The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-11-19
ENGLISH VARSTTIES REFUSE.
OxfOrd-Csmhrldge Oarsmen VIII Not Come
20 America-Str0ng Talk Frsm q blue.

Oxford and Cambridge boating representa-
tives have replied to the invitation to come
TO America to row the winner of the Harvard
Yale race. and to judge by the reply the ap-
pearance of the Blues on this side OF the water
Is about as remote as the advent Of the mil
lennuim. They will not come here at least
until some American college crew goee across
and beats them on their own water. and
experts Oh both sides OF the Atlantic have
admitted thar the possibility Of such an event
10 a long way on. As the co nditions stand
now It would be an undignihed proceeding
FOR the Englishmen, they think, TO come TO
America on a junketing trip Since the
Harvard-Cambridge match last fall the idea
Of an annual affair between the Englishmen
and Americans and on much the same lines
has been discussed. and IL seemed to meet
with universal favor here. but not 30 on the
other side. The English college man rows
for his own amusement and for the fun there
Is In a match against q rival college. but
beyond that he does not care to go: and II he
docs 60 on the outside the limit ls one OF the
boat clubs on the Thames which he represents
Time and again the crews OF oxford and
Cambridge have been invited here and there.
but all these Manifestations Of hospitality
issue of the Fteid a former Blue who has been
prominent in the. rowing world speaks OF the
American invitation thus;
The university boat clubs are to be con-
graduated upon the response which they
have made to a proposal which reached
1%em tsSs a Of sSgyat ar0% spo Ser'a' The a@ sehsne
prOpounded to them was that an EN- ga cement
should be made .betimes between the two
boat clubs OF Oxford and Cambridge on the
one hand and OF Harvard and Yale on the
other. that the next winners OF the annual
meet in n regatta TO be held in the United
STATES. The proposal, l understand, further
contained an offer Of Hospitality during their
training sOjourn In the States from an AmeTi-
can club to the eight which should be repre-
senting Britain; This has been uncondi-,
grounds. In the first place. setting aside
for the moment the regatta feature in the
clubs would have been just fled in declining
to cross the ocean even for "A private match
the winners Of the next Putney match
and the winners as bet cen Harvard and
Yale. When the minor details OF the America
scheme come to be Namined there appear to
be very strong and absolutely independent
reasons for approving OF the reply OF our two
university boat clubs, One can we'll realize
that it would be a profitable speculation for
hotels and railways of the locality of n re-
gaJta in the States TO be able to advertise that
the winning university Fights oil the old and
For the nnivsrsities to lend themselves
to a project of this sort and to allow them
selves to be advertised as, shOwmen's wares
in a foreign country would be a DEGRADATION
Of their flags and of amateur sport. Even
II the ashes OF amateur aquatics had to be
sought for in America and supremacy had
lett britain, the present project wohld not
be one which sef-respeCting amateurs could
Tor one moment entertain IA "A means Tor
regaining lost honors. Their task, under
such circumstances, would be to arrange a
private match, with, their late cOnquerors,
and to bear themselves all expense of the
journey to meet their rivals. A %fortlori,
so long a. they hold the. premiership would
they decline to be parties to any project
so undignihed. For special reasons, IL ever
IL should be proposed that Cambridge or
oxford should, as a matter of reciprocity
and entente cordiale, while remaining I'M
beaten at home, send crews over sea for return
matches with Harvard or Yale. the invitation
ought to be politely declined and l cannot
believe that American university clubs would
fail to realize to the full the existing reasons
for such a decision or would take umbrage
at a refusal. Is one OF the present L.. Il. {.
presidents ls reputed to have very properly
explained, in reply TO this American regatta
scheme, the oner appears TO be founded upon
a misconception of the status and raison
d'6tre Of British university boat clubs. They
are not theatrical companies. nor are they
organized as business concerns, but exist
wholly and solely for the advancement of a
special branch or amateur athlPticism and
one in which for the present they have the
honor of holding the premiership contra
tnluIuno "