Honolulu star-bulletin. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu, Hawaii]) 1912-2010, 1913-10-16
ENGLAND At outs
over OLYMPIC
. PUZZLE

Minister, made 10 the nation, tnat
| 10000 pounds sterling be raised by
public subscription to put England in
i the running at the Berlin Olympic
games. The appeal, End the subse-
quent work or the committee appoint.
led, have aroused some enthusiasm,
and a lot more opposition. There Is
| now cry to withdraw from the
Olympic Federation, and much talk
for and against systematizing ath-
letics.
Frederic Harrison has written a
long letter to the London Times, pro-
, testing against the commercialization
! of sport, and the Duke of Westmin-
ster has come back with a reply,
Showing in tabular form just how
/ England's sporting laurels have been
! plucked.
Harrison's protest and the Dukes
i answer are now topics Of information
discussion. They are given. In full
below.
Frederic Harrison's Protest.
Frederic Harrison writes
Surely this stir about the Olympic
games three Years hence has q comic
side! To be told that our lads cannot
fxirly compete in some foot races
and other trials Of strength unless a
sum Of 100000 pounds sterling can
be raised sounds rather droll am
quite aware that Americans and 9TH
ers are raising huge funds and are
making gigantic efforts to win prizes.
And know that unless similar ef-
forts are made here, few pots will be
brought home. But the whole affair
stinks Of gate money and OF profess
sional pot hunting.
II young men who do not gain their
living by performing in public for
hire are to meet and run races, leap,
srow and wrestle as genuine anna
teurs, nothing can be more whole
some. am devoted lover of games
myself At school and at college i
went in with heart for boat and
teleyen; cLeered Joe Chilly at Put.
ney. and Kidding. and Marsham at
Lord 8. But so. years ago large sums
were not wanted in order to win The
eight or the eleven lived their usuai
lives. went on with their work, even
in training Of a few weeks; and, for
the most part, they gained high hon
ors in their universities and schools,
tat the bar, and in public life. All
the preparation" they had was such
as befitted real amateurs, and did not
cost more than other kinds of holt
day exercises. It did not take them
tout Of their lives; it enlarged and
strengthened their lives; it was an
accomplishment, not a profession,
and It helped to make them eminent
men of their time.
But what does 100000 pounds to be
spent In three years mean? 1t means
that an army Of professional coaches
are to be hired to go about and pick
out men having special turn of
speed or some knack in leaping q bar
which is as often as not quite in.
compatible, with an all-round athletic
condition of body. It seems as ii
each British candidate at Berlin will
cost 1000 pounds In some form. He
has to be nursed, maintained, kept
In racing condition by public money
t-in fact, to be hired. How does this
differ from being professional
performer in a kind of international
circus? And how is an amateur to
be defined unless it be one who plays
a game for love-" himself and his
fellow players finding any incidental
4 expenses?
And for what is all this money
4 wanted? In order to meet on equal
terms foreign athletes who are not
real amateurs, some of whom cannot
be trusted to play the game with alb.
lsolute fairness as competitors, nor
as spectators to behave like gentle
men with good humor. decency and
tself-controL BIackguardly yelling,
graft, and sharp practice will soon
degrade our Olympia to the level of
a mob at an old-fashioned prize fight,
i the brutalities of which Jack Johnson
is coming over to teach us. =
i OF course, shall be called by kind
ly friends a senfle philosopher, ar by
/ unkind critics an effeminate crank.
In my day played most games with
Zest; and at Lords, in the forties,
j bowled in the eleven of my school,
and for my college at Oxford in 1850.
Today / am tramping over the moors
here Cat Dartmoor) in their autumnal
! glory of golden gorse and purple
i heather-not, indeed, with gun, but
1 with the stout stick with which for
years / have ranged the Alps.
The stories of Mynn and Pitch, of
/ Clarke and Felix, which l see in your
columns of late, recall to me the
i cricket of the forties. Alas! cricket
far the noblest of all games-is
passing into mere professionalism,
gate money, and contractors jobs
| In most counties the eleven, except
for an amateur or two, are profess
sionals-ie., hired men. The talent
passes to any club rich enough to
pay their price and to find the cost
of qualifying" easy as this is. So,
modern cricket is tending to become
struggle of purses, not of genuine
home-bred county players. This foot.
ball has long been. / wish a new
rule could be made to restrict a
county eleven to amateurs. with one
professional bowler. 1t would then
be an honest trial of local merit. At
Al 4. u