Modern Athletics 1868

14 MODERN ATHLETICS. Sec. to Cambridge University Athletic Association, re­ gretting tliat the sports had been prevented by a disin­ clination on the part ofthe Oxford gentlemen to engage in a contest during the summer term. Thus the institu­ tion of these sports fellthrough, butfortunately only for a short time, as in the spring of the following year the first meeting was held. Cambridge formed a University Athletic Association, afterwards called a club, the com­ mittee consisting ofa representative from each college, in 1863, if not earlier. Oxford did not follow this example till June 9th, 1866. Within the lasttwo years athletic meetings have be­ come general throughout the kingdom. They have ex­ tended even among the Englishresidents on the Continent and in the colonies. Eton adhered to her original stray steeplechases and the like till 1864; and Harrow made no reform till 1866, when she held her first regularly- organized meeting. The members of her Majesty's Civil Service, in 1864, werethe first who introduced Beaufort House, Walham Green, into prominence as a good spot for amateur meetings. Their reunions have certainly, to say the least, beenas successfully conducted and ansume­ rously and fashionablyattended asany others in theme­ tropolis. Since then Beaufort House has been patronized by nearly all the present metropolitan athleticlubs. Of these theAmateur and London Athletic Clubs are the most celebrated. The former holds an annual champion meeting, and hassucceeded in bringing the best amateur talent of theday to the post. There are also numerous meetings in the provinces, especially at Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool, Sheffield, and Newcastle: in fact, there is scarcely acricket or foot-ball club throughout the kingdom which does not now hold its annual athletic meeting.