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The New Zealand Railways Magazine, Volume 14, Issue 11 (February 1, 1940)

Panorama of the Playground — Will They Better The Record?

page 61

Panorama of the Playground
Will They Better The Record?

On February 17th four of New Zealand's best milers will make an attempt on the world record of 17 min. 16 1/5 sec. for the fourmile relay, each man covering one mile. While wishing the challengers all the luck in the world, I am not wishing to be a pessimist when I state that they have but a remote chance of achieving their ambition. At the time of writing the personnel of the New Zealand team was not known, but the most logical selection would be Boot, Matthews, Pullar and Wade. To better the existing record, the New Zealanders would have to average 4 min. 16 1/2 sec. for each mile. This is time seldom done in competitive miles in New Zealand, but in the record attempt each runner would have to make his own pace, unless another team could be fielded capable of making the earlier pace. Boot, Matthews, Pullar and Wade make the best quartette of New Zealand milers in our athletic history, but the task of beating a record made in competitive racing is always difficult—and well-nigh impossible in unpaced racing. The venue will be the fast track at Masterton, where Randolph Rose set his New Zealand record of 4 min. 13 3/5 sec.

D.F.C. for New Zealand Athlete.

A few years ago patrons at the annual track and field championships of the Wellington Secondary Schools' Association paid little notice to the efforts of a long-legged competitor in the high jump and running events, but if that same athlete were to visit Wellington to-day it is safe to assume he would have the bands out to lead him in a triumphal procession. That “long-legged competitor” is Frank Long, son of a well-known Masterton businessman, was recently awarded the Distinguished Flying Cross as a reward for his splendid flying feat in bringing a bomber back from Germany after the fabric had been torn from the wings. Frank Long is typical of the youth of New Zealand and an incentive to the hundreds enlisting with the Royal New Zealand Air Force.

Rules Rule the Game.

It has always been my viewpoint that instead of postponing an Olympic Games because of war the proper thing to do would be to postpone the war during the progress of the Games. This was done in the earliest days of the Olympic movement, many years B.C., but apparently civilisation has moved along since those times. Cable messages from America indicate that this viewpoint has been discussed unofficially, but little hope is held out for a successful outcome. It is a wise man who changes his opinion—consistency is the refuge of fools—and I do not want to be classed as an utter fool! I have changed my viewpoint. My opinion was that a “postponement” of the war during the Olympic festival would enable the individuals to meet in friendly combat with the possible result that the battle would not recommence. So far, so good. But, after reading where the Scottish Rugby Union refuses to allow Rugby matches between soldiers of England and Scotland to be played because the English team included a Rugby League player, and where a Rugby match between French and English soldiers might have to be abandoned because the French take the commonsense viewpoint that professional sports status should be ignored during the war and all sportsmen rank as equals, whereas the English view is against this, I feel that sport is not such a strong force in the world after all. If men, fighting a common fight, cannot be allowed to act as men it is time the sports authorities went into a “blackout” and left sport to look after itself. The bugbear of all sport is the rules which make the game secondary to the control of it.

Plunket Shield Cricket.

Auckland's success in the Plunket Shield series this season was deserved. The northerners lost the first match, when a heavy rainstorm saved Wellington from almost certain defeat after Auckland had been behind on the first innings, but the subsequent matches revealed Auckland to be the bestbalanced team in the competition. To M. Wallace, making his first appearance as coach-captain of the northern team, must credit go for playing a captain's game when things were not going well and his success in knocking up a double century climaxed a brilliant debut. Many players fall by the wayside when burdened with the cares of captaincy, but the truly great player will rise to the occasion. Such a player is Wallace, who was picked out by sound English critics as a rising international star. While Wallace was consolidating his position, another New Zealander, Clarrie Grimmett, was helping to make history in Sheffield Shield contests in Australia. Already nearing a record for the number of State games, Grimmett seems to have lost none of his guile with the ball and after South Australia had lost Bradman for “a duck” and seemed to be up against it in the match against Queensland, Grimmett came to light. With inspired bowling he took three wickets without a run being scored and the score-board showed six wickets down for only one run! His bowling turned the tide for that innings, but Queensland eventually won the match.

The Invention of Basketball.

There died in America a few weeks ago, Dr. James Naismith, the man who introduced basketball into world sport. As a result of a careless remark, Dr. Naismith was challenged to introduce a new game. Here is how it happened. Hearing a renowned Physical Educationalist state that “there is nothing page 62 page 63 new under the sun; all we imagine to be new is merely an adaptation of things already existing.” Dr. Naismith declared that if such was the case there was nothing to prevent him from inventing a “new” game. A few weeks later he was placed in charge of a college gymnasium that had been losing support and told to invent a “new” game. He analysed the many sports that had been tried and did away with the rough tactics of polo, Rugby, lacrosse and other contact games, at the same time using some of the characteristics of those games. He used two peach baskets as goals, drew up thirteen rules, and gave the world basketball. Fifty years later he was guest at an international basketball display at the Olympic Games in Berlin. In the interim the sport that had started as the result of a jesting remark had swept the world and to-day is recognised as one of the best body developers for male and female. It is given to few to invent a new game, and fewer to see that sport develop into a world-wide sport.

News from Overseas.

Overseas mails have brought me many seasonal greeting cards from American wrestlers who have competed in New Zealand in recent years. From Dick Raines, popular Texan grappler, came, also, a long letter in which he mentions seeing a newsreel of New Zealand troops in training, of how the people in Minnesota are definitely pro-Ally and how it is felt certain the Americans will come into the war. “I like lots of peace, even if I have to fight for it!” says Dick, who sends his regards to New Zealanders. Ignacio Martinez, smiling Spaniard, sent a card from Honolulu, where he had recently won the championship of the Hawaiian Islands. Apparently the tall fellow is wrestling with great success. Rollend Kirchmeyer, the tallest wrestler ever seen in New Zealand, also forwarded a card, posted at Auckland while returning to America. He promises to come back when “Hitler has had that ‘mo’ of his trimmed.” Andy Moen, after a successful season in Australia, forwarded a card from Minneapolis, and asks that his greetings be conveyed to the many friends who sent him foreign coins during his stay in New Zealand.

Visiting Australian Cyclists.

Considerable interest is being taken in the tour of New Zealand by a small team of Australian cyclists, and the success of the men is in keeping with the standard shown by Australians who have paid visits in former years. From the day when Cecil Burness came in 1924, until this year, New Zealanders have seen only a few Australian stars, but the quality has more than compensated for the lack of quantity. However, it will take a good cyclist to obliterate the memory of that dashing pedaller, R. W. (“Fatty”) Lamb, who did so much to popularise the wheel game among New Zealand amateurs. “Fatty” had a personality possessed by few sportsmen and was instrumental in placing the sport on a firm basis throughout the Dominion. He was followed by two Olympic representatives, Duncan Gray (sprint champion) and Jack Standen. It will be interesting to gauge the improvement of New Zealand cyclists since the visit by Gray and Standen, whose path was made easier by an unfortunate accident to Frank Grose, at that time New Zealand's best track rider.

Watty McKay.

The First Echelon of New Zealand's Second Expeditionary Force contained many well-known sporting personalities and many more have gone into camp with the Second Echelon. Among the non-commissioned officers in the Maori Battalion is Watty McKay, formerly of Waerenga-a-hika College, Gisborne. McKay represented New Zealand Maoris against a New Zealand team at Rugby, played for New Zealand at hockey, represented Hawke's Bay at cricket and took a prominent part in many other sports. Those who remember A. P. Kaipara, mercurial Maori Rugby representative, will only need to be told that McKay was a “second Kaipara” to realise his football ability. In the match against New Zealand at Athletic Park, he received the ball on his own line, juggled it on his right hand while he dashed down the side-line, with inches to spare, and scored a brilliant try. A photograph of this was used as the front-page illustration of a wellknown sporting weekly and reproduced in many parts of the world as a sporting photograph with the essence of motion and grace.