Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

JUBILEE DINNER the President of the Amateur Football Association. Lastly he came to their friends in the Northern Ireland Association, which had recently become linked up with the A.A.A. and was represented by the Hon. T. Moles, M.P. Mr. Charles Gurdon (A.R.A.), replying, mentioned that he rowed against Oxford more than fifty years ago, and said that in those days newspapers did not give much space to sport. He expressed the hope that when the centenary of the A.A.A. came round, as it undoubtedly would, some of those present would still be alive and would attend the centenary banquet. Mr. Hughes Onslow (A.F.A.) referred to his Association as a comparatively juvenile body, which was the result of a protest against the common enemy, commercialism, against which the A.A.A. had made a splendid stand. When it was formed the A.A.A. sent a message of congratulation and sympathy. The primitive days of football had passed and to-day they had magnificent grounds and luxuries undreamed of by their forerunners. The great object ofsportsmen should be to make England greater in every respect and not merely in the direction of Athletics. Sports were a means to a greater end, to encourage all to lead earnest, industrious and unselfish lives. The Hon. T. Moles, M.P., who also replied, said it was a special privilege for the representative of the youngest Association accepted as a governing body by the A.A.A. to reply to the toast. He gave a cordial invitation to the athletes of England and Scotland to come to Ireland, where they would receive a hearty welcome, and if they could not beat them, they would make the triumph for them as hard as possible to achieve. They had reasonable grounds for pride in the way in which they conducted their sport in Ireland. The speaker caused much applause and amusement by pre– senting a blackthorn stick to the President as an emblem of the dignity and prestige of the Association, rather like, as he said, the Mace of the House of Commons. He said that the stick, suitably inscribed as a souvenir of the historic occasion, was one upon which a man could depend with full confidence in a moment of weakness and rely upon it with equal confidence in moments of peril. The speaker also presented the Hon. Secretary with a similar souvenir. Lord Desborough, cordially acknowledging the gift, said it was a great surprise, but he trembled to think what would happen if the whole of the A.A.A. Committee came to meetings armed with blackthorns! Sir Harry Barclay also thanked Mr. Moles for his highly original gift, which marked the first occasion ofthe Northern Ireland Association's co-operation with the A.A.A. Mr. W. M. Barnard proposed "The Visitors." He said they were guests of distinction, and they included many famous sportsmen and champions. They had seen in the reception room the Rev. Herbert Dunnico talking to C. L. Lockton, a former champion and a prince of starters, who had himself been connected with the House of Commons in an official position. Other guests included J. E. Fowler-Dixon, who 131 12