Is the Game Worth It?

Star (Christchurch), Volume XLIV, Issue 185, 6 August 1931, Page 8

Is the Game Worth It?

It Occurs to Me

'J'HE YOUNG LADIES of the Training Colleges who took part in the Rugby match at Lancaster Park yesterday really ought to be careful. It was a very jolly game, but by a coincidence, after witnessing that match I happened to read the following significant remarks by Marjorie Bowen, a writer of some repute. She says:— Any pursuit, or sport, or game, or occupation that makes a girl coarse, rough, or rude, that causes her to appear in guises or fashions that rouse contempt or laughter, that expose her to the mockery of the opposite sex and the disgust of her own, is, whatever the result otherwise, a deadly mistake. The mystery of women is no idle legend; the noblest, tenderest thoughts of all the ages have veiled her with a thousand fantasies; strip them off rudely on the football or cricket field, and what have you in exchange for the romance and wonder of thousands of years? A poor, rather comic imitation of a man. Of course, there are certain exercises and games which are rightly beneficial for the feminine anatomy and develop grace and beauty. But let women be careful how they displease the senses by extreme indulgence in man-made sports, for, after all, there is little else to which they can appeal. And let them beware how they destroy the illusion of beauty, this intangible, wonderful, evasive beauty which, if cast out by women, shall look long for a dwel-ling-place. For if women destroy their own glamour they destroy the glamour which all the ages have bestowed on all the world. Such observations cause one seriously to think. While still retaining a faith in athletics for women, one must recognise the destructibihty of feminine charm, and this should stand as a gentle warning to the too boisterous tom-boy. B.E.S.