CROWDS OF 'SHIRKERS."

Press, Volume LI, Issue 15174, 12 January 1915, Page 8

CROWDS OF 'SHIRKERS."

SPLENDID MATERIAL IN THE TEAMS. We are told in the cable news to-day that MX hundred players, including many professionals, have joined tho [Footballers'' Battalion. Most of these ■would bo Association players. Rugby players responded early to the call, and fixtures were cancelled. The action of the Football Association in going on ivith League games has been severely criticised. The "Westminster Gazette" has tho following interesting comment: — "At thirty football matches played on Saturday tho stated attendance of the public was 2-17,000. These matches ■were in the First and Second Leagues, :ind tho first division of tho Southern League. Add to the total those who watched the games in the second division of the Southern League, the Cup ti«j, the iSouth-Eastcrn League, the Western League, and the remainder of the six hundred League competitions which aro recognised by tho Football Association, and a figure of attendance will bo reached that may be imagined. To put the probabilities modestly, there must have been three-quarters of a million onlookers, and tho majority of these would bo young men. You cannot stand and watch football for nearly a couple of hours in a keen east wind unless you have the warmth of blood of youth. Cut out of the calculation all the followers of amateur football, and half a million will k> an understatement of tho multitude of those who cheered players paid to make the amusement of a (Saturday afternoon. .Well might the mouth of every recruiting sergeant water at tho thought of these • huge. congregations — twenty thousand at a single match—of promising material for the front. Look at tho matter another way. Turn to the 'popular Sunday papers, and it will bo discovered that the defeat of. Manchester City required more space and certainly more vividness of description than the French Government thought sufficient_ to cover the strife of four nations across three hundred miles of front. The reader will learn in varied headlines how Grimsby jiad its 'Spirit Crushed With Loss of Goals,' of 'Smith's Fine Part in the Victory over Forest, 1 and by what means Portsmouth 'Gained Distinction in Wiltshire.' He will know of the in- . jury which caused Whiting'to leave tho ,' Held at Bristol. Thousands of men have ; died in the trenches along the Aisne : and theYser without so much notice •to tho individual as was attracted by tho sprain of a single player on Saturday last. Nor if the function of a considerable part of tho Press is to givo the public what the public wants, can ifc be said that there is exaggeration in the/attention given to these incidents of.the football field. 'To many, thousands of persons the defeat of Manchester City by that single goal was n matter of greater concern than the , turning back «f tho German assault upon-Ypres." . ,■-. ' ~ Of the splendid raw material in the teams, the '.'Westminster" says:—"A First League Club to-day has anything from eighteen to thirty-iive players on its salary list. These men are "trained

and -watched over like tho gladiators they are. Physically, tbev are the ">', pick of tire, youth, of- the- country. Lord Kitchener may bo content to *aek for - nion ~ifo 3in in height, but «such a standard would bo laughed at by tho • business manager of a First League .Club. The heights and weights of tho -heroes of the! football field are recorded • *foi'''tlu» information of the world, and ■ -"lie is a - very exceptional player in a first-class combination who is imder 3ft Gin iri height or weighs less than lOst. T.ho height ia in the neighbourhood of nft 9ln, and the weight well over list". These thing*, liave to be if victories/are to bo won. There are 7000 .such men as these to be drawn upon, smd if .-the majority of thorn Averc taken no industry would be denuded of a sin- -■ glo worker. The be-,!, professionals are -?' £ a .»" -too valuable to bo-exposed to tho hazards of factory or machine-room. They-are kept for footuall, and lor /football alone, and aro carefully trnin- ,' cd to the highest pitch of good health ' +? d m "ScuJar vigour. The players f> themselves would make some of the iin- . . etit regiments possessed by auy army "c -ii Worl "-. TtMy have to bo nieu • ot intelligence as well us physique. But i :t professional football- were stopped tho .. { contribution, made to tho Annv by the j players be email in- •. r> deed, to the vast number of young men ■ i^o- would suddenly find their lives dei nuded of its main interest. Bereft of \ football tens of thousands of youths .. wpla have their thoughts turned t* ■■ ; enlistment." » >< o>?