Modern Sporting Spectacles Attacked As Relics Of Barbarism

Rotorua Morning Post, Volume 2, Issue 275, 15 July 1932, Page 7

Modern Sporting Spectacles Attacked As Relics Of Barbarism

THE "THRILLS" THAT WOMEN GET FROM PUNISHMENT AND BLOODSHED POSSIBLY the pieture that Hannen Swaffer, noted dramatic eritie and anthor, has drawn in his indietment of modern sporting spectacles, and specially of the delight that women take in them is overdrawn. Swafier's indietment, made in the "New Passing Show," is almost as sensational as the spectacles he condemns. Yet sport cannot benefit from merely ignoring the school of thought that Swaffer represents, and both men and women interested in games may find something salutary in thinking over his attack, which is reprinted here.

Why do not people race the tact that many, if not most, of the sporting spectacles that attract thousands to see them are mere relics of barbarism, little better, some of them, than the gladiatorial displays that marked the beginning of the end of Rome? - It was the women who, when a stricken gladiator had failerl to please the populace, pointed "thumbs down" as a signal for his death. It is women to-day who, more and more, glory in the bloodshed which— were it not part of the risk of higlily-paid-for "sport" — would, I am certain, possess little of the attraction that, today, is magnhied hy sporting wrjters, whose living depcnds upon a sports boom, into being a fnshionable craze. Gertainly, Lord Loii'dalc and n peer or two go to the Alhert Hall when there is a fight. Gertainly Harr\ Ih'es ton usually t;ives a pai'ty and takes along a few tam'e authors and a ^ossip writcr. nieel.v in h nd. Bilt most of ti1" e-pensivc se"ts j\pe filleil with in! n of the on! !ican .sn 1 bookmrker tyn.e A stndv of most of | the faccs would '•ertninlv n >t l-yt to I the conchudon that wateh-ng sport was either intolle 'tuni or uplifting. I.ord Longdale flarrv Preston, "nrl a few hundred peop'e P'-. them do I bnnw, uiu'ersti n 1 the Cner po'nts of pugfitsm a-id are as !e«*o. in:' ed. on aira'enr bo'-ing in ".*h:eb m"n oTidure m"eh for the hnaoi-r of victory. But most of the sp ".•tatoi's. 1 am sure are attractcd ther- mor^ly hv lave of lu'utality, a liking f >r hlood and nun ishment. a d 's*''^ to se ■ t'urt I do not liel'eve in this "love oi hor es" nopvp-e sh'>-' n" nor in the "imnrov'ng t'-e hrop''" stuff rnd "envalry vanteft for (!»> v.-ir" huneom'-e Tliev would have a Tunks iJerhv. if such were trve. It ;s just a P>ve of hetf:n-.'- and s > ir grevh':und ra',;ng. And people go to a ti "h.t to se" s-une one burt-a-od to f eL as they.se- thpuneh. that th-v are in"i-t!:i£{ it tlr-m selves. I saw, a few nights ago. a mod k'ndly natured, nice-styled ,1' mrn fresh from her first sight of niufi1;s*n. "It w.as wondor^'T1," sho said. "Tt it is l'ke that. 1 shall go °very time." S!;e had jnst ct nv fmm the G>-n McGorkindaie contest -"li re in ">e'eag- r cxeitcnv'nt, hunr'reds, ^•e."i,i". lhai Gains had a hunp under his eye thc size of an oa ?. lvd -elh-rt s'"i"es of times, "Eve !" "Ey- !" "Eve !" They wanted fhe Sonth ' friean to go in and hit the negrp on the e.ve. his weakest point they thought. I heard. for davs afterwarf's. the fi-t'v descrihcil as the finest seeu for voars What mv informants mennt v?ns that they hnd seen much mor-.- knocking down than is usual. 20 times as hard hitting as is the rule when heavvweights meet. And the.v like the heftiness of the punohing. Ycs, women delighted in it. Usually, when a beavyweight is hit. in I.ondon, he lies down, draws £1000. and goes home. When one stands up and takes a hiding, the pubiic is so thrilled at even a heavyweight boxcr being hurt that it cheers. Its lust for seeing other people suffer dupes it into forgetting that most fights are "arranged." That mcans that

someone nas at last persuaded a champion to meet someone who can put up a show but who cannot beat him. After seeing motor-cycle racing twice, 1 am certain that, were it not for the risk to lit'e and limb, cheerfully encountered by the riders, the dirt-track would never have become a boom. The crowds are not interested in cycling, as such, and they cannot calculate the speed — which is no greater than they see, often, on the road. It is the chance of an accident that causes the thrill. It was the same with the rodeo which disgraced the British Empire Exliibition at Wembley. They understood none of the finer points of the display. They could not have done, for they had never seen it before. It was the danger — to someone else that drew the erowds. Ycs. and it was the cruclty. -« Yon must rexnember tnat, even ttioueh the. rodeo had surrounding it all tlu* gl.WMOiir of Wembley and its Royal assoilalions and all thc traditions of ihe Eni'-ire. it was only by seven votes to five timi the prornoters wex-e acfiuitted v.-hen the R.S.P.G.A. took action. Steers could he thrown hy the score ,i-.d hor-es could he j-rkcd upon the gronnd The crowd cheered. "This must never hannen again in Engien'V' said Lord birkenhead, who -vas lu-r.liv a sentimentalist or be'ongnl to th" hnmnn'tarian class. "If it does. it wil! l e Ihe bul-.fight next." And v-u mn-.t rememher that, although lmi]"-dits are banned in Eng!and, E"\dish men and women flock to ; fhc-n in Sr'".n. and, indeed. if they are :n Biarri'z. go over the fronticr specTa!Iv ji-st to see Ivulls killed and horses "Oh, it was so thrilling," you hear. If hi'll-fighling were legalised here — and it i- sorvtmies praised hy the same pe- p! ■ wh.o open casinos in the senfm'e tov.n- if they could — you would floc'tMig to it the same sox-t of women who flock to boxing matches. ves, orce. hemuse he did not put up •t fight, I saw the British champion— T- n lu- was a mere clod of a lout, who ■' uld reareeiv stand — jcered by 7000 people 'n a Londoti building. T ' re •■">:> mlier one evening-drcss aifaii where ■ ie of the fighters had been halfdrunk foi severn1 nights, just before the .fight. vet it was stnged merely be"euse. well if the p-il)lic crv for bread. g:ve ti" m some more "sport." Sport I'sed to eonsist of killing Christinns. Now it is kidding the Christians. instend, rnd they like it I All-in wrestling is attacked. merel: beeause- it is new and bceause, since it is new. it has no powerful friends. Cer'a:n!v the wrevtlcrs push each otherY fa -es up and jump on each other and infMct nain in ways novel to the pubiic, But why shouid it be wrong to hurt a man one way if it is sporting to see him hurt in the good old way? Is it worse to wrestle a man ont of the ring than to puneh him out of the ring? Is it worse to tweak his nose than it is to punch it? Is it worse to make him bleed on the leg than from his nostrils? So long as you see the blood, why docs it matter where it comes from? To my mind, Queensberry rules are no moi*e intcllectual, or soul-uplifting than Raspberry rules.