PRESTIGE IN SPORT

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 90, 13 October 1937, Page 4

PRESTIGE IN SPORT

BRITISH ATTITUDE

INTERNATIONAL CONTESTS

INTEREST OF STATE

America has beaten England—or England, has beaten America, let us suppose—in a prize fight, an air raqe, an altitude record, or an endurance test (writes J. E. Sewell in the "Dally Telegraph"). Few people in England I will. attach more importance to such a statement than would provide a twinge of disappointment or. a vague elation, to be ■ dissipated in an hour or two among the ordinary cares of existence. ' '■ ■ It is difficult for English people to realise that nowadays, in sporting contests, 1 such generalisations can have for entire nations a significance vastly transcending the importance which we attach to them. We are sorry to hear that the Endeavour II has been beaten

by a better sorry. We

should like to believe that British yachts are better built and better

manned than anybody else's. But if they are not—well, we must hope to do better next time.

Mr. Sopwith, probably, is even sor-

rier about it than we are; but he does not feel that, because the Endeavour II failed in her challenge for the

America's Cup, the name of England has been dragged in the dust, that our escutcheon has been blotted, and that a State subvention should be sought to ensure that next time we shall be victorious.

This pleasantly complacent attitude is always regarded as peculiarly English. But it is not shared by certain Continental nations, among whom victory or defeat in airinternational congest is apt to be regarded as a triumph or a humiliation for every individual citizen. AN INDIVIDUAL VIEW. Our failure to realise that our point of view is a particularly individual one accounts for much of the bewilderment with which we regard other nations' attitude to sporting events. The difference lies not in England's lack of keenness in these competitions but in the degree to which the State itself intervenes in the contests.

The point is raised frequently when British competitors prove unsuccessful in international sporting events. How can they be expected, it is asked, to compete successfully with their own private resources against the resources of powerful Governments?

The answer that Great Britain is not prepared, as a nation, to enter into these trials of international, prowess is unsatisfying. Is the British Government right or wrong in turning its face so resolutely against international sporting contests?

It is fairly obvious, at the outset, that there are material advantages to be gained from a "national" victory in an international sports event. If it is conclusively proved, by a gruelling test, that British motor-cars are faster and more reliable than any built elsewhere, the British motor-car industry will obtain a considerable fillip, and orders from abroad will .benefit not only those engaged in it but the nation as a whole.' The story of the Schneider Trophy, in.this respect, is an interesting, one. , ! NATIONAL EFFORTS. At Cowes," in 19237 the United States Naval Air Service won the trophy from Britain. It was a' national triumph, though the British and French competitors were private ones. "Italy. mad»Fa "national" tjie trophy -from the United StatieSi- International interest had been aroused, and by now it had been realised that the seaplane which won the trophy in any year was the fastest in the ■,world. In 192? the British Air" Ministry sent a team to Venice with seaplanes built -for the Air Ministry by British" maml-; facturers, and won back- the trophy < Great Britain held it at Cbwes against all.comers in 1929, •

It was agreed- that these victories had established to the whole world the supremacy of British aircraft and British aero-engine design. But in 1931, when Great Britain was in a position to win the trophy outright, the Government, 1 grappling: with the financial depression, declared its decision to leave the contest to private enterprise—and this virtually offered the trophy to our foreign competitors. The late Eady Houston's intervention, which resulted ill.the trophy being ' won outright; with a seaplanes which was the first : to exceed 400 miles, an "hour, is still compa|atiyely fresh in memory. ,' '."'.';■ /'(fif. '"''; f ' These victories, were, worth millions of pounds in •orders to British manufacturers, yet, 'since 1931, ripart from "jT successful bid' for the r altiliide record, the Air Ministry has refused to compete for international air records.

WORTH-WHILE VICTORIES.

Have we won or lost by this, abstention? Italy now holds the majority of the important air and in the opinion of . expert observers the victories have been well worth while.; They are backed by a.tireless publicity; organisation, they impress the world,, and they influence the markets. Italy's latest success in securing the first three plaaes ;in • the air race ,_ to Damascus and.-back was the more important in. that, the race was organ-] ised by France, arid the French entry; was essentially a Government one.. The single* British private;: competi-' tor did remarkably we)l, but his per-; formance cannot be claimed as a victory. ..■-', It is not in the air alone that;ltaly; makes national efforts to establish her; prestige. In all international sporting contests Government Departments.take charge of the training and equipment 1 of the entrants. Restriction of funds: is never an excuse for failure; the full resources ofthe State are'behind its chosen representatives; , ■ ! Not a single man. of the Italian Air Force was required to spend,-a penny in preparation for the Istres-Damascus-Paris Air Race. Entrants for the Olympic Games were housed, fed, clothed/ and trained by the State for weeks, ahead.

Neither Germany nor France at the moment appears to attach so much im-' portance to internatnonal sporting contests as Italy. But the Governments of both countries express considerably more interest in them than the British Government does.

TK It must be recognised, however, that against the value of national victories in "sporting contests must be set the damage which is likely to be entailed by defeats. If a sporting event is made I an occasion for whipping up an intense national feeling in every citizen, if he is I made to feel personally that the peri formance of - the nation's representatives means something vital in his life, a failure of weather-luck or a defective exhaust may cause a despair utterly * incommensurate with the real value of the test. Admittedly'the factors of luck and accident are reduced to a minimum in these international contests, but they cannot be eliminated entirely, and national prestige is too important an asset to be gambled with in this way among the democratic nations. . Paradoxically, it is among the nondemocratic rulers that prestige in sport becomes of paramount importance. It is a means of focusing the opinion of

[E OTHER SIDE OF IT.

the man in the street on his country's' glory, to the exclusion of other considerations which might force theh* way to the front of his mind if it were not thus occupied. ,

A victory in ari international sport, ing event is a triumph not merely for an individual but for,a regime; and a defeat, in a country in which th#3*ress is controlled, need not be ,so 'damaging as it would be if,the expression of public opinion were free and unfettered. ;..,'■:,,'. ; "'... ; ..- •

• It follows that State participation iit international contests is; of. advantage to non-democratic' Governments than it is to democratic. : onss. Secure,'for a limited period, in the con* fldence of the.electorate, the.deinocracies have no need to supply.-distraw tions to their people, and, in.any case, they stand to lose by aeries? of defeats far more than they wpjuld gain by, a series of victories. .?':, './'.

[ A DOUBTFUL MATTER. I From the international point of view* the desirability of contests between nations in races is Still more doubtful. The old theory that the mutual rivalries of nations may one day be sublimated from the field of battle to the courtesies of the croquet lawn is hardly tenable today. It is easy to ignore or brush aside outbursts of petulance or'accusations of unfairness in mat* ters of private competition. Put when nations, burning with eagerness to distinguish themselvesr are involved ia contests in which, unfortunately, some* body must provide a victory for iSome* body else, it is idle to pretend that' th« result is likely to produce complete satisfaction all round.

While individuals, as a rule, are quite capable of showing what we call the "sporting spirit," nations on the whole show themselves to be a good deal cruder, more temperamental, and mora primitive.

There remains one other important aspect—the commercial value of thesa competitions. They encourage technical progress, almost as much as war does itself, and the nation which succeeds in them has a-vast array of glittering prizes—or, more prosaically, orders for its manufacturers-ras an en* couragement.

Can Great Britain afford to stand aside and allow' its private representatives'to be beaten by superior resources and organisation, when important branches of the,trade of the world are at stake? It is a question which might well be. considered anew by tha heads of Government Departments.