Athletics and Football (extract)

A MODERN CHAMPIONSHIP MEETING 55 classicday wasthe championshipmeeting of 1881, when 12,000 peoplewent to the AmateurChampionshipmeeting at the Aston Lower Grounds, Birmingham, to see the pick of the English, Irish, and Scotch athletes meet the Americans, Myers and Merrill,for the English championship titles. Yet another such was the championshipmeeting of 1886, held on July 3, at the London Athletic Club grounds at Stamford Bridge—a gather­ ing which for more reasons than one deserves to be preserved in accurate recollection. The first event upon the programme is fixed for three o'clock,and by that time some two thousand spectators have assembled. About five or six hundred of these are at the lower end of the ground in the open walk reserved for the ' shilling public' ; the remainder are near the stands and on the gravel at the head of the ground. They have paid two shillings for admission,and by a glance at them you can see that many hail from the country, and that all have come for pure sport. There may be, perhaps, a hundred ladies on the ground, but not more. The championship is a ' business' meeting,and the majorityof the spectators know thoroughly the formof the men competing,and are alreadydiscussing the chances. All open betting is forbidden by the rules of the Amateur Athletic Association; but where there are sporting men, some will have their fancy, and betting there will be, but for small and often triflingamounts, and almost entirely between friend and friend. The day is a perfect day for athletics, verywarm, so that men's musclesare supple and without a trace of stiffness,and with a slight breezeblowing up towardsthe stands, so that the times of the runners in the sprint races and hurdles are sure to be fast. And now, before the runners come out, let us take a glance at the centre of the ground." On a large table facing the grand stand, but within the railings,are set out the hand­ some silver challenge cups, which each winner holds for the year of his championship only, but of which he can never obtain the absolute possession. Between the cups as they stand on the table are spread the gold, silver, and bronze