience, stroked the last New Zealand eight in Australia. Brown and St. Clair were also members of that crew. Brough and Brooker have both represented New Zealand in winning fours at the Hen-ley-on-Yarra regatta at Melbourne, and Morris, Styles and Duggan have become known through good senior rowing at Canterbury and Wellington. The remaining man, McLean, is a very outstanding youth, and was considered the best oarsman in the Wellington provincial crew. He weighs well over 13st, and is very tall. Such a crew may be depended upon to give a very good account of itself. It has every advantage in physique and experience, and there are good coaches available to help it along. UNCLE SAM’S SUCCESS United States crews have won the major rowing events at each Olympiad held since the war. But the New Zealanders need only a fair chance, with a reasonable amount of training and sufficient time for acclimatisation, to : let them uphold the reputation gained by Healey and his men, when they defeated the Americans on the Seine in 1918.