An edition of On The Wing From Stawell To Powderhall
(2012)
On The Wing From Stawell To Powderhall
by Ray Hewson, Dip.P.E. , Senior B.A.A.B. C...
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Last edited by RAY HEWSON
December 1, 2012 | History
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“On The Wing From Stawell To Powderhall” draws attention to the athletic abilities of some great Sprinting and Rugby League Legends and is written in the hope that this will be of interest both in the United Kingdom and Australia .
It is about two of the greatest , enduring but not universally recognised , athletic contests for sprinters – Australia’s Stawell Easter Gift Sprint Handicap and Scotland’s Powderhall New Year Sprint Handicap , the outstanding talent of just some of the great pure sprinters and Rugby League sprinters that have contested these classic events and some who have not but maybe should have .
I have not recorded the exploits of every sprinter or Rugby League winger who ever ran or competed ; I hope you enjoy what you are about to read , which I do not claim , by any stretch of the imagination , to be exhaustive ; but then again , I do believe the work illustrates, amply , what I discuss in the next paragraph and other components of sport.
My research , if nothing else , has helped me to consolidate an opinion I have long held , that throughout the long history of athletics and in particular sprinting there have been many “professionals” who were banned from running as amateurs who would have graced the great athletic arenas and established major championships , providing challenging and in many cases superior opposition of the highest order . They just never got the chance because of the laws of athletics which , until athletics went open in the 1980s , ostracised the “professional”.
In today’s scene of Open Athletics gold medals at major championships can bring the winners literally millions in earnings , appearance money , sponsorship etc ; remember that such an enlightened outlook has only existed (officially) since the 1980s .
“Amateurism” or “Shamateurism” ended . In 1981 commercial contracts were allowed and in 1982 trust funds for athletes . Television paid £10,000,000 to televise British athletics meetings for a 4 year period . Mobil sponsored the Grand Prix series mid decade with prize-money of $540,000. Athletes incomes if they were successful could be , to say the least , significant .
Before that , professionalism in athletics was a dirty word to the Amateur Athletic Associations of the World . So, just contemplate that as long ago as 1935 , Jock McPhillips of Edinburgh in winning the Powderhall New Year 130 yards Handicap off 8½ yards in 12½ seconds scooped for his handlers £35,000 from the bookies (spending worth of today's £1,294,300.00) and it becomes obvious that the hope of winning the big one was the motivation for many fine professional athletes and it all started as far as Powderhall is concerned back in 1870.
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| December 1, 2012 | Created by RAY HEWSON | Added new book. |