Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS only upon his own courage, judgment and speed, should have been thrown open to every man who runs for the love of the sport, whatever his occupa– tion. Sometimes, when I represent the Association, or a County Associa– tion, at the Annual Dinner of any Club whose members include men whose entries might not have been accepted at the Amateur Champion– ships in pre-A.A.A. days, and watch their eager faces and keen interest in our sport, I instinctively recall the lines : "Honour and shame from no condition rise, Act well your part ; there all the honour lies." In the first place, every one would wish to recognise the keen vision and independence of thought of the men who in I 880 discovered the imperfections of the position at that time, and who, looking into the future, realised that a change would be inevitable. They had to choose between the known and the unknown, and they boldly decided to take the risk and to establish an Association on lines which must at the time have seemed remarkable, if not revolutionary. Reformers are seldom popular, but I never heard that the reformers of I 880 lost their popularity; in fact, from all accounts, they added to it. They were strengthened in their attitude, in their work, by the sturdy independence and outlook of the Northern and Midland representatives of the athletic world, and it will be seen, in the report of the notable speech of our late President, Sir Montague Shearman, that he acknowledged, with characteristic sports– manship, the great support which the Northern and Midland sections of the Association had given to him in his uphill task in those early days. The difficulty about the date for the Championships was another factor in the formation, and here we can imagine the sharp conflict of opinion between those who wanted the Championships to be held in March, or, on the other hand, in July. In these days, any one who advocated a Championship Meeting in March would be in dange:i;- of examination by a mental specialist ! In nearly every direction the Association has made remarkable progress. It was built upon firm foundations by Sir Montague Shearman, the Hon. B. R. Wise, and Mr. C. N. Jackson, when they held their historical "conversations," before the meeting at which it was actually formed. Readers will find in this issue a photograph of the house in which the plans for the formation of the Association were discussed and settled. Visiting Oxford in 1928, I sought the site of the Association's birthplace and, later, wandered round the gardens of St. John's College, imagining for a few moments that I could see in them our late President in his early days. In this publication readers will also find a report of the meeting at which the Association was formed. In this report the facts are given, but it is impossible to give what is often more important than bare facts, the " atmosphere," the unspoken thoughts. In those days-as at the Annual Meetings of the Association in recent years-it would not follow 33 C