Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

A.A.A. JUBILEE SOUVENIR period, " Magnificent race, won by a foot," and "Won easily by three yards." When discussing the basis of this article, and other articles in the pub– lication, with a friend with an intimate knowledge of the Association, he suggested that an article must either be severely historical, or personal and on the "light" side. A combination of the two, he thought, would be impossible. I could not agree with him, though there is no one in the Association to whom I listen with greater respect. It is my aim to record a number of facts, and to paint what I hope will be a " picture" of the Association and its supporters in the last fifty years, but I also hope to give a few personal impressions of the athletic world as I have known it. In the words of a famous French philosopher, "It is necessary always to aim at being interesting, rather than exact ; for the spectator forgives everything except dulness." Co TRASTS The contrast between the athletic world and athletic government towards the end of the nineteenth century and at the present day can hardly be realised by the younger generation. The two pictures stand before me, and they are canvases crowded with interesting people and stirring scenes. The change is partially due to the change in the view which is generally taken of social distinctions. In I 892, the earliest year of which I can speak from personal experience, if Lord Burghley had been seen competing with the " mechanic, artisan or labourer" admitted, after the formation of the A.A.A., to athletic competitions as an amateur, it would have been considered a surprising thing. The employer not infrequently might find his entry refused, and that of his clerk accepted, for the events promoted by certain clubs. The clerk enjoyed the dignity attaching to "clerical work," the employer was engaged in selling goods ; in short, he was a " tradesman," a word at which many Victorians shuddered. Indeed, in the annual handbook of a famous London Club in the seventies, the following resolution was reprinted year after year, as a warning to new members, or members who desired a new experience :- " The Committee, thinking that the position of the Club may be affected if members compete in athletic meetings held by firms of tradesmen, expresses an earnest desire that members will not enter at such meetings." A GREAT REPUBLIC To-day the scene has changed; we arc members of a great Republic, the Republic of Sport, where merit is the only passport to favour, where we take no cognisance of whether a man works with his head or his hands, where the universal wish is: " May the best man, or the best Club, win." It is a splendid thing that a wonderful sport, in which a man depends 32