Personalities In N.Z. Sport

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 785, 4 October 1929, Page 7

Personalities In N.Z. Sport

Seven Years Chairman Of Cricket Executive

Although ho lias been in Auckland for the past decade or so, Mr. Xalder ! really comes from the home of cricket in New Zealand—Canterbury. It was there in his early days that he first Played the game to which in later years lie was to render distinguished !Ur. Xalder was born in Lvttelton. and received his secondary school education ut the famous Christ College Grammar School. He plaved foiWalter's House, and in tin- tears Ivi and Ist'2 was a member of the college's first eleven. In those days Mr. Nalder was also a keen Rugby footballer, and t « e 7 ? arne years he played in the Christ College first fifteen. j There is little doubt that the ranks lot club and .perhaps representative i cricket in Canterbury lost a promising | colt when Mr. Nalder's occupation ! Idol; him into the wilds of the back

A CKl(_ KLI LK to the fintrer-tips. aiu 1 a follower of the King of Games whose enthusiasm for the sport mat he equalled, but certainly cannot be surpassed, by anyone else 111 Auckland, Mr. Ernest Edward Xalder was re-elected to til '' presidency ot the management committee of the Auckland f ricket Association on Tuesday evening for the seventh successive year.

BLACKSMITH SOLVED PROBLEM

llio siuri oi the modern combined Same in A'ew Zealand Rugby is generally ascribed to tin- Alhambra Club ot Dunedin in the late eighties. Mow the position now known as the fiveeighth came into being:, and how the term "live-eighth” was invented by a Canterbury blacksmith is described by Mr. W. G. Garrard in his historv °l “Canterbury Rugby Union Football," as follows: This season (ISS9) was marked by a visit of the Alhambra Club from Dunedin. which played Merivale, which was solidly beaten. In*this game combination as seen in the English team and" by the Native team (on its return from England) was most noticeable. The Otago Club was the first team to bring prominently before the Canterbury public the style which is now' such a feature of all games. The Alhambra Club, although not possessing many individual players of great merit, clearly showed that combination was the best asset of a side. The game was much discussed by all L'ollbwers of the sport, and a determined effort was later put forth bv Canterbury clubs to follow' the example set by the famous club. In addition to the combination shown by the visiting club a further innovation was noticed. The Alhambra only played one half-back. or. in other words, one player did the work that in the past had been done by two. He worked at the base of the scrummage, and his companion stood between him and the tlireequarter line. After the game the Alhambra Club, which was naturally proud of its style, discussed the whole change with its opponents. The writer was present at the discussion. A then wellknown Merivale player took some time to grasp the situation, and demanded to know what position this back between the half and threequarters was in. The visitors had no name for the position. The questioner was a blacksmith by trade, and he clinched the argument by stating, if the player was not a halfback or a threequarter he was between the two, and therefore was a five-eighths. Thus was the term first used which has become now a recognised position on the field, although in England, which subsequently followed the iead of the colony, he is called the stand-off halfback. At the time two wing forwards were played and the two-tliree-two formation was in existence, with one halfback. the extra back, three threequarters and a fullback. The change to one wing-forward and two backs between the half and threequarters came some years later. From this time heeling became an obsession by all clubs, even if the sides had no backs of calibre to play to. and forward play commenced to deteriorate.

i-ountry in South Canterbury, where it was impossible for a man to take an active part in the game. In later years. Mr. Nalder moved t.» Hawera. iu Taranaki, and lie lost no time in identifying himself with the administrative side of the game. Wuh others he built up the spoil in Tar naki. rendering valuable service as an umpireMr. Nalder has seen no iessthan 20 years’ service as an umpire. Coming to Auckland in 193 7. 31 r. Nalder continued as an umpire, ;v - though he has never joined up wita the Umpires’ Association. In RUT lie was elected a vice-president ol the Auckland Cricket Association. and took his seat on the management committee in the days when Professor 11. Dettmann. professor of mathematics at the Auckland University uolleg-. was chairman of the executive. BIG YEAR AHEAD In 1933. when Professor Dettmann Kit for Sydney. Mr. Nalder was elected to the chairmanship in his stead, and since then has occupied that position. "NYith the coming visit of the M.C.C. side to New Zealand on an extended tour, Mr. Nalder as head of the Auckland Executive, which will control two matches at Eden Park, one of which is it test, will have a particularly

Apart from his connections with cricket. Mr. Nalder is a keen golfer and for the past five years has been secretary of the Glendowie Golf Club. He is one of the Auckland Cricket . Association's three representatives «*n , tin Eden Park Board of Control—the j body which administers the park for ■ both Rugby football and cricket. Mr. Nalder went to isouth Africa in l 901 with the second reinforcements and took part in the Boer War. j Despite the object of the visit, the New Zealanders found time for cricI ket on occasions, and when l»is resij ment was stationed at Barberton. ; near the Portuguese border, Mr. j Nalder met Captain G. E. Wynyard. the English -cricketer, who lead the M.C.C. team which toured New Zeai kind in 1906-7. That side included the : later famous "Johnny-Won’t-Hit-To-day” Douglas, a future English test I captain. It was during that tour also that New Zealand, by defeating the visitors by 56 runs in tne first test, inflicted its first defeat on England in New Zealand. As a vice-president of the Aucki land Cricket Association, Jlr. Nalder follows in the wake of many famous , names in the history of the game in i Auckland—A. N. Snedden. N. T. Williams. IS. Hesketh, R. B. Lusk, and Sir , James H. B. Coates, being a lew of i the better remembered.