Fifty Years of Progress 1880-1930
ATHLETICS IN THE SOUTH side, as, for example, when a heavily-backed competitor was unexpectedly beaten by one almost unknown, or a welsher made an attempt to leave the ground without satisfying the demands of his clients. At one of the smartest gatherings in the South, the sports ground was alongside a main railway line to the coast. Shortly after the finish of the mile handicap, the winner could be seen careering along the railway embankment, sans everything but his shorts, in hot pursuit of a defaulting " penciller," who was making at his best pace for the station. Other malpractices the Southern Committee had to stamp out were roping, impersonation and the incorrect filling up of entry forms for handicaps-each, of course, a fraud of a particularly despicable kind and a fraud often culminating in a well-deserved sentence in a court of law. One champion was suspended for roping and, failing in his appeals for reinstatement, was so loath to sever his connection with the track that he had recourse to impersonation. He deprived himself of his moustache and, like Captain John Macpherson, " dyed his hair a fiery red." All might have gone well, but, unhappily, an inopportune shower of rain and the lack of fast quality in the dye gave the game away and, at the suggestion of one of the judges, the culprit retired to the dressing tent. Though not an offence against the law of the land, the acceptance of a cash payment for appearing at a sports meeting is a serious infringement of the laws of the A.A.A., and at various times the Southern Committee has felt compelled to suspend notable athletes who have been found guilty of it. There was a particularly sensational case in the middle 'nineties when a batch of the foremost runners in the country were suspended on the very eve of the Amateur Championships. Vice-Presidents of the Association, like Mr. G. V. A. Schofield (who was Chairman of the Southern Committee for no less than thirty years), Mr. H. J. Barclay (elected to the Committee in 1886), Mr. W. M. Barnard (1889), and Mr. C. J. Pratt (1892), must have some very interesting memories of those strenuous times. If some of the supporters of athletics did not always comport themselves as might have been desired, the great majority were quite content, if not entirely with the simple pleasure of knowing they had been triumphant, then with the souvenir of their success in the form of a more or less useful trophy. The South has always been to the fore in advocating reduction in prize values, and those closest in touch with the actual athletes know it is not the intrinsic value of the prize that makes the strongest appeal to the athlete. If such value did appeal, hundreds of young Londoners would not " live laborious days and scorn delights " in training, and at the end of it race ten miles across heavy country in wintry weather, with a medal worth a few shillings as their only reward. Looking back over the years since 1880, we of the South may fairly say (and there is reason to believe the statement would find an echo in the North and Midlands) the democratisation of amateur athletics has proved beneficial. Faults and failings there have been and still are-no 75
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