Roberts and Stevenson

George Nelson, writing in The Yorkshire Evening Post
on September 19, says:—” John Roberts on Saturday issued
a cartel to the champion, H. W. Stevenson. In this
Roberts is harking back to last season, for it refers to a
challenge then issued by Stevenson to Roberts which the
latter seems very anxious to accept. In this Stevenson
offered to concede Roberts 10,000 in 30,000 for £250 a side.

Personally I should not fancy Stevenson’s chance in such a
match. The two have not met since that memorable battle
at Caxton Hall, in 1906, when the fortnight’s takings were
close upon £4,000. Roberts’s share alone, although he lost,
amounted to £2,000. Then Roberts gave 2,000 start in
18,000, and the result was a win for Stevenson, though on
level terms Roberts scored more than he. If another match
is brought about it would be an undoubted draw, for there
are many thousands of devotees who still think Roberts the
best player that ever was, or ever will be, and that despite
his sixty-four years he is yet capable of tackling the best.

It is over forty-one years since John Roberts won his first
championship.