New-York tribune., 1907-12-23
COMMENT ON SPORTS.
THE NEW YACHIINI ICI
Nezcs and Viescs on Current TOPICS
amateur and Professional.


amateur and Professional.
- nifty, that the new international
ah.jng ,ronhy offered by the Brooklyn 1acht
e-l,,b as a perpetual challenge cup shouiu NC. -
so many strings and be hedgeo apou' -
MANY conditions. So far as can De !uuSeu' -
t a. l,l,alz tn adorn some prominent nook
i'm The clubhouse and there stand III d SIdle Va
inuocuous desuetude for years 10 come. a - -.
tx the only thing which could keep Lhlei00 - 9
the frophy alive, and a race unoer the ueeu o
ff. 6ontad hv a committee of the club last
week looks even further of than announcer iao
for the Americas Cup. The new trophy ooes ~ ~
stand for anything and cannot mean ails inns
.Ycerf the chance for an international coiipe'i-
to rnder conditions which not likely 10
nrove attractive to foreign yachtsmen- "hei
the announcement was made some TWO "eeh'
ago that the cup would be offered WIN pfao-
.ically no conditions il appealed 10 me as O
nortiaer proposition and indicated a laudable
and progressive spirit in an effort 10 slilluia'e
the building and racing of a wholesoIne anu %
worthy type OF yacht Under the oeeo VI 81
adopted on Wednesday all this is changed, IiIe
Brooklyn Yacht Club deserves some creoi' 1oi
As effort to encourage international yacht fic-
ing but the trouble is the effort seems 10 ildNN
been misplaced and rendered nulI ana No.o ps
The very nature of the task imposed OF Train
,ng a deed of gift that would accomplish ats
purpose. When Commodore Iowen IN the en-
thusiasm of the moment said: We VIII oeIehu
the CUP against 1o-footer or a Iu"-looIeL
addad that -they can bring their boat over In
q balloon if they want TO-" he did not appreciate
perhaps that yachtsmen would not look WIN
favor on q trophy which might be won with
70-footer and then would have to be defended
,nayhap in the following year with a 1S-footer-
The cup committee OF the club saw this olIll-
Guilty. however, and after struggling With the
knotty problem found solution which confined
the trophy a limited class and placed 1t be-
yond the reach or even desire of foreign yachts
men if the experience of past years counts for
anything.
Memory goes back to the time when General
Charles J. Paine. who built the Mayfower and
defended the Americas Cup against Lieutenant
William Henn's GalaIea in 1886, and IN the fol-
lowing year built the Volunteer and again de-
fended the trophy against James Bells Thistle.
offered an international cup under conditions
that opened the way to race with boats of a
less extreme type This action, it is said, grew
out of controversy over the deed of gift when
Lord Dunraven first challenges for the Americas s
Cup with 7e-footer, Just as the Brooklyn
Yacht Clubs action grew out of the refusal of
the New York Yacht Club 10 accept Sir Thomas
Lipton's latest challenge for the coveted trophy
with q TO-footer The cup offered by General
Paine placed in the custody of the Eastern
Yacht Club and challenge for IL was ever re-
ceived. II seems more than probable that the
same fate awaits the Brooklyn Yacht Club In
rernationaI Challenge Cup. unless. perchance
the Royal Swedish Yacht Club, which showed
a disposition to enter the field for the America 5
Cup last fall, should welcome the opportunity
to exploit the claim that Sweden is not behind
any country in the world in the designing
building and sailing Of yachts. Here the sub
Ject ends for the present. If not for all time
Another step will be taken on Saturday look
ing to the better regulation and supervision Of
college athletics at the second annual meeting
Of the Intercollegiate Athletic Association OF the
United States at the Murray Hill Hotel. This
traff of
colleges when the cry went up against football
in 1895. has accomplished a great good in two
short years, not only by placing football on a
firm and substantial foundation but by develop
ing the principles of true amateur sport and
maintaining them TO a large extent ION an eth
ical plane in keeping with the dignity and high
purpose of education" the declared object OF the
association. While the football rules committee
deserves all praise for the able and satisfactory
revision of the rules, which probably saved the
game, chief credit belongs perhaps TO this asso
citation, which took such q firm while friendly
stand that amalganatiOn with the old rules
committee was effected and the needed iegisla-
tion secured The building up OF football when
in the hue and cry against the sport many were
influenced TO tear it down was only incidental,
however. to the purposes OF the association,
and there is still plenty of work to be done. This
work could be hastened by the cooperation of
some of the larger universities, which for
that appear sufficient to themselves are
still holding aioof. A brave effort has been made
during the year to enlarge the scope and open
the doors TO all, and if Yale, Princeton and Cor
nell would Join and lend their aid IL is safe to
predict that the days of PROSECUTING, unsports-
1nanlike conduct and the playing Of ineligible
men would be for ali time, they are
now numbered. The crusade against summer
baseball is likely TO be the keynote of the meet
ing this week The executive committee has
been engaged in a sweeping investigation Of
this subject during the year and in all prob
ability something more than sporadic effort
Will be made TO stamp the evil. The ques-
rfon has been discussed in these columns be-
fore at some length 1t has two sides, but
am more than convinced that the slight
est touch of commercialism in college sport
must be eradicated. To parapfrase, it may be
said that a little taint tanteth the whole lump.
A ,orrespondent writes in part follows:
s.What do YOU think of the unsportsmanlike at
fitude of the Henley stewards In barring all for
eixn crews from the Henley regatta next year.
inciuding the Beigians- who won the Grand
Challenge Cup two years In succession They
must be afraid Of losing the trophy.
MANY oarsrnen I'm this country, like my cor
respondent have an entirely wrong conception
of the real motive OF the stewards of the Henley
regatta in barring foreign crews this year They
have not acted in an unsportsmaniike manner
quite the contrary, and il lis absurd even TO con-
slider an ;rnp,Itation of fear for foreign rival.
Some Englishrneu are hard losers; so are some
Americans, and some men of all nations but
English sportsmen have never feared worthy
foe end are not lf.ely to develop the character
istic at this late day. The old open conditions
of the regatta viii be restored in 1909, when the
ti-and Challenge Cup will again be open to the
amateur oarsrnen OF the world The regatta
will be closed next year for the very sports
.uanlke that the Henley stewards as
sented TO make their pet fixture play second TO
the Olympian regatta 1t was-felt, and wisely,
that the Henley regatta coming first would dis
10 am civ an n