ARE INTERNATIONAL GAMES WORTH WHILE?

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIII, Issue 20786, 22 July 1937, Page 6

ARE INTERNATIONAL GAMES WORTH WHILE?

Two striking commentaries on the effect of international “clashes” in games and pastimes can be found in the news to-day. The Springboks, who have journeyed all the way from South Africa to engage in a series of games of football with provincial and New Zealand representative teams have been given a warm welcome in Auckland. It is regrettable that the great exponents of the Rugby game should have reached these shores under somewhat of a cloud. Plainly, if the views of independent critics can be accepted as accurate, the contests on the football grounds in Australia degenerated into tierce encounters in which the consuming desire to win took possession of the players on both sides. It is significant that The Cape Argus, whose representative is travelling with the team, should have felt prompted to express its regret that incidents marred the test match between the Springboks and Australia;

“The do or die spirit is entirely praiseworthy, but the win or kill determination is thoroughly deplorable,' 1 states the Capetown Journal. “Unless the visitors set their face against foul p)ay, troubles will occur In New Zealand far outdoing the incidents In Australia. South Africans hope that their representatives will play the game even if they lose, rather than triumph in the art of doubtful tactics. It Is not squeamish to appeal once more for a higher code to be set."

So much has been said about playing the game for the game's sake that the appeals to the players ought not now be necessary. The manager of the South African team, however, in the course of a reply to the typically New Zealand welcome yesterday, said that it “would be absurd to say the Springboks did not -want to win and they would do their best to win.” Manifestly that is the spirit that invests international games, notwithstanding all the talk to the contrary. The second piece of evidence of the ill-will being engendered in international contests is provided in the bitter comment the American Ryder Cup golf players have voiced since they returned from England. One of the leading players expressed intensely unti-British feelings. In a statement he said: “It was my first trip over, aud I hope I will never see the British again. They not only cheer when you miss your shot, but they crowd around you so as not to give you a chance to make it.” Naturally the British golfers are indignant at such criticism, but no one who heard the prolonged cheering of the Australian cricket crowd when Hammond was dismissed for small scores in the recent test matches will find it difficult to believe that the destroying spirit of partisanship is steadily permeating contests in international games and pastimes; rivalries, which certainly help to loosen rather than more closely cement the relations between the nations.