Athletics and Football (extract)

ATHLETIC GOVERNMENT 219 The summer championship was a decided failure, in spite of the presence of W. G. George, who won both the mile and five-mileraces, two-thirdsof the winners being from the L.A.C. alone. Early in the springof 1880 the Lillie Bridge champion­ ship was again advertised for the usual date, and again notices weregiven by the London runners that they should decline to compete. The disputealsowithregard to the amateur definition wasstill unsettled, the provincials maintaining in a body that the ' mechanic, artizan, or labourer' class should be admitted as amateurs, provided they had never run for money. The wide definition had already been accepted by the Northern Counties Association—a body then consisting of some sixteen strong clubs—whilein the Midlands a similar body, consisting of some eight or nine clubs, was already in process of forma­ tion. Under the circumstances, it occurred to some of the leading athletes at Oxford,early in the spring of 1880, that the best way to settle both burning questions was by a general conference of representatives of leading clubs ; and it was further thought that the invitationsto such a conferenceshould be issued in the joint names of the Oxford and Cambridge clubs. A notice was accordingly issued in March by the presidents of the two University Clubs, inviting secretaries of all recognised athletic clubs to meet at Oxford on April 24. As soon as the notice wascirculated the advertisementsof the usual Lillie Bridge championship were withdrawn,and it was tacitly agreed between the disputants to settle the question of spring or summer championships at the Oxford meeting. It is probablyno breach of confidenceafter so long an inter­ val to say that the ' Oxford Conference ' had several narrowes­ capes of fallingto the ground. Each differentparty wasanxious to keep away from the meeting unless some guarantee for the preservation of its interests was given,and this was of course impossible. Even at Cambridge some oppositionwasgot up in the Universityclub againstthe holding of the meeting,and early in April the guiding spirits of the movement at Oxford wereat their wits'end for an expedient to realisetheir cherished project