‘WAS BADLY MANAGED"

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 921, 14 March 1930, Page 13

‘WAS BADLY MANAGED"

CRITICISM OF DOMINION TENNIS TOURNEY UMPIRES’ BODY NEEDED Specie! to THE SC. Y WELLINGTON, Tod a; The attendances of the public at this year’s New Zealand tennis championships were not so great as has been the case in previous t > ears, but the drop was not nearly equal to that at first anticipated. A report in connection with the Chainj pienship tournament, which was held at Miramar in the middle of January, j was submitted to the quarterly meeting of delegate* held in Wellington this | week. The financial position has not j yet been worked out. said the report. | but the loss will not be as great as ! was anticipated at the outset. For the | first time in the history of the game | the national tournament had been held jat other than the holiday period at Christmas and the New Year, which had been an experiment, but indiea- { tions were that it was mainly success- ! ful. especially in the standard of play, j which was the chief reason for the alteration from the usual dates. The committee further stated that it believed that the disabilities experienced would be overcome in the course of a year or two and that the dates would be found the best for future tourna- | ments. ; Seeing that these details were cm- ! tained in the report it was only to be i expected that certain grievances which had been voiced at various times should find an outlet at the meeting of delegates. Mr. Watson, secretary of the Wellington Association, was the first to step into the breach, declaring that the tournarpent had be n badly managed and that there had been far too much dawdling, especially r.t the start of the tournament. Mr. Watson, however, was not sufficiently primed on his subject, a.:id though he expressed a number if grievances which were quite common to spectators and players alike at the national tourney, he was not in a position to drive his plaint home. The consequence was that Mr. D. Murray Kean, secretary of the New Zealand Association and manager cf the national tournament, had no difficulty in “blowing him out.” Mr. Kean said that one wet day and a dearth of umpires was the sole reason for the delay, and he did not see how those things could be overcome. Neither did the delegates. NEED FOR UMPIRES

The discussion, however, was not yet ended, for Mr. G. N. Goldie continued it by stating that things would never be better until an umpires’ association had been formed, as was the case in all other organised sports. There was no doubt, he said, that several of the umpires who had officiated should rot have been allowed to do so, and they had quite frankly admitted that they were not qualified. The manager of the tournament was not in a position to refuse their services, and had he done so the tourney w'ould have been still further delayed.

Judging by the arguments of Mr. Goldie and others it eeems to be quite time that each centre formed a tennis umpires’ association which could thus supply men trained and capable of controlling a tennis match, particularly where championships are at stake.

Such associations should be in a position to appoint linesmen as well as umpires, and the latter should bo graduated through the ranks of the former, thus supply-

ing what has been a long felt want in New Zealand.

The most unfortunate part of the whole discussion was that even after it had been proved that an umpires* association had become a necessity to the game in the Dominion no move was mad.© by delegates to bring it into existence with the consequence that future championship tournaments will probably be held under exactly the same unsatisfactory conditions that have existed in each of the centres during the summer which is now rapidly passing. Perhaps the New Zealand Association’s delegates consider that the first move should be made by the provincial associations. Even so, but it would have been a good tiling for the parent body to give its affiliated associations a lead in the question.