PRESS ATTACK

Hokitika Guardian, 14 January 1935, Page 5

PRESS ATTACK

ON SPORTSMANSHIP

(United Press Association— By Electric Telegraph— Copyright).

LONDON, Jnuary 12

An attack on British sportsmanship, largely due to the outcome of the bodyline, occupied three columns on the loader-page of the “Daily Mail. The article is by the sporting editor, Mr Freeman. He declares that international sport during 1934 has provided instances of the English forgetting the one vital principle which should dominate all their activities' ,namely : “The game i s greater than the player. He says: “’Whereas, lor half a century, the more basic rules of British outdoor sports have remained unchallenged, and almost unchanged, there are outstanding facts which depressjngly illustrate this mcder n attitude. These are the fact that the Marvlebone Club has been compelled to define an unfair attack on batsmen; the Football Assooiaton has begun experimenbir'i'T with two referees, instead of on e referee; and th e Rugby Union has issued a strong denunciation nf jthe -.increasing; infringement of the scrummage laws. Collectively, these are facts constituting an overwhelming charge against British sportsmanship.” Mr Freeman continues: “The truth is that skill one! physical prowess have been subordinated to sharp practice and mejitnl cunning. The nation that taught the world to play is nowfast losing its sense of the joyousness, gaiety and supreme honesty of true sport. We must return to the snirit of our fathers. We must opnose ill-considered interpretation of those laws which have stood the test of time, when sportsmanship was an ideal.”