DISCUSSION
Journal: British Journal of Sports Medicine (1975)

Consumer, etc.We also hold conferences for the consumer and involved members of the general public.In our sports medicine clinics we have an increasing relationship with general practitioners, other consultants and coaches. AdvisoryWe are being asked to advise on the medical requirements in the development of sports centres. CoverageWe have arranged and provided the medical and physiotherapy coverage at national and international sports meetings. InternationalWe are the internationally recognised sports medicine body in Britain.We organised the World Congress of Sports Medicine in 1970 at Oxford, and are organising an International Symposium on 19th Feb., 1975, on "Anabolic Steroids in Sport". Communications and CooperationIn the context of this meeting we stress the need for communication and co-operation.It is joint meetings such as this one and the one we had with the British Olympic Association on "Altitude Training" which are valuable not only for their content but for the communication and co-operation which they achieve and which I hope will lead to a cohesive whole.A whole which involves us all with roles that are complementary and interdependent.The Future Is this a pious hope or merely, to quote from Priestly, "Words in the air and gesticulating shadows, a stumbling chronicle of a dream of life"?We cannot make all our dreams reality but I think we can make this one.I personally would like to see emerging from this cooperation some vital structure of high quality which would put British Sports Medicine firmly and squarely on the map."DISCUSSION" CHAIRMAN: We are all very grateful to Dr. 3rowning for that "summing up", although he did a good bit more than that.Our speakers have left us a reasonable amount of time for discussion, and I trust that as many of you as can will take part in it.This symposium has, I think, already begun in a big way to achieve its object, and let us remember that this is about the future, and I underline future, of Sports Medicine.Certain things have come out, I think, very well during the morning, which I will not say anything about now, hoping that you will.I am sure you must have a great number of questions ... DR MALCOLM CARRUTHERS (London): I would like to express the feeling I share with Prof. Kane, about the use of the word "sport" in that it does emphasise the competitive aspect.This is very understandable, in that there are many fine competitors who have built up this Association, but, it does reduce the sales appeal of the Organisation to the majority of non-competitors in the population, 95% of individuals, who, by the nature of the Gaussian distribution curve can't be very good at competitive sport.Also, it tends to direct activity approximately in the reverse relationship, so that about 95% of the research activity seems to be taken up studying the young competitive sportsmen, and the non-competitive individual is relatively neglected.For example, who knows about the relative indices of physical fitness in those who do, or do not go swimming once or twice a week, and those who do, or do not 'cycle, those who do, or do not play a game of football once or twice during the week in their middle years.I think it is because of this equation of the word "sport" with competitive activity.We have already enough competitive activities in our daily lives, so that perhaps physical activities should be taken as an antidote to other forms of competition.The other thing is the tendency to deride amateur participation.Firstly, I think with the present darkening economic clouds the number of very highly trained professionals, who will be available and have time to advise, will be rather limited.Also, the derision of the amateur at the expense of the professional: if you take extremes of professionalism in both the surgical and cardiological fields, I think you get some fairly hideous things arising.Consider Dr. Barnard's physiological two-hearted preparation, which was announced in the papers today.I do not think we should deride the good will and sometimes the local, be it limited knowledge and enthusiasm of the amateur, at the expense of the officially created, officially trained, officially examined, (which is a manifestation of the English Doctor's Disease -to form colleges and grant diplomas,) which may in fact both limit, and act as an off-putting device in this field.I think there is room for both amateur and professional, for co-operation between the two, and not exclusion of the amateur.