THEIR LITTLE “DAM"

Gisborne Times, Volume LXIV, Issue 11012, 27 January 1926, Page 5

THEIR LITTLE “DAM"

ROUGH HOCKEY GIRLS. EVEN UMPIRES SHOCKED. LONDON, Jan. G. The habit of hookey girls using a little- '‘damn 1 ’ or a worse expletive when they meet with nasty knocks is the subject of an official protest by the All England Women’s Hockey Association. The association instances the case of a leading Englishwoman forward, who was completely knocked off her game by the language of an opposing halfback. The association’s magazine explains that it is feared in some quarters that hockey will lower the girls’ tone and make them rough. Therefore, the practice of swearing must be discouraged. Captains of liockcv teams have been requested not to allow smoking in club houses. “It is too silly for words.” says Mrs Charters, the Irish international hockey player, when referring to the allegations. “Players may ejaculate, ‘Bother!’ or ‘Dash!’ but never turn round and curse an opponent. For really bad language, go to the women tennis players. They sometimes say: ‘Fudge,’ ‘hang,’ ‘blow,’ or ■’blast.’ ” “The language women use makes the umpire blush, especially if he is a. man. 1 have threatened to send off women if they repeated offensive epithets,” says Mr Savage, ex-president of the North Irish Hockey Union. “They think,” he went on, “that emancipation permits them to use strong language because it is mannish, and it has a natural sequence .in girls rushing off the field at half-time and full-time to indulge in cigarettes.”