THE GAMES BOYS PLAY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19512, 16 December 1926, Page 12

THE GAMES BOYS PLAY.

It is perhaps symptomatic of the seriousness with which New Zealanders take athletic sports, especially the winter games, that the Education Board should have been interviewed by a deputation from the Educational Institute about the efforts of rival bodies to proselytise among schoolboys. It is understandable enough that headmasters should object to teams playing under the name of, the school without their knowledge or consent, and without any supervision from the staff. It sounds too much like what it is fashionable in other circles to call "white-anting." Apart, from that, it appears to the outsider that the question is being taken a little too seriously with deputations to the Board of Education proposed, reference to meetings of householders, and the like. When parents are not asked to express a preference between script and cursive handwriting, why should they be so solemnly consulted about the rival claims of different football codes, or of hockey as against any kind of football ? It is natural perhaps that the master who favours one game should be annoyed if he finds his brightest and best halfback or threequarter succumbing to the attractions of its hated rival. If. his entire team is led astray as a unit his chagrin grows greater.. But if he is not able himself to deal with the situation does he not invite doubts about his sense of proportion when he appeals to a higher authority! Of late there-has been a great deal, said about cultivating the individuality and initiative of' the child, of letting him develop according to;

his natural bent instead of trying to turn out pupils all cut to the same pattern. According to some of the facts quoted by yesterday's deputation, the boy- footballers, with the remorseless logic of the young, have simply been applying that theory in the choice of games to play. Still the headmasters are not pleased. The board seemed to sense the situation when it was obviously at a loss just what to do. It chose the sensible course when it decided against the name of the school being applied to a team without authority and remained delightfully vague about the rest. Having a sense of proportion, and perhaps a concealed sense of humour, what else could it have done 1