The Age from Melbourne, Victoria, Australia • Page 44

THE AGE, Wednesday 24 May 1989 lllliSilII Border and co: the best yet to come Dandy Andy gets a fine draw FORT ft. PAGE 41 fPAGE 41 Picture JOE SABUAK suinrender Netballer knows ed Even in chess a man was but a pawn to Barassi threat to the Australians because it offers the West Indies their last chance to draw the series. The rest of the tour will provide Wilson with the opportunity to establish herself in the Australian team and hopefully tour West Germany later in the year. "I've been really pleased with my first two games," she said. "After New Zealand there were a few things I wanted to improve on which is starting to happen now." Tonight's game against the West Indies begins at eight o'clock at the Sports and Entertainment Centre.

By SAM PRENESTI Aggressive, says netballer Lisa Wilson, is a word that is thrown around a lot to describe her play. She disagrees with the sentiment and believes it is just a matter of attitude. "The way I look at it, you are just out there to do a job," Wilson said yesterday. "If the ball is there, you go at it, and you don't give in. It's 100 per cent all the time.

You go out there and play it to the end." With that sorted out, it is not surprising that at wing-defence Wilson has been one of the stars for Australia in the four-Test series against the West Indies, which continues in Melbourne tonight. Australia leads the series 2-0, both convincing wins, and has consolidated well as a team. "We're a lot better organised and our combinations are working a lot better now than, say, against New Zealand (where Australia was whitewashed in a three-Test series earlier this month). There are a few changes from last year and that has taken a little while to settle down. "But we have just got together a lot better.

Things we were trying in New Zealand are coming together and we have more confi dence in moving the ball down court." Wilson played at the Australian Institute of Sport for two years, where she gained experience against world-class teams. "I had seen a lot of top quality teams before I joined the Australian team (in 1987). I at least had some experience against the Caribbean style of play it's a good grounding." It was in Melbourne last year that Australia broke the deadlock in the series against Trinidad and Tobago after drawing the first two Tests. This encounter might not be as close, but tonight's match poses a Brent I It- Lisa Wflsoa: "It's 100 per cent all the time." Crosswell I Picture: GEOFF AMPT mmmB rill Vt i tests I have ever experienced, ranking among the worst moments I have spent on earth. When people asked me what was the most important attribute needed to win in chess, I would reply: against Barassi, good health and a vitamin supplement I was a chess purist, playing most of my games on a classic antique 1845 chess table.

I would serve tea and biscuits and engage in light pseudo-intellectual conversation, and during my Stacheyesque period I might be seen sitting in a leafy backyard, a white hat on my head, sipping a glass of red wine. While I could be insufferable, Barassi's approach was in extremely bad taste. When he invited me to his place for a game I would confront a nasty little magnetic chess set the sort one takes on a weekend rock climbing or buys hastily at a train station before a trip interstate. He would never provide chairs bearing any logical relationship to the table on which the chess set was placed. Nor did he serve tea, coffee, or sweets unless he was absolutely I would be forced to say before the game commenced: "Heh, why don't we have some tea and bikkies at move 12?" But you knew that by move 12 he would have completely forgotten.

So you sat on the floor until a few discs were out of place and circulation to your lower limbs had ceased. This was Barassi's "physical card" or, as I bitterly complained to friends, the "Mogadon factor" in his game. Because every game went for at least 50 to 60 moves, I would often pack a shaver and on the way buy a box of Kentucky Fried Chicken (family pack) just to hold me over for the first four hours. I fell in love with chess after being taught by an apprentice You are not all that smart but you are smart enough to know that when the coach rings up for a game of chess over the phone right on dinner time you do not refuse. "Oh, hi Ron, lovely of you to call great timing chess? Oh beaut" How would you like to play chess over the phone for six hours, a plate of food on your right, a chess set on your left and a marriage balanced precariously? I went for months without having a hot meal and Barassi had the audacity to blast me at training for feeling faint and being off color.

Towards the end, when my wife would ask me what I would like for dinner, I would reply, "A salad please, I can feel a phone call coming on." I had so many salads that my. wife would punish me with comments like, "You're turning into Barassi's bunny." Civilised Most people are ignorant of this, but if you play chess over the telephone for longer than three hours your ear perspires. It will positively drip when you reach move 30 and say something like: "Queen to rook seven and check," and you receive the alarming reply: "You can't do that because that square's occupied." "What do you mean it's occupied!" You would feel like hitting Barassi over the head with the end of the phone, but chess is a civilised game, so it required a controlled response. "No worries Ron we'll simply play back 20 moves or so Gee, I'm pleased you're paying attention." Ever played back 20 moves on the telephone and not loathed your opponent at the end? It is impossible. stupidly, thought that playing chess with the coach would give me the opportunity to become with the inevitable "concessions" to follow on the training track.

"Heh, Barass, great game last night by the way, I'm off to the dogs want to place a bet?" Ron Barassi, ex-supercoach, was a chess player in the Duke of Burgundy tradition. Legend has it that a certain duke became so upset during a game that he clubbed his opponent on the head with a solid gold piece, killing him instantly. Sentenced to be executed, he was offered a game by a friendly jailer, whom he knocked senseless with another piece. I do not mean to imply that Barassi was capable of murdering an opponent over a game of chess, but rather to suggest that his game was unnecessarily physical. His strategy was one of attrition the wearing down of an opponent until he either fell asleep or reached a state of such indifference to the outcome that he simply "threw" the game.

His strategy centred around two principles. The first might be illustrated by reference to a piece of military sophistry popularised by a famous French general, Marshal Foch. "A war is only lost," he said, "if one thinks it is lost" The second principle was a half-formulated notion of indescribable crudity. Simply put it stated that if you place a human being in a position of extreme discomfort for long enough, you will win. The implication of these two principles was that games with Barassi were among the most arduous and excruciating con- orrMiimiTftnii-iirarrivnnfl oimrMMMrmm Wal's urn i i mini.

Still full of hope, Geelong star Mark Bairstow saddles up Anchor Star before making his disappointing race debut as a trainer. Race debut no kick for Bairstow 9m By GARRY UNNELL Footscray will meet the VFL Commission in the next week to discuss its future in the national competition, as the club's chances of staying at the Western Oval grow increasingly, remote. Speculation has been growing in the league this season that Foot-scray's days at the Western Oval are numbered, and that the club might be forced to leave the western suburbs as early as next season. Although the club hopes to cling to its home ground, its chances of. staying there are believed to be dwindling, with the Footscray City Council unlikely to provide the (M-oillion necessary for a full upgrading of the oval.

Footscray president Nick Columb, who says the Bulldogs are in the throes of forming a team comparable with that of Essendon in the mid-1980s, said yesterday that the club was still working towards staying at the Western Oval. "We will be, within the Jiext week, speaking to both the Footscray City Council and the VFX about our future," he said. people come out to the Western Oval, the playing surface is good as any, but the surrounds are absolutely appalling. That's why we are trying to get them upgraded." 'But there is a growing belief in the Jeague that Footscray's future Hes. elsewhere.

Without the help of, the local council, the club is unlikely to raise the money need-edio upgrade the ground; the only otter significant revenue source isiorporate support, which the Bulldogs have already had trouble attracting. "ITnat lack of corporate support might also hinder the club's chances of moving to Princes Park; assuming a vacancy arose if dawuorn moved to VFL Park. is also a growing feeling at- Footscray that because its affmlnistration has been stabilised with the election of Columb and the extension, until at least the eipf of 1991, of Mick Malthouse's tenure as coach, the time has come for a long-term decision on the club's playing future. Columb and other club officials have grown increasingly angry in recent weeks with the lack of support they are receiving from members and supporters. "The truth about the Footscray Football Club is that there are about 20 people underpinning it at the moment," Columb said.

"If those 20 people become disenchanted or disenfranchised by the sort of attitude that pervaded the place on Saturday, then the Footscray Football Club may not exist next year. "Some of us who are working our butts off are becoming a little bit disenchanted we can see the light at the end of the tunnel. If people analyse us responsibly, then they will see that Footscray is very well poised." Columb said that the Bulldogs were two years ahead of any other club in player development He pointed to statistics, which showed that since 1987 Footscray had virtually introduced an entire team of new players into its senior ranks. Many, such as Simon Atkins, Matthew Hogg and Scott Wynd, had since held down regular senior berths. The Bulldogs have signed eight young players around the country involved in Teal Cup squads, regarded as a nursery for future league footballers.

"It's a rarity for a Teal Cup player to miss out on playing senior football," Columb said. "Those Footscray people who say they have been waiting a long time can now be well assured that the on-field situation at Footscray and the projections for the future are as good as at any other club. "We're building what Essendon built up in the '80s and what Richmond built up, and went on to win several premierships." Columb said that, statistically, the Bulldogs' defence was one of the best in the league it had allowed fewer points to be kicked against it than any other team in the VFL. He said it was only inexperience and lack of composure that had stopped the side from winning at least two of the matches in its six-game losing streak, which ended last Saturday with a one-point victory over Fitzroy. PAGE 41: Playef watch the Epsom and Metropolitan handicaps.

The Princess Series offers a $200,000 bonus to the winner of four races, and $20,000 to the highest points scorer and a $5000 trophy. It begins at Warwick Farm on 19 August with the $75,000 Silver Shadow Stakes (1200m), which would give McDonald about 12 weeks to have Courtza ready if he wished. The other three races in the series are the $50,000 Furious Stakes (1400m) at Randwick on 2 September, the $100,000 Tea Rose Stakes (1500m) at Rosehill on 16 September and the $250,000 Flight Stakes (1600m) at Randwick on 30 September. ouicner in i asmania in ia. i ne arranged chessmen were delightfully aesthetic and the game offered an escape into an ordered and predictable universe where immorality was punished and where the traditions were seemingly civilised.

Competition But for Barassi, chess, like table tennis and football, was food for his combative appetite. That was why, during his halcyon years, he was such a great coach. He relished competition and victory with an almost pathological intensity and he never conceded the possibility of defeat That is why chess games with Barassi went to 40 moves-plus, why he could say at 10 pm, after finishing a four-hour game over the phone: "Want another one?" Present him with a mate-in-one and he would study the board for 20 minutes in a futile attempt to continue the struggle. It was a disarming revelation to read that Ron Barassi and another legend, Charles Dickens, shared a characteristic. Both had the annoying habit of demanding immediate return games of chess if they lost Would it be completely ludicrous to tender this as evidence supporting the aphorism that great minds think alike? night when they faxed him details of a four-race series offering a $225,000 bonus for three-year-old fillies at the Sydney spring carnival.

The Princess Series, devised by the AJC and Sydney Turf Club, is aimed at luring McDonald's champion filly Courtza back to the scene of her Golden Slipper Stakes triumph last March, as well as tempting the best fillies to remain in, or go to, Sydney in preference to the Melbourne carnival. McDonald said AJC racing manager Bill Charles had sent him details of the unexpected series even before they were released to the media. But Courtza has been back in his Epsom stable for only one day and the trainer said he would take a close look at the Sydney program and discuss it with owner Nick Columb. "She came back in a little earlier than we had planned, only because the weather has turned cold," McDonald said. "There won't be any decisions made on where she is going for a few days yet, but the money looks all right in Sydney, doesn't it?" The AJC and STC yesterday announced sweeping increases in prizemoney over the Sydney spring program, including boosts of $150,000 to $400,000 for both By ANDREW EDDY and CATHY WALKER Unlike his debut in the VFL in 1987, Mark Bairstow's introduction to racehorse training has been anything but sensational.

The star Geelong utility player, who has held his trainer's licence for nearly a month, made his long-awaited debut yesterday with Anchor Star in the Progressive Handicap (1600m) at Werribee. His first taste of the agony and unpredictability of racing came within a second of the start. Anchor Star (141) missed the kick by three lengths and despite making up some ground mid-race, the five-year-old gave up before the corner and finished a distant 11th behind Driver. But Bairstow's troubles began even before that. Originally he planned to start two horses yesfcr-day but youngster Benetton took skin off his legs on Sunday when he grazed them in his stalls, and had to be scratched.

After unsaddling Anchor Star, Bairstow said: "It wasn't the kind of debut I was hoping for. It was a disappointing run when you consider his work during the week." Bairstow's cousin Damien Oliver, who is on loan from WA to top trainer Lee Freedman, rode the horse. He had few words of 1 te mw- encouragement: "He didn't give a yelp," he said after dismounting. Bairstow, who is having a great season with the Cats (he is sixth on the overall possessions list, despite missing last week), had his grounding in racing with WA trainer Alan McPherson and by working with horses on his family wheat and sheep farm. When he was lured to Geelong in 1987, Bairstow began work for Arthur Hovey, brother of Geelong Football Club president Ron Hovey, at his farm at Mt Moriac.

The Hoveys, along with Bairstow, are part-owners of Anchor Star. Bairstow, 25, said he doubted whether he would take up a career as a racehorse trainer once his football playing days were over. "It's just a hobby and I think I'll keep it at that," he said. The Australian Jockey Club gave trainer Ross McDonald something to chew over with his dinner last DARING IDEA (A Williams): Lightly raced gelding having his third start in the 2YO Handicap and it was obvious that he had little idea of how to race, despite clearly beating the field out of the gates. He hung in for the majority of the trip and continued shying away from other horses in the straight He was backed in from an opening quote of 71 to start at 72 so he obviously has shown ability.

Inexperienced but one to follow. Boon smashes 172 in Australia's 3297 WHAT ARE YOUR INVESTMENTS EARNING 20 TAX FG3EE 1. Do you have $7000? 2. Can you save p.w.? 3. Are you interested in receiving a tax deduction on your savings? If so then contact LINDSAY RICHARDS At SELECTED CAPITAL SECURITIES on (03) 629 5272 Free Post 3.

6641 Mt Alexander Moonee Ponds. 3034. Name; stand of 66 before Marsh (14) went, caught and bowled low down by medium-pacer Chris Pickles. After that. Boon and Dean Jones combined for a stand of 184 that broke the back of Yorkshire's popgun attack.

The helmeted Jones began tentatively but eventually blossomed in an encouraging return from injury to hit an unbeaten 89 in 101 balls. He had not played for two weeks since having his cheekbone fractured against Sussex, but with today's hand he will have re-established his place in the side for the -one-day internationals, which begin on Thursday. Boon was in superb touch from the By MARTIN BLAKE, Leeds, Tuesday David Boon's Bradmanesque string of scores continued against Yorkshire today on the ground where the great man used to plunder England's bowlers in the 1930s. The Australian opener hit a magnificent 172 as Australia piled on another big total, 3297, in the 55-over game at Headingley. It was the Tasmanian's third centu-.

ry of the tour. In all games he has tallied 619 runs in five completed innings at an average of 124. The Tasmanian, opening with his old ally Geoff Marsh for only the second time on tour, dominated their start, driving and cutting powerfully and hooking medium-pacer Paul Jar-vis for 6 over square leg. By the end he was toying with Yorkshire's bowlers, smashing balls through the covers off the stumps. His first 50 came from just 59 balls; the second half-century was compiled in 56 deliveries and the third took only 26.

In all he faced 157 balls, hitting 21 boundaries and three 6s. He was finally out bowled by former international Arnold Sidebottom. It was Boon's highest score in a one-day game for Australia, beating the 166 he took off the MCC at Lord's earlier in this tour. He gave one half-chance at 37, a near leg-side stumping by David Bairstow off Pickles, and was dropped at long-on by Paul Jarvis at 115. Otherwise he was in complete command on a pitch that was more amenable than had been expected.

Jones was included in the Australian side along with all-rounder Steve Waugh, who has been troubled by shin soreness. But Tim May, who has facial injuries after being hit by a ball in London at the weekend, was left out and Trevor Hohns given the opportunity to test his leg-spin. A few spots of rain, a rare phenomenon since the. Australians arrived, delayed the start of play by 45 minutes. But the game was retained at 55 PAGE 41: Border plays it close 'There was a time when the Commander was considered the big brass of business telephone systems.

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