SPREAD OF FOOTBALL

Hawera Star, Volume XLVI, 2 July 1927, Page 12

SPREAD OF FOOTBALL

A BRITISH EXPORT.

SUPREMACY OF SUCCEB. Although it does not figure in the Board of Trade returns, football— Soccer —is a notable British export, writes ‘ ; E. C. M 5 ’ in the Sydney “Morning Herald.” Bid it do so it would rank high in the statistics which relate to the number of foreign countries supplied with JBritish commodities. And now it is being re-exported The presence in New Zealand and Australia ,at the moment of teams representing such widely separated countries as C’anada, China, and Czechoslovakia affords most striking evidence of the spread of the game. Quite clearly, Soccer, more than any other sport, is the universal game. Oversea newspapers recently arrived indicate that the regular Eastertide interchange of football visits between the nations has developed enormously, not only in Europe, but in the Americas as well. On one day last month the London newspapers recorded the results of matches in which teams from the British Isles were engaged in Paris, Berlin, Zurich, Berne, Madrid, Budapest, and Prague.

CONTINENTAL KEENNESS. Association football is the most popular form of sport in Czecho-Slovakia. In Prague alone there are more than a hundred clubs, not a few of which have British trainers. The game is conducted by two separate bodies — one to run the senior competition, and the other, the Czeeho-Slovensky Svaz Footbalovitch, to manage all other matches. There can be no mistaking the'’ aptitude of the Czech footballers for the game nor their enthusiasm — indeed, it is said that their only fault is that they are too keen and apt to be carried away by this enthusiasm. Football, as an adjunct of the Solok movement, has the enthusiastic support of the authorities in Czechoslovakia. The Sokol Society was founded in IS6I by the Bohemian patriot Tyrs. “Physical health and fitness” was the ideal to dominate the minds of all who joined. So marvellous has been the spread of the movement that the claim that by 1933 Czecho-Slovakia will be “a nation of athletes” bids fair to be realised. At an immense festival in Prague last year, presided over by the veteran President Masaryk, himself an active member in the literal sense, 100,000 members of the society provided an unparalleled display lasting for three days. It was the climax of six years’ training, and the spectacle, witnessed by 230,000 people, was described as inspiring and unforgettable. Neighbouring Poland also has its Sokol corps, and here, too, football has firmly established itself. Before Poland gained her independence in the war the game was played only in that part ruled by Austria. The Russian and German authorities regarded any form of popular organisation with suspicion and apprehension, and immediately stamped it out. To-day, it is reported, there is even a “Court officials” team, and an “all-Jew club,” whose matches, a commentator significantly observes, are watched by thousands without producing riots—“a remarkable testi-.

mony,” he adds, “to the influence that the game is having in spreading a feeling of sportsmanship.” There is, furthermore, an all-German team, which, it is said, actually consents in international matches to play in Polish colours.

Equally has football come to stay in the other Central European States, and in the Eastern European States as well, and this in spite of the rigorous climatic conditions which greatly restrict the playing season, in fact, it is a civil offence in Austria for matches to be played when the surface is frozen and there is snow on the ground. But in spite of this handicap there are. nearly 1000 clubs in Austria, a number of them composed of professional players. Matches between Austrian and Hungarian teams are regularly played with ail the neighbouring States which won independence during the war. Football ift also a great unifying influence in the different parts of the Kingdom of the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes.

Each of the Baltic States boasts its football league, and each has numerous “futbola klubs.” The game was introduced, even under Russian rule, by the staffs of the numerous British commercial firms along the Baltic coast, but native enthusiasm has grown wonderfully since the war brought national freedom.

THE GAME IN TURKEY. Many people might find it difficult to believe that football is flourishing in Turkey, but such is the case. In no country, however, has the game been faced with such adverse conditions. Apart from British residents, it was taken up in the first place only by Greeks and Armenians, quite a sufficient cause to render it suspect in the eyes of the Hamidian police. Recently there was recalled the famous occasion of a match between Constantinople and Smyrna, when gendarmes weTe ordered to patrol the ground and prevent the spectators from congregating in groups or speaking to one another. Unfortunately, during the course of the game two players collided, and there were bleeding noses; thereupon the officer in charge ordered his men to separate the rival forces, saying that the fight had lasted long enough. .

The game, however, received considerable impetus after the successful Young Turk revolution of 1908. Many teams were formed in. different parts of the country. They were formed, however, largely on national lines, and when the Balkan war of 1912 broke out, the rival sides of Turks, Armenians, Jews, Greeks, and Bulgarians felt too strongly to play with a strict regard for rules. Football was not properly revived until after the world war, when it was again made popular by the British sailors and soldiers in occupation. In commenting upon the fact that the Turkish Government supports the game and sometimes makes political use .of it, the London “Times” relates that some time ago a match had been arranged between the Galata Serai and the Phener Baetehe teams, but had to be cancelled at the last moment, “as instructions were received from Angora that a representative Turkish team had to leave at once for Mosoow.”

In the countries of Western Europe —Franco, Spain, Portugal, Germany, Switzerland, Belgium, Holland, and. the rest —the game, of course, has long been established, and has flourished exceedingly. In Spain “futbol” has become a serious competitor ■to bull-

lighting, and has ousted every game except pelota in the Basque provinces. Soccer has been a national game in Portugal since as far back as 1893. On one occasion in the days of the game’s beginning a match was played between a British side and a team of Portuguese. The former were victorious, but they had to be defended from the mob by their beaten opponents; and in the following match a soldier with fixed bayonet was stationed at each goal-post. Incidents such as these, however, belong to the distant past, . and such precautions have long been rendered wholly unnecessary, not only in Portugal, but in all countries where the game is played. The spirit in which the game is regarded, by players and spectators alike, has improved with its growth.