FOOTBALL.

Otago Witness, Issue 1672, 8 December 1883, Page 22

FOOTBALL.

The following letter, written by the captain of a school club in England, has been forwarded to the Times by Mr S. E. Sleigh, better known in the football world as " Poster." The letter first appeared in the Pall Mall Gazette. Those who run down the noble game of football will find the arguments adduced in it very difficult to refute. The letter, as Mr Sleigh remarks, speaks for itself : — $ir —Foolb.V.l has had a fair share of abuse during the past y3ir or uvo. It has been denounced as bruta 1 , umnaniy, tavage, cowardly, dangerous. And why ? Because lately it hvn* been the ciubo of a few acc.de'>tr\ Uut other things are dangerous besides football. I cAimofc take iu> a Oni y tmvvt wifhouf H.idiys: (v lias <>• ace d n*s, c eme av'sin:>. to m bu iacss, OCUUU3 from pl«,varc. Hose u,e turte in a.■ ow, r-1! of them cab accidents. Shall we put down cabs? Should we dethrone the Jehu from his hansom or "growler"? and shall wo denounco their heed(es3 natrons and repent of our own hazardous tol'y in eometimes forming a " fare" ? But what itj here ? "Drowned whilst ska'ing" Shall no one go on tho joe because fools tumble m ? .Thon I read of cricket fractures, single and compound ; of riders thrown, necks broken, joints dislocated, bones smashed in the hunting-field. Well, becauoo some are ra-h or unlucky, are there then to be no nioro cake • and ale ? Are you going to shut up all the playhouses because of a fire here and there, and to stop boating every summer, and bathing, and, above all, crossing the btrcet a feat more difficult aud dani-erous than any of the above? What, then, is all this fues about football? >'ootball has been in existence for many years, aud haßo£late become quite scientific and enormously popular. Has it really grown raoro dangerous ? Certainly it has been more played, alid S5 there have been' more ace dents— jusr as the rinking craze, with its tumbles, called attention to the danger of [skating in general But the truth is football is sufferingfrum a certain epidemi : of excessive mildness. We can't thrash a criminal- we can't cano a boy— wo can't hang a murderer— without an outcry. The agitation against corporal punishment is chiefly responsible for this attack upon one of tho manliest recreations. Its perils are overdrawn— a few peculiarities, which ought, no doubt, to be checked, ara harped upon. The cry was probably raised by some milksop averee to all manly exercises. He writes to his ma, in pitying terms, dilating on the pain and peiils to which football exposes him, and begs off. The anxious mother consults the family doctor, who, of course, agrees with her; a certificate is signed, and milksop has the satisfaction of spending bis halfholidays in ignoble ease, d^ing good to nobody and what harm he likes to himself. But now, if we take serioubly the pros and cons of the matter, thfre is really little to be said against the game. First, as to it( brutality. What ßhocking brutes, then, must be all - tho yountr men at Oxford, Cambridge, Eton, rand Hnr- / row, all our pubiic school bo.va, anrt mosit of the young , b'ißiness men in London ! For they all play, ihavii been the captiiti of a public school for some time. I '„ have seen an much of football as mo^t people, and fought wiLb souks i.f the most faoioni >i!uy< rs of my time, vi-t I )i&vp nsvcv noticed an Ihinr particularly biutal or coivaidiyin tho teare 5*5 * I fui\o been so lonir a^somttd with, and I have l;ic!;<d nobody to rl ath. Th«-n eb tf> i-- (1 ■.ucur Tht 1-0 ij annw :i-k in it, <-,f coins-, bu! is ;h-U. ri-.k half a< gr\-afc as in hunting? n,ii not everything wmtii achieving some risk ? ;ir,r| tl)3 rif-lc iv all manly sports ad"a a certain «;»u to a'l ex> rci c. But absolute and Dece&wiy I'.xu^r thf>rc 13 none, and if is no more fair to _p&y tbeio is because s me penpio have becn»Mik-d at it, than to say that swimming i« dangerous because gome people have been seized by cramp, or walking in the street becau-e jicoplc have been killed when crossing. Football playera havfe beeu said tq Jose tfoeir tetoper and play savagely. So'ja'd do, but they"

ar4 generally peopla who would lose their temper anywhero, aud it is always considered bad form, intentional injuries cannot well take place i-i public matches, and I never know of any being infl efced in tho cohool game. lam certain that the school fee'inj< would >>c so afronef that suth a thinjr would be pracri*ilv next to impossible. So much for the harm done by football ; the good it does is incalculable. Where thore is no frost and no tkatin^, wr,:it exeicisc :■) there for boys and younir tn-n? Walking you would s*y ; we need something a hul i m re lively than ualkimr. liiciulmg, pirhijn? Yes, but bieycin< i^i exp«n-ive, aiui to many, unin~erosjtimr ; besides, you wouid to tm <> to tumble off, and \ou would, of course, give up your bicycle after tho "ift fall. No, the croakers must not have it all thuir own way. Football U a healthy, invigorating exeriho, good for tho mind and bony. It has an a>l vantage over many other-", boeauHa numuers can play at it together, tt needs combination, temper, tact, and cour g ! : Its requiiemoncs are simple nnd cheap. And, oeeidea the excitement in pliying the game, li. is interesting and beautiful to watc 1 '. 'What a sMrring eisfht, for instance, is a good Association match. Uut the interest of the Association game palc9 b>.f jro that of tho " ltuj;ny " Tho use of the hands varies tho monotony ot tho everlasting foot pay Xceio are nioro opportunities for bkill and individual prowess. Tho revised rale-j of " loose scrimaues ' and " doad ball" have doiif awa> with tne. long and oft-ropcated scenes of "shoving" aud •' mauling" which di figured the old game, 'the " Rugby" n w gene alh jm-ftrred ia fast and exciting from l>et;iiini g (0 end. "win thins: I should like to see aboli lied— oho "maul in g' :<,'," which is a reiic of the uiirc'cneiate just; an.i thon, :■< im mind the game vvil be perfect And i yen .if it U, i; is th- best of .^ll winter games for Enjrlish men or boys. Tho growing p ipularity of the gamo mv t be taken account of in any serious argument. How many tmpporttrs h&d it - 20 y ai'9 ago 7 A few schools and one or two private clubs. Now it isj computed that more than a hundred thousand men and boys are engaged in it every week. Reckoning the nan-combatant 'nemberH and admirer*, who often compose more than half tne club, this must mean nearly hundreds of thou►ands of football devotees. If the game wa« really objectionably and pernicious, it is improbable that ie would have so rapidly become so popular. But puppooing that it doeß inenfc all that has been said cf it, is it rii.ht. for th te who have never played it, and know nothing about ifc, to condepm it ? No lefc th<>-e who are expuricnoul id it divide whether football shall be extinguished by o, '• Datigeiou3 Amusein nt \ct ' Choube a co'nmittee from the leading clubs and the misters and captains of the pubiic school- , unit let them settle the point Then there is Ihe " Rugby Uniou " G'nmnutfoe ; let us hear what ie has to bay. A football c infereuee might do much toward i amending anything distinctly vicious still lelt in the game, and miyht also allay the fears of British matrons and family doctois. But in the las k . re?ort neitner mothers nor doctors will bo the real arbiters ; sch iolboys and young men must themselves decide what games to play, and how to play them.