SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

Lyttelton Times, Volume CVI, Issue 12590, 27 August 1901, Page 4

SCHOOL FOOTBALL.

“ Football Week” opened in tho secondary schools yesterday, end during the next few days the public will have tho opportunity of witnessing contests which for keenness, good spirit, unselfishness and smartness are probably not to he equalled during the season. There is little to be gained in this athletio age by discussing the morality of field sports as an educational medium, and wo do not intend to say a single word on the much-debated- question whether the physical side is not unduly developed at the expense of the intellectual dd© in modern school life. The public who watched the bright game at Christ's College yesterday took these things for granted, and were content to enjoy th'e play with never a thought for the good or evil it might be doing to the youth of the colony. It has often been urged that something like a complete secondary schools tournament should be organised, but such an undertaking would involve an expenditure of money and time that would hardly be warranted. The financial difficulties would bp comparatively easy to overcome, but if all the more important secondary schools were to take part, more than a score of matches would have to ■ be played. Th ere fl re already seven schools playing annual matches, and if it were proposed to make the tournament comprehensive there are other institutions that would desire to hfr included. No school could spare the time to play eight or ten “foreign” games during the season, and it would be preferable to continue the present arrangements rather than to disorganise school work by sending teams tra-

veiling about the colony. There is mo reason, however, why each secondary school should not mate arrangements to meet the other schools, say, once in five years. A trip to Nelson or Wanganui might be regarded as an unholy inducement to a boy to perfect' himself in drop-lddfcing rather tftaa in classics, but the danger need not be a serious one, and the educational value of such a trip is worth considering. School football has certain characteristics which have given it a deservedly high place in popular estimation. It as dean and 1 often “scientific,” free from UnneoEasary roughness, and always good-tempered. W© hope that there will be fine weather for the games that have still to be played, and teat the visiting boys will' thoroughly enjoy their stay in Christchurch.