DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 77, 22 June 1927, Page 3

DR. FRANK CRANE’S DAILY EDITORIAL

FOOTBALL (Copyright, 1027.) ii r ANY say that America has gone “football crazy.” They point out the fact that Rome's downfall was preceded by the gift to the people of games and bread. .... The parallel between the bloody amusements of ancient times, however. and the football of to-day is not very close. Football is a clean sport and the more energy people put out in sport of this strenuous kind the less energy they will be disposed to spend in war. Football calls for the last ounce of physical strength, together with inRecently there was an attendance of 79,500 at the game between Stanford and Southern California. Fifty-five thousand saw the Harvard play, 70,000 watched Ohio State and about 75.000 seats were sold for the U.S.C.-Notre Dame game iu Los Angeles. Many applicants were rejected for lack of space. The attendance of large groups at football games is a good omen and those who gather from this that the country is going to the dogs are mistaken. One difference noted between other countries on the one hand and England and the United States on the other is that England’s people play. Sport is an institution and to be a good sport is a synonym of having a good disposition. The children of France and Italy and Germany need to be taught more how to play, for play is the natural outlet of! youthful exuberance and the more a nation plays intelligently the better off it is. One of the excellent efforts of the Y.M.C.A. and similar organisations abroad has been to organise the boys and girls into play groups. Play of children abroad seems to take a more destructive tendency. A movement has made considerable headway in the United States to have teachers upon the playgrounds and to instruct the children in healthy sports as well as the three R’s. Altogether play is a good thing and sh»uld be encouraged. The more the principles of fair play are introduced into business the better off for business, and the more business becomes a sport the more it will attract followers.