The Olympic Games and the Duke of Westminster's Appeal

THE OLY1J1PIC GA111ES. APPENDIX C. A SCHEME FOR AN IMPERIAL TEAM. From time to time there has been a good deal of discussion of the wisdom of splitting up the strength of the British Empire into five or six separate units at the Games instead of competing as one "nation." In advance of the Games of 1912 there had been talk of the contingents from different parts of the Empire on their way to Stockholm meeting in London for joint training before the Games. There has been no official explanation why the project fell through. At the Stockholm Games the first suggestion that the Empire should compete as a unit seems to have come from the Special Correspondent of The Times, who wrote on July 5, 1912, mging such a course. In the course of his letter he said :- An obvious point which one is tempted to me.ke is that, without wishing to encroe.ch on the legitime.te pride of our gree.t self-governing Dominions, South Africa., Austre.lie., and Canada. ( which has still to come into the scoring) a.re ne.turally e.t least as much 11, part of " Engle.nd " a.s, let us se.y, the Sandwich Isle.nds are a part of America. The yotmg New Yorker or Bostonian who goes to Ale.ske., the Philip– pines, or Honolulu to seek his fortune still repre– sents the United States ; e.nd the American e.thletes do, in fact, include negroes, Red India.us, and one full-blooded He.we.iie.n. But this whole question df whe.t me.y be ea.lied the racie.l aspect of the Ge.mes (with es~cie.I bee.ring on the problem of e.ma.teur– ship) with the polyglot, me.ny-coloured che.re.cter which the body of competitors e.t future Ge.mes is likely to assume is e. fa.seine.ting subject which deserves consideration by itself. Meanwhile, we may note the.t, though " England " e.t present stands only third in the list of competing countries, the British Empire is, e.t the end of the first period of the Games, comfortably in the lead. Ten days later he recurred to the subject in the following article :- THE EMPIRE AND THE GAMES. STOCKHOLM, JULY 15. From conversations with athletes representing Canada, Austre.lie., e.nd South Africa. here I ge.ther that they are aU in favour of entering one team from the whole Empire at future Ge.mes instead of, as at present, dissipating our strength by brae.king it up mto four separate units. There is no doubt that the representatives from the United Kingdom desire it ; 6ut it is, presumabl;v-, the preference of the Colonials that we should chiefly wish to consult. To judge from the opinions of those to whom I have spoken they are even more strongly in favour of OODIOlidation the.n are the " Englishmen of Eng– ~· At the close of the second, and chief, period of the Games the scores in points of the leading nations are :-America, 128 ; . the British Empire, 110; Sweden. 110. Then. after a long gap, follow Fin– land. 48; Germany, 37 ; France, 21, and so forth. But the British total is broken up into items as followa :-England, 68 ; South Africa, 16 ; and Amtra1ia and Canada, 13 each. Thele acores are individually creditable to each of the Dominions. South Africa baa wo~ four gold. made.ls with as many "firsts "-ne.mely, two in Lawn Tennis, one in the " Me.re.thon " Race, and one in the Long-Diste.nce Bicycle Race. Canada' was first in the We.lking e.nd in Swimming. Aus– tre.lie.'s points ea.me chiefly from Swimming. The glory which accrues to the individual Dominions is but moderate in a.mount, and the sentimental se.tis– fe.ction which ea.eh derives from its separe.te repre– sente.tion cannot be gree.t. Certe.inly the Colonials themselves feel the.t it would be vastly better to be e.ssocie.ted with n powerful Empire tee.m, the flag of which everybody at the Ge.mes knows e.nd respects, and to help to keep the.t Empire in its place e.t the hee.d of the ne.tions. We he.ve the nne.logy of the United Ste.tes before us, to the total of whose points negroes, Red Indians, and He.we.iie.ns nil contribute. vVe m e.y hesitate to dre.w to the so.me extent upon the subject races within the Empire ; but it would surely be well, for le.rger the.n mere Olympic reasons, that the world should be accustomed to regard the Empire as e. unit. There ce.n be no doubt that here in Stock– holm its pc.rtition has prejudiced our ste.nding in the eyes of other peoples, and has given excuse for not e. little pe.tronizing te.lk of Engle.nd's decadence. Such talk would not be possible, nor would it have occurred to e.nybody to use it, if our strength was me.ssed e.nd the winnings of the Empire were aU counted as one. Nor a.re there e.ny obste.cles in the we.y of such 11, course which cannot be overcome. (The Times, July 18, 1912.) On the same day app~r~- ·the following letter from Sir Arthur Conan D oyle :- TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES. Sir,-W'e have four years in which to set our house in order before the Berlin Olympic Ga.mes. !\fight I suggest the.t the most pressing che.nge of all is that we should send in a British Empire team instead of merely e. British team ? The Amerioans • very wisely and properly send Red Indians, negroee, and even a He.waian amongst their represent e.tivee. We, on the contre.ry, e.cquiasce in our white fellow– subjects from the Colonies contendingundersepe.rate headings. I am sure that if they were approached with tact they would willin~ly surrender the occa.· sional local honours they may ge.in in order to form one united tee.m in which Africe.ns, Australians, and Canadians would do their she.re with men from the Mother Country under one-flag and the same insignia. I would go further and see whether among Ceylon or Malay swimmers, Indian runners, and Sikh wrestlers we cannot find winners e.mong the coloured re.ces of the Empire. Such a movement would, I think, be of the highest political importance, for there could not be a finer object lesson of the unity of the Empire than such e. team e.11 striving for the victory of the se.me fle.g. Yours sincerely, ARTHUR CONAN DOYLE. Windleshe.m, Crowborough, Sussex, July 15. Some discussion of the subject followed, generally of an entirely favourable character. Immediately ~fter the Ga.mes, on August 1, 1912, a. meeting was held under the auspices of the Athletes' Advisory Club at the Manchester Hotel, Lord Desborough being in the Chair, when the