ATHLETICS. (By Actæon in the "Auckland Star."

Te Aroha News, Volume VI, Issue 362, 24 April 1889, Page 3

ATHLETICS. (By Actæon in the " Auckland Star."

FOOTBALL. Says the Sydney "Bulletin," on what) ! authority I know not:— Theieis a consonsus of opinion amongst English football playero that Tabby Wynyaid, ot tho Maori team, is tho bosb chop .kick of this generation. " Jack " Cosson and " Goorgo " Smart aie both in Melbourne now and they ara forming another New Zealand football team. It will principally bo composod ot old Auckland boys. The last 3 heard of "Bob" Whitesido was that he had loft Melbourne and wasnow located somewhere in Tasmania, at Launcoston my informant believes. , A late ariivil from tho Victorian raotropolis conttadicts the statement that has been going round tho town that " Tommy " Brown was very ill with typhoid foyer. lie sayfe that the ex-C-irutoon back has got a good billot, and has had the best of health while ho has been in Melbourne. The football editor of the "Weekly Pi ess " doubts my statement about Taylor that he played for the Christchurch Club. If the said editor took tho trouble to ask some ot ■the? members of feho Club in question, 1 fancy he \Vouid Hud Taylor played pome cluee seasons back, sometimes for the first though often tor the second fifteen. A correspondent wishes to know which of the Auckland halfbacks scored, the most tries last year in practice njatcjics, " reps " and Senior Cup matches. I fancy Stephenson is the boy, bat if anyone has tho iigurQss he might pass them along to Act. con, who did not keep such I'm accurate record. Says the " Athletic News.,'" speaking oj' the Ivlaoiis' match with England:" — "Though they arc quite as heavy as tho blackb, and had an extra man in the scrummage, it seems funny that they should not have held their own in the pack. lam inclined to think the Maoiis would h^o done better had they kept the ball closer. However, they know best. The great featuic of tho blacks' play is then good combination, remarkable sharpness on tho ball, and smart tackling. I must not, however, forget to say a word in tavour of Warbrick, who certainly played a grand gamo ab back, although he made one bad mistake. The Maoris have, on tho whole, no reason to be dissatisfied with the result. They played up w r cll all through, and, as they themselves readily admitted atterwaids, were beaten by a much better hfteen. With the exception of Joe Wai brick, tho visitors were playing their full strength."

ATHLETICS. The Auckland Amateur Athletic Club does nob belong to the Kew Zealand Amateur Athletic Association, and it id not ad- \ isa.ble that it should. The Auckland definition of an amateur dates futther back than the Southern one, and the adoption ot a new one Mould give endless tiouoleand cause much heaitburning, and things are best as they are. No Southern athletes -a-ro likely to come up to compete heio, and a« there is really nothing to be pained by ib things are best as they are. It would, however, be a good idea if next year a championship meeting for the colony were airanged. The Auckland Club would bo »ure to waive all question ot i.he date of the amatcms and be content to, accept the Southern definition as tho basis tor the nonce. The meeting might be held tit Christchurch or Dunedin, and would be bound to attract a large attendance. This X only a suggestion, but as the Wellington Club seems anxious to meet the Canterbury Club at some such meeting it might be as well if the idea was extended and a colonial meeting arranged. Auckland could send a very fair team, though all our times don't come up to tne leootds of tho Southern athlete-.'. We would have B. Owen, H. H. L),ivy, T. 11. Moresby and .Elmslie to choose fiom for our splint men, iK. B. Lusk for anj- distance up to a, mile, ■Owen and Lusk foi the hurdles., Upfill, J. 'J. and H. Poland ior the jumps, Buchanan and Clarke for the bicycle events, and others according to uhab programme was anangecl, A warning has been given amateur athletes that tho go\erning body heic intends to strictly enforce the rules of the club by the example made ot the member disqualified last week for mnning in a professional race and the caution gi\cn io a couple of otheis. Jt is only by &trict adherence to tho laws laid down that the ranks of amateur athletes here can be kept pure. Says a writer in the N.Z. " Referee :'' I heard several athletes commenting on Eeeves's performancein thol2oyd Handicap, .after he had won the final of that e\ent. Some doubts wore cast on the correctness of the distance and time. Thinking the matter over, it does, seem somewhat lemarkable that a uanner here should make such times, when hundiedsol&printei'sin the old country who are rumiing meeting after meeting, and employ a professional trainer to make them '* as lit as tnc proverbial fiddle, SJ are unable to get within even time. Certainly W. P. Phillips and F. T. Ritchie, two English amateuia, are credited with running the distance m 11 4 sth .sec, while Lockton, Junker, and L. E. Myers aie the only men who have a rccoi d of 12sec agains. t their name?. All afc their best, could Reeves run the three last-named level, and tie with Ritchie and Phillips, only receiving 3yd (at modt) ? I think not— nor yet with s;yd in his favour from each.

SASKBAIiL. Some of the most prominent ciicketers in Cbristchuich have ioimeda baseball club. Heie is a hint for local players. The most expert oi the American pitchers adopt a system of practice as follows : — A ' common barrel-hoop two feet in diameter is suspended at a height of two feet from the ■ ground. The pitcher stands off at the re-, quired distance — 50 feet — and throws Che ball through the hoop. A halt-hour's practico daily will soon bring the most erratic thrower into a regular and accurate delivery, and any two men following this' course, who have the aptitude ior the positions of pitcher and catcher, will be in great demand by our local clubs in the near future. I hear that a number of cricketers who have no particular interest in football intend playing baseball during the winter. Several members of the Devonport Club are enthusiastic footballers and that club will be weakened during the winter months, but they feel confident that they will always be able to raise a team to meet any visitors. I see that a number of the settlers at Okaihau, Bay of Islands, have .established a baseball club there. Several of them played the game in the States in the old times, and have a very fair idea of it.

CYCLING. I made no reference in my notes last week to Buchanans win in the 25-mile bicycle championship. The- win was a very popular one, and one that was fully deserved. Buchanan rode a splendid race from starL to finish, going consistently throughout, rarely spurting but keeping at it andleading the others at a merry pace, lie is without doubt our best rider over a long distance, and I doubt if there are any down South who could show him the way round. Tmie 32min. 17&ec. breaks tho champion

record for the colony, but it would have been knocked about; still worse if Buchanan had boen pressed in the latsb throe miles. Though he had not slackened off porceptibly, ho was yet taking ib easy, and finished anything but "done." 110 was &o libtlo aflected by his ride that a quarter oi an hour after tho finish he was playing in a game of football. Clarko, who was second, rode a fine race, and I am suro ho would have made the champion no ov.es out at, the, linish it he had ridden a smaller machine. A fiity-soven score would, I fancy, be quite big enouph for long .dibbances, for his machine tjeeinod to him needless exertion. , On Tuesday evening Langdon made an attompb to beabtho mile recoid (2ix>ih 50 1 5 soe. ) made by Is. Ball at the Chrtetchurch BicvqlQ Club,'? sports o,u, January 1> of tlie present year, bub tailed. He had as pacemakers McKay and North, who took their man along in good style, and ib is thought that Langdon would have accomplished hig selt-impo^ed task had ho taken the corners better. As it was, he .covorod the di&tanco in the oflicial time of 2min ,51sec. — "Canterbury Time?."