THE GREAT ATHELETE.

Te Aroha News, Volume V, Issue 266, 23 May 1888, Page 3

THE GREAT ATHELETE .

Tirrc following particulars, extracted from on English periodical, concerning tlio career of Mr A. E. Stoddart, fche crack threequarter back, now touring New Zealand with Lillywhito's team of footballers, will be perused with interest/ : — Those who have watched, and continue to watch, the striking phase of development thiough which the athletic world has parsed during a decade of years* commencing in 1870, arc agicod that \v thing is so remarkable as tlio rapidity with which fche game of football h.'is taken' and maintained its place las a nalnnal game. A careful analysis of the causes of such a happy lesult Jead us^to the conclusion that the pic^ent jwpularity of (ho f-uorf, ih due to the essential opportunities it allot dh for a display of tlic natural and bull-dog chaiaeteusticrf oi the English >ac\ I Muck i-, a necessary adjunct to success in any department ot athletics — to fight an uphill oamc at cricket— to hold out in the last, fifty ot a qua t tor race— to come again in a scveio finish on the wheel — to jump timber in cold blood when your hoi so is ft oh horn covert ; to do all these things, and a huudicd others, need? pluck, but a man may be, and oltcn is, constdcicd a fair .sportsman witliout it. At the sport of football, however, pluck is a s/?«? fjiut lion now, and the jeisoyed giant who has it not is a lew valuable unit than the little child with it,who will lie down befoio the lion, perhaps, but not until he has worried the beast of the forest and caused him to drop his prey. j The second essential for proficiency at this noble game is a quick eye combined with a speedy lowt. The majoiity of those who succeed ;n c men who could make their mai k on any limning giound, and men with a ready powei to make, without hesitation, immediate use of an opening. Again, a good football player must bo a man who can snciifice self for the .sake of side ; who will strain every eflbrt, not to win plaudits of the crowd, but that victory may be nccuied for his own colours. So experience prorcs that the best men, whilst often receiving a minimum of pi ai.se for their share in any great match, have really done a maximum towaids securing the honouis shaied by the fifteen, How often do we not hear the .self-made critic ivading from the leport of a cup tic or international contest and saying, " Well, Jones didn't do much. lies considered a fine player, but I've no opinion of .lones my.self?'' An old hand will smile at hearing such bnldcidar>h, for the odds arc that, the said Jones has made hnlliant inn upon biilliant mn, and hat-, when inside the enemy's twenty five, passed to hi.s wing or his ccntie, who had a better chance than he of: getting behind the line. We ha\e .said but little to show the position held by the sport of football afc the pie^ent season ; if moie were needed it would sullice to point out that within the past three years the Univcioity of Cambridge has allowed its representatives to wear the full blue, so putting the game on a standing with the older branches of ciickct, athletic-; and running. A gentleman ha*, of late .years, come bcioie the athletic woikl who has justly been acioided the fiist position in the counti \ a- an ' all lound "' spoilsman. We icier to Mr A. E. Hloddarl, of the Hhokhenth and JTailequin Football Clubs, who is now twenty four yeais of age. Shange to *-ay, in Mr Stoddai t'- school da\ ■-, he obtained distinction rather as a ciieUcter (ban a- a pi. i\cr ol football, and at once showed lem.ikablo promihC as a batsman. Mr Studdart's school caiccr i\ai an exttaoidinaiy one. In neaily e\ci\ ni.it (.h he played he *coied sixty or scvent\ run 1 -, aiul a season ne\ci passed without his haung put a century to his cicdit ; dining hi.s stay theie he sroied o\ci a hundied 1 uns no Irs-, t Imii I w< I\o tune-, and w ith his fi icmN Ihe leileie^s won many a match. On qmttinu bchnol Mr tttodd.ub loincd the; llainp-tc.id Ciicket and the itai lequin Ko itball Club-, and it was v.hin placing for (he l.tttei thaf ho lirM, came befoie tlie football uoild. E\mcingan evtraoidinai y powei of dodging, and utter unsellishness, a tiemendous pace and unequalled dash, he was a'-Ked by the committee to play foi Middlesex, and did so through thiec or four U',\i* with conspicuous .success. Then hi« brilliant pla> was noticed by a higlier tiibunal, and he leceived the honour ot an invirc to represent his countiy in the lnteinaliond matches. This w r as in the year INS."), and since that day some of his greatest feats ha\e been associated with the io*e and the sihci. Many .v lover of the game w ill journey miles to see Stoddai (" >L - i u-hes on tiie light wing. Assuiedly tluso are well worth .seeing — now dashing towvuK a legular host of the uiemy through whom jou might linagiuca passage was impossible — a sudden dodyo w i(li a quickness almost impossible to follow, u?id he is awa\ again and into the enemy s twenty ti\e. At tunes he ha* been known <o almost jump o\ci a stooping man, to the utter astonishment of that indniuual, and the .spectator in geneial, and his p >wci of diO|>-kickinu with either foot is one the \alue of which it it impossible to gauge. Spe«'»king upon t!ti> point JMr Sloddai t said : ' 1 leant to iKse my left foot in a peeuliai win. I once entered foi the high )ump in the School Athletic Hpoi.l-3 and unluckily .spi aincd my right ankle. Thi.s was annoying, as at. the time football pi.icliee \wis going on actively in the yaid, and I felt out of it, 1 died to kick with my left, loot, and in a few days .succeeded in doi.ig mi. lam veiy glad now tlv.t i exrcricnccd (he accident.' \Vil'h this [)o\vei ol drop kickinu, Mr Stoddart very frequently seoics foi hit. bide, especially when there is a ."ct immage iqion the goal line and i he half back passes out. We htno paid that at school lie gn\e evidence of his icmarkablc batting powei-s. Since loa\ing lie has (Icn eloped fhesc pow ci's until he stands fair to become one ot the moht. prominent amateur batsman in the eountiy. Asa member of the Mampbtead (Hub ho scored man^ contuiios, and in the year ISS.") was chosen to play in the Middlesex team. 'Chore his batting; was much admiied by Messrs Walkei and Webb, and though, during his Hist season, he did not scoie a century for his county, he made seventy-nine on one occasion in really bi illiant foi m. Against the Australians, lie totalled twenty-three only, but hisa\crage for the season was just upon thirty, and at all timcb his iorm was very much admiied. Indeed, he is the acme of a pretty bat, his cutting boon prticularly neat and clean. Mr Stoddnrt's opinions upon the AustiaHans generally may bo worth reeoiding. lie said : '1 consider lliflon the best allround man they possess. lie is a capital bat, and \ciy nearly the equal of I'almer as a bowler. I am pure that Spoflorth is an ovoratcd man, for ] found his pitch and his judgment vastly interior to that ot I 'aimer. The fatter 1 believe to bo the bc&t bowler that the Australians have. The last time that I played against him I hit the first two ■ balls he sent n c for four each, but he then put down a tremendously fast ' Yorker,' and I — as he evidently expected— lei. out at it, and was bowled, Palmer foresaw that 1 should await a half volley, and was icady for me. In this way these men use their heads, and often beat our best batsnu»n.' Our subject, in addition to the above honouis, holds the rceoid for the highest score ever made upon a ciieket field. This was scored in a match played upon the

i ground of fcho lTampsbcid Cricket Club when, .against the bowling of the ' Stoics,' Mr Stoddart scored a total of no less than four hundred and eighty-five runs, without the semblance of a chance. Leaving cricket, we find that as a tennisplayer ho is above the average, as a skater in the front ranks, at billiards he can make his thirty and iorty breaks, and that upon horseback he in rarely far behind the huntsman. We have dwelt, we imagine, quite sufficiently upon his athletic qualifications. We will, therefore, conclude with thefelightObt rcfeiencc to his personality. In height, about 5 feet 10 inches ; in weight, twelve si one; in appearance, extremely goodlooking, with dark hair, biown eyes, a good mouMache, a clean-shaven chin, and a modest and rcHring manner. It may be mentioned that Mr Stoddart was a member of Mr Vciuon's eleven, a team of ciicketei.s that toured Australia last season. While playing with them he made wine splendid sooies with the bat, and latterly, as a member of the English football team, his brilliant and dashing play has earned loi him the warm encomiums of all the southern sporting witors.