N.Z. SWIMMERS ABROAD

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 918, 11 March 1930, Page 11

N.Z. SWIMMERS ABROAD

REPRESENTATIVES FOR EMPIRE GAMES AUCKLANDERS PREFERRED With New Zealand swimming representation at the British Empire Games next August at London, Canada, contemplated, the Auckland Swimming Centre last evening suggested Gordon Bridson and Miss Gladys Pidgeon as the swimmers with the principal claims to the tour. The centre will send a recommendation to the council of the New Zealand Swimming Association for the restriction of the Dominion’s representation to two. Should funds permit, four swimmers—Bridson and Miss -Pidgeon, of Auckland, L. J. Moorehouse, Canterbury, and Roy Calder, Otago—could be sent. A letter from the council asked if the centre would be prepared to subscribe £l5O toward the expense of sending Bridson, who ranked with Moorehouse and Calder as a possible representative. The council had £250 in the Overseas Representation Fund, but it was not inclined to expend this sum, as it would be devoted to representation at the Olympic Games. EMPIRE V. OLYMPIAD The chairman of the centre, Mr. J. Enwright, was definite that he would not assist in the future in the question of New Zealand representation at Olympic Games assemblies, although he had previously done so. Mr. Enwright contended that swimmers competing in foreign countries were at a tremendous disadvantage' and could not do themselves justice. ITis motion recommending the New Zealand Council to use the money to send swimmers to the Empire Games in preference to the Olympic Games was carried. Mr. D. Mulvihill was emphatic that Miss Pidgeon’s claims for selection were superior to those of Calder and Moorehouse. He pointed out Miss Pidgeon’s supremacy in Australia and New Zealand as a breaststroke swimmer. Reliable information said Calder was not equal to Australian divers and Moorehouse was certainly slower than three Australians in the branch in which he specialised—backstroke swimming. He had been given a chance at the Olympic Games at Amsterdam in 1928. It would be granted that Bridson had prior right to selection, said Mr. Mulvihill, in moving the submission to the council of Miss Pidgeon’s name in the list of nominees. Other speakers favoured the proposal, which was carried.