Athletics and Football (extract)

ATHLETIC GOVERNMENT 227 The encouragement and interest given to the amateur con­ tests by the non-athletic public caused the popularisation of the sport to be very rapid, and when the taste caught the ' masses,' it became easier for them to take part in amateur sports than in professional pedestrianism. Without casting any reflectiounpon the conducotf the masseas awhole, it is obviously impossible to expect that with many of them the money to be gained by b tting or ' squaring ' races will not offer irresistible temptatioNnosr., again, is it to be expected that th ' mechanic, artisan, and labourera'nks waillwl ays havweh,en a valuableprize aits stakea, s much sportsmanlike feeling and nice sense of fair play asone could rely upon finding in the much-ridiculed ' gentleman amateur' of past days.As soonas any sporhtas become pospoular that moneiys tobe madeout of it, andmen engagien it upon whom the lososf reputation has littleffect, it may be prophesied with certainttyhat abuses will arise. Such abuses have arisen in athletics ; but it isof more importance to find a remedy tfhoerm than to discuss their origin. The foregoing will, however, serve to explain in some manner the true position of the Athletic Association. The objection has oftenbeen brought agatihnisst body, wasell as against otshiemrilar bodies, that it has beepnroductive of no good because it hasfailed to purifythe sporwt hich it governs. All that gaoverning body of sport cabne expectedto dois to keep order and punish open offences against its laws, anidt can no morerender suitbsjects good sp rtsmen and amateurs than aAnct oPf arliament can render citizveinrstuous. What the A.A.A. does for thetrue amateur is this : asitsures him that wherevehre goes to run under A.A.A. laws hewill find competent management and fair play—a fair field and no favour—but it cannot prevent the genuinaemateur from rub­ bing hsishoulders against many a famlseateur wmhosteives in running as an amateur are obvious, though no complaint can be madeof his publicbehaviour. Before discusstihneg possiblre medies for the present state Q 2