18 October 2024
By Tim Koch
Tim Koch on the passing of one of the last survivors of the days of the amateur – professional divide.
An obituary on the British Rowing website announces the death of boatman, boatbuilder, lighterman and coach, George “Bert” Green at the age of 93.
I have previously claimed that the senior living Doggett’s Coat and Badge winner was Bob Crouch who won in 1958. That is now correct but, up until Bert’s recent death, it was he that actually held that title having won Doggett’s in 1952.
The Times of 31 July 1952 reported on the entry of four in the 238th Doggett’s noting that a head wind made the water rough for most of the distance:
For the first mile, there was a good race between G. Green of Putney and D. Powell of Greenwich, but thereafter Green had it all his own way… By Blackfriars Bridge, Green at 24 and Powell at 28 were already forging ahead. Green reached Waterloo Bridge in 8min 5sec with a lead of five lengths… By Westminster Bridge (12min 10sec) Green, sculling steadily, had increased his advantage to 12sec… He passed Lambeth Bridge in 18min 20sec, leading Powell by 25sec and reached the finish in 30min 10sec… Having undertaken not to accept the Doggett’s prize money, he remains an amateur sculler.
As he was an amateur, three months earlier Green had entered the Winfield Sculls, the British Amateur Sculling Championship, under the colours of Putney Town RC. As there were twelve entries, four heats of three were held. Unfortunately, Bert was drawn in the heat with the ultimate winner of the final, Tony Fox of London, the best sculler that Britain had produced in many years. Fox was fourth in the single sculls at the 1952 Olympic Games and had won the Diamond Sculls at Henley in the previous year.
The Times of 30 April 1952 reported on the heats:
The unluckiest competitor was certainly G.E. Green who only lost to Fox (over the Championship Course) by 13secs after a fine race… In any other heat, Green would have been an easy winner and qualified for the final…
In 1972, Bert was coach to the GB single sculler, Ken Dwan, who came second in one of the three repechage races at the Munich Olympic Games.
On the subject of the Wingfields, the 184th Wingfield Sculls and the 18th Women’s Wingfields will be held on 27 October. This year, there have been two attempts to make the races more “spectator friendly”. They are to be held on a Sunday, not the usual weekday, and they will be run not as in the past, Putney to Mortlake, but in the opposite direction, Mortlake to Putney. The time is to be fixed but it will be early afternoon (high water 10.07, low water 17.27).