Athletics of To-Day 1929

The Growth of Modern Athletics rs was accepted at Lillie Bridge, and, although their entries were often accepted, this left the provincial athletes, drawn mainly from the artisan, mechanic and labouring classes, properly speaking, ineligible to compete at the English Championships. The London type of athlete, belonging mostly to the pro– fessional and business classes, was eligible under the then existing amateur definition, but found themselves bound to compete under a big handicap, owing to the fact that it con– tinued to be the custom to hold the Championship Meeting at Lillie Bridge upon the Monday following the Oxford and ambridge ports in :March or April. In the early seventies it is obvious that the character of the English athletic constituency was changing. Up to the end of the sixties the University athletes had formed by far the most important section of the athletic community, both in numbers and by m rit of performance, and their entries had supplied fully two-thirds of the competitors at the hampion– ships. But the general di s mination of athletes throughout the land called for the consideration of the two oth r classes of sportsmen, and it was this task that the A.A. . ither would not or could not face. The point of cleavage came on the propo ition that it was unfair to the general run of athlet s to hold the hampion hips in the spring, to which th A.A.C. r pli d that it would be equ lly unfair to the University n1en to hold th m at any oth r time of the y ar, since it was the policy at Oxford and ambridge to d vote the summer months to cricket, boating, and xaminations. As has b n said, the pm r of the A.A. . wa on the wane, forth only new m mbers it obtain d \ er such m n as were anxiou to u e the Lilli ridg ground for training purposes. But th pow r of the L.A. . wax d as that of th A.A. . waned. Up to r 76, it is true, the L.A. . had been comp 11 d to hold th ir me ting , which w r th most important apart from the hampion hip , at Lillie Bridg , but th re was some dispute over gate-money arrang ments in that y ar, in which the L.A.C. held six meetings at Lillie ridg , one at Richmond, and one at Hendon for swimming, besides sending an int rnational team