OLYMPIC GAMES

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16704, 23 July 1928, Page 12

OLYMPIC GAMES

INDIAN HOCKEY TEAM'S WIN BRITISH FLAG Th.fi FIRST HOISTED AMSTERDAM, May 28. Tlic Olympic Games are being held at Amsterdam this year, opening un July ild, when the various events will follow each other last and furious. The opening ceremony will be performed by the Prince Consort, for tne Queen of Holland—a strict Protestant of the Dutch Reformed Church-—will be in Sweden. She does not approve of Sunday games, and some events take place on Sundays. The Stadium is already in use, the hockey and football being now played. It is very spacious and well built. A good view of tne games can be had from ' every seat and every standing place; but it seems farther to the-central plot of grass—the actual playing field —than on other .stadiums. Whether this an effect of the pale, northern light, or whether it is really owing to actual distance, is difficult to say. In porous red brick, the stadium is concrete-cover-ed; the wide line of separation slopes upwards, with a steep curve, as on a motor bicycle racecourse track. The crowd cannot reach the athletes, whatever may happen, and these security measures are peculiar to Amsterdam, other more southerly nations not thinking it necessary to take them. The stadiums,- new and old, lie well out of the port. Visitors getting to Amsterdam find themselves in the very centre of dockland, and the trams, clean, swift, and efficient, carry them to the stadium. In many stadiums the approach is so contrived that the fashionable motor-car crowd has advantages over the tramway visitor. It is not so at Amsterdam. Holland is the country of tramways, and provision is made for the Dutch natives first; afterwards for the visitors, who can take cars if they like, .but are none the better off.

The stadium approach is carefully gravelled, a thing not seen at Colombes, Paris, at the last Games, where it was necessary to plough through a foot deep of dust to reach the stadium if a car was not taken. Policemen regulate access to the stadium with great care, compelling the crowd to take its turn in queue, ami everything is carried on in the most orderly manner. Very little of the stadium is covered in, the sun not being too hot as a rule in this northerly region. " GOD SAVE THE KING."

Britons everywhere are rejoicing greatly that the first victory Hag hoisted at Amsterdam was the Onion Jack —that the first chant of victory was " God Save the King." The British Empire is only taking a mild interest iu the Olympic Games. Owing to differences between the Continental and British football association, British teams do not go in for Olympic football. Thus the necessity of defending the Empire's colors tell to a British India team, a body of picked men, who played their hockey in a way that wits the wonder of experts. Members of the team havo been photographed, caricatured, and drawn in overy possible posture and character. They are the interesting feature of the Games, for they carried everything before them, and this in spite of the cold and wet weather that disadvantaged them compared to men accustomed to this type of climate. It was only for the finals that the weather cleared, when the " Indians," as they are called locally, outshone themselves, scoring three goals to none over the Dutch team that had won its way up to the finals.

Belgium managed to get into the hockey finals, and played Germany for third place. Neither team was in anything like the form of the British Indians. The Germans played a fast, rushing game, driving everything before them. Belgium was nowhere. Quick and lithe, they know little about combined play, everyone apparently hoping to score a goal and not being content to pass the ball along to another. For the essence of sport, a century-old tradition with the British, has not penetrated to the Continent to any degree. There is always that lack of ensemble, of backing, of co-operation, that characterises teams belonging to the British Empire. A MOVING INCIDENT.

Britons on the Stadium were delighted to hear the strains of " God Save the King," to watch their fellows iine up, with Dnch and Germans, and then see the Union Jack floating over the Stadium, the first liag that was run up for a victory on the new building. It somehow led !to deep thought. When one part of the Dominions was at " outs," at strife with part of its population, there were others ready to fill the gap. If Great Britain is busy with other matters, British India is there to carry on, to pick up the gauntlet thrown tit the feet of the Umpire, and to do itself well, so that none may be ashamed of it. This was the feeling of the team as it waved its hockey sticks on high, as it stood at attention for its official photograph.

Much has been said 1 about the decay of the British Empire. Prophecies of its turning turtle, like a huge expiring whale, are heard everywhere in I'Jurope. Spectacles like that of the victory in the hockey finals, by a member of the Empire, do more to reassure the discouraged and hearten them for further efforts than any number of blusterings. For somehow the battlefields of Europe have been transferred to the playing-fields since the Great War. People show just as much feeling about a hockey championship as about a battle, lost or won. Those in the outlying parts of the Empire should not neglect this fact, when (hoy are choosing teams for international events, or selecting tor Olympiads. A football matoh excites more interest, awakes more passion, than a diplomatic victory, little understood by the crowd. Everyone knows which country kicked out, which secured thf! goal, but few understand the intricacie* of post-war politics. In Australia this change of mentality, this putting of great issues on results of games that may be after all greatly the result of accidents, such as the choosing of a team, the possibility of really good men, representative of the nations, taking a holiday at that particular time, is perhaps not understood. It is much stronger than anyone onside the inner circle of sports would believe, and it behoves Australia and New Zealand to mark down the effects of victories either on the football field or hockey field, and equip its foreign-going teams accordingly. —Sydney Morning Herald,BRITAIN'S HOPE LONDON, July 11. Britain has selected 57 athletes to compete- at the Olympiad, including Lowe, who is entering for the 800 metres and the 1600 metres relay. Sprinters include a West Indian named London, and Rangeley, the only Britons to reach the final of the 100 yards British championships, and Butler, the holder of the 3CO yards record. Ellis Thomas, who defeated " Tickle " Whyte this month, has entered for the 1500 metres. The principal hurdlers are Lord Buneigh and Gaby. ' The six Marathon runners include Payne, Wright, and Harper, who were first, second! and third at Stamford Bridge on July 6, and Ferris, of the Air Force, I winner of three English Marathons.