The Olympic Games and the Duke of Westminster's Appeal

26 THE OLYlYIPIC GA lYIES. is a very different matter, ·upcin which it would be difficult to look too sternly. In sett ing their faces against any appearance of this evil, as they will do, the Olympic Select Committee will have behind them the whole force of healthy public opinion. Wi~h that check on their actions, to say nothin~ of the1.r own amateur traditions, there can be little fear of their tolerating any abuse of t he Olympic fund. Leaving out of the question the great body of athletes who make a living or part of a living, by their skill in running and jumping and other athletic sports without any chance of qualifying as a com– petitor in the Olympic Games, there is in fa.et only one game, and only one branch of that game, in which professionalism is a distinct and troublesome pro– blem. vVe need not, however, enter now into the question of League football. It is large and difficult and in any case has no bearing on the Olympic Games. It is enough for the present to urge these two points on our readers-that the Olympic authori– ties a.re fully alive to the dangers of veiled profession– aliSin, and that true professionalism, in practically every branch of sport, is one of the most sat,isfactory and characteristic features in the athletic life of the nation. Is £100,000 Too MucH 1 Much of the apprehension of the possibly in– jurious effects of the proposed scheme arose undoubtedly from the unexpected magnitude of the slim asked for. This feeling was voiced in such letters as the following, which appc1tred in The Times of September 13, from Mr. Edgar Fifoot, Manager of The News of the World :- It is unfortunate that the public a.re being asked to subscribe such a la.rge sum when it is admitted that the whole am01mt will not be required for the actual purpose in hand. At the last contest many of the Briti~h competi– tors were badly trained, badly housed, and impro– perly fed, while the general organization of the team left much to be desired. If the public were a..._q}{ed to subscribe only such an ~ount as would be adequate to remedy these deficiencies on the next occasion I believe that the appeal would be more readily responded to. It is not, however, to be supposed that those who have charge of the matter can have any desire to make their task harder by asking for e. larger B1IDl than is required.. We have seen that, in tile days immediately foUowing the Games of 11>1·2, it was thought that a fund of £40,000 JmlM liaftite for aH purposes. But before the Oommitt.ee of Appeal, for which the Duke of •btmuater, ia apokesman, issued its call for 111beenptiona·, Mr. Studd'e Committee bad been at won going over the details of the various pltDa abmitt.ed by the several Governing Asea– ot&'tiona for eome months. Jn the middle of s.,teaber the Seoietaty to the Committee issued • -flhlgh &t.atemient of some of the cmef items ~ 'e'XJ*(lle far which the money wa:s required. TD emoru. ES'tolu.n. aoorclilll t.o tliia.eetimate the following amounts roughly would be required for' the work of Specific Associations :- Amateur Athletic Association– £4,000 per annum for four year:1 Irish Amateur Atllletic Association- £900 per annum for four yem"' . . Scottish Amateur Athletic Association– £250 per annwn for four years National Cyclis ts' Union- £860 per annum for tlu·ee years, with an additional £150 for final tra.ining . . Amateur Gymnastic Associa.t,ion- 1913 £215 1914 .J,30 1915 430 1916 870 Amateur Clay Bird Shooting Association Amateur ,v restling Association- £600 per a.nnwn fo r three years and £250 for Olympic Team Amatem· Swimming Association Amatenr Fencing Association Estimated cost of sending 500 athletes tc> Berlin a fo rtnight before the meet– ing at £30 each £16,000 3,600 2,730 1,945 500 2,050 5,577 810 £34,21 2 15,000 £4~,21 2 In addition to the above estimates there would be the e:o.."Penses for central training q u!l.rters ; ex . penses for chief trainer and trainers for centrul training quarters ; tra.ining arrangements in other big centres ; cos t of field events apparatus ; indoor training quarters and offi ce e'<})enses. There wer also a few remaining schemes whi-:h hnd not yet· been submitted by some of the go,·erning bo<lie. of sport~. THE NEED OF EXTRA. FUNDS. It is plain, however, that this statement of the mere contributions to be made to nine Govern– ing Associations, with the estimate of the cost of actually sending the competitors to Berlin, represents no more than a portion of the total necessary cost. In the list of things appended t o the figures, for which no estimate of cost is given . it will be seen that no mention is made of any eutlay for the Committee itself, for the cost of getting the money, or of the necessary printing, postage, travelling, and other " over-head" ex– penses which are inevitable in any la.rge under- . taking. And when it is remembered that this is intended to be the basis for a national reform in the physical education of the people, the sun1 asked for is not large. Nor is it large in comparison with what ether nations spend or are planning to spend on the Games of 1916. In the course of a letter published in The Times of October 17, 1913, Mr. Frank W. Rolt said , on the subject of the size of the fund asked for :- We a.re asked.to believe that with the comparatively moderate sum of £100,000-t o be spent in a period of three to four years-the Olympic Ga.mes .Com– mittee are going to demoralize the country-by buildin:g up a vast and ·evil system af ,professionalism, = reproducing modem imitations of the schools of · of the anoiente,.by diverting undergraduates their &tudies, and ,by teac~ our young men to wonhip th6' .false gods of athleticism. Of a truth,