GAMES RISKY AT 40

Te Aroha News, Volume XLI, Issue 6442, 26 January 1924, Page 6

GAMES RISKY AT 40

When should a man stop playing games? Dr. Cecil Webb Johnson, a Harley Street (London) i physician, has laid it down that mo one should play strenuous games after forty or so. There have been twelve deaths on the golf links recently, he pointed out to the Westminster Gazette, and this, he said, went to show, together with many other things, that an impossible strain might be thrown on the heart by a too sudden exertion. “A man is as old as his arteries,” he said, “and what is possible between 20 and 30 may prove fatal between 40 and. 50.” This undermines the theory of some young men who used to sneer that golf was an old man’s game. Any game, declares Dr. Webb Johnson, that may throw a sudden strain. on the heart is dangerous to the man who has passed the forty line. “Tennis,” he said, should net be played at all by men over fifty.” There have been several cases of cricketers in the grey hair stage, but no man can play over forty. Rugby is, a far more strenuous game than soccer, and can rarely be played after a man has turned thirty.. In any case the middle aged man who wants to play games should drink less, cat less and smoke less than he usually does. Dr. Webb Johnson admits that the trained athlete, accustomed to constant self denial, in the matter of creature comforts, can carry on much longer. The most famous instance is that of Dr. W. G. Grace, the cricketer, but even trained athletes comparatively play over 40 or so. William Meredith, the famous Association professional, seems as fit as ever at 48, though there are constant rumours of his retirement. Jack Hobbs, of. Surrey, is 41; King, the Leicester cricketer, is 52, and Roper Barrett, international lawn tennis player, just on 50. Apart from outstanding cases like these, there seems to be a general inclination to retire when 40 is near at hand. S. H. Shoveleir, most famous of all hockey players, gave up just after that mark.