SPORTSMANSHIP

Evening Post, Volume CIX, Issue 41, 18 February 1930, Page 11

SPORTSMANSHIP

A VALUABLE GIFT

THE BRITISH EXAMPLE

SPORTS ALL HOUND

By Sir Thomas Lipton, (Copyright.) .

Tho Duko of Wellington is said to havo remarked that the Battle of . ■ Waterloo was won on the cricket field of Eton. Those same cricket fields aye still ranking their mark in history1, for tha inevitable winning of tho battle for'world peace will bo traced to them ' too, as-on them began that great potion of men's conduct—sportsmanship. Wherever Englishmen have.; gone and parried with \ them their way of liviug,' they havo tuken thai: notion along with them, until to-day a great part of the earth—the British Empire and the United States—have set it up as a rule of 'conduct To break this rulei is to bo called a "poor sport," or to lio tolil "that's not cricket." Tlic Anglo-Saxons alone have-given this to the world, and it comes, of course, from that other gift of team games. All '-through history men have always played games, but never as a nation or in tennis. The English, with their Soccer and Rugby hud cricket, have thrown groups of men against each other and naturally have in aft c rules to bring order to their play. .'Tho need of obeying these rules for the good of tho game and the honour of tho players has stabilised tho spirit of sportsmanship. IN ALL WALKS OF LIFE. Prom a matter of convenience for the playing of games, sportsmanship has • become a rule of conduct to be carried into all walks of life and all activities. ■ • This notion calls for the samo behaviour off the field- as on it. It requires that tho rules be obeyed without question; that if in the- heat of action a ehanco arises to break : . the rules—the chance pass unnoticed; that winning and losing bo taken without boasting or without anger; that bad fortune, or bad breaks, be taken as part of tho gamo and nothing to be complained about, and that no display be made of temper or use of lists or arms. To live up to tho idea frequently demands a deal, of self-control that is not always easy to exercise. That it is exercised and the control, secured ia one of tho greatest benefits that sport training gives v The Anglo-Saxon lias taught this to'himself, and now he is rapidly spreading into other nations of the-world. Perhaps it, will be recognised as his most, valuable gift to men. • ■■ The school rooms for this lesson arc the playing fields and tracks of (English sports as they are spread - out over other countries —Teutonic and Xiatin—and as these sports overlap into international affairs and men come together in friendly competition. There have been unpleasant happenings, I know, but they have brought out the growing feoling of sportsmanship by the very general disapproval of all nations concerned. The lesson goes from tho playing fields to life. Tho sporting point of view cases our burdens through life and makes our living with others pleasanter and , easier. We take the trials and tribulations with less grief 'and greater courage. They ,arc part of..,,th:p'r, game of, liviiig.i'.."W;c.,,' have learned, not to whine; riot to complain. In a'word, we play the game arid take the hard knocks. SPOKTING INSTINCTS. I think one of the best things that sportsmanship has given us is the ability to lose "like men, or like good sports. It is easy enough,to play the fine fellow when one is on top of the heap, but to bo unchanged by adversity needs the character that sportsmanship gives. As a matter, of factj ,it is too easy to play the fine "fellow while winning, and the rule of a sports training that says "No!" to gloating is another benefit. This notion also hasi its place in social life. The man who fails to observe the rules finds himself alone and shunned. If you fly, into a rage ,at the loss of a bridge hand you are no sport, and you make yourself unpleasant to thoso around you. Your bad conduct will not be tolerated, and neither will you. And so for all the rules and regu : lations that man has made to make lifo civilised arid easy for himself and others.. These rules need to be takon in a sporting way, just as much as the offside rules in a football gamo. "■•..'• Business has gained a ,lot from the sports code. Credit and goodwill are largely based on this. Men are finding out that it is far better to work together, open and above board, than to try for a quick profit and cut a competitor's throat. Success of orie makes for success of all—team play, with money for the goal; Sharp practice may yield a financial return at the moment, but the dishonest and unsportsmanlike actions will keep the offender away from many a future profit. Any full-grown and1 able working concern .deals fairly with its employees and its public. It is open with competition and equitable in its dealings. • Far cry, you may think, from tho cricket fields. • Arid so it is in practice, but the spirit of those boys who batted their ball, round and courageously ■ took the breaks of their game, is there. It ia very much there, to tho happiness and reward of all.' i SPORTSMANSHIP IN NATIONS. Now this feeling is spreading to the relations between nations. Some progress has been made in dealing with even such a horrible evenuality as war.' Universal rules have been laid down for helping tho wounded, and respecting the Bed Cross. It isn't sportsmanlike to attack or bother them, or to refuse them help.- Other humane rules . have been made effective since the days •when men went at each other.hammer and tongs, and did not heed the fallen or the loser. To-day we see the two great Englishspeaking nations meeting together openly and frankly to further tho putting an end to war. They havo a sporting- training and a sporting way of doing things. They understand each other, and the two leaders of the two countries talked quietly together over a week-end in a camp built for sport. Thus, born to bring order into the games of men, this feeling of honest sportsmanship has grown to bo a genoral rule of life. It has smoothed the way and bettered the humours of peoples. It has mad© business on both * sides of the Atlantic a cleaner and more sporting proposition. And now it promises to induct the earth into the long-hoped-for era of peace and mutual trust. Tho approval of tho Canterbury Society for the Prevention -of Cruolty to Animals of tho recently published communication by tho president of the Acclimatisation Societies' Association is shown in tho following resolution forwarded to Mr. L. 0. H. Tripp:— "That the Canterbury S.P.C.A. appreciates the humane standpoint of tho communication recently made to the Prsss by the president of the New Zealand Acclimatisation Societies' Association, on the subject of tho culling of deer and other igamo animals, and trusts that humanity of method will continue to be studied in connection with this work.' ♦