Sport Without the Crowds

New Zealand Listener, Volume 31, Issue 787, 20 August 1954, Page 4

Sport Without the Crowds

N the opening day of the () Empire Games only 11,000 watched the athletes, a figure which provoked eyebrowraising comparisons with 40,000 at Auckland four years ago. Officials, however, were quite satisfied. "Vancouver people," said one of them, "are just not sports-minded. They work hard and they enjoy themselves, but they don’t have much time for sport. They are not enthusiastic people, and we are not likely to see any athletes spurred on to greater efforts by an excited crowd." These remarks were probably received with shocked surprise by New Zealanders and Australians, though in Britain they may well have passed unnoticed. But they were honest, and deserve to be studied with respect, It is evident from the cabled reports that the Canadians were excellent hosts. They supplied all the necessary facilities and ameni-ties-including a new stadium, surprisingly large and costly for a community "not sports-minded." In spite of the usual "incidents" (for what would become of sport without its disputes?) the games appeared to have a relaxed atmosphere — sometimes, perhaps, a little too relaxed for eager contestants. Further, the smallness of the crowds did not prevent the breaking of records. The popular notion that athletes can do their best only while many -thousands of people are cheering them seems to have a doubtful foundation. Roger Bannister ran the first four-minute mile at a meeting attended by barely 1500 people. He also upset the theorists by running on the wrong sort of track, in unsuitable weather, in a wind blowing up to 15 miles an hour, and at a pace faster in the first quarter than in ‘the fourth. Like all great athletes, Bannister had his own resources, and knew how to use them: he needed no incitement from the grandstand. Greatness in sport is often reached in the presence of the

cheering crowd, but the applause and excitement are probably more necessary to the onlookers than to the athletes. Indeed, as the crowds become larger, there may be a corresponding decline in sportsmanship. A game played before a multitude undergoes some change of character. The people want to see a spectacle, and they also want one side to win-two requirements which are sometimes incompatible. All reports agreed that a match played recently between the All Blacks,and another New Zealand team was the finest display of open football seen for many ‘years. The explanation seemed to be that, because nobody cared greatly about the result, the ball was handled adventurously, and proof was given that New Zealanders still know how to play football when they are allowed to forget their supporters and the importance of victory. There is no need to decide at this point that sport would be improved if spectators stayed at home. Although it may be true that nowadays we have too many onlookers and not enough players, it is also true that in New Zealand -if not always elsewhere-large numbers of people who go to watch have played in their youth, Games and athletic meetings seen from the grandstand are experiences quite different from those of the men on the field or track; and each kind of participation, actual and vicarious, has its own special interest and value. Finally, the big events could not be organised without money, and money comes mainly from the clicking turnstiles. Without the crowds, there could be no Empire Games. But it was pleasant to hear the Canadian echo of an older and more casual attitude-even though, at the end, it leaves us wondering for what purposes that large "and costly stadium will later be used by the good people of Vancouver who "don’t have much time for sport."