Association Football

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 23

Association Football

"CONQUERED THE WORLD"

INTERNATIONAL SPREAD OF GAME

England's recent football .match with Germany in Berlin draws attention anew to the way in which Soccer has conquered the world. Starting as what the Continentals used to regard as a typically incomprehensible British method of passing the time, the game has since taken firm root in nearly every country, and has become the most popular diversion for the masses in most. How popular it is in Germany at the present time you can gauge from the fact that nearly 500,000 people applied for tickets of admission to the AngloGerman match.

Unfortunately, the arena selected tor the encounter—Germany's biggest, the Olympic Stadium, where the Games of 1936 were celebrated—holds only 100,000 spectators. There is nothing in the least facetious about my use of the word "only." It is just an indication of the scale on which Soccer affairs are operated in Europe these days. Ever the cry is for bigger stadia, says R. M. Stead in the "Christian Science Monitor." '

. As you can well imagine, the standard of play everywhere has advanced enormously. So much so that the national teams of several European countries can claim the distinction of having beaten or tied with the acknowledged old maestros. the English League professionals.