Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930

ATHLETICS I THE ORTH to one month's hard labour the Chairman stated it was a disgraceful and blackguardly offence. A very similar prosecution took place at Hull, which was described by the Judge as very low, mean and un-English. The prisoner pleaded "Guilty," and was required to insert apologies in the various sporting papers and be bound over in £roo to come up for judgment if required. Much reference is made to a proposition agreed to by delegates of the A.A.A. and the N.C.U. at a conference held in London, on ovember 26th, r 884, to the effect "That in future each body should in all matters relating to their respective Sports deal with their own constituents alone; that is, the A.A.A. should alone deal with Athletes and the .C.U. should alone deal with Cyclists." It would appear that the decision was greatly resented by the N .C.A.A., and their delegates were charged to oppose the proposition when finally submitted at the next meeting of the A.A.A. The Annual General Meeting of the .C.A.A. on January 30th, r 886, introduced many new schemes. Perhaps the most important was that of dividing the area into districts, each to appoint its own Chairman and send its delegates to the .C.A.A. It was resolved that a Secretary be appointed at a salary of £21 per annum. A Rules Revision Sub-com– mittee was selected and a banking account opened in the name of the N.C.A.A. with Messrs. Nash and Sons, Manchester. The principal business of a meeting held on May 19th, 1887, was to consider the best method to defend the action instituted by Mr. R. Mansell, Queen's Theatre, Manchester, against the N.C.A.A. to recover damages for alleged loss sustained by the proclamation of their Sports held on the Manchester Racecourse on May 2nd, and for libel. A letter was produced from Mr. R. Todd, Secretary of the .C.U., intimating their willingness to co-operate with the N.C.A.A. in defending the action. It was resolved that Mr. Montague Shearman be retained as counsel for the N.C.A.A. The result of the trial, a great victory for the Association, was welcomed by every one interested in amateur athletics. Mr. Mansell was called upon to pay the taxed costs. The records of October 20th, r 888, exposed further cases of fraud, in which the prisoners were convicted at Northampton for impersonation. The sentences imposed were six months with hard labour in the first case and four months' imprisonment in the second case. Great interest was centred on this prosecution, and the result was received with general satisfaction. There was an indication that these cases brought good results, as there was at this period a big influx of applications for member– ship from clubs who had hitherto refrained from supporting the Association. The Committee meetings were well attended, and amongst those prominent were: Mr. T. M. Abraham, who had rarely missed a meeting from the very formation; Mr. J. H. Hardwick, a vigilant scout con– stantly bringing to light infractions of the rules, which were investigated most thoroughly and dealt with equally rigidly; Messrs. H. Beardsell, G. Duxfield, J. Ramsdell, H. P. Ellis and Walter Platt, the Secretary, 65 F