SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 1921. THE SCOPE AND INFLUENCE OF SPORT.

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 10 September 1921, Page 6

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 10. 1921. THE SCOPE AND INFLUENCE OF SPORT.

"————♦ —■ The period between one season and another when as it were the sports of winter are gradually working themselves out :ere they give place to the pursuits of summer is metaphorically a a kind of • spring in the kingdom of sport, from which they will break forth with renewed vigour to run their course in the new season. The old, which has hejtcl sway for a brief period, is just gbing out; the new, which has been hibernating, is beginning to break from bud to its full bloom. The gradual change goes on in all stages of! man's life, and is as true and unerring^ as in'nature with her similar methods and processes. The psychology of the' change will beof interest to the stu-j dent-of human nature. It seems to emphasise the fact that man is a creaturo .largely swayed by habit, and that in' the main habit is one of the strongest influences in his life. In respect to sports he does not change his nature! and holds largely to the same methods' as he had in his young days. Children's' games go with the.seasons; now one is! out and another in., So is it with the' adult. If he does not take an active part in the series of games, he at. least takes a vital interest in them, and is one of the huge crowd of those who follow sport and form a very mainspring in its prosecution. Kipling •wrote scathingly of the flannelled' f^oL He might with more reason per-1 haps have reserved his caustic com-i ment for the unflannelled. But after' all,' though one could wish to see many playing who do not, still there are very' large numbers who cannot take an ac-j ! tive part and. yel are - the better for ; showing a healthy and lively interest in : a manly game. And again one can ' scarcely imagine keen contests without ', the stimulus of the enthusiasm of the ■ crowds. There certain 1? are bad fea- ; tures in that respect, but in the main the spirit of fair play inherent in the average spectator has a good influence ori the play. This* is one reason wny it Is essential 4 thatany influence from the "bank" detrimental to good spori

.should bo sternly repressed. Jt is not* worthy, too, that instances of such tmo influonca are rare enough to bo thu exception that "proves" or "tests" the rule. Perhaps one of the most reniark-

able developments m sport of recent s years has been its growing lnternation ( alism. Whatever people who do not j hold with sport think, and there aro ol <■ course some who aro not approving, | yot even they must realise that the J penchant for sport has become part o* ( j the national character, and it must be 1 j acknowledged that its influence in gen- 1 j eral is for good. The meeting ot representatives from nations differing widely in most respects and meeting perhaps on no other common ground must have a good influence on the players themselves, and through them on the people they represent. Ono can imagine the keen excitement in Japan at the success of their Davis Cup toam. Their members have proved themselves, as in any other activity in which the people of Japan have taken a part, apt imitators of the Western people, and have shown themselves good sports. Though one naturally hope* that tho Western team will always prove the winner, sport breaks down barriers of race and gives victory to the better team. Tho ' movement to wards international sport spread first to parts of Western Europe—Franco, Germany, Spain and Italy—threatening the Kipremaey of tho Anglo-Saxon, and thence to Japan and other, countries, so that in the present year's Davis Cup one sees a strange' mixture of races. It is a somewhat nice question for students of interna-: tional problems to consider what effect such contests have on tho feeling between the countries. While tennis has such an interesting history and development, cricket has, too, its development and leavening force. India has for many years supplied fine teams of native cricketers, some of whom— and one thinks at once of the great Ranjitsinghi—have attained an outstanding position in the world ot cricket. In the South Sea Islands and in the West Indies cricket has flour ished widely amongst the native? while in tho Empire amongst tht Anglo-Saxons no'sport has oxereised t* wider influence, it must be admitted, for good, inculcating as it does in its participants high ideals of sport and needing no small amount of pluck and j endurance for anyone to achieve success. The amount of discussion that has taken place on the causes of the failure of the English eleven has been remarkable, and has rivalled perhaps any other question that is troubling the Empire's leaders. Sport helps, too, the cause of "democracy, and teaches man, as all sport should, to value his fellows, whatever their station in life may be. When one enters such a 1 world one forgets or should forget all I but the inherent worth of a man as an individual. So one may hope that all the sports of summer, which are just budding again here as in other parts of "the Southern World, may flourish and exercise, as they should, a good, healthy and helpful influence on the j world of young manhood just on the ] way lo maturity, and that the older j people and those who are from any cause debarred from active participation will do their part by helping, in , every way possible, pursuits that are a real feature of the national life, providing so well for a portion of the leisure hours. The influence thus exerted must have its part in deciding how the rest of the leisure time is to be spent. We hope that the season will be prosperous and full of joy and pleasure to many, and that parI ticipation in some good clean sport j will help all to do their work better • in the world and take a share also in improvingf^e relations between man and man, and so help in solving some a£ least of the troubles that at pre- ! sent vex the world at large. i - .. ! I _ . _ j