SPORTSMANSHIP.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVIII, 6 September 1924, Page 11

SPORTSMANSHIP.

ITS VALUE TO THE EMPIRE,

‘ 1 THE GREATEST GAME OF LIFE.”

In his speech in Paris in honour of the International Olympic Committee the Prince of Wales had some wise words to say on the real meaning of sportsmanship, writes John Blunt- in the Daily Mail. He urged that the youth of the world should “form a league of sportsmen who are really friends and who know the rules of every game—particularly the game of life. ” Many people think that the inhabitants of the Empire are unduly obsessed by sport—that is to say, that their interest in sport of every kind blinds them to more fundamental issues; but it must not be forgotten that when sport creates sportsmanship it is a character-former of the first importance. No one could over-estimate the debt this Empire owes during the last hundred years or so to. the sporting spirit that has animated her sons. Endurance, fair play, good temper, courage all these are, in their own way, the products of sportsmanship. I do not mean that they cannot exist without a love of sport, but I do mean that a love of sport of the true kind makes them almost second nature. If—as is doubtful—the Duke of Wellington ever really did remark that Waterloo was won on the playing fields of Eton, he said something which, though exaggerated like most aphorisms, had a deal of truth in it. For the traditional feeling of sportsman-

ship which a public school inculcates is a tremendous developer of those many qualities which fit a • face a

crisis unflinchingly. There is, of course, a great danger in allowing a mere interest in sport to absorb us entirely, and this danger is enhanced by the grooving spirit of professionalism and record-breaking. People who only read about sport or people whose rivalry is largely commercial do not necessarily imbibe the sporting spirit. To this extent the universal interest in sport, may have little enough to commend it. But in spite of this increasing tendency to regard sport as an end in itself, there probablv never was a time in our history in which a larger proportion of the population played games and learned for themselves what sportsmanship really is. And in learning that- they learn how to play justly and fairly what the Prince of Wales calls “the great game of life.” In these difficult and obscure times no lesson could be more valuable. It is a significant fact that foreign observers regard the Englishman’s love of sport as one of the great bulwarks against Bolshevism in England. For sport creates bodily, and mental health. Indeed, although, as a nation, we may carry a loVe of sport to extremes, and thus miss • many things which it would be better not'to miss, nevertheless it is better to carry a love of sport to extremes than not to have any sport at all. The sporting spirit is the very antithesis to, the spirit of calculated revenge and cruelty which animates the leaders of the insane doctrines of Communism. Superior persons, whose desire to appear intellectual is frequently much stronger than their intelligence, often sneer at British sportsmanship, but that leaves me quite cold. I have met too many “highbrows” not to have discovered that their vision is warped and their view of life exceptionally second-rate. Let them sneer by all means—it is a, compliment.