Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1942-12-22
Mail Match Between
Australians, Yanks
Highly Revealing
Down Under Kickers
Great, Possers Poor;
Puulmun d Hero
BY JOHN LARDNER,
Special CORRESPONDENT Of The Star

special Correspondent OF The Star.
NEW YORK, Dec. % (NANA) -
The Amateur Athletic Union, long
may 1t prosper, is In receipt Of q
proposal by Charley Hunter of the
Olympic Club Of San Francisco to
add football field games-kicking
and passing for distance and also,
assume, for accuracy-to the reg
ular curriculum of track and field.
Professionals do not operate tech
nically under the jurisdiction OF the
AAU, but / suppose that once the
college men launched this new de-
partment of competitive sport the
pros would follow along, and a COM
plete set Of records, world and ma
tional. would be developed and car
ried in the books.
I know Of only one outstanding
trial Of football field sports and I
am reminded Of 1t by H. Archie
Richardson, California sports au-
thority who saw and officiated at
the test in question. It took the
form Of an annual correspondence"
kicking and passing contest be-
tween Australian and American
football teams, from 1887 through
1899.
Australians Poor PaSsers.
This was a good idea for starter,
because players Of Australian rules
football probably are the best kick
ers in the world and certainly will
put their share Of records into writ
ing when such contests become
standard, with their own heavier
ball and/or the American ball.
At passing-it soon developed
they are not 50 good. But their
game is a kicking one, just as ours
is-or has become-a throwing
game. II these two arts come to be
practiced commonly as field sports,
the Australians will improve their
passing and our players their kick
ing. AS far as kicking for distance
goes, we already have come near
holding our own in those mail"
contests, thanks to the mighty eff
forts Of Bill Paulman, the Stanford
booter of a few years ago. When
I was In Australia last spring, I
found that Paulman Is the Thorpe,
Grange, Eckersau and Brickley of
American football combined, meas
ured by his Australian reputation.
This Is because of the way he kicked
the Australian ball by mail. Single
handed, or single-footed, he gave
the American three-man team a
draw in 1888, after we had been
licked handily by the representa-
tives Of the Carlton Club of Mel
bourne in 1897. Only one Australian
player In history has place-kicked
the Anzac ball farther than Paul
man-Dave Mcnamara, with So
yards l foot, against Paulman's 10
yards 2 feet. s..-
THAT Paulnan must be mar
VEL" said Mr. Hector Delacy, the
expert Of the Melbourne Sporting
Globe, the moment I mentioned
American football.
Aussies Kick for Accuracy.
Paulman was a great kicker, all
right, but we may have been better
ones. 1t CHANGED that Stanford
was the team that represented
America in the international tests.
Old-timers agree that Pat O'Dea of
Wisconsin was the gre attest kicker
in our annals-but then, ODea got
his schooling in Australia.
In those tests, conducted on home
grounds 5000 miles apart and
judged by the Sporting Globe in
Australia and Mr.. Richardson in
California. the events were punting,
place-kicking, drop-kicking and
passing for distance, with both types
Of ball. We won easily in passing
and came close to holding our own
In kicking, thanks to Paulman. Mr..
Richardson has sent me the de-
tailed records and 1t seems plain
that the boys on both sides were
In extremely powerful condition.
However, the startling feature of
Australian kicking, what I saw of
It later, was accuracy rather than
length. We simply do not kick the
ball sufficiently to be able to hit
sixpence with punt on the dead
run, as the Australians do. This
phase OF skill was not tested in the
Stanford Carlton series. We still
have considerable ground to make
up.
hope the AAU will be kind to
Mr.. Charley Hunters proposal for
football field games. because I be-
lieve the gentleman is in the groove,
as we say in juking circles.