SCHOOL GAMES

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 148, 25 June 1938, Page 11

SCHOOL GAMES

PRESENT CONTROVERSY

TOO MUCH EXCLUSIVENESS?

TOLERANCE IN SPORT

Xbi controversy over the exclusion at&ssociation football at Wellington College has aroused interest among old boys and parents of present boys, some ' of whom, dismissing the personal element, and, dealing with the matter more on the lines of the principle which they conceive to be involved, /.have produced some interesting points. . The ban imposed against Association football at Wellington College, they --. contend, exemplifies the tendency of some of the secondary schools towards . exclusiveness in sport. The attitude adopted was that certain games had been, played for years and no others could be recognised a* school team games. Was that the correct attitude?- A parent of a secondary school boy declared today that it was quite contrary to rthe' practice" in England. There provision was made for the playing of more games than in some of the secondary schools in New Zealand. It should not be forgotten, he said, that since the colleges in New Zealand were first opened the Dominion had grown, the schools had grown, and the field of interest in sports had widened, j As in other directions, it did not neces- j sarily follow that what sufficed twenty ] years or more ago entirely met the j present-day position. There were boys who had played Association football . at the primary school or had formed a liking for the game in some way before'going to college and it did not seem right, if there was a sufficient number of boys and the interest was there, that some recognition should not -be given to their preference for a brand of football which was not in-ac-cordance with the school tradition. "•'■■ The attitude towards the introduction of Association football was one way' in which attention had been directed to the trend towards ? exclusiveness. The unsuccessful result of the 'efforts made by others to have rowing reintroduced as a sport at Wei-J lington College /was another. Other colleges had their rowing crews and rowing was recognised as a fine manly ! sport, but for years it had been drop-1 ped by Wellington College and at thej present time, at any rate, there appeared little prospect of any revival. To some extent, the parent stated, he could understand objection being raised to the division of the school over| JRugby and Association football.. There j was a quadrangular Rugby tournament, played annually between Wellington! College, Wanganui Collegiate School, Nelson College, and Christ's College, and no doubt the winning of that tournament gave to the successful school a certain amount of prestige and other advantages. This, as far as he knew, had not been put forward as an argument against * the introduction of As- ■'■ sociation football into Wellington College, but it seemed to him to be rather more tenable than the reason that had been given of lack of grounds and the masters to control the game. If about an equal number of boys in the school played Riigby .and Association football . it was conceivable that the standard of sthetfirstfifteenmight.suffer,-with the Result" that in the quadrangular. Rugby tourney the prestige;, of the .school might be affected. From that point of view this school would be perhaps,at a disadvantage if the other schools in the tournament did not also cater for the two football games. XHE MAIN PURPOSE OF GAMES.

That, however, was looking at the matter from the strictly result poyit of view. But was that aspect one which, should be allowed to bulk too largely? To him it seemed that there was a very great tendency in New Zealand to, get away from the real purpose of organised games and lose sight of their great and all-important value as a means of recreation. This was. of particular importance to boys of school age, and he had been pleased to note the way* the Minister of Internal Affairs (the Hon. W. E. Parry) had stressed this aspect from time to time and the appeal the Minister had made for toleration in sport,, ; ~ "Unless there is toleration in sport and, above all, a spirit of. tolerance among those in authority," the parent concluded! "the Government's scheme for tlie promotion of physical welfare and recreation among the people of this country is going to be hindered., Surely it is far more desirable, for example, to have every boy who as physically able to taking part in some game and enjoying his participation in it rather than to concentrate on producing top-notch teams in one game in tbe v competitive field, "I do not altogether agree that the question or the. games to. be played-and those which are not to be played in the schools is one for Ministerial intervention/Rather do I suggest that if, in addition .to the games which have been played by the school for years, there is a demand for another, every effort should be made to cater for it. Simply because some sports body desires to have its game introduced into a school is _no reason why a school should accept the game. The demand for the game Should exist. Whether it does or not can easily be ascertained by the headmaster/and if it does I should think that soms attempt should be made to fill the want. . "It has been suggested, that if Association football were introduced into the Hugby-playing schools old boys would strongly disapprove and perhaps would not feel the same attachment towards their school. I do not think there is much in that. If there is, it only goes to show that, there is more intolerance over sport than I wish to believe there is."