THE LATINS AT PLAY.

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 4 June 1926, Page 7

THE LATINS AT PLAY.

• gPOiRT IN SOUTH AMERICA. A GIFT FROM BRITAIN. Sport came down to man as a result of practice in tlie art and functions of offence and defence by his elementary forefathers. Eater, pure natural strength and speed of movement suc-h as that more recently required of the mere wielders, the fast runners of Maori hapus of last century —were associated with the development of the powers of ocular control, premeditated co-ordination of movement. Exercises of running, feats of strength, the practice in leisure moments with arms, no doubt preceded the very early games, of which records have been found during the past twelve months among tlie Mousterian remains. These included discs for throwing, and they were miugled with rudimentary saws, needles, and other crude implements—all made from mammoth bone. They were made by men just a stage beyond the better-class flint-chipper. The Greeks developed competitive games to a high degree. They spread, with a reversion to the offensive and defensive type of exereise, to Rome. In the Dark Ages, sport purely as a diversion almost disappears, and its place is takeii by exercises having as their aim the perfection of the performers in military or hunting pursuits. To a certain extent in Europe, but particularly in England, there is a gradual development of athletics from the tenants’ sports of the feudal baron, through the idle games of the rich, the contests between their footmen and the performances of members of the guilds as spoken of by Pepys, till we arrive at the definite grouping of men in sporting circles —boxing and racing principally—which appeared about 150 years ago.

From that beginning, England developed within her boundaries the seeds of sport as it is known to-day. Outside England, games and exercises of serious character were mainly those practices of the art of offence and defence as it touched the protection of life and skill in the chase. During the last fifty years, the scattering of Englishmen, not only to the Dominions of the Empire, but also to foreign countries, has witnessed the conquest of the world by all forms of athletic sports, and in the Latin countries we see their association with the study of fencing and the use of firearms.

In South America one hundred years ago there were no games as we understand them. Charles Darwin speaks of the amusement of the small boys of the time being the attainment of accuracy in knife-throwing, transfixing a wand of wood from a distance, in practice for more serious work of a like character later on. Tlie amusement of the adults amongst the country folk' was the management of their horses, playing the guitar, singing, and dancing. In the towns —and this till even recent times —there was little or no athletic sport. Fencing and firearms were assiduously studied. Soeinl life was dull. The young South American never then saw his intended bride alone until after the wedding, and some do not even now. But about forty years ago the seeds of a great change in South America were sown. They were sown principally in the Argentine Republic, the most progressive and sporting of the South American countries, where Great Britain has more money invested than in any other foreign country. Since the retirement of the British forces from Buenos Aires in the early part of the nineteenth century, and the subsequent declaration of independence from Spain by the majority of the counin a form which recommended it as a national game, and George Brown was still playing when the writer left Buenos Aires last year. Soccer, at which Uruguay is world’s champion, With Argentina close at hand, swamped tries in South America, Argentina has been the country of initiative among the young republics. Amongst the best men of Chile and Argentina in their early struggles against Spain were Englishmen. It was the British who first realised the possibilities of the land and products of southern South America. They drove the first.postholes. They built the first railways. Scotchmen from the Falkland Islands Rinded in Patagonia, and converted that vast unpopulated area into one of the greatest sheep countries of the world. The advent of the British railways, the development of agricultural and pastoral interests, stimulated trade, bringing British steamship lines to the ports of South America .and banks and commercial firms to its cities, so gradually created a nucleus of British population, particularly in Argentina, which carried with it the English instinct for sport.

Sport in South America received its greatest impulse through its development in Argentina. Some forty years ago the staffs of the railways then operating near the federal capital played cricket matches. Subsequently the Buenos Aires Cricket Club was formed, and its present ground in Palermo acquired. King George V., then an officer on a warship, was present at one of the early matches played on that ground. Along with cricket, the cglt of racing was developed. Old tiles of the British newspapers published then record trotting and galloping matches over so many city blocks, usually'for private bets. With the Argentinians' dexterity amongst horses, racing was the first sport to take its place along with skill in the use of arms as practiced by the Argentine and neighbouring peoples. The British ganies they regarded with tolerance, as a mild form of eccentricity in men who were very good at business, very industrious, and Y'bose word, in those days at least, they had learned to rely upon. ’ Tennis appeared with the foundation in the nineties of the Buenos Aires Lawn Tennis Club. The Brown brothers were responsible for the presentation of Soccer both populaces. Polo followed, and Argentina beat U.S.A. in the final at last Olympic Games. Golf arrived with liugby, both of which are played by the Argentine people as well as by the British. Last of all came the boxing boom, which shares with Soccer and racing a popularity in Argentina which is unexcelled elsewhere.

In the last ten years a continent without sporting traditions of any kind has been converted into a group of countries, with practically a cofnmon tongue, vieing with each other as none outside South America seem able to do. At the lead in most branches of sports stands Argentina. In no city of the world can such a sight meet the sportsman’s eye as the unbroken succession of playing fields and recreation grounds extending along the Central Argentine Railway’s suburban system. Huge public parks are crowded with people playing all forms of games. Athletic clubs cater for many branches of sport in a single establishment.

Sport in South America has given the fist a leg-in with the severer weapons, has broken down the isolation of women, and has opened to the virile Latin character a broader avenue upon which to develop.—C.L.C.S.