The John Allaire Memorial Trophy
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Title
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The John Allaire Memorial Trophy
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Date
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November 12, 1937
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volume
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2
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issue
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15
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page start
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6
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page end
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6
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content
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en
THE JOHN ALLAIRE MEMORIAL TROPHY
On Tuesday, November 23rd, the Amateur Fencers League of America will hold the first annual three-weapon team competition for a beautiful silver cup which will become a perpetual trophy in honor of John Allaire.
As our readers will well remember, Mr. John Allaire died last year. His entire life had been devoted to American Fencing and had become synonymous with it. One of the earliest members of the A.F.L.A., he had served the league in various capacities and been untiring in his efforts to promote fencing. Mr. Allaire was particularly interested in popularizing the game within the smaller clubs and Y.M.C.A.s. Upon his death, American Fencing suffered an irretrievable loss.
The three-weapon competition which will honor John Allaire’s memory will be run on entirely different lines than all of our other tournaments. In the first place, there will be no eliminations. Every team will meet every other team in the field, so that the ultimate outcome will be a complete round-robin of all the foil men, all the epee men, and all the sabre men. The semblance of team matches will be maintained, however, by pairing two teams each time. Each team match, therefore, will consist of three bouts.
The main feature of the match, however, will be the scoring system. Bout and match victories will have no bearing on the ultimate winner. Bouts in all weapons will be fenced for five out of a possible nine touches, and the number of TOUCHES AGAINST will be the factor which will determine the winning team.
This system, proposed by Mr. Leo B. Nunes, will put the emphasis on each individual touch, so that a man who is capable of winning a bout 5-0 must try to do so instead of “coasting” to a 5-3 or 5-4 victory. Under this system, therefore, it is possible for one team to win all its matches and still lose to another which has suffered one or two defeats but has won its other meets by wide margins.
The best available men in the various weapons will be competing. The Salle Santelli will enter its National Championship team of Warren Dow, Jose and Miguel de Capriles, while the New York A.C. and Fencers Club will provide powerful challengers.
