ACTIVITY v. LAZINESS.

New Zealand Times, Volume XXXIII, Issue 5414, 3 August 1878, Page 1 (Supplement)

ACTIVITY v. LAZINESS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE NEW ZEALAND TIMES. * SIR, —It is with very great regret that of late I have noticed among a few a desire to establish a hostile feeling in the public mind to that interesting and manly game, football. An individual calling himself “ Tattler,” in one of the evening papers, has instead of attempting to encourage a game in which so much interest is taken by the public, eude.v vored to instil into other timid hearts a desire to suppress a pastime iu which, from the nature of his composition, it would appear he had never had the pluck to take part. Nor is “Tattler” the only person who has in the public Press tried ‘to stigmatise as “ fit only for barbarians” a game both healthy, invigorating, and productive of much good to those who play it. X am thus led to ask, what are the causes of this outcry against the game ? There has always been a tendency among a few, who are prejudiced on account of the apparent danger and roughness of the game, to attribute to football any injury received by a known player, without inquiry into the real cause of the accident—the late melancholy death of one of the Wellington players is, I believe, a case in point. It is thus the list of accidents at the game becomes magnified in the eyes of the prejudiced, and it is thus wrong impressions are conveyed to the public by such evidently prejudiced’ people as “Tattler.” I admit that “that barbarous game” has been the cause of occasional accidents ; but what pastime, I would ask, that is •indulged in by and is becoming to the youth of a spirited and hardy race is without its attendant risks ?

Prejudiced tattlers are too prone to overlook the many accidents which have occurred and are occurring to “fine young fellows” while engaged hunting, .boating, cricketing, or otherwise, in their desire to stamp a seemingly more dangerous game as barbarous 4 but surely they would not wish to suppress these manly amusements because they possess an element of danger. Perhaps “ Tattler,” who invokes parents, sweethearts, and Others to put a stop to a manly gams, would advocate the spending of a vigorous young man’s spare hours in the idle enjoyment of a “‘soothing weed,” or in striving to excel iu the nobio art of billiard playing, breathing the fumes of an overheated and smoky room. First let ail such opposera of football, before attempting to throw obstacles iu its way, suggest or devise an equally interesting winter’s game in its place for our young men. Finally, in opposition to all prattling tattlers, let mo recommend those young men who would be strong and vigorous, to seek their amusement in the manly games by which muscle and stamina as well as health are strengthened, in preference to fallk g into lazy, and gross habits, which will probably be the alternative. —I am, &c,, A Player in My Youth, July 30. _