FIRST GET YOUR ATHLETES

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 821, 15 November 1929, Page 14

FIRST GET YOUR ATHLETES

IT is one thin cr to arrange an itinerary l'or overseas athletes, but ■ it would seem to be more important to make sure that they are coming first. This observation is prompted by the fact that the Council of the New Zealand Swimming Association draffed and published a list of fixtures at which two Australian swimmers. Noel JJvan and Keg drier, were to compete during the present season. Unfortunately, ■word has now been received that drier is not comintr to New Zealand, and there seems good ground for the belief that no definite arrangement was made with him, as should have been done before the itinerary was published. The New Zealand Amateur Athletic Association also published an itinerary some time ago in connection -with the proposed visit of a team of Canadian athletes. Now, there seems to be considerable doubt as to whether the (.anadiaiis are coming at all, even with a different personnel from that which was originally published. It is not the first time that sports bodies have had their hopes raised in this manner, only to be disappointed by a protected tour petering out altogether. These false alarms do no good. Where elub.-j or centres count definitely on a visit from overseas athletes, and are then left in the lurch, it means dislocation of their season’s programme, and quite conceivably a financial loss. It is all very well to draft a prospective list of fixtures, hut these itineraries might very well be kept under lock and key in the secretary's office until it is seen that there is a reasonable certainty of them being carried out. To adapt an old proverb: First get your athletes.