Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

FIFTY YEARS OF PROGRESS such as wearing coloured dressing-gowns in the centre of the ground, and joining in College " yells." At this time many athletes were absent owing to the South African War, and a donation of £100 was given by the A.A.A. to the Mansion House Fund of that period in connection with the War. 1901-1910 The Association came of age in 1901, and a very successful coming-of– age dinner was held at the Trocadero, with the President, Lord Alverstone, Lord ChiefJustice ofEngland, in the Chair. The year 1902 was a difficult time in a financial sense, as there was a loss of £40 over the Championships, and a loss for the year of about £200. Field events were not particularly popular at this time, and a proposal that Throwing the Hammer should be eliminated from the Championship programme was lost by a narrow margin, nineteen voting for its retention and sixteen against. Mr. G. V. A. Schofield, the Chairman of the Southern Committee, kindly presented a Championship Cup for an event at a new distance, viz., 220 yards. A competition at this distance had been badly required for several years, as there was no event in the Championship programme between the 100 yards and the! mile, and there were many prominent athletes who wished to compete at an intermediate distance. Indeed, in the report of the Championships, when referring to the new event, one of the sporting newspapers observed: "' Festina lente' might be the motto of the A.A.A." At the Annual General Meeting in 1903 the Southern Committee expressed the opinion that the Championships, "which were practically international fixtures," should always be held in London, but the Northern and Midland representatives opposed the proposal, and it was with– drawn. The next year was remarkable for the last days of the old Stamford Bridge ground, with which the Association and many of its affiliated Clubs had been closely connected for so many years. The future of the Cham– pionships when held in the South seemed very problematical, but later on it became known that a local business man, displaying more enterprise than those interested in athletics, had acquired the ground and some adjoining land, all of which became merged in the more prosaic" Stam– ford Bridge" which we know to-day. The A.A.A. early in the year decided not to send a team to the Olympic Games at St. Louis (U .S.A.). In 1905 the number of Vice-Presidents was increased from five to eight, Messrs. G. V. A. Schofield, C. Herbert and E . B. Holmes being elected. The new Stamford Bridge ground was the scene of the Cham– pionships, and although we missed the trees and many of the old features of the ground, it was some consolation to know that the land had been preserved for athletics. At about this time the silk hats frequently worn by officials and others at important athletic meetings began to be in danger, the President of one of the leading bodies affiliated to the A.A.A. boldly 45