The Olympic Games and the Duke of Westminster's Appeal

THE OLY1l!JPIC GAMES. 19 can be raised sounds rather droll. I am quite yelling, gr~ft, and sharp practice will soon ,q.egrade aware that Americans and others arc rai, ing huge our Olympia to the level of a mob at an old-fashioned funds and are making gigantic efforts to win priz s. prize fight, the ):>rutalities of which Jack Johnson is And I know that unless similar efforts aro made here, coming over to teach us. · few pots will be brought home. But the whole affair "Of course, I shall be called by kindly f,riends a stinks of gate-money and of professional pot-hunting. senile philosopher, or by unkind critics au effeminate " If young men who do not gain their living by crank. In my day I played most games with zest ; performing in public for hire aro to meet and rw1 and at Lord's, in the forties, I bowled in the Eleven races, leap, row, and wrestle as genuine ama.tow·s, of my school, and for my college at 0 )dord in 1850. n othing ca.n be more whole ome. I am a devoted 'l'o·day I am tramping over the moors in their lover of games myself. At school and at college a.utwnnal glory of golden gorse and pw·ple h eather- ! went in with a. heart for boat and eleven ; I cheered not, indeed, with a gun, but with the stout stick with Joe Chitty .at Putney, and Ridding and Ma.rsham whlch for years I havo ranged the Alps. a t Lord's. But GO years ago large sums wern not "'l'he stories ofMyllll and P ilch, of Clarke and Felix, wanted in order to win. 'l.'he Eigl~t or the Eleven which I see in your columns of late, recall to me the lived their usual lives, went .on with their ~vork, even cricket of the forties. Often have I watched them in training of a few weeks ; and, for the most pa.rt, all at Lord's, and have now and then stood up to they gained high honours in their universities and a be.LI or two from the first Lillywhite, the original schools, at the Ba.r, and ,in puQlic life. All the 'p-r-e_-_ __,i,,nc-:v_e 0 ntor of round-arm bowling at th e beginning of pa.ration' they had- was--·such- ss- befittecl refillimo.- 1e forties. I t was a. lesson in cricket to see Alfred t,eurs, and did not cost more than other kinds of Mynn with his gigantic swing of arm and stately holiday exercise. It did not take them out of their delivery which looked as easy to send forth a.s lives ; it enlarged and strengthened their lives ; it Lablache's bass notes. His pace was ce,rtainly not was ~n accomplisl 1ent, not a. profession, and it equal to that of Fellowes, but it would be considered helped to make tht.m eminent men of their time. fost to-day. 'l'he match between Mynn a.nd F elix " But .what does £100,000 to be spent in three year:, wa.s one of the events of that time. 'l.'remendous mean ? It means that an army of professional bowling was mntched nga.inst masterly butting a.nd coaches a.re to be h ired t;o go about and .pick out men fielding-which at single-wicket was fa.ta.Hy handi- ha.ving a. ~pecia.l turn of speed or some ],mack in lenp- capped. ing a b ar-which is as often as not qui.te incompatible " Alas ! cricket-for the noblest of a.ll games-is with an all-round athletic condit ion of body. A long .list passing into mere professionalism, gate money, a.nd of p ossible candi,da.tcs ,are to be tried in order to contractors' jobs. In most counties the E leven, -discover some 'latent ,ta.len,t,' and 90 per cent . of except for au amateur or two, are professional.s- these will ha.v.e to be turned a.way as ' n on-s~yers.' i.e., h ired men. The ·, talent ' passes to any club The l.0 ,per cent. ta.\ent finally selected a.re, I suppose, rich enough to pay their price and to find the cost t o be -P.ro.ctically -take,n out .of their usu'al lives, t o the of ' qualifying,' easy as this is. So, modern cricket loss of t heir industrial ,or professio.n al careers, and is tending t o become a struggle of purses, not of th e,n e_ut into the training-stable mill, just as if they ge,nuine home-bred county p layers. '!'his football were perby colts. The average youth who ca.n run has long b een. I wish a new rule could be made -or leap well cannot .afford to give up his life fQr three to restrict a county eleven t o amateurs, with oa,e years to ,be treated as a. racehorse, a.'lld a l.so to me~t- professional b owler. I t 'would then be an h onest the inevitable .e.xpenses ,of trainers, pra c~ice grounds, trial of local merit. At present the county which hygienic regime, trials, o.nd all the ma.cl;iinery of a ca.n pay the b est men, without a ny real condition craQk xacing stab.le. The lc;,ss of t ime, money, and of birth, residence, or occupation, brings the highest opportunity for any practical career m,u~t be ma.de ' gate.' good in meq.l ,or in malt. It ,siiems as if ea.eh Britil!h " And now the craze ' t o collect Olympic dust ' -c.andide.te at B.erlin .will cost £1,000 in some form. bids fair ,to be.another case of 'gate '-professional- He has ,t o be nursed, maintained, kept in racing ism-y ears of specie.list coaching. I should myself -condit ion by public money-in fe.ot, ,to b'e ~ked. prefer to see Britain decline t o enter, as not liking How ,d_oes this d#fer from ,being a ' profossional ' the terms and devices on which the show is run, ·perfon:ner ,in a ,kind of intern~tione.l circus ? And and t hen to challenge the world to meet us at cricket, how ,is an a.wate.ur .to be defined unle~ it be one who football, or a .iiteeplecha.se. This is better than ,t cy,ii;ig plays a game ,for 'love,' hilnl!elf ,an~ his fellow- t o beat .'.fa.ck Johnson or the miraculous Italian play,eni findjng ~ny ~ci~en~ l ex 6ll!!08 ? ' a.stri cook." - + ------.q .~ _qu.i,te,!low.~~e t in.o~er.nat\qns this 41 b~ THE Du.KE OF WESTMINSTER'S REI'.LY. ,dow,. It ~ ~ di~l .an act .of ,i:ivalry ,a.s the ,race in armame,nts, ,wl;i,ic;h .is _Cl'll!li:iing ~}le ~e of $e This letter called forth immediate replies ·from E~pe6n ,Con~~nt. In ~erica _it is El&s\er to a number of well-k:no,vn m en . A lett.er from the re.ise .a -~on,do~ fQr ,11\loh a purpo~ than to i:~ise Duke of Westminster appeared in The Times of £5,®0 here. ·1'.pe ,U:ni~ S~tes )Jave ~'!l fggi:eg!l,te Au_gust 27 in which he wrote as follows:- w0!1,lth vastly greater -t~µ ,ours, a l\d At is w,El3lth waiting ,t,o lie,pq~ o_ut ~ ,1;1ot ,ear,i;nar:k~ ~ o~ ".Mr. ;F,rll4eric iEJ.arr~9n, ~ co~on W\th hundreds is l>y .BQO«u ha\>it11- ~®' _p.qp~~iqn is ~-qo.h .~ore of ~ousands qf ms ,<iQuntryµ,ien .ai:id .wc;imen, .~~ not ~ dquble ti.t of ,the iBii~il!h !lqd ~tin of ~ e realize :ivh~t E~l~d h a.s lost in .the various fielils .athletic type ,aQd b~ Ji~ more ~n .fQ.~ or of sport. Here ls a list':- · · •· five ,timee ~ .r;Q41'1f. Tile .so~es for ,r!IJ~ ,l\l;IOh Po,lo . . · Amer~ca fuQd8 are ,prl)Cti~y ~ted. .Our .!lpQrt .P'r!tl;~ ~cket.e America (Jack Squ. tar) might 1111 ~ell .~ry .t,o ~ulate,.~~ ,}lu\>}io ,.~fts 1 9f .a Y:a~ting "Ameripa ' ' :Reokef~, a l'dqrg!'n, or ,41 .~e~e. (h9,lders of the p up) "A,nd for .w~t ¥1 ."11 t.liis ~01,1ey WAA~ ,? In ~~T(lDnis,(Singles) . . ~ew z+d ' ~ .t,o ,meet ,01,1 ,eq~ ~ ·(o~ign.at~tes .w~o · ·' (A. F W~) .-i,n9t~1M111teure, l!Qllle,of,,v,liom c,,miqt be~ :t,a.wn Tennis (J?avis • . ' ' .to.play~eg~wijh,,-~•~te.~ll.!lll.!"10~P,et1w111, ,(lu{l).. . . . ·• • Aw.~oa nor 1111 speotaton to behave like gentlOP\~ ~ tli.so9d Te~ ~~ tJav Gould) :laUQlour, .~qoy, .M!l MU-co1;1trQL ~~gqarclly ~oxing , • ~c'e,'~~~116 · ' ' 2--2