Athletics and Football (extract)

48 ATHLETICS militia at Kendal. The latter boasted that he had never been beaten in a jumpingcompetition, and Wilson accordinglychal­ lenged him to jump for a guinea. The unbeaten champion could onlycover 15 feet, Wilsonclearing 21 feet, to his oppo­ nent's amazement. About 1852, then, it came to be considered a recognised and reasonable form of sport for a school or college to devote a day or an afternoon to a meeting for competitions in the old English sports of running, jumping, and throwingof weights; but the notion of open competitions, championships,or contests between the Universitiesin athletic sports, in the same way that they were already competing in cricket and boat-racing, was still far fromdawning on the English mind. Races and jump­ ing matches were still considered school pastimes like ' tag' or ' prisoner's base,' and even at the Universities their progress towards popularity wasvery slow. The following is the infor­ mation given as to this progress by the writer of ' Modern Athletics': 'At the two Universities there were no athletic sports of any description until 1850, when Exeter College, Oxford, took the initiative and held a meeting, which has since been repeated annually. In 1856,and evenin 1858, "Bell's Life," in its report of these sports, styles them" rural and interesting revels,"and again, " a revival of good oldEnglish sports." . . Exeter College wasalone until 1855, when mention is firstmade of any sports at Cambridge,St. John's Collegeand Emmanuel taking the lead. At Oxford, Balliol, Wadham, Pembroke and Worcester followed the exampleof Exeter in 1856 ; Oriel in 1857, Merton in 1858, Christchurch in 1859, and in 1861 separate college meetingshad become general. At the close of i860, the Oxford Universitysports, open to all undergraduates, owed,their foundation to the exertions of the Rev. E. Arkwright, of Merton College. At Cambridge the Universitysports had already been founded in 1857, but annual meetings of the separate colleges were not frequent as at the sister University until 1863.' How suddenly the importance of athletics in­ creased at the Universitiesin 1864, the first year of the Inter-