“SWEEPING STATEMENT”

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 927, 21 March 1930, Page 15

“SWEEPING STATEMENT”

CRITICISM OF ATHLETIC CHAMPIONSHIPS WAS MEETING BADLY RUN? Special to THE SUV ’WELLINGTON, Today. 1 Recently the Press Association broadcast a statement by Mr. G. L. Austin, manager of the Canterbury team at the New Zealand ] amateur athletic championship meeting at Wanganui, "that the Wanganui officials, with one or two exceptions, were below par. One or two bad errors had been made in judging, and the whole conduct of the meeting was unsatisfactory.” This is considered in Wellington tn be a very sweeping statement, and quit© uncalled lor under the circumstances. Certainly there were several faults which might well have been rectified, and which the Is.Z.A.A.A. should make sure do not occur at future championship meetings, but a general condemnation of the meeting and its officials was in excess of the mistakes made. . ! Mr. Austin also showed a certain degree of unkindness toward those who had been his hosts for several days, and who- had treated him exceedingly well, if all accounts in that direction are true. If he had complaints to make the correct procedure would have been to forward them to tho j parent body, which could have dealt ; with them in the proper manner, and. j i at the same time, given the Wanganui i l officials a chance to defend them- ; j selves. The manager of the Wellington teamMr. Henry Rose, while not agreeing that all was well with the management of the meeting, said that Mr. Austin’s criticism was “far too drastic.” Ho considers that while there are one or two things that might be criticised, the officials were always most courteous and helpful. Any faults that were exhibited by the officials, said Mr. Rose could only be attributed to inexperience, which was to be expected in a town which is not used to conducting meetings on the scale of nationa* championships. “The Wanganui officials did their best,” he concluded, “and I think it is a great pity that such a criti cism has been levelled against them in view of their untiring efforts to make the meeting a success and the assistance they gave to all visiting teams.” One of the chief complaints may well be levelled at the arrangement of tlie j programme, but it must not be fori gotten that this was submitted to the different centres for their approval, so that they must share with Wanganui in any blame in this direction. It seems that the time has come when the IST.Z.A.A.A. might well set up a standard programme for a two-day meeting, which would obviate such mistakes as

were made this year. One of the most serious errors was in the women’s 100yds championship, the heats, for which started at 2.45 p.m. on Saturday, while the final did not take place until 9.25 p.m. For seven hours the finalists in this event were kept waiting, with the consequence that when they faced the starter at a late hour in the evening, they were keyed up to such an extent that something likv* seven false starts were made. There were also other blemishes in the order of events. For instance, the 220yds event was held before the 100yds or tho same day, a fatal mistake where championships are concerned, and there were several other ways in which the programme could have been altered to advantage. This, however, wa? more the fault of the individual centres than it was of Wanganui. UNRELIABLE INFORMATION The programme was also unreliable in its information about past cham pionships, but here again somebody else was to blame, and not the Wanganui officials. The Management Committee of the Hew Zealand Amateur Athletic Association should have seen that Wanganui was provided with the correct information. There -are also said to have been one or two little blemishes in the judging which should not have occurred, particularly in tho walking events, but these may be only a matter of opinion, for many judges differ as to when a walk becomes a run. Certainly the judges stand too near to the tape, which was probably responsible for what are alleged to be mistakes. Boiled down, the whole complaint seems to centre round the fact that the Wanganui officials were inexperienced, and the New Zealand Association must decide in one or other of the following directions for future championship meetings. Hither the national championships must be reserved for one of the four centres each year, so that officials of experience may be used to control the meeting, or else the parent body must appoint a manager, together with a small staff, to journey several days beforehand to the town where the championships are being held and to place them in sole control of the meeting. The latter may lead to some heart-burnings, particularly if the manager is not too tactful, but these are difficulties which may easily bo overcome by a careful choice, and it would make all the difference in the future conduct of championship athletic meetings.