A “SPIRITUAL” GAME

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25566, 20 June 1944, Page 6

A “SPIRITUAL” GAME

. “Cricket has a spiritual quality which Soccer lacks.” writes the Archdeacon of Ipswich, the Venerable E. R. Buckley, who played cricket till he was 65. in an article in a diocesan magazine. “Cricket brings out some of the best qualities of Englishmen,” he says, “ necessitating individual efforf and initiative# and encouraging a man to work freely for his side, whereas Soccer players primarily are ccgs in a machine—a characteristic which would be admirable for the national game of a collective State.” Referring to spectators, he says: “A Tottenham Hotspur player told me that if a Soccer player was a bit off his game the crowd was merciless. At; the Oval or at Headingley there is more applause for Surrey men. and Yorkshire men than for their opponents, but (here are no jeers if a man is bowled first bail or misses a catch.”