Johnstown weekly Democrat. (Johnstown, Cambria County, Pa.) 1889-1916, 1889-08-30

OF GREAT MATCH AT ALBANY.
when the ball was taken, and thought it
better to be too soon than too late.
There is now no collaring whatever, and
the bail may be taken in one hand only,
which is not very easy thing to do, for
the ball may not be less than eight inches
in diameter.
The play that is naturally fostered by
this is the patting and passing game,
which is altogether more suitable to the
dimensions of the field of play, which
may on no account exceed thirty yards
from goal to goal, than was the old sys-
tenn Of throwing as far as one could. In
this connection the goalkeeper, who was
able to throw a goal from his position
when the field of play was at all shori.
is now prohibited from throwing it NOR
than half way. An opponent can now le
interfered with only by the intervention
of ones body, as at association football
A great alteration has been made in the
height OF the goals. The defenders of
the goal at the deeper end had O very
hard task to perform, for it was impossi-
bic for goal-keeper treadlng water to
raise himself to height of five feet t.
stop the ball, whereas the goal-keeper -
the other end had the bottom of IL.
bath to spring up from. Now the height
Of the crossbar from the water at thc
deep end is three feet, which, in my opin-
ion, is still a little too high But reforms
of this kind invariably take time to ac
compllsh, and think water polo players
must congratulate themselves that they
have found one sufficiently unanimous to
enable them to progress as far as they
have done, The game is now far more
satisfactory in every way than it was.
The action of the owner of the Mon
mouth race track in cutting off all tele-
graphic reports of the races during their
progress is inspired by the single pur-
pose of compelling men to pay toll to him
Tor the privilege Of making their books
or doing their betting. Mr. Withers,
who owns Monmouth Park, cares moth
ing for the breeding of horses or the
promotion of an ancient sport. He is
out for the money. His horse races are
run for gambling purely and solely.
The result of this policy is to squeeze
the bookmakers, to force combinations
between the men who enter horses or the
Jockeys who ride them and the men who
bet, and thus to reduce the whole busl-
ness to a dishonest gambling game in
stead of square and splendid sport.
If this policy snail be copied in this
state the Ives Law, which now permits
racing and betting under certain cOndi-
tions, will be wiped off the statute book
so soon as the legislature can be made
to understand the use which private greed
has made of the privilege secured with
such difficulty for the horse breeders and
patrons Of the turf. When the betting is
forced into blackleg grooves the people
will have no confidence in tho races, and
public sentiment will forbid, it. Any
sport which cannot endure instant pub.
licity ought to be barred.
This will probably be the last year for
the numerous boat houses along the
Hudson river, in the vicinity of the Ely
sian Fields, and the amateur oarsmen
who have had many years enjoyment
around the place are beginning to look
for new quarters. All the river front
along Elysian Fields is owned by the
Hoboken Land and Improvement com
pany, or, rather, Col. L. a. Stevens, and
that gentleman has sold most OF the land
that was Familiarity called the river
walk" to some large corporation, and
they are erecting piers very rapidly
and filling in the river about fifty feet
side. Rosedale, Bohemian, Active, Col
umbia, Atlantic, and Valencia clubs are
expecting notice to vacate daily. The
Germania Boat club, situated at the
lower end OF the ''river walk has already
been notified.
The Valencia Boat club members are
all right, a. their boat house is erected
on float and can be towed away, while
the Atlantic Boat club has an annex
quarters at Gutenberg; but the only
show the other organizations have Is to
either disband or rebuild new boat
house at Gutenberg, and this is some-
thing which they cannot all afford to CO.,
as their financial condition is limited,
However, they can join the Atlantics or
Valencias, and make these two aquatic
organizations the strongest in America.
1t is only twenty minutes ride from Ho-
boten to Gutenberg in the horse cars,
and, besides. the water course at this
u,,:t Of the Hudson j. excellent. w.
ln.- ime next year, providing til" iit1ni-
brrs of all the HOboken clubs work To-
gether, they will be able to turn out
many strong crews and make notable
name for the rowing clubs at Gutten-
berg, which will bring them into as much
prominence ae those aquatic clubs which
are rov located on tho banks OF the Pas
sale and Harlem.
In this couutry one of the most exc 1t
ing shoots OF recent days was the one al
Albany In which the Queen City clue
was victorious. I send portraits OF th
winners.