Sporting Talk

New Zealand Listener, Volume 16, Issue 393, 3 January 1947, Page 10

Sporting Talk

E have had about nine straight Saturdays of facing in Christchurch, and the trammies say that now the cars trundle out of the sheds on Saturday mornings and make for the course without a hand being laid on them. Station 3YA’s racing commentator rattles out his descriptions with verve and precision, putting us briskly out of pocket. While considering the depth of my. overdraft last week I wondered briefly how I should get on if suddenly faced with a microphone and told to describe a race. There was very little doubt in my mind what would happen-chaos and a dull muttering. I wondered if there was anything I could describe fluently, and finding nothing, went an to assess the merits of sports commentators of different countries. New Zealand was definitely ahead in racing and football; I remembered the English football fan who felt quite faint after listening to Winston Macarthy’s description of a match the Kiwis played in England. It was

hard to pass over the BBC cricket descriptions in favour of Australian commentaries, but observation, accuracy, and deep knowledge finally overcame beautiful voices and urbanity. Boxing went to the Americans without question, and, naturally, baseball and American football. There my knowledge ran out. I've

never heard a Springbok describe a football match, or a Thailam a game of Jai Alai, or Moscow radio a grudge match at chess between the Masters Botvinnik and Keres.