SPORT SUPREMACY IN ENGLAND

Taranaki Daily News, Volume L, Issue 60, 31 August 1907, Page 3

SPORT SUPREMACY IN ENGLAND

BIUTISH LAUKEL3 WivESTEI). "11 ye liav-j tears, prepare to shed llicin now" over the grave oi England's glory. Unce upon a time Tritons were wont to boast ot tlieir prowess in sport ox' all kinds; to-day we can scarce claim preeminence in any branch of athletics, in years guuj by the foreigner or the colonial (tne term may not be to our liking, but it is the only one comprehensive enough in this case)' has occasionally cut the Englishman's comb in some sport or other (uotibly swimming), but tins year invaders from oiher lauds have been "all over" us. Look at this list oi English champions for 1007: Tenuis.—Jay Gould, America. Lawn Tennis.—Men's singles, Norman .Brookes, Australia. Men's doubles, Brookes and Wilding, Australia and New Zealand. Ladies' singles, Alias Sutton, America.

Golf.—Atnaud Massey, France. l'ole Jumping.—Soderstrom, Sweden.

In addition to these championships, tiie foreigners can boast of having beaten us at swimming and rowing, for a Belgian crew won the Grand Challenge Cup for eights at Henley, and Otto Seliiels, a tierman, has won the King's Cup contest for life-saving, beating the best of the English competitors by 30 points—the highest possible—to 10. \'et, need England despair? I think not. Every country (says the Dunedin Star's London correspondent) has its lean years in sport, as in other things, and it must be borne in mind that our mends overseas —Continent!*.!, American, or colonial—do not tackle us every year, but only when they think they have something exceptionally good to send. In many eases, too, the visitors have a distinct advantage over England's representatives. Take the case of Jay Could, lie is tl»o bou of an extremely wealthyman, has his own private court, possesses leisure enough to play all the year round if he so desires, and has-had the advantage oi tuition from and practice with one of the best professionals in the world. The young man who opposed him in the tennis championship had none of these advantages, and Mr. Eustace Miles, the veteran ex-champion, had scarcely had a racquet in his hands for mouths.

The Australian and American victories in lawn tennis were admittedly gained against men most of whom had not lacked opportunities for improving their game, though, bar perhaps Gore and Kitchie, none of them had lived on tennis courts a la Wilding. Arnaud Alassey's golf victory was, of [course, gained against the flower of our amateur and professional talent, but it is to be remembered that he learned his golf in England, and has been trying for championship honors here for several years. That he is a very line plajcr everyone will admit, but his solitary championship victory does not place him on a pinnacle above players he defeated in that event, such as Taylor, Braid, or Yarden.

As for Soderstroiu's pole jump, it was a poor one compared to many made in previous championships, and pole-jump-ing has entirely gone out of fashion in England, except in remote parts and among a class of athletes who would Hud a difficulty in raising the money to attend a meeting held many miles from flieir homes.

Defeats in the events referred to notwithstanding, England can still claim pre-eminence in some branches of athletics. In amateur boxing she still holds her own, and in foot-racing also at those distances which require stamina as well as speed, 1007 has certainly been a bad year for the Britisher in sport, but the despairing wails of the older generation of athletes and their fulminatioiia against our ''slack" youth verge on the ridiculous.

Every year sees sporting records of some sort or other broken, and the cult of athleticism makes considerable headway. Moreover, the youths of to-day spread their athletic energies over a much wider field than did those of a generation ago, hockey, lacrosse, Association football, and baseball now claiming 'the attention of thousands of first-class nthlet.es who in the days gone by would have been attracted to those forms of sport in which our "decadence" is so sorrowfully noted by writers on sport and those cheap contributors to the press, "Pro Bono Publico," "Constant Header," and family.