25 MARCH 1938, Page 11

OXFORD AND THE BOAT RACE

By E. E. D. TOMLIN (Oxford Crew, 1935)

ON Boat Race day this year something will happen which has not taken place since 1924. Probably very few of those who come to watch the crews at Putney will realise that there is any difference in what must have become practi- cally the usual procedure ; and only to a small minority of those who are present will the true significance of the change be clear. Cambridge will bring their boat out first. For the first time in thirteen years they will challenge Oxford. Whether they will do so again next year the race on April 2ficl will decide, but the fact of the matter is that a considerable change both physical and psychological has come over Oxford rowing in the last few yeais.

It is astonishing to see how quickly a spell can be broken. When last year the Oxford crew won a fine Boat Race in convincing style, all the cobwebs, the jokes, and the pitying glances fled from the Dark Blues in a way which after a period of thirteen years was nothing short of miraculous. Yet their victory was not particularly incredible ; it was -a real, genuine, unquestionable event, and one which even Cambridge supporters welcomed from the point of view of the Boat Race as a whole. But what was it that lifted Oxford rowing from that terrible slough of despond in which it had been aimlessly wallowing for so long ? We all used to get so tired of being asked : " Why can't Oxford win the Boat Race ? " And if we were secretly supporters of that latest " lost cause "—Oxford rowing—which we were told 'had found its home atmosphere on the banks of the Isis, we would try to look wise and nod knowingly as if to say that we really knew why, only it wasn't quite expedient to tell the public yet, and that any way, " You wait till next year ! " Some people did a great deal of waiting.

I think very few of us who know something of the events of the last five years would deny that a good deal of new heart and determination was put into the hearts of Oxford oarsmen by the unselfish care of a few Cambridge coaches, who-Hust as the great Mr. W. A. L. Fletcher did to rowing on the Cam forty years ago—brought fresh ideas and enthu- siasm to the Isis. Both Brigadier J. H. Gibbon and Mr. Peter Haig Thomas will always be gratefully remembered at Oxford for confirming a view that was already beginning to become clear—that Oxford rowing was carried on under conditions inefficient for practice, that while the number of men who had taken up rowing had increased, the facilities for their doing so had not followed suit, and that the short miles of river at Oxford was quite insufficient for training a crew which would compete against those who had the long course above Baitsbite Lock, or the full run of the tide- way, at their disposal. Oxford began to realise that the barges which still line the river do not supply the facilities. which the modern boathouses at Cambridge afford, and were not even an instinctive inducement to a man to spend much of his spare time in perfecting his skill—and after all it is the individual who ultimately counts. We used to deny that " all the best oarsmen go to Cambridge," but we.were often forced to admit that a good many of the first class crews of the time came from that University.

Now while I am sure every Oxford supporter will acknow- ledge quite frankly the value of this well-timed stimulus from Cambridge, it is a comforting thing to know (for party pride keeps all these contests alive) that when Oxford did, at length, win the Boat Race again last year, the coaching of the crew proper fell to the credit of Dr. P. C. Mallam, Mr. G. 0. Nickalls and Mr. W. Rathbone—all Oxford men—the first two of whom had beaten Cambridge from Putney to Mortlake, and thus, as it were, picked up the old threads when they came to coach the boat last year.

A glance at the crews this year will, however, reveal a very interesting fact—that Cambridge have discarded the style of oarsmanship which, in general, brought them their recent record run of victories ; while Oxford is still rowing in the style which (to outside observers at any rate) she has favoured for years, and which until last year had not lately been a very notable success. Why is this ? If the old style was good enough to win so long a sequence of victories for Cambridge, why has it been so summarily discarded in favour of something mo:c a":in to the style of the great Tideway Clubs ? Without entering into any technical details, the mere " look " of the Cambridge boat today is different from that of, say, 1932 or 1933—or even of last year. But let us get the position clear : it is not Cambridge who have altered their style to conform with that of the Tideway Clubs, but rather those clubs which have absorbed much of the teaching that has been in force at Cambridge in the last twenty years or more. We must not forget that the coaching that Mr. " Steve " Fairbairn gave to Jesus College has widened its influence from the Cam until it has embraced, in various forms, a great many of the large rowing clubs today. That it has had, and does possess, such a vogue in Cambridge and elsewhere must in large measure be due to the many points in its favour ; but it came at a time when the more orthodox style of rowing was at a low ebb and thus the " Jesus style " in stepping higher, trod down the already sinking orthodox methods.

But that has not proved them wrong. Because a man is ill now we must not assume that he was never in good health or never will be well again, and the Oxford crew last year began to show that " body swing " and a hard drawn " finish " have still to be reckoned with over the Boat Race course. Mr. J. S. Lewes, the Oxford President last year, was well rewarded for his confidence in these methods because the losing Cambridge eight was no mean crew. That is why this year's Boat Race is going to be particularly intexesting- not only to the general body of those who are glad to see a reasonable division of the honours between the two Universi- ties, but also to others who take a more detailed interest in the technique of the crews concerned. The Cambridge eight is openly and avowedly " Tideway " and has been coached by such well-known supporters of those principles as Mr. Mays-Smith and Mr. C. W. Wise, whose success with the London Rowing Club has been very real. In addition the crew contains four men from Jesus College, including the President and Secretary.

Oxford, on the other hand, still believe in the fundamental goodness of the orthodox methods, and have this year pro- duced a crew which—unlike some before it—is a definite credit to those beliefs. Dr. P. C. Mallam and Mr. G. 0. Nickalls, who have been in charge of its training recently, have seen to that. The result of the race is certainly not a foregone conclusion this time, and when Oxford follow Cambridge out on to the hard at Putney we are likely to be treated to as keen a contest as ever thrilled the crowds that line the course once more.