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The Spike or Victoria University College Review 1934

Tournament Notes . . . 1934

Tournament Notes . . . 1934

The 30th Inter-University College Tournament was held at Christchurch during Easter this year. The brilliant weather which favoured our visit and the splendid arrangements made by the Canterbury Col-lege authorities combined to make Tournament thor-oughly enjoyable for all of us, though on this occasion Victoria was not able to bring away its fair share of the trophies. The Tournament Shield was retained by C.U.C.

A large number of students assembled at Thorndon to welcome the Auckland representatives who were to travel down with us. The College hakas were zestfully rendered, and the freedom of the City and a raspberry presented to the northerners by Mr. Bernard Pshaw who had been specially engaged by the Haeremai Club.

Our representatives had a rousing send-off at the Ferry wharf on the Thursday night, and then settled down to make the best of the conditions for a stormy trip to Lyttelton. The huge barn directly over the ship's propeller in which the men of the party were expected to spend the night was not popular, to say the least, and many of us grinned and bore it lying on the seats on the deck, on the hatches, or possibly even in the bar. We advise next year's representatives to dodge that Black Hole at all costs. On arrival at Lyttelton we received a warm welcome at the hands of the C.U.C. "Naztys," and were duly conveyed to our several billets.

At 3 p.m. the usual official welcome was tendered to all the visitors by Mr. C. T. Aschman, the Chairman of the C.U.C. Council, and Dr. Hight, Rector of the College.

Tournament commenced in earnest on the Saturday and continued until the early hours of Wednesday morning.

The first event to be concluded was the Rowing Race which took place on Lyttelton Harbour on Saturday afternoon, and resulted in a handsome win for Auckland with their new boat from Australia. Victoria, not being able to borrow a boat were not starters in the race, but we note with pleasure that our Club has now acquired an eight of its own.

The Boxing was again remarkable for the ill-luck which dogged Victoria. Once again we had five men in the finals for the seven championships to be decided, and once again we had not a single winner. Our team was a strong and evenly balanced team, and a summary of the results will show how unfortunate we were.

In the bantam-weight, Murray had a good win over last year's champion, Cotton, but the fight was so strenuous that he was not at his best against Williamson in the final, and after a very even bout, the decision went against Murray.

O'Connor knocked out his opponent in the feather-weight in the morning, but last year's winner, Steele, was too strong for him in the final. This match will be remembered by those who saw it for the magnificent gameness of O'Connor, who though knocked down several times would not give up, and had to be led from the ring by the referee.

In the light-weight we expected great things from Meek and he had a comfortable knock-out win in the morning. However, he had to meet the ex-champion Dudley in the final, and again the decision went against us.

In the welter-weight our champion, Kent, had a thril-ling bout with last year's light-heavy-weight champion, Kean. After four hard rounds Kent was declared the winner, but he was in no condition to meet the heavier Canterbury man Glover in the evening. The fight was very willing, and very close, and was awarded by the Judge to the Canterbury man.

In the middle weight, Willis fought a hard fight with Wills, but the decision went against him by a narrow margin of points. Russell, also was out-pointed by Malcolm in the light-heavy-weight preliminary.

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Armour had a comfortable win in the morning, and met last year's champion, Benson, in the final. This match aroused great interest—it was the last match of the evening, and on it depended the fate of the Boxing Shield. Also, all Victoria supports were keen to see Armour break the run of misfortunes which had followed our own men. The bout, however, was not inspiring, and the decision went to the Otago man by a small margin of points.

On Sunday there were two official Church services and a very fine drive round the Lyttelton Harbour.

Monday was brilliantly fine for the Athletics at Lancaster Park, and the standard set was probably the highest in the history of Tournament, as is evidenced by the fact that no fewer than seven records were shattered. C.U.C. with a very fine team were successful in retaining the Shield with 24 points, and Victoria came away with the Wooden Spoon with 5½ points. We gained second places in the Mile Flat (Rafter), 100 yards (Stephenson), 220 yards (Stephenson), and three miles (Morpeth), and a deadheat for first in the mile walk by Eade. Our points seem very meagre when compared with C.U.C.'s but we can definitely record that in no event were we quite out-classed. C.U.C. s standard was just too high for us; had the standard been average, we should certainly have had our share of wins. For example, Henderson was third in the 880, Birks in the mile, Mcintosh in the Javelin throw, Kerr in the Long Jump, being beaten for second by 4/1 inch. We heartily congratulate Eade on winning a N.Z.U. Blue for Athletics.

The Swimming Shield was won by C.U.C. by a narrow margin from O.U. and A.U.C. Victoria was pretty well out of the picture, but the indications are that better results may be expected in the future.

The tennis was played under perfect conditions at Wilding Park. V.U.C. met with fair success, winning all their first round matches in the combined doubles and men's singles and doubles. Miss Cook and Page and Miss Edwards and McCarthy put up very good fights, and did very well in their semi-final matches.

In the Basketball, V.U.C. played in all 3 games the results of which were as follows: v. A.U.C., lost; v. O.U., lost; v. C.U.C., won. All these games were keenly contested, especially the one against A.U.C. who won the Shield. By beating C.U.C. our team scored our only point for the Tournament Shield.

The Shooting, which in accordance with the Rules was carried out at each College s home range, was won by Otago who won every match. A proposal from our own Club that all teams shoot at the centre at which Tournament is being held, and another that shooting should be with aperture sights, were both rejected by the Tournament Committee.

We record the congratulations of the College to S. G. Eade and Miss Mary Mules, the only V.U.C. representatives to win N.Z.U. Blues.

This year's Tournament was not remarkable for any great number of the usual public scandals. A bright encounter with the Police in which a prominent Canterbury man was the chief offender against the law (or was it against the fence?) created a mild sensation; but the venturesome sportsman who Threw The Kitten brought notoriety on the students of the N.Z. University, and gave newspaper correspondents all through the country material for a controversy that lasted till well after Easter. Our Delegate, Mr. Bums, in a tactful and reassuring message to the Press, was able to convince the Wellington public that the behaviour of our own team was irreproachable.

We conclude this review with an expression of our very hearty thanks to C.U.C. for the care with which they looked after us, and in apologising to posterity for the presence of Victoria's initials on the 1934 plate on the Tournament Wooden Spoon, we append the following quotation from the Tournament delegates' report:—

"The flag at half-mast on the gym. reminded us that the College must have been disappointed in our showing but we can truthfully say that our standard was never weak, though never quite as high as the winners. If we may make a forecast it is that the keenness of our Clubs, particularly in athletics, swimming and rowing must necessarily bring success sooner or later, and it will not be long before the Tournament Shield is in the old glass case again."