MILESTONES IN MANNERS

Evening Post, Volume CVIII, Issue 122, 19 November 1929, Page 7

MILESTONES IN MANNERS

ON THE SPORTS FIELD

ARE WOMEN BAD LOSERS?

By H.H. The Ranee of Sarawak.

(Copyright.)

The bad loser is abhorred by every type of good sportsman. That is why the occasional sneer that women caunnt stand losing demands such strong and emphatic refutation.

To take a beating gamely; to. bo | a modest, unassuming, ajuL gracious j winner—these are 'tfie ideals of every man who plays' or watches, games. The good sportsman cannot tolerate ■for one moment the winner who allows himself to become conceited over his victory, or the loser who cannot find it in him. to go over, shake his conqueror's hand, congratulate him heartily, and, further, bear him. no grudge. NATURAL INSTINCT. It says much for the healthy influence of sport that this ideal has to a great extent become an accomplished fact, for it is often forgotten that to be a modest winner anil a game loser is | altogether contrary to the more un-; civilised instincts within us. "We do not j naturally lose to man with a | good grace. On the contrary, the nat- j ural instinct is to turn and rend the ; man who beat us! But so widespread . and far-reaching is the influence of , the unwritten, code of good mannerswhich every good sportsman obeys, i j that he easily conquers his undesirable j ; natural instincts —that legacy of the j ; wild. In fact, so strong is this influ- j ence, that we have an almost greater affection for a game loser than for the winner. This is the British-born attitude of mind which has spread to every corner of the world where a cricket bat is 'wielded or the thud of a football is ' heard. . When women entered the sporting realm, there were conservativeminded men who doubted her temperamental fitness. Until recent yeaTs no ono thought of using the term a good sport" other than in speaking of a man. But what about it now, that woman has invaded almost every masculine sport; now that she plays golf, football, cricket, tennis; now that she has invaded almost every athletic stronghold once sacred to men? Is there any vestige of truth in the suggestion that women are constitutionally incapable of developing the sporting outlook? Are they ever the bad losers that we are assumed they always would be? SOLITARY INCIDENT. Curiously enough it will be found that theaccusation that women are bad losers never comes from a man who actually plays games with women on the tennis court or elsewhere. It always emanates from a man who does not associate with sportswomen. In fact, his remarks rarely have any foun'datipn other than hearsay. Ask him to prove his assertions. What is his reply? More than probably he will refer you to an account of how some temperamental lady tennis star indulged in a fit of petulance on the centre court ■at Wimbledon after losing a match. Or he will have some othejf incident to relate concerning the misdemeanours of ono solitary woman player in some branch of sport. Which reminds one of the Eev. H. K. Iv. Sheppard, who used to speak of how, :as an undergraduate, he lost for a time what little religious faith he had because ho saw a bishop who was linkable to take a beating at tennis like a ... gentleman! Because one bishop is no sportsman it is illogical to condemn all bishops or -all religion. And just because one lady tennis player happens to .act like _ a ■temperamental film star who has mislaid her mascot, it is foolish to argue that all women cannot take a beating in a decent spirit. Most women can — just as 'well as men. People, a few .only, I hope, who have not had the opportunity of meeting the sportswoman at first hand, are taken in and ■believe the worst about her through the bad behaviour of one ifnrepresenta^ ttive player. And the chances are that if a man behaved in a similar way little would be said. It cannot be expected that out of the i many thousands of women who in Tecent years have grown to love sport every one of them will submit absolutely to its discipline and its fine ethical code. But what we must get rid of is. the fantastic notion that in a sporting sense ■ women are a race apart, unable to comprehend or adapt for their own uses the sporting code ' which man ' has evolved. "* ■ Nothing could be farther from the truth. Any man will confirm this who has met and played with women on< the . tennis court, on the golf course, or who is familiar with sportswomen in any .other sporting environment It can bo proudly claimed by most British men and women that they deserve that title which money cannot j buy, but which can only be earned—' "good eport."