New Britain herald., 1924-12-20
.UNINTERESTED IN COLLEGIATE SPORT
Thousands Of Americans Wit.
 messed Football, Few Saw Rugby

Oxford, England, Dec. o0.-On a recent fine Saturday afternoon, when America crowded football stadiums all over their country, only a few quiet spectators went to the trouble of watching the Rugby game be- tween Oxford and Edinburgh, com- parable one might think. to liar vard- Princeton battle,
 This contrast in attendance is one Of the striking examples of the diff ference between sport systems in America and England. Here in Oxford nobody has well-paid foot hall job to lose, so nobody cares if the stands are not packed. Rugby football is the chief autumn sport with nearly a hundred intercollegiate games and three or four varsity games weekly. yet no one has d Rugby job except q number Of elderly men who push rollers and take tickets, Paid coaches arc un- known.
 In the chicket season a great pro- foSsiona is permitted to set up shop behind the pavilion and instruct all comers in the mysteries of yorker and gOogly at the reasonable rate of two shlllings an hour, Unpaid graI- uate coaches appear for the last few days Of training for the varsity boat race, Otter they are elderly clergy men who pulled mighty oars in their day and now come back for a holl- day and the brief resurrection of their old fame. The Oxford boxing team trains in private gymnasium and takes Its instruction from q pro- fessional at the usual rates.
 The money that goes to a rrofcs- sonal does not come from a com mon athletic fund, it must be she'll ! cd out of the pocket of the student i taking the instruction. The athlete who pays for his outfit and his own railway fares, The Oxford athlete, 1 far from being pampcrad, has to pay, and pay pretty handsomely, for the privilege of representing the university. Success in any one of thc three major sports, Rugby, rowing and cricket, costs him several hun, dred dollars,
 Gate receipts for sports arc never great, even in the popular Rugby game, partly because of the low at. missions charged, but chiefly because the members of the university are too busy playing eomes themselves 10 watch anyone else. Not infre- i nuently two out O. every three mnr in a college play in organized sports Many play their games well IL i' assumed that they have learned tn rules and the tricks Of their game' from the game masters in theil public schools, but this assumption is not always correct Here at the wtvcrsity tho rU'o Of mat sports i' tnat a man who has played betorr will be given q chance on "sccon1' ,tcam, uit must hc his own teacher ! This explains why so few American ' Rhodes scholars. even though chos"r in part for athletic ability, do'Wot in the more exclusively Englst sports Of rugby and association foot bal, hockey and cricket. Rowing i a notable exception, for in rowinl all 1oncomrrs gre instructed in th' particular style and method Of thci college hy he captain and sccretar. of t0r college rowing club
 Each Q. the 94 colleges here il organized into a number Of sport clubs. Finances are no trouble, sine there arc no expensive s'aas {, I maintain and no training establish mnntS There is TO great difficult, in arranging games away when eacl players pays his own expenses, Nov and then q hitch occurs. a-s wheI some player fails to arrive for an, away game. Such failures are no counted serious as the home teaH lends players 10 the visitors Some tlmrs the best player ou the sid is given to the visitors.
 These arrangements, so differen from the system Of the great Ameri can universities, are certainly sue ccssful here. Whether they Cocs' No employed as satisfactorily il America at the present tune is opel tO question.
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