Origin of the Custom.

Dominion, Volume 12, Issue 177, 22 April 1919, Page 8

Origin of the Custom.

Tho origin of the custom, without doubt, goes back a long way. Iu tho earliest surviving laws of tho "Jen de Paiime." written by one Forbet in 1599, and reproduced in Hulpcnn's "Jen Royal de la Paume," 1632, there are strict rules for prize matches, but no direct mention of the custom is made there. Not many years later something analoso\S) to it is. however, traceable. It is +.o be supposed that.the "Jen de Paume, or tennis, as it. is called with us, helped lo set the fashion, especially, of course, in lawn tennis, which was a moro or less direct offspring of it. In tennis the system was, and indeed is, carried _ l;o further lengths, for in the competition for the M.C.C. prizes to-day a.nd iu the amateur championship until ten years ago. the holder of both tho first and second prizes stood out. The M.C.C. prizes, which were substituted in 1867, were successors to a far older competition, the James Street Racket, which was instituted in the twenties of last century, and the procedure is im interesting survival.

AVliilo certain things about it have not' much to conimend tliein, there is one, which the event has in common with, very few competitions that is admirable —namely, that a new draw is made after every round, so'that a player'eannot see at the beginning of an event whom he will be likely to meet, all'the way through, should he be lucky enough to survive to the final heat. Tn the draw for the amateur golf 'championship' it often happens that one-quarter has.'.a, preponderance, of good players, and the 1 man who comes through these must have ,i. tremendous task iu almost every round. AVith n draw after each round, things', would be more likely ti> -adjust themselves.

One Antiquated survival in the M.O.C. Prizes is that the draw- is not made on the Bagnall AV.vld .system, but on old' fashioned 1 lines, where there may ho lives in every round. No player is, however, allowed' to have a bye in two consecutive, rounds. The winner of the preliminary ties has Ihe right to challenge the holder of the Silver Prize; whoever wins that match can challenge the holder of tho Gold Prize. Should t:he liolder of tho Silver Prize defeat the winner of the preliminary .lies and also tho holder of the Gold Prize, the two defeated players liuallv meet to contest for the Silver Prize! Such is the rather cumbrous procedure, but it is hoped that for this particular competition it may not-be altered.

Temperament and Stamina. (

Some people hold that it Is an ail vantage to play- through a competition. They arguo that tho holder is better off playing his rounds than waiting and perhaps worrying about the one and all important match. Much depends upon tho temperament and stamina of the holder and on tho lengtlFof the competition. In a modern lawn tennis championship meeting at Wimbledon, with its enormous entry, it must be t\n advantage to stand out in nine case.* out of ten. An amateur golf championship with tho. ■holder standing out is almost inconceivable. No competitor in such a championship starts at "short odds." But if -Mr. John Ball, or Mr. Hilton, in the years of their triumphs, had stood out anil played only one match, it would havo been odds on. In tho amateur billiards championship Mr. Graham Symeu started, I believe, a slight favourite. Had ho been compelled to play through the wiiolo competition odds at the start Ojf tho event would surely have been lau! against him. It is argued that a man has to p through a-whole event once to win it, and he is entitled to his -reward. It is argued, oil the othor.side, that if tho holder had not stood out wo should have had no such" long sequence of victories as havo been seen in certain events. It is also said that, if the holder played througli it would often happen that the two best men might meet in an early round and tlie final round might be a one-sided match, whereas, with tho holder standing out, it ensures as a rule a. good filial round. There is something m tho glamour of a final round, perhaps, bui. after all it is really just as good to seo a match between two great players 111 tho first round as in the last. The general opinion of games played I abroad, in the colonies and in the United States, is, no dfmbt, in favour of everyone playing through, and one would piophesv ("though not without a sigh of regret'to tradition) that in all competitions where there are big entries the principle of playing through' will before long be adopted universally and will be found more satisfactory.