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Salient. Victoria University Student Newspaper. Volume 35 Number 6. April 11, 1972

Easter Tournament

page 13

Easter Tournament

Easter Tournament

Victoria Wins

...Debating

Those of you who didn't get to see Victoria win the 'Joynt Scroll' for the fourth successive year missed one of the most brilliant debating coups for many years. There is an old legal maxim, "Ignorance of the law is no excuse." It is a saying that Otago will not readily forget.

The final of the Joynt Scroll' debates was held on Monday afternoon in the first floor common rooms. Victoria was arguing the affirmative of the motion "That we are poorer for the passing of the fairies end the goblins." Negating were the Otago team. For Victoria - Tim Groser, Peter Boshier end Rob Campbell, undertook a thorough search of the New Zealand Statute Books end in doing so unearthed The Abolition of Fairies end Goblins Act of 1936'. Armed with this act end its subsequent amendments they set about to so bamboozle the Otago team that from the outset it was apparent which team deserved to win. In fairness to the Otago teem, which consisted of Christopher de Hemel, Richerd Stubbs, end Gregory Moore, they lost the debate because none of them knew enough law to deny the existence of the Victoria team's spurious 1936 Act. It was this act more than anything else that threw the Otago team into confusion.

As a tactic it would almost certainly have failed against the more astute Canterbury teem. Obviously Victoria planned the campaign well and played against the weakness of their opponents. But this wasn't their only strength. Messrs Groser, Boshier and Campbell set out to revitalise 'Joynt Scroll'. This they did by injecting it with a combination of excellent wit, bizarre dress, and a degree of informality that Mr Joynt would have considered sacreligious back in 1902 when he donated the scroll.

The Victoria team arrived on the scene dressed in an assortable array of very fine pixie and fairy garb - Rob Campbell was dressed as an Arab and argued the case from the point of view of a Landscapeologist who had lost a considerable fortune when real fairies end goblins were abolished in 1936.

The Otago teem at no stage gave up the fight. They did all that is traditionally expected of a negative team - they cast doubt on the case of the affirmative. As a teem they lacked the technical polish that would allow them to out-manoueverre the Vic debators and they were not extrovert enough to match the wit and frivolity of Tim Groser and his colleagues.

On a serious topic one wonders if Victoria would have won. Otago are competent as anybody when it comes to the formal presentation of an arguement and they would have undoubtedly given Victoria a run for their money. But far too long now 'Joynt Scroll' has been too stiff and stodgy with little in the way of appeal to the audience.

In breaking down the rigid formality of 'Joynt Scroll' Victoria may not be paving the way for first class debating but it is not destroying good debating end at the same stroke it is giving the audience something to enjoy and remember.

Tournament participants emptied 10,000 cans.

Tournament participants emptied 10,000 cans.

Shooting

The Easter Tournament Shooting was conducted at Trentham Range, just out of earshot of the nearest pub. It resulted in a large number of holes being created in several wooden and paper structures set variously at 300. 500 and 600 yds from the intrepid end gallant snipers of six universities. Auckland didn't compete.

Victoria was able to soundly thrash both Lincoln and Waikato, and to put down Otago by a small margin. Unfortunately Massey managed to even more soundly thrash those worthies, followed closely by Canterbury and nearly as closely by Vic. The closeness of the finish is indicated by the margin of 10 points between 1st and 4th out of a possible 1200 per team.

Despite a murderous assault on someone else's target. Peter Buckingham (Otago) managed to top score the first day. The top Vic men was Neville Wynn.

By impressing the local Wellington shooters by being only about 50% long heirs and by being able to speak English, the shooters were invited to the Karori club hut where they continued to impress by drinking twice as much in half the time expected of them., for which thanks must go the the relay running Karori flagon wagon.

Sunday's big event was the Canterbury University Newts Trophy event, in which the Canterbury team, hindered by the presence of the phantom water imbiber in their midst, lost the final to Otago in fine technicolour.

On Monday an 8 man NZU team was gently defeated by a Wellington Assn team - which got rather a shock at their mere 13 points in 1600 winning margin. Top scorer was R. Gilchrist (NZU) ahead of D Codings (Wellington).

The range on both days was capably controlled by Roy Martin who managed to chalk up quite an impressive lineup of jugs for unsuccessful challenges to the marking, in unholy alliance with our various conscripted officers - marvellous what a can of beer in front and a rifle behind will achieve in the way of persuasion.

Report from the Controller

Once again Otago lead the chase for Tournament Shield with Victoria pulling into dismal fifth place behind Canterbury, Auckland and Massey in that order.

After getting off to a very slow and not very encouraging start to billeting about three weeks prior to Tournament we finally reached our target three days before Tournament was due to begin.

With the bulk of the competitors arriving on Friday morning things were not looking too healthy weather wise, but after hurried consultations with "Hughy" upstairs things' were once again back to normal and the hot weather continued for the rest of the weekend.

The lighter side of things got away to a good start on Friday night with a capacity plus crowd for Dangle in the Union Hall, the only casualties being two broken windows, one Thorburn painting and three thousand beer cans.

Again on Saturday night there were capacity crowds for Balls Up, the casualty list being still very much in evidence. The only other function held at Varsity was the Ball on Monday which was a swinging do, but rumour has it that due to the large number of non-paying participants it may have been a disaster.

Other events of note over the weekend were the swimmer from Otago who managed to ride on the top of a bus the full length of Thorndon Quay to the Cenotaph, the Island 'Student who used the servery slide in the cafe as a trapeze, the result being only too evident, and a Vic student who managed, at twenty paces, to demolish an Otago competitors front teeth with a beer can.

In all a successful Tournament, marred only by the vandalism of a few.

Warwyk Oewe.

Climax to the whole weekend was the Dinner, (excellently catered for by the new Student Union Caterers), immediately followed by the Ball.

At the Dinner the six man NZU team was announced for the forthcoming tour to Australia in May. This tour has been on and off staters for the past 4 or 5 years, and it is great to see that arrangements are finally being concluded and that only a relatively small amount of cash still has to be raised to make up for the latest fare increase.

The team selected is:
  • R. Gilchrist (Otago)
  • P. Smith (Lincoln)
  • P. Buckingham (Otago)
  • N. Wynn (Vic)
  • G Adlam (Vic)
  • L Plank (Waikato)
  • Non travelling reserves
  • J. Williams (Massey)
  • N. Robinson (Victoria)

Roll on Massey 1973!!

page 14

Cricket

As at any other occasion where the word "ale" is frequently mentioned (needless to say the same beverage consumed), the tournament cricketers were first to arrive and last to leave. Wellington was well prepared for the onslaught and graciously supplied fine weather, "obliging" billetors and superlative organisation. Unfortunately, Victoria didn't quite manage to maintain such high standards on the field of play and due to our batsman being more anxious to return to the pavilion to ensure their cans didn't get too warm while they batted, the side's potential run-scoring machine never realised itself.

Frequent failures of the upper and middle order batsmen (with Gary Bevan a notable exception) hampered our efforts in either setting totals or chasing them. However the side fielded well and the bowlers (John Greenwood particularly) made it difficult for the opposition to score freely. Overall we recorded 4 losses (2 in the last over of the match) and a good win over Canterbury.

Auckland with several tournament veterans, were the eventual and deserving winners. Otago and Lincoln were, close behind, with Massey ending with a whimper after initial successes. The threat from Waikato never looked like materialising while one's imagination can decide where the other two teams finished.

With 40-over games being played the standard of play was, amazingly enough, very high, although it dropped in direct proportion to the piss supply over the 6 days. Moreover, from the undisguised smirks on the faces of certain players, successes were not confined to the cricket arena. In fact such comments as, "That was a bloody hard one" and "Mr Umpire, I'd like to appeal against the light... it's too bloody bright", testify to the fact that 6 enjoyable days were spent in dispersing red leather balls the length, breadth and height of Karori Park. Incidentally for those interested in body counts and such like data; during the tournament 288 wickets were captured, 6,480 runt scored and 11,620 balls bowled... an incredible amount of balls.

Rick Priest.,

Athletics

University Athletes ended an era in true champagne style at the N.Z.U. Easter Tournament as they provided effervescent competition in the last official meeting on the much maligned Evans Bay track.

Otago, once again, proved too strong overall. However, their dominance was not as marked as in previous years, with Massey and Victoria, in particular, fielding strong teams.

In typical university style there was a flamboyant mixture of good and sometimes extremely fine performances which belied the rather casual atmosphere and defeated the blustery winds and sadly crumbling track at Evans Bay.

Individually, the outstanding competitors were Gail Wooton (Waikato) and Phil Kear (Vic). Gail won a total of five events; the 100,200. 400 metres track events; the 100 metres hurdles and the long Jump. She is currently National champion over 200 metres. Phil (national 400 metres champion) won the 400 metres in an outstanding 48.1 sac. He also ran a close second to national 3rd placed 200 metre runner Terry Morrison in the 200 metres, and anchored the Victoria team to a good win in the 4 × 400 metre relay.

The most exciting race was probably the 800 metres final. An electrifying finish left spectators and the three runners concerned in a state of sheer exhaustion. The race appeared to be a mere formality when Bruce Hill (Massey) built up a seemingly unassailable lead of some 40 metres. However, his early blistering pace left him "climbing stairs" in the finishing straight. Bruce Batten (Victoria) and Steve Patchett (Otago) both flung themselves after him. In a punishing finish, first Batten thrust himself ahead, then Patchett drove past them both right on the tape. All recorded the same time, an excellent 1m. 52.1

Victoria runners fared the best for several years. Alison Wright completed a good double by winning the 800 metres and 1500 metres, women's events. Rod Petley lapped most of the runners in dominating the 10,000. metres. His time of 32m. 6.8 sec. was creditable considering the conditions Ian Hunt was 3rd in the same race.

'Vic' 400 metre runners, Tony Wright and Rob Taylor, recorded good times in backing up Phil Kear for 3rd and 4th. In the hurdle events A. Robson won the 110 metre hurdles and B. O'Donnell won the 400 metre hurdles.

Socially, the Tournament saw some fine athletic feats. The dinner was a "chundering" success. Some prodiguous mastication was apparent, no doubt helped down by the copious quantities of liquid provided. Some (mainly Otago) even managed to get their food going two ways — a highly uncivilised lot from the deep South. By some considerable foresight the dinner was held in the same environs as the ball. For those with a "social" consience non-returnable cans were emptied with true religious fervour at '254'. We believe 200 have made it to Hastings already. Certainly a highly successful tournament.

I. Hunt.

Tournament athlete drinking a beer

Billiards

This year the billiards club is fast taking on the appearance of a highly organised, highly successful sports club. Already, the club has organised four inter club fixtures between the Post Office, Working men's club. Police and Prison Wardens. These events promise interest and should help get the club "off the ground."

The most important event to date for this club, must be its coming Annual General Meeting to be held on Thursday, April 13 at 7.30 in the Union Lounge. Support is needed, so if you're in any way interested in supporting it, turn up and participate in the "piss-up" afterwards I

At present dub nights are held on Tuesday at 7.30 at the Regent Parlour in Manners St.

This was also the venue of the recent Easter Tournament. This year, like last year it was Victoria all the way. Otago had sent a strong team in an attempt to recapture a beautiful trophy lost last year to a magnificent Victoria side. However this beautiful trophy remains in the V.U.W. foyer display cabinet, despite Otago's desperate efforts.

The Vic team had a tremendous depth this year which is amazing when you consider that Victoria University is the only one in New Zealand without its own Billiard tables. (The dub hopes to do something about this but needs support - so go to the A.G.M.)

The depth of the teem was proven by the outcome, not only in the team results, (Vic 86. Otago 62. Canterbury 54) but also in the Individual event. 1st, 2nd and 3rd places were all Vic players. Bill Marshall was the outstanding player of the tournament. Ha won all his games and the Individual Trophy. Steve McKenzie was also outstanding, winning all his games and finishing 2nd in the Individual trophy. He was Vic's No. 4. player. Vic's no. 2. G. Keene finished 3rd in the individual and John Ingles Vic No. 3. wasn't far behind. Generally a great all-round effort.

Car Rally

Friday was spent coordinating arrivals and attempting to extract a rental car/van from Mutual-Hertz-Tasman. The former discriminated against our under-25-year old officers by refusing to rent them a six cylinder car so we settled for a Cortina.

A preliminary drivers briefing was held on Good Friday with the aim of bringing everyone together and secondly, rationalising any slight differences that may have existed in interpretation between the South and North Island teams. After much good natured debate and an explanation by the two plotters of their respective trials everyone left to finish last minute preparations for the start of the first event - the April Fool's Trial.

Photo of cars at the rally

The route, briefly, cornered Moonshine, Upper Hutt, Rimutaka, Featherston, Martinborough, Carterton, Gray town. It was a plotted 7 hours In fact it was nearly 10 hours by the time you lost ½ - hour on various subsections but it nevertheless was a most enjoyable and well planned event.

Sunday was day of rest until the evening and the Night trial, this was of a shorter nature (2% - 3 hours) but, as for the previous day, there were plenty of items designed to keep crews busy and on their toes. The final Control (Ataihanga) was the venue for a barbeque and a change to high octane for unwinding purposes.

Monday - Gymkhana, Te Marua Stock Car Track. An excellent venue for grassed surface events and a thoroughly enjoyable day.

The dinner and Trophy presentations et the Grand on Monday night rounded off what everyone agreed had been a most successful weekend with Heatway Rally Director Mr Murray Thompson presenting the prizes.

Final teem placings were:
  • 1st Canterbury
  • 2nd Victoria
  • 3rd Lincion
  • 4th Victoria
  • 5th Otago.

All thanks must go to the organizers, especially Tournament Controller Paul McGuiness, and the many many hard charging point-to-point marshals. The enthusiasm from other universities was of course a tremendous factor.

Finally we are extremely grateful to the N.Z. Motor Corporation for their sponsorship and trust that they too will have benefited from our incident-free Motor sport weekend.

Graphic containing five circles an arrow and sissors

Athletics Car Rally Cricket Debating Rowing Shooting Snooker Auckland 24 8 Canterbury 26 1st 6 4 3rd Lincoln 7 3rd 4 2 Massey 18 4 8 Otago 38 8 2nd 6 2nd Victoria 13 2 2nd 1st 2 1st Waikato 4 Surfing Swimming Tennis Volley Ball Water Polo Yachting Underwater Auckland 8 8 Canterbury 3rd 4 8 4 Lincoln 1 Massey 4 2 3rd Otago 8 2 8 4 1st Victoria 1st 1 4 2 2 2nd Waikato 2nd

page 15

Students drinking at the Easter Tournament

Water Polo

Water polo took up the major part of the weekend's programme since two full rounds were held for the first time. This step proved to be quite successful and very popular with competitors. Canterbury proved to be the strongest side overall and went through without a loss. Their closest games came from Victoria who fought a pitched battle for second place with Otago. They lost the first game 6-5 and drew the second 3 all. Massey end Auckland were not generally in the seme class as the other three. Star player of the tournament was the Victoria centre forward Barry Brittena current N.Z. Representative - who was unfortunately unavailable for the North Island or N.Z.U. teems. Other Victoria players to shine were N.Z. trialist Robert Borgies end Tournament Controller Warwyck Dewe who both were selected for North Island Universities end N.Z. Universities. Other players to make the North Island teem were Mike McKinley end Paul Kent. Overall a successful end enjoyable tournament.

Students drinking at the Easter Tournament

Rowing

The rowing club this year got off to a good start with about 32 members training and rowing in crews for the Easter Tournament. However, only three weeks training showed when it came to the regatta, a disappointing 5th in the main race of the day, the Tournaments viil's. This was due partly to the fact that all members had been shifting equipment since 5.30 am and also because of the rough water conditions for which our boat was not suited.

However 4 members of this VIII went out later in the day and although none of them had been selected for the Possibles & Probables crews, they managed to win the Tournament IV's.

Des Eyre was the only member of the Vic team who was selected for the Probables crew but he didn't quite make it to the N.Z.U. crew which was announced at the Rowing Dinner held on Monday night. This dinner broke the traditional 'stag' night with girls being invited for the 1st time. This did not seem to make much difference and it still took an hour to tidy the hall enough for the cleaners to move in.

All in ell this Easter was rather disappointing as far as results go, but the club is gaining strength end are now aiming to win the rowing next year at Massey.

Scott Gibbons.

Yachting

Easter Tournament competition for yachting this year was held on the Jerningham course in Wellington Harbour. Four universities competed. Auckland were the ultimate winners with wine in the Moth class and a second in the Cherub. Canterbury was second with a win in the Cherub. Canterbury win in the Cherub end a third in the Moth class. Victoria came third with a third placing in the Moth class and a second placing in the Cherub class.

The Olympic low scoring system was used with four out of the total five races being counted. The crew with the lowest aggregate came out the winner. The races were held in excellent conditions and with the ample and comprehensive assistance of the Port Nicholson Yacht Club whose facilities we used. Victoria was represented by the Knowles brothers in the Cherub class. They gave a very acreditable performance considering the standards of their opposition and the gear. The Victoria Moth entrant was Tom Muskie, who only at the last moment agreed to "volunteer" his services. The club is now faced with the necessity of obtaining a new Cherub following the illustration of the deficiencies of their existing boat.

Students drinking at the Easter Tournament

Swimming

The Swimming end Water polo section of Tournament was extremely successful. The weather was kind and thus all events scheduled for the open-air Thorndon Pool were run off in very comfortable conditions. Special mention must be made of the organizers Pip Piper, Dick Orgais, and Mike McKinley. The programme went without a hitch and all competitors had a most enjoyable time.

As far as individual performances were concerned the dominent person at tournament was undoubtedly Otago's Heather Coombridge - A nominee for the Munich Olympics - who won the womens 100m. 200m. and medley with times not far from her best. The star-studded Otago team entirely dominated the tournament with swimmers such as Mike Borrie, Peter Laing, Mike Toomey end Barnett Bond. Gordon Dinnison from Lincoln, however, caused a minor upset when he nearly took the 400 metres freestyle title and was narrowly beaten by Edinburg Games finalist and N.Z. champion Mike Borrie. Victoria swimmers to show out were lain Trousdell end Cheryl Spoor. The Victoria relay teams were a surprise when both were narrowly beaten into second place by the strong Otago teams. Otago won the swimming with Massey second and Victoria and Lincoln third equal.

Surfing

Photo of a surfer riding a wave at Lyall Bay

Saturday morning found everyone gazing at 2-3 foot waves at "the corner", Lyall Bay so the decision was immediately made to head to Tore -the venue a couple of weeks beck for the club's first competition-come-expression-session. Leaving our rental car driver to extract the keys from with inside the car (!) the rest of us headed off on the 80-odd miles to Tora. The tension over the last few miles was almost unbearable as the visiting surfers kept asking more and more questions about the swell, the wind, the break and so on, but on bursting out of the hills on to the coast the agony was over. A southerly swell was pushing 4-6' sets through at the Tora break with 6-8' sets outside at Indicator point. Conditions were hazy but glassy and the few locals didn't crowd the place too much.

The first heat got under way at noon and by this time it was a reel hassle in the water and in the 30 minute heat some competitors only got 5 or 6 waves. For the 15 or so people not competing in the particular heat, some surfed, and the rest set on the beach assisting the selected judges to determine place getters. Adrian Taylor (Vic) end Ross Liggins (Auck) went through to the final from heat one with Taylor pulling off some incredible moves from deep inside the shoulder. Meanwhile out the back David Banks on a knee machine was carving some crazy patterns at Indicator.

Heat two was very evenly contested and the final outcome was in dispute right up until the end of the heat with Dave Porter (Wei) and Jonathan Neal (Vic) just edging out Mike Smith (Wet) — taking all the waves end Pete Brady (Cant). During this heat one place getter was still in the water and collided with a submerged rock, badly pulping his shoulder and putting him out of the final.

Heat three, and Vic scored again with Murray Lines carving fluidly on his twin-fin, and Mark Thompson (Cant) also riding well. Gary Yates (Wai) was selected from this heat to replace Ross Liggins and the stage was set for the final with 3 Vic, 2 Wai and one Canterbury surfer.

With only about 8 people in the water, the finalists ripped and Adrian Taylor stood out gaining 7 points out of 10 for virtually every ride. Gary Yates (Wai) made the paddle out to Indicator and picked up valuable points despite the collapsing sections to take second place. Jonathan Neal, on home ground, came through third for Vic. Final positions.

  • Victoria 1
  • Waikato 2
  • Canterbury 3

A most successful contest with waves and weather really on, and visiting surfers quite stoked at surfing a relatively new spot.

Despite the inevitable dash with the NZ Surfing Champs to be held at New Plymouth over the Easter weekend, there was a good deal of enthusiasm generated at Vic for the tournament surfing. Once it was established that all the competitors had arrived we had a four-way competition developing between Vic, Waikato, Canterbury and Auckland, (here was one sport Otago wasn't going to dominate). Vic and Waikato entered 5 competitors each. The Waikato men had "lived" at Raglan and were inevitably goofy-footers; Canterbury sent up three guys, and Auckland sent two.

Students drinking at the Easter Tournament