SOCCER.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 5 July 1924, Page 12

SOCCER.

The itinerary for the tour of the Chinese Association football team through New Zealand has been arranged. Following is the list of proposed matches:— Lth July, Wairavapa, at Masterton. 19th July, Wellington, at Wellington. 22nd July. Hawke’s Bay, at Napier or Hastings. 26th July, .Manawatu, at Palmerston North. ' 2nd August,, Wanganui, at Wanganui. 6th August Taranaki, at Hawera. 9th August, Auckland, at Auckland. 13th August, Rotorua at Rotorua. 16th August, first test,' at Auckland. 20th August, South Auckland at Hamilton. 23rd August, second test, at Wellington. 27th August, South Canterbury at Timaru. 30th August, Canterbury, at Christchurch. 3rd September, Otago, at Dunedin. 6th September third test, at Dunedin. 10th September, Southland, at Invercargill. 13th September, fourth test, at Christchurch. 17th September, Westland, at Grevmouth. 20th September, Buller. at Wtestport. 24th September, Nelson, at Nelson. 27th September, at Blenheim or Wei hngton. Ist October, at Wellington or Blenheim. The Chinese Soccer team moved a great draw in Australia last year, and probably record Soccer gates will be obtained in New Zealand

SPORT. (Sydney Morning Herald.) Should the proverbial visitor from Mars, reputedly the home of cold efficiency, find.his way to this earth of ours, he would be amazed, and perhaps shocked, at the hold which sport has over it. Never, indeed, since the days when all Rome thronged the circus to see the chariot races, when the rivalry of the “Greens” and the “Blues” was a positive menace to the good order of the city, and a Roman’s political sympathies were indicated by the stable he backed, has sport bulked so large in the affairs of life. It has been aptly said that test matches have come to be regarded as a branch of international politics. A star is a national hero, and the merits of players are as eagerly canvassed as if they were aspirants for Cabinet office, while selectors are as vehemently denounced for their alleged mistakes as if they were Ministers wh£> had betrayed their country. Each, year witnesses greater activity in the world of sport, and a display of greater interest by the public, and this year of grace 1924 breaks all records. A few days ago the Oxford and Cambridge boat-face iyas watched by the largest crowd in the whole history of the event. A South African, cricket team is touring Britain, and a British football team is being assembled to repay the compliment. Already the cricket authorities in England are “trying T out” likely candidates for the Australian tour at the end of thp year. In the European and American zones the preliminary ties for the Davis Cup are being decided. From every quarter of the globe athletes are on their way to Paris to compete in the Olympic contests.. In Paris, also, the footabll tournaments show how games which, until quite recently, were played only in the British Empire, are spreading over the wide world. A Roumanian fifteen was defeated by an American fifteen at Rugby; while the even more cosmopolitan soccer was expounded by teams hailing, if not from China to Perm at anyrate from China to Uruguay. Here in Sydney the winter brings us a veritable orgy of football. .A soccer team from Canada is touring the country. Next month the “All Bla'cks” are to give us a taste of their quality before they may make history in England. Last Saturday the Cricket "Ground could not contain all those who wished to see Queensland meet (and beat) New South Wales at the League game. To-day the Englishmen make their debut in

Sydney, and New South Wales will have a chance of retrieving her laurels, .which, it must be confessed, are now somewhat faded. And soon the burning question of the hour will be answered, and the fate of the ashes settled. It is sometimes asked whether this universal preoccupation with sport is altogether a good thing. Of course, “mens sana in corpore sano” is a trite maxim, and we have been told that the battle of Waterloo was won on-the playing fields of Eton. But i s sport overdone? We are fond of referring to ourselves as a nation of sportsmen. Participation in such athletic exercises as “two-up” and betting on a horse race which the_ investor has no intention of seeing, are sometimes seriously defended, on the ground that Australians are “sports to the backbone.” But many of us practise our sport vicariously. In Australia, as in England, attendances of 50,000 and upwards are by.no means uncommon. Is it quite a healthy symptom that all these people should congregate together simply to watch a few people playing with a hall? It was in the period of Rome’s decadence that the gladiatorial shows were popular. Are we to interpret these huge attendances as a sign of deterioration in the national fibre ? A critic of contemporary manners has insisted that it would be far better for these spectators to play some game themselves, however indifferently, or even to cultivate their gardens, or go for a walk, than to lash themselves to a frenzy of excitement over the exploits of the performers in the Arena. But there is another side to the question. Many of the spectators are women or veterans whose sporting career is over, but whose interest in the game is as lively as ever. Their presence i$ surely quite legitimate. Moreover the more .youthful element of the crowd contains a large proportion of active , players, who have come to see how the giaiits acquit themselves. These monster attendances occur only on special occasions. The average "young Australian is, when circumstances permit, a player more often than a spectator. One has only to go through the environs of Sydney on a Saturday afternoon to appreciate the truth of this. Every oval is in use, every tennis court in full swing, every suburban paddock or vacant lot the scene of a hot encounter. That the goalposts may be heaps of coats, or the wickets two rusty kerosene tius, does not- detract from the zest of the players. The difficulty is now to find grounds for all who wish to play.

Again, though it is possible to* have too much of it sport within reasonable limits is a salutary discipline. The games which are most popular call for a high degree of co'-operation and subordination of self. It is curious to reflect that this is a. comparatively recent development. In' bygone days games were individualistic; Greece and Rome had their athletes, their wrestlers, and boxers, their racing charioteers (the prototype of the racing motorist); hut in their contests the one But the games which have come into vogue in modern times, all, with the .partial exception of lavn tennis, involve team work. Individualism is discouraged; the “selfish” .player is passed over by the selectors. A man must play not for himself, but for hi s side. The Oxford wd Cambridge boat race. Henley Regatta, the “Head of the River” contests in Sydney and Melbourne, invariable attract an enormous throng, yet in rowing the subordination of self is compete. The technique of Ouida’s hero, who, though aH the crew rowed fast, myed twice as fast as any of them, is not generally imitated. And although l to watch the antics of “the flannelled; fools” at the wicket, or the “iiiudcliedioafs at the goals” may bring us neither moral nor - physical advantage. yet a keen clean struggle is an exhilarating spectacle, and it is unlikely that the qtlmonitions of superior persons will wpan Australians from their cult of spefrt.