SIR CONAN DOYLE ON GAMES.

Wairarapa Age, Volume XXXII, Issue 3159, 10 April 1909, Page 7

SIR CONAN DOYLE ON GAMES.

THE MORAL VALUE OF FOOTBALL.

"There are many games that one can go in for during the winter," said Sir Conan Doyle in a recent interview, "but I doubt if any appeals to the young man so s'rougly as football. Golf has its adherents; hockey has gained a certain amount of popularity; but I am confident there will never be the strong liking phown for either of these that is so noticeable in the case of football. Football is a very fine game, and a game which every young man should participate in.

"The extraordinary popularity of the pastime admits of no doubt, but I believe there are people who talk disparagingly about it, and regard it as a game which exists more or less as a professional branch of sport —as an exhibition game in which only paid players perform before huge crowds. However, the consideration of the rights and wrongs of professionalism is not our present purpose. Whatever game we take up, we are sure to find there are far better players than ourselves in it, and if those players are not in a flourishing state to give of their skill without receiving payment, I do not think there are many of us who would withhold it.

"Professional football, after all, is but a small section of the whole game. For every dozen professionals there are thousands of young amateur players who indulge in tootbail solely for the muscular benefit and pleasure it affords. This is a fact which should be remembered when one is so ready to talk wildly about professionalism having ruined the game. Spectacular football, or spectacular cricket, is not compulsory. Nobody compels you to pay gate money and forces you into a seat to watch it. You do so of your own free will, and it is just as easy for you to stop looking on, and to take a proper part in the game, as it is for you talk about its ruin, making that a reason for your want of energy, and an excuse for not playing yourself. "Every good point in the character of a young man seems to be strengthened when he enters into sport. Football, I am sure, requires real grit if the youngster is to be successful. I have known young lads who were disposed to be weak and vacillating rendered thoroughly Btrong and decided by a long course of athletics.

"I know of no game which is calculated to do more in this respect than football. It is next to impossible for a lad to retain a shy and nervous demeanour in the thick of a game like football. There are some youths who need something to bring them out of their shells, and the winter game usually has that effect on them. It teaches them to rely upon themselves, and also to rely, in a manner, upon the co-operation of others. There are few games, also, which teach "a youth so much to keep an unruffled temper. I expect most of us, at one time or another, find it one of the most difficult of all things to remain guod-tempered under adversity, and yet, strange to say, as a rule, the man who possesses a proficiency in athletic soorts is the last to indulge in quarrels. "There seems to be something in our outdoor sports which teaches a man to give and take hard knocks in good. part. Of course, Ido not deny that there are quarrelsorr e men among footballers, and, p9ssibly, some may be unduly apt to take offence at what seems to them a roughness on the part of an opponent, but the vast majority seem to give and take in the best of spirit, quite without the venDm that, one feels almost justified in expecting under the circumstances.

"One frequently hears parents say tht football and kindred winter games are dangerous, but I am quite sure they are wrong. Games really are not dangerous if properly played, and I would never endeavour to dissuade a youth from playing football on the score of possible injury. As a rule, the British boy loves something with a spice of danger in it. He wants a strong, hards, vigorous game. There is a tendency in the youth of to-day to indulgegiu something in which he can relieve his feelings and give way to a little boisterousness He wants a good, vigorous game in order to-let ■ off the superfluous steam, and, go long as his fine flow of spirits does : not get the better of him, he will find all he wants m football. "Sometimes there comes into ! games that spirit which can only ,be described as 'getting your own I back,' and I am sure it has done far more to ruin healthy sport than anything else. Supposing an opponent does act in an unfair manner, are you likely to gain anythng by retaliating? No, of course not. But if you take your injury in good part your opponent is far less likely to try it on again. Every man has a sense of shame. "I am afraid I have very little sympathy for the man who does no ; more than look on at games, unless, of course, he is either too old to play, or is not in sound health. * Football . —indeed all sports requiring nerve, good sight and strong lungs—requires a healthy body and to succeed in the game of his choice the young player must take proper heed of his ! physical condition. If the first prin- ; ciples of sensible l'virig are neglected • failure is bound to result. "Excessive drinking, excessive eating, excessive smoking, late hours, and other unnatural things, tell against the footballer, and there | must be many thousands of lads livine healthier lives to-day because of their participation and eagerness for success in the great winter game. Moderation in all things not only benefits the player, but frequently is not without its influence on thoss who look on. It is astonishing how some young people who are not proficient in games are satisfied to remain spectators, and in some cases, I beJieve, they become quite attatched to certain players of their fancy, almost remodelling their lives upon the lines of their heroes; a habit which is often productive of good."