The sun., 1898-02-27

Tho whole affair would not perhaps be worthy
Of much notice but for the fact that at tho pres
ent moment practically every branch Of 9th.
| lCtic sports In this country seems to be under
the malign influence OF q thoroughly unsports.
| manllke spirit Tho internal politics Of Cam.
| bridge rowing have been rotten for years. Va
| rious reasons accounting for the recent miscr.
able squabblo have been printed. "A quarrel
| on the towing path" SAYS one newspaper; pet
| ty jealousies which exist between several col
| leges at Cambridge" says a well.known Can.
tab oarsman to a newspaper man; "a long sue
cession Of defeats has brought about discon-
| tent and has unduly accentuated jealousies, "
says Lehman, in tho article have already re-
ferred to. The truth is that jealousies, clques,
| and favoritism in selection of crows have
brought about the long succession Of defeats.
| And this, Lehman, q thorough sportsman, ad-
mlts later on In tho same article, when he at
| tributes Oxford's victories in part ito the alb
| sence of those internal dissensions which havo
more than once distracted Cambridge"
These internal dissensions have been dis
grace to tho university. clique was allowed
| to get hold Of the reins. and merit ranked Sec
| ond to membership in that clique when 1t came
| to making up crew. The result was inevita-
| bic. general deterioration Of rowing style
| throughout the colleges Of the university. At
| last general discomfort followed. and an at
| tempt was made to rectify matters. The state
| of affairs may be guessed at when 1t was found
| necessary to appoint an ''old blue" of some
twenty years standing to tho Presidency Of the
c. U. b. c.. an office always held at both uni
versties by one of the men qualified to row in
the boat race. Then the old system was taken
up again, and 1t was hoped that better spirit
had been introduced. But such was not the
case. The quarrel this year has been chiefly
between last years President and this years.
who may ba taken as standing respectively for
the old idea of clique and the reformed idea of
merit. Now that the condition of affairs has
really reached the public outside university cir
cles and has been received with a universal cry
of SHAME" perhaps Cambridge will mend her
ways.
Before leaving rowing matters and to JUS
tify further the seemingly sweeping indictment
made at the outset, ono may turn TO the Hen
ley committee. The feeble, vacillating way IN
which they dealt with young Ten Eyck last
year was no credit to them. When he was
charged with professionalism. the committee.
instead of boldly refusing to accept his entrance
or frankly pronouncing him bona lde anna
teur, fell back on weak verdict OF the non.
proven order. And indications not want
ing to show that they may start some wabbling
antics again this year.
And now turn to what are called the two
great national games OF England, CrlCKet
and football. Without discussing tho point as
to whether cricket and football. or looking on
at cricket and at football. is the national sport
| OF the country, there plenty of proofs day
| after day in the press to show that there Is no
| doubt on one point, viz, that the unsportsman-
| like spirit of which have spoken permeates the
pair.
The cricket world is full of petty dissension.
The acknowledged professional, who openly
plays for pay, regards with illconcealed con-
tempt the professional amateur" who ranks as
gentleman player" has the prefix Mr." to
his name in cricket reports. and eats his
luncheon at a different table in the cricket pa
vtlion, but all the while Is making moro m ,ney
out of his skill with bat ball than his profess
sional colleague. There is no need to take par
ticular cases; II Is a perfectly open secret that
many of the greatest amateur cricketers are
nothing moro or less than yelled professionals.
and stand out very stoutly for adequate re-
muneration.
OF late years. too. unpleasant incidents
the field have been very common. In the an
nual match between Oxford and Cambridge We
have more than once seen batsmen wilfully
trying to get out, and bowlers m Getting the tao.
tics by wilfully bowling "wides' and no
balls"-all this for the purpose Of avoiding tho
disadvantage of having to bat on a worn wick
ct, or In q poor light, something of that sort,
which has always been looked upon as part OF
the fortune o. war. To frustrate the continu-
ance of these little dodges the public hooted,
and the NJ. G. c. modified their laws To take
two more instances: Just now the flower Of
English cricketers, professional. amateur, and
"protessional-amateur. are undergoing series
of defeats In Australia. The accounts of these
matches are cabled over fully to England, and
an occasional victory apparently more than
counterbalances any distress to tho public-as
represented by the readers of afternoon papers
may feel at disaster on the Indian frontier, or
q diplomatic defeat at the hands of Germany or
Russia. And in tho accounts we find the usual
incidents 1t Is limited that the English team has
not done itself quite full credit owing to little
internal friction. During the absence OF the
captain, A. Z. Stoddard Mr.. Maclaren, or Prince
Ranjitsinghi has beon thought to have taken
rather too much upon himself. Again. Prince
Ranjitsinghi protests that an Australian bowler
IS making "a spot on the pitch with his shoe
spikes, in order to give his fellow bowler at the
other end mark to aim for-certainly a serious
accusation of aboDiinabe foul play; but Phillips.
the English umpire, could see nothing to justify
It, and strange to say. all the wickets fell at the
other end of the pitch. Another day we read
that the Australian public has been hooting and
.eviling the English wicket keeper In monstrous
fashion. 1t seems that an appeal was made
against an Australian Datbinal, put the umpire
gave it mot out" The batsman was little deaf.
mistook the verdict, and started for the pavilion
As soon as he had left the Grease" the English
wicket keeper put the wickets down, and this
time the unfortunate Australian had to go. or
course, it was strictly according to the letter of
the law but the less said about the spirit the bot
ter. 1t would be easy, but not odifyng, to relate
many such incidents of the cricket field. Only a
fow weeks ago weekly paper published full
page article in which famous crlcketer proved.
TO his own satisfaction, that the Australians
playing under orders, with a view to big cato
money. do not try to get RHnjtsinghi out till he
has made a largo score. The Indian cricketer
is the star actor the great draw II he failed. In
terest would flag and gate money be less. So
In spite OF illness tho Prince makes nearly 200
runs, and catches he had hit up were dropped no
fewer than three times by the smartest fielding
team In the world. The charge may not be true.
n ia IN be hoped il ig not but what is so siRnia