FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND.

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume XXV, Issue 126, 29 May 1891, Page 4

FOOTBALL IN ENGLAND.

:|£_ "■- '"' (From titi'Spetket.) '"'' . %& H»'# r 'm«ny bondfed thoußan* of pwiona fe^wire at KenniagtoaOval to see the great = footttOlfimiitoh? on^Satwday;?'! we, were =;", Mk*i tb4».sre.ek by afrieni whp wMßur'?,i ?. tmied when we replied that tie mamber Una' '■:/> tinder thirty- thouaandj.i" I; ahould have thoughV? he paid, ''that Nottingham alone ;,;■ wnt tb^t number." He is so little of. a : iportett^i .thai)' we dared 'him to mention ; tßinaiue of the wiabing team. -5 " Bl»«.k« bnra Bovers," he replied, and then explained ;■;. h^w; he knew ftjl R^out it. „ " I ,h appened to b^ia^o^ghftmon Satutday, and I assure '■}'■:■ jrou^^key^ t'ake^i ,6i nothing else. A lace . ■ ouua&faotur^r wanted' to know what I bad . : ; • , tjao .. orow;d« were not in the public . b^Ußas, but round windows on whioh the result was to be posted ; my barber asked me what I had .'dropped;' my waiter told me M'hM- i| fe4lgydi > bis brother had runup ■tft' London, to eee the match j'audi .three swanrfert 'Stopped me on my w*y*to,the station tfnd aake4 'exoitedly whioh, had won. I Wlieve there are thirty thousand persons alone .who could write , the biography (to dictation; of every member of of bothltwau,'! , „..,. fit. ia, indeed, tr*e that We must go into the pißvfa o**0 ** discover What a hold Absoc^ttw' r Xo^^bftU-|]Sftß' uitoti ttie;'ioaues, Oxiokfit t ,hanpily remains , the national paßtime, ioasmuoh' as it is played 1 jby a far greater number of people, but football drawß the bigger orowds, and there is a somewhat doleful reason why. For the game itself we have ohiefly praise. To the ignorant onlooker it is a brutal sport, in. whioh the flayers do their best to fling away, their, legs anajump out of '^heix skinß, but a match 1)«VWW« Blpl^ed teams, is really to the ialtiated a beautiful Sight— &b soientUlo *a oheas, and hardly more dangerous than a stroll beneath telegraph wires. The three &y»'exoitemantof aorioketi matoh is here condensed into two hours. Yet association football ; ha^ ( become a sport of ill-repute, The larger party of the spectators are eetcidwreputablo, the "Bcebea' inside the topee Km} otitside them are frequently disgraceful, the rumours of matches " sold " are ever in the air, the young aztizan who shows "international" form ifi' paid to make a business of ft sport, and sine timea in ten it 1b of little .more uaeiin the wojld., Rugby football is comparatively little played nowadays j yet, though it ia the less interesting game of the two, it remains in & Healthy oondition, It is popular la the schools; it has not become, like ihr association game, an ezoue for betting. Tnestfongsxaidf M ne i * iß f!W t * l of oourse. Th»r paitime ,ia a, reoreataon, noS a calling ;

because there is something more manly about; Kagby46otbaU{ than- aboav Uw assaaiatiori .gam*, On««oqld betabon* Bagby tooibail and beebma a Bagby protessiohai, and " sell M bis side for a consideration ; but it' Happened! J that othe,( betting people took to aMpOMtion! football, and lef|.,ihe,Bugby gametothoßC who play for pleasure instead of for oups anc tweniy»poupd . aqtea, There are aevera rwsofia wbf tHe proviooiai Bporttsmaii etioult (refer 'Ipu&u money ". on football rathei tba^AO, horßa-xaolng. The exoitemenl lasti : through ft season, and is red-hot every Satur day, Ea is, an eje-witnesa of many of thi oont|Sts| ,£(0 knows all .the reprefcntativei of the looal'ieams. Mot' by any means doe i( he alw*ya bet on that local team, but doubt '■IMS' a ?OTlini thar U balled 'pmriotiaai ohei 'rriake* him do so. s«me " p»(rioti|lp ' many of the e^Jls of aeio oiation iootbaU. It leads to a great deal o ' .. bad; language and to, blaokgund'iy ' eeeue > ' whiwi'>Q9los6i ; aen*re biting beateri* -:?ltii also resporUibla tor briagingi into, the Uos team rasa who ft^e not loqal, Ihe momeat i * player establishes a reputation for himsel! there is hkh bidding for his services, and h i is iaduoed 66 give op his work 'at one end <* the United Kingdom and settle at the othek f «l9 l j \wQeWh<i%ilL'>reoei<r« ■ mon.znonej? to'r " ila^ing football during the season than he got for aboemaking in a year. Permanent work at his or*!* is also offered him in many caeei ,b_JJt;h«h'a|b«gqme » publio performer, vhaji whwh there are few things worse for the morals. Oouid he fee a orioket proiessional in

fumex apd a football professional ia winter, woildjjfcv_fl steady employment at games \WyClt found ; 'but ihe' oombinatioa q! qualities ii» \r«ua, w* having muohtitueob hl3 Bands, the prWiißiiOQai frequently degenerates into a loafer and a rough. As it is aLfjtcMu^aasQ^tionJpotbaU oannoi rank muoh higher than. the old cook fights, and its reputation V with thoße who regret thM pßglliim is no longer what it was. It' is ia ' tie* gfkOM, [played obiefly by iouKhs lon luorfe, and those who take an iuiereat , in it do so