Football is one contact sport the Ontario Chiropractic Association would like to see banned from high school sports citing per By SCOTT HASKINS Examiner Sports Writer Cliff Thorburn is the best snooker player in Canada Sunday at Towne Billiards he showed 150 spectators why he holds that title as he beat six of eight Barrie opponents Eric Chamiallard and Ken Langille beat Thorburn but he didnt appear to be too concerned Thorburn left little doubt that he could have won all eight games if he wanted to Chamiallards win came in the first game of the day while Langille won after Thorburn had disposed of six straight challengers have never been able to play in the afternoon Thorburn said in reference to Chamiallards win just couldnt see the ball It didnt even look round to me Thorburn holds the world record for perfect games perfect game is score of 147 He also holds the world masters title When he does miss shot he leaves an op ponent virtually no chance of sinking ball The 29yearold native of British Columv bia is professional He started playing pool at 15 and hasnt stopped This is all do he said didnt have anything better to do when was kid so spent all of my time in billiard rooms The other Barrie players to challenge Thorburn were John Gavin Dave Archer Frank Calver Peter Green Bruce Read man and Rick Newman Thorburn had little trouble beating the six Twice he had century breaks scores over 100 and at one point against Green ran off 89 points in row It looks like wont get another shot Green said shaking his head Thorburn lives in Toronto and spends his time touring Ontario Quebec England and Australia putting on similar demonstra tions He was happy with his reception in Bar rte You people have been very good during Deadeye with cue manent damage to the spine as reason Barrie football and medical professionals disagree with the OCAs recommendation Examiner Photo the games he told the crowd You ap plauded when good shots were made and were very receptive According to Thorburn he was good in all sports when was young but billiards was his specialty played lot of sports when was grow ing up was better than average in most sports but in billiards never went more than month without improving really worked at it When was young usually played seven or eight hours day hle said wasnt interested in anything se PRETTY GOOD LIVING Thorburn has set fee he charges for an appearance really cant tell you what the fee is he said do about 200 demonstrations car and can tell you make pretty go liv ing at it Sundays demonstration was set up by Roy Cockburn the manager of Towne Billiards in an effort to promote the sport in the Barrie area Im satisfied with the turnout of peo ple Thorburn said really dont know much about Barrie but think these people showed that there is an interest in billiards in this city Like any professional athlete Thorburn likes the recognition his particular sport br ings him like meeting people and like to get the recognition that goes along with it he stated Following the eight games he put on demonstration of trick shots promise not to try any one shot more than 15 times he said Four shots were the most it took him to do trick At 29 Thorburn has number of good years ahead of him but he doesnt plan to continue too much longer Ill probably play for another 10 years or so he said Billiards is really all know in Canada Ban football from high schools the examiner 11 onday Oct 31 1977 Doctors coaches disagree By RUDLEIGH MACLEAN Examiner Staff Reporter Simcoe County medical professionals educators and coaches disagree with an On tario Chiropractic Association OCA recom mendation that high school football be bann ed because of increased spinal injuries amongst players Dr Anthony Martin Timmins chiroprac tor sponsored the football ban passed by the OCA at its September conference in Toronto Dr Martin presented paper to the OCA saying high school tackle football is responsi ble for many serious spinal injuries My paper was based on statistics had gathered in the last two years from treating high school players who sustained spinal in juries from playing football also presented statistics from fiveyear American study done in the high schools in North Carolina in which 4287 out of 8776 players received spinal injuries of various degrees Dr Mar tin says few days after the OCA football ban recommendation Toronto newspaper reported that high schools in Timmins and most of the 16 Northern Ontario secondary schools belonging to the Ontario In terscholastic Association of Gold Belt IAGB had discontinued their football programs because of Dr Martins findings MISLEADING Peter Ferrari director of education for the Timmins Board of Education says the Toron to newspaper story was entirely inaccurate and misleading When read the Toronto story about the situation here in the Timmins schools was disgusted Ferran says The decision to drop two of the football programs in our schools in September was the result of threeyear study undertaken by the prin cipals involved And the reason the football programs were dropped was because of the lack of interest by the players and spec tators Ferran emphasizes that he was not in fluenced at all by Martin or the rccom mendation Tom Sinclair teacher at Kirkland Lake Collegiate and Vocational and secretarys treasurer of the IAGB said neither Martin nor the OCA recommendation had anything to do with the dropping of football at four of IAGB high schools in the first place never heard of Martin until read the distorted story in the Toronto aper Sinclair says The reason the foot all programs were dropped at these schools was the lack of student interest Nevertheless Dr Martin and the OCAs quest to ban tackle football in the high schools is gathering momentum We had another regional OCA meeting on Oct 15 where we agreed to take our first ac tion by sending out letters to all Ontario school boards on Nov 15 and to describe to the boards the potentially serious spinal in juries caused by football as it is now played Dr Martin says Dr Terry Porter is Barrie orthopaedic surgeon who has been team doctor for most of Barries high school football teams Dr Porter and two local physiotherapists Terry Page and Doug Freer operate sports medicine clinic in the Wellington Medical Centre where injured athletes from all sports are treated Ive been practicing in Barrie for seven years says Dr Porter and Ive only treated about two serious injuries that were attributed to football Whats more Ive seen and treated several more hockey injuries than football injuries Dr Porter says football always ends up be ing the scapegoat for abuse and criticism because it is contact sport But that doesnt make it vicious bad game played football in high school and university even coached the game No definitely believe high school football should stay because it has so many excellent qualities Dr Porter says Physiotherapists Terry Page and Doug Freer agree Those types of spinal and neck injuries Martin attributes to football are just not cor rect Besides there are no Canadian statistics on the relation between spinal in juries and high school football Page says Freer is blunter than Page Football has taken bum rap have statistics from the States proving that foot ball ranks number seven in the list of sports causing most injuries Volleyball is ranked number one Id like to know where the chiropractors are getting their unfounded statistics from Freersays Banning football Barrie chiropractors disagree with Martin and the Ontario Chiropractic Association Michael Hockridgc chiropractor who is not member of the TA maintains that banning football in high schools is not the answer If you ban football then youll have to ban all other sports he says And Henry Dobson chiropractor who is member of OCA takes the same position as Hockridge You cant ban sport There are just too many sports you can get injured in treat more people for injuries resulting from tennis than from football Fifty per cent of my prac tice is involved in treating injuries totally unrelated to athletics Dobson says Dobson also feels high school football serves very worthwhile and important need If young people dont get rid of their ag gression in sport like football theyd do it another way In this sense football has been tremendous value as an outlet for aggres sion Dobson says Two physical education heads of depart ment in Simcoe County schools say spinal in juries caused by football are almost non existent lm in my 23rd year of twching and coaching and the most serious football injury Ive seen was fracture says Doug Swalcs of Midland Secondary School Dalt Nesbitt head of the physical education department at Barrie Central Collegiate has taught even longer than Swales lve been teaching for 31 years and have never seen football player sustain anything worse than fractured arm The main types of football injuries are sprained ankles and knees Nesbitt says Dave Garland teacher and senior football coach at Barrie Central says Dr Martins crusade to ban high school football is the result of an ego trip My first reaction to the chiropractors recommendation was that Martin was just trying to get name or reputation for himself Martin is barking up the wrong tree Ive been coaching football for it years and cant remember anything worse than player sustaining separated shoulder Garland says ton Mossop principal of Eastvicw Secon dary in Barrie is the liaison for the prin cipals County Head Masters Association to the Georgian Bay Schools Athletic Associa tion GBSSA He says the football ban recommendation is unfair played football when was in high school and believe the game is healthy kind of physical contact sport and is good for students Bwides havent noticed any in crease in football injuries Mossop says All those interviewed in Simcoe County agree The area most responsible for improv ing the quality and safety of high school foot ball is the improvement in the care and prevention of athletic injuries There are now sport medicine clinics where coaches and team managers can learn and recognize the basic types of injuries so they can treat injuries until the proper medical authorities arrive says Dr Porter We run the Ontario Athletic lhcrapcutic Association says physiotherapist Terry Page Through this organization crutches can go to clinics and learn the important basics in the care and prevention of athletic injuries Many Simcoe County high school coaches also attend coaching clinics where they learn the basic coaching skills According to Robert Montgomery junior football coach at Barrie Central and convencr for this districts football program these coaching clinics have definite connection with the decrease in injuries We attend these clinics in order to upgrade and improve our coaching skills and techniques which have beneficial effect on our players Montgomery says Conditioning and uipmcnt are two areas that have contributet to the minimizing of football injuries The improved conditioning methods used by high school coaches in their practices have definitely helped lower the number of in juries Dr Porter says With the wearing of football uipment it is crucial for high school footbaii players to wear the ver best quality of helmets says Swales of Mi land Secondar The suspension helmet as replaced the not the anwr ROBERT lOliOllilltY converter for area traditional padded helmet which is set against the shell of the helmet The susperr sion hclmct gives the player the maximum amount of protect ion Swalcs says Officiating and rule changes are two more areas of football that have improved the games safety BEST OFFICIALS We use the best quality of officials Mon tgomery They all come from Toronto and we pay them the best fees But its worth it because the improved officiating has greatly improved the quality of fmtball being played in our county ltulc changes have also undergone improv cd changes Important adjustments to the playing rules have lessened the risk of football in juries says Garland of Harrie Central Two important rule changes have been the elimination of head blocking and tackling and of players blocking below the waist on kick returns Hut buried under thc ongoing controversy gripping high school football is the unseen and unapprcciatcti value associated with the game This is the sentiment expressed by David McKay teacher anti coach of the new senior football team at Bradford District High School Football offers players fitness responr sibiiity coinradcship skill development sense of purpose and selfconfidence Its an ideal characterbuilding sport The game helps let young men feel good about themselves And it teaches boy important qualities of life that he can carry over into his adult life But what about the football coach who spends long hours after school hours out on the practice field what does the game offer him Garland of llarric Central provides cogent answer Besides enjoying the game football pro vides me with the opportunity of getting to know students outside the classroom setting Its the personal contact get with my players and thc opportunit ics have for show ing them what feel are important life values that make football so valuable and rewarding tome Mac Hyde principal of the new fourth Bar rie secondary school scheduled to open next September says that while he doesnt know what decision will be reached on football program at his new school he nevertheless appreciates the admirable qualities associated with the game lin not against football In fact there are lot of valid arguments favoring the game such as the important impact football has on school spirit and the closeness it gives the players in belonging to group Hyde says There is another area that can further minimize the risk and severity of football in juries It comes from the chiropractic profession Barrie chiropractor llockridge says the Simcoc ounty Chiropractic Association has agreed to donate free time to enter the schools and screen students for spinal ir regularities Dr Michael llockridgc Barrie chiroprac tor uscs this human spinal column to il Physiotherapist Doug ltrccr of Harric ap plies treatment to patients ankle injury at the Medical entrcs physiothcrapcutic clinic on Wellington Street Freer is Last weeks Sports Hall of Fame perW sonality was an easy one Pam Easton 56 ilcnwood Dr Harrie identified orby Adams former player with the Barrie Flyers of the IA Senior Hockey League anti steady performer last season with Brantfords defending Allan Cup champions If you followed the Town to Blue Jays during their initial season in the major league youll have no trouble Identifying this weeks Sports Hall of Fame personality lie was the only ana dlan on the team and spent his time play ing in the infield If you think you know who it is then send your name address and phone number to Sports Hall of Fame The Examiner Box 370 Harrie Ont MM 4T6 Winners are picked by random draw each Saturday sports hall fame lustrate the area of the lower back most often affected by football back injuries Examiner Photo against the recommendation by the On tarlo Chiropractic Association to ban the sport from high schools He says football is taking bum rap Examiner Photo WW ontcst winncrs will receive an lit inch special pizza from Mr lonys lizzaria and Spaghetti House 17 Dunlop St Weekly winner Is determined by draw front all correct answers done publishing day before new weekly contest starts