Poerty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1913. SUPREMACY IN SPORT.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XL, Issue 13172, 4 September 1913, Page 2

Poerty Bay Herald. PUBLISHED EVERY EVENING. GISBORNE, THURSDAY, SEPT. 4, 1913. SUPREMACY IN SPORT.

England is waking up to a serious effort to regain lost laurels ih the field of sport. Cable messages have informed us that very great interest has been aroused m the project to secure, the best possible representation at the t next Olympic Games, to bo held at. .Berlin m 1916, aud a pr6posal that Australasia should join with the Old Country, m en . deavorihg to maintain British surpemacy has been' earnestly discussed. It will be remembered that a year ago, when the games were held m Sweden scored 133 points, the United States 129, the British Empire 118, and Ghr-eat Britain 76. Since therii Britain has been defeated at polo, tennis, and m several other departments of sport. The Olympic Games Committee, which is now appealing tb the patriotism of British- people for a fund of £100,000 states that the recent results of international contests were a shock to everyone caring for British sport, and that a repetition of them must not be allowed

to occur again. The London Times, amongst other journals, strongly supports the appeal, suggesting that the fund is justified as affording the only reasonable prospect for the recovery of the nations lost athletic prestige. Well-built boys and girls, it urges, will not be demoralised because, instead -of partaking m games m a slouching and haphazard way, they are taught io use their muscles rightly. The Games Committee has published an elaborate programme for the preparation of athletes by various governing sporting bodies. It enjoins the necessity of arousing enthusiasm m the schools, and the committee is co-operating with headmasters m arranging county championships and triangular English^ Scottish and Irish contests., It is also assisting affiliated clubs with prizesi This organised effort, with substantial .money backing, has hot been viewed altogether with favor by a section of the public, whose opinions have been voiced by Mr. Frederic Harrison, the distinguished litterateur. "The raising of money for the Olympic Games," says Mr Harrison, "stinks of gate-money and pro^ fessional pot-hunting. Each candidate will cost £1000. He will have to be

nursed and maintained m racing condi; tioh by the public for a blackguardly calling, while graft and sharp practice will soon degrade our Olympia to the level of the mob "at old-established prize fights." Against this view, the Duke of Westminster has penned a vigorous reply, urging that the successive defeats of British athletes constitutes "a tale of national disaster." Whether or not the raising of large funds to promote athleticism is desirable from a national standpoint, our rivals, the Germans, are not losing any time m organised effort to secure supremacy over the Britishers when the time comes for the trials. The games al*e to cost £75,000, for which the Imperial and Prusssian Governments are granting subsidies, and £20,000 has been promised by private subscribers. "Elimination contests" are being held m many parts of Germany, among those leaving school, among university men, and m the army;' and full arrangements are completed for giving the young winners the best expert advice. "They will thus," as a German put it, "arrive ati their best without the waste of energy and tissue which wrong methods entail on most athletes." . A well-informed writer states that there exists m Germany an extraordinary keenness to, 'beat England m her favorite sports and most widely bruited forms of excellence. Special attention is being devoted to this summer to the discovery of an ideal "eight" which may have the advantage of rowing together for a year or two before the games. "We must win m 1916, not m this event or that, hut all along the line," so the German enthusiasts have said, and a great paH of the nation seems to feel itself undfer the same necessity. Germany is, of course, only a beginner m the field of sport. Her young men have never been athletic m our sense. They have not been players of games or zealots m sport as we have been these many years, except j perhaps, m some forms of gymnastics, m the art of diving, and to some extent m ice sports. They .performed indifferently at Stockholm, whither they sent only one good runner and no good player.of games. But never, perhaps,- has any nation plunged into athletics with greater fervour or become m so short a time proficient. Right through the nation itiere is a desire to proclaim this profici ?ncy before the world m 1916. Especially does Germany the beginner desire to surpass the aged rival whose battles are won on playing fields. She means to beat England at all hazard, even m football, which is much the most polemical of the games decided at an Olympiad. The methods by which these victories are to be won are how very thoroughly worked out. The Americans have been, giving their best expert advice to the Germans j and the German athletic Ambassador^ now returned home from a long visit to the United States, has imparted throughout Germany a knowledge of the highly scientific American methods. The Germans are also using Swedish instructors; for the Swedes, with eyen more success than the Americans, have learnt the arts of throwing and jumping and frictionless running. It is simply because they know how to apply weight and .muscle and energy that' the Swedes produce men, to give one instance, who can clear twelve feet with a pole while we consider nine feet a good jump. The Germans have taken the trouble to acquire. this special knowledge-rto use, as it were, the right text-book — and are making all their preparations for training m a systematic, thorough manner through this national gymnasia. England unfortunately lacks good units of concentration. The army, the universities, must take up the challenge almost independently and the general public also independently act. The Olympic Games Committee' aims at a Central organisation which will eagerly seek out and encourage worthy representatives. There is no intention to take men from their .-ordinary avocations and breed a race of professionals, as the American critics with rare hypocrisy apparent to anyone >who knows anything of the methods of American sports bodies, have declared. It may or it may not be a matter of great moment so far as the future of our race is concerned whether Britishers are able to hold their own m ,athletics, but there is certainly something galling to national pride to our representatives .. go down before foreign competitors m sports that liave hitherto been regarded as essentially British, and .we should hope that the present movement will do something to stir up the enthusiasm of English people all the world over and to promote the efficiency of our yoUiig men. '