Athletics and football

Front matter

'r

OF

SPORTS AND PASTIMES

Preface

A FEW LINES only are necessary to explain the object with which these volumes are put forth. There is no modern encyclopaedia to which the inexperienced man, who seeks guidance in the practice of the various British Sports and Pastimes, can turn for information. Some books there are on Hunting, some on Racing, some on Lawn Tennis, some on Fishing, and so on ; but one Library, or succession of volumes, which treats of the Sports and Pastimes indulged in by Englishmen — and women — is wanting. The Badminton Library is offered to supply the want. Of the imperfections which must be found in the execution of such a design we are nil PREFACE.

conscious. Experts often differ. But this we may say, that those who are seeking for knowledge on any of the subjects dealt with will find the results of many years' experience written by men who are in every case adepts at the Sport or Pastime of which they write. It is to point the way to success to those who are ignorant of the sciences they aspire to master, and who have no friend to help or coach them, that these volumes are written.

To those who have worked hard to place simply and clearly before the reader that which he will find within, the best thanks of the Editor are due. That it has been no slight labour to supervise all that has been written he must acknowledge ; but it has been a labour of love, and very much lightened by the courtesy of the Publisher, by the unflinching, indefatigable assistance of the Sub- Editor, and by the intelligent and able arrangement of each subject by the various writers, who are so thoroughly masters of the subjects of which they treat. The reward we all hope to reap is that our work may prove useful to this and future generations.

THE EDITOR.

Author's Preface

The Author gratefully acknowledges the assistance of several friends. He is especially indebted to Mr Walter Rye for antiquarian information ; to the Editors of The Sporting Life for permitting him access to a file of the Sporting Magazine and of old BelPs] to Messrs C. W. FOLEY, J. H. Farmer, and J. E. Vincent, from whom he derives his accounts of Eton, Harrow, and Winchester football respectively , and to his brother, Mr JOHN Shearman, for much help.

A word must be added about the illustrations to this volume. Many are engraved from instantaneous photographs, taken by Mr. G. Mitchell, who attended some of the chief football matches and athletic gatherings of the season. The veritable attitude and action of the men have thus been obtained. So far as the author is aware, the present is the first occasion in which the newest development of photography has been utilised for illustrating a work upon athletic sports.

Thf Temple: Oaober\^?>T.

Contents

ATHLETICS.

CHAPTER PAGE

I. The History of Athletic Sports in England 3

Appendix

Index . 451

ILLUSTRATIONS.

(Engraved on wood by J. Cooper and G. Pearson.)

FULL-PAGE

ILLUSTRATIONS.

ARTIST

The Dribbling Game .

From a photograph

Frontispiece

A Hurdle Race

To face p.

1 20

A Grass Course .

jj

The Hounds .

Stanley Berkeley

From a photograph .

,j

The Association Game .

ILLUSTRA

TIONS IN TEXT.

ARTIST

PAGE

A Race ( Vignette on Title Page) .

A Steeplechase

Harry VIII. Throwing the Hammer Sports in time of Queen Elizabeth

Cripples' Race

A Bootless Effort ....

Race between Elderly Fat Man

and Man with Jockey on Back Man on Stilts v. Man Running .

Dead Beat

Ready to Start ....

Starting— Old Style ....

Starting — New Style Started ......

Frojn a photograph Stanley Berkeley

From a photograph { From photographs ] I by R. Cocks, Esq. \ From a photograph .

14 17 19

37 69

75 76 77 xi V ILL US TEA TIONS.

ARTIST

Sprinting OF To-day .... From a photograph

A Very Fast Sprinter .... ,, ,,

In Condition . . . . . . Stanley Berkeley

Out of Condition ,, ,,

Steeplechase — Water-jump . . . Frotn a photograph

Walking Race ,, ,,

Short Stride ,, ,,

A Fine Free Stride ,, ,,

High Jump ,, ,,

Long Jump ,, ,,

Putting the Shot— First Position . ,, ,,

Putting the Shot— Second Position . ,, ,,

Throwing Hammer ,, ,,

Half Over ,, ,,

W^ELL Over ,, ,,

Dropping ,, ,,

Tug of War ,, ,,

' No Smoking ' Stanley Berkeley

Veterans' Race ,, ,,

The Hares ,, ,,

'Collared' ,, ,,

Rugby Football ...... Frotn a photograph

'A Fast Forward Game' . . . ,, ,,

'A Loose Scrummage' ,, ,,

Three-Quarter Back : ' an anxious ]

Moment' | " "

Partisanship . . . . . . ,, ,,

A Forward ,, ,,

A Nasty Jar ,, ,,

Heading ,, ,,

'To keep an Eye upon the Prowlers' . ,, ,,

Back ,,

A Half-back ,, ,,

Defending the Goal .... ,, ,, 'The Field at each Kick changes

like a Kaleidoscope' .

An American Player . . . . ,, ,,

Plan of American Football Field

A Good Scrimmage From a photograph

Snap-back and Quarter-back ... ,, ,, Plan of Australian Football Field ....

Introduction

IT may seem strange that I ^hould be asked to turn aside from the studies and occupations which have so closely engaged m\' time during the p-^ last twenty years, to write -^ a few

A steeplechase.

lines upon' a subject in \^h;ch,

during that period, and for years before, I have taken

the greatest interest, namely, athletics ;.and yet it is not xvi INTRO D UCTION

altogether unfitting, inasmuch as I am probably as well qualified as any to speak from personal experience of ~ the advantages which are gained in a sedentary life from the power of practising active exercises. Except cycling and lawn-tennis, both of which have been practically invented during the last fifteen years, no pursuit has seen so great an advance or revival as athletic sports. It may be, and it probably is, the case (as those who read the pages of this book will learn j, that for a great many years prior to the year 1850 athletic sports had been from time to time pursued by both amateurs and professionals, who had with more or less assiduity, according to the particular ability or powers of the competitor, performed before the public ; there had been, no doubt, remarkable instances of individual men who possibly had been as great at running, walking, jumping, and swimming as those who have excelled in modern times ; but it is perfectly certain that prior to the date last mentioned— I mean the year 1850 — athletics were not practised as a recognised system of muscular education, nor was there any authentic record of individual performances. I doubt, moreover, whether either times or distances were taken and measured with sufficient accuracy to make the earlier records in any way trustworthy.

Speaking of our Universities, I have seen the foundation of the present prosperous clubs at both Cambridge . and Oxford, and, with the exception of the Crick-run at Rugby and the steeplechase at Eton, prior to 1850 no public school had any established athletic contest. I do not, howevor, propose in the i^v^ lines which I intend to

INTRODUCTION xvii

pen to attempt any history of athletic sports ; the following pages will, I am sure, contain records attractive both to the athlete and the public, of those who, in years gone by and down to the present time, have excelled on the road, the turf, and the running-path. I wish for a few moments to regard the subject from the point of view of the consideration of the advantages to be gained in the practice of athletics, and, secondly, to make a few suggestions as to the best mode in which these advan-- tages may be increased so as to be of still greater utility and benefit.

We are brought face to face in England, and other populous countries, with the difficult problem which is called into existence by over-population, and the utter absence of space and opportunity for the youth of the present day to find sufficient scope for his energies. The tendency to crowd into the curriculum of both school and college a large and ever-increasing number of subjects has rendered the strain of education far heavier than in times gone by, and this tension will certainly increase.

In old days, when a fair grounding in Greek and Latin, or a moderate knowledge in mathematics, was a sufficient preparation for almost any profession (the brilliant few being left to excel in those subjects by the sheer force of their natural abilities), the culture of the body and the simultaneous development of physical and mental strength were of less importance, or at any rate their value was less recognised. I need scarcely remind those who read these pages that, thirty years ago, it was the exception for a senior wrangler or a senior classic to

a xviii INTRODUCTION

figure in the University boat or the eleven. The names of those few who did excel stand out among their contemporaries, and it was by no means an uncommon experience to find that those who had surpassed in intellectual contests in school and college utterly broke down in their professions in after life. I attribute this in no small degree to the fact that for many boys and men there was scarcely any inducement to develop or use their physical strength, nothing which led them to those pursuits which, without engrossing the mind too much, develop the body gradually and contemporaneously with mental growth. How many a first class man at Oxford, or wrangler or first class classic at Cambridge, could only find exercise in the daily and monotonous grind of an hour or an hour and a half's walk ; cricket and boating both taking up too much time, and not unfrequently leading many to expenses which they could ill afford ?

I maintain that one great good which has arisen from the stimulus given from the years i860 to 1870 to athletic sports is the facility which those pursuits afford for the development of physical strength, and the inducement to active exercise offered to men who, either from want of inclination or want of means, would otherwise never have taken any. I have known intimately a great many reading men,who have told me how deeply they regretted that there was nothing of the kind in their time, and many others have assured me of the advantages which they have derived from the interest which these pursuits have given to them, and the inducement to take exercises which otherwise they would have wholly neglected. It

INTRODUCTION xix

must not be forgotten that more genuine exercise can be got in a shorter space of time from running than probably from any other pursuit, except boxing and gymnastics, with the great advantage of the former over the two latter that the exercise is taken in the open air.

There is, moreover, the great interest which attaches to the contests in other colleges, universities, and clubs, affording an object of attraction at times when it is not necessary for men themselves to compete, and bringing together men who otherwise would remain unknown to one another, whereby acquaintanceships and friendships are formed which are of the greatest value. A very distinguished judge who joined the Inns of Court rifle corps in the earliest days of its existence told me that h(S much regretted that there was no rifle corps when he was called to the bar, as he was satisfied that many young men reading for the bar were by such means brought into contact with older members of the profession, whom under ordinary circumstances they would have had no opportunity of meeting.

It is unnecessary here for me to enlarge upon the immense advantage to be gained from the simultaneous development of physical and mental power ; that subject has been so fully treated, and the beneficial results so conclusively demonstrated, by those who have studied the matter from a scientific and medical point of view, particularly in connection with the Swedish system, that any argument of mine would be out of place. I can only say that I am firmly convinced that the brain is better developed, and is more capable of sustained effort,

XX INTRODUCTION

if its growth be accompanied by a proportionate physical development than in the case of the brain over-developed without any corresponding bodily improvement.

I desire here to say a few words upon the subject of the best method of athletic training in schools. I am of course aware that superlative excellence and cases of remarkable prowess are to a great extent inborn — or to put the converse, that some boys and men, however much they practise, will never succeed in reaching the standard readily attained by born athletes. But superlative excellence in special cases is by no means that which is most to be aimed at. Innate talent for any pursuit will as a rule develop itself whatever be its surroundings, but I think at all public schools boys should be taught to run properly. There is as much difference between good running and bad running as there is between good rowing and bad rowing, and the standard of excellence will be certainly increased by a high normal standard among the average boys.

To mention one other point, it will be admitted that no boy is more likely to do harm in a school than the loafer. Ask the masters of any public school what class of boys cause them the most anxiety, or bring the least credit on a school ; they will tell you the boys who loaf, and have no zest for play or work.

Numbers of boys are not strong enough to play football, or are not successful at cricket, and cannot afford the expense of racquets. To many of these the incentive to exercise by the prospect of being able to compete in races and other athletic tests is an incalculable benefit,

INTRODUCTION xxi

particularly if one or more of the masters, who have often themselves been distinguished in muscular pursuits, superintend and take an interest in their training and practice.

All boys should, in my opinion, be made to take some regular exercise of the kind best suited to them, and in the first instance under regular and careful supervision.

Attention to such a matter as this will prevent boys from being made to play games for which they are not adapted ; for instance, very little practice or tuition in running would find out the boys who are unfitted for football or incapable of extreme exertion ; and, again, the boys who show a turn of speed in advance of their age will develop more rapidly into high-class performers. I am, however, altogether opposed to any boys being made to race too long distances, particularly game and plucky boys who do not know when they are beaten. I think no boy under fourteen should run a race of greater length than half a mile ; he may trot longer distances sa as to strengthen the muscles of the feet, legs, and back, care being taken that he runs throughout as much as possible in good form.

Only those who have had personal experience of results have the slightest idea of the improvement made by a few lessons in the proper style of running, getting well on to the toes with a springy tread, the hips working freely, the chest out and arms well carried. I am satisfied that the growth of boys is improved, and that their lungs are strengthened, by moderate and judicious coaching.

In strong corroboration of this I would call attention xxii IN TROD UCTION

to the extraordinary improvement in times and performances which has taken place during the last twenty years. This has, no doubt, been to a certain extent due to a circumstance to which I have already referred — namely, the inaccuracy of the old records both as to distances and times ; but, allowing for unwarranted conclusions based on comparison, there can be little doubt that five-andtwenty years ago the number of men who in ordinary con - dition could run a mile in five minutes was exceedingly few, so much so that anything under five minutes was supposed to be good time for amateurs, whereas at the present time 4 min. 30 sec. may be taken to be below the standard of first-class performances, and, as the following pages will show, the mile has been run by undoubted amateurs under 4 min. 25 sec. The iuiprovement in the quarter-mile is quite as remarkable, although it was more speedily attained, being due to improvement in style. Between 1865 and 1872 the standard time was reduced from 55 seconds to 50 and 51 ; the time of the other distances — as, for instance, half-mile and three miles — has correspondingly improved. In the hurdles it is exceedingly difficult to make out any comparison ; nor do I think there has been the same improvement in pace, although the number of first-class performers has increased enormously.

Probably the most remarkable instance is the im • provement in jumping, both in height and length. It is not many years ago that to clear six feet was considered beyond human powers, and to cover 22 ft. 6 in. and 23 ft. little short of an impossibility, and yet both these feats

INTRODUCTION xxiii

have been performed by more than one athlete. I do not wish to dose these observations without some reference to such contests as throwing the hammer and putting the weight : in my opinion they are contests which should be encouraged, as they afford scope to those who are unable to compete in running and jumping, and are very valuable for the development of the chest and arms.

The same arguments may also with justice be employed in favour of walking ; and while on the subject of walking, I wish to call particular attention to the extraordinary feats of long-distance walking which have been performed in late years, by which I mean distances of 40 and 50 miles and upwards, which are, in my opinion, of far greater value than the so-called performances of walking eight or more miles in the hour by a mode of progression so nearly resembling a shamble or trot as to defy the most watchful of judges. I have known many instances of development of chest, lungs, and great improvement of general stamina, resulting in a vastly improved constitution, from steady walking of long distances.

I gladly take this opportunity of paying a tribute to the great services rendered to athletic pursuits by the late J. G. Chambers. Esq., of Eton and Cambridge, who for years devoted himself to initiating and maintaining contests of all kinds, and by his untiring energy and foresight did probably more than any one in modern times to maintain and improve the standard of athletics among both amateurs and professionals.

xxlv INTRODUCTION

Before concluding, It is right that I should say one word upon that which may be called the moral aspect of athletics. That their practice tends to encourage self-control, self-reliance, without undue confidence, and a proper appreciation of other men's merits, there can be no doubt ; moreover, they promote that spirit of good-fellowship which enables the beaten man to go up and honestly congratulate the victor who has conquered him ; but, beyond this, as I have already said, the contests and gatherings offer the opportunity of making lasting friendships and connections which are often of the greatest value in after life. A reputation once earned by the boy or man in such pursuits follows him to other professions, and has more than once contributed in no small degree to early success in the work of life. To those who in the past or in the present have taken interest in athletic sports, or wish to know their history, or who feel, as I do, that they afford the opportunity of innocent and healthy pleasure, as well as of bodily development, I commend the study of these pages, compiled by one who has ample means of knowledge, and a ripe judgment with which to gauge the accuracy and authenticity of any records of the performances which he describes.

RICHARD E. WEBSTER Temple: Octoher 1%%^.

Chapter I, The History Of Athletic Sports In England

Running and jumping are so natural and so easy to the _^ young, that in one sense It may be said they no more have a history than laughing or weeping.

As long as there have been men on the earth It may safely

Harry VIII throwing the hammer

I I III III l|

STANVtV

B 2 be asserted that there have been running matches ; and in every warhke nation feats of strength, speed, and endurance of the body have excited admiration. With but few nations, however, have athletic exercises formed an art and become a feature of national life ; and where this has been the case there is a history, and an interesting history, of the practice of feats of strength and speed. To write such a history of EngHsh athletic sport is no easy task ; for, as far as this writer is aware, it has never been seriously attempted before. The learned Strutt, whose work is such a mine of wealth to sporting antiquarians, contents himself with informing his readers that * it is needless to assert the antiquity of foot-racing, because it will readily occur to everyone that occasions continually present themselves which call forth the exertions of running. . . . Originally, perhaps, foot-races had no other incitement than emulation, or at best the prospect of a small reward, but in process of time the rewards were magnified, and contests of this kind were instituted as pubHc amusements— the ground marked out and judges appointed to decide upon the fairness of the race and to bestow the reward.' Such an ct priori method of writing history will hardly account satisfactorily for the present form of athletic sport in England. The only other writer, as far as we are aware, who has attempted to explain the origin of English athletics to modern readers has given an excellent essay upon Greek athletics, and has then assured us that 'in one respect our position is like that of the Romans. Athletics are not indigenous with us.' It is our object in the present chapter to show with what success we can that competitions in running, jumping, and hurling of heavy weights are not only indigenous to the land, but have been one of the chief characteristics of both town and country hfe in England as far back as chronicles will reach ; and that athletic sports, though they have had their days of waxing and waning, have always been a feature of life in ' Merrie England.'

It is difficult to obtain much information of the sports of the people in the middle ages as distinguished from the sports of the nobles. Just as the Roman historian expresses his opinion that the ancient Greeks were no better than the ancient Romans, the latter only suffering from the lack of eloquent chroniclers, so it is probable that the populace produced as good runners as Henry V. and his Court ; but in the days of chivalry the bards only chronicled the feats of persons of quality. The monarch in question ' was so swift a runner that he and two of his lords, without bow or other engine, would take a wild buck in a large park.' Long before his time we know that the youth of London had their summer as well as their winter sports. FitzStephen, the monk of Canterbury, born in London, writes in the reign of Henry II. that the young Londoners had open spaces allotted to them near the City, where they practised, amongst other exercises, ' leaping, wrestling, casting of the stone, and playing with the ball.' No mention is made of running, but we can hardly imagine that leaping matches would be known and not running matches. FitzStephen is no mean observer of sport, and his description of * sliding ' on the ice in winter is almost as minute as that of Dickens in 'Pickwick.' The knightly youths, however, were taught to run, jump, and wrestle in the days of chivalry, as well as the citizens ; but this was, of course, chiefly as a military training, the feats by which they earned the greatest glory, as well as the smiles of the fair, being performed on horseback, as befitted persons of equestrian rank. In the romance quoted by Strutt, called ' The Knight of the Swan,' a certain duchess, Ydain by name, brought up her sons in ' all maner of good operacyons, vertues and maners : and when in their adolescence they were somewhat comen to the age of strength they were taught to runne, to just, and to wrestle.' Again, in the poem entitled ' Knyghthode and Batayle,' written early in the fifteenth century, we find :

In rennynge the exercise is good also To smyte, first in fight and also whenne To take a place our foemen will forerenne.

And for to lepe a dike is also good,

For mightily what man may renne and lepe

May well devict and safe 'is party kepe.

In another romance also quoted by Strutt, that of *The Three Kings' Sons,' it is said of a certain knight, ' The king for to assaie him made justes and turnies, and no man did so well as he in runnyng, playing at the pame, shotyng, and castyng of the barre, ne found he his maister.'

The running and weight-putting, to which the townsmen of London were so much addicted, were not always favoured by the kings of England, who were afraid that the practice of archery might fall into disuse ; and we find Edward III. especially prohibiting weight-putting by statute; but the statute, although never repealed, appears to have been more honoured in the breach than in the observance, for at the time of the decline of chivalry ' casting of the barre ' was still a common pursuit. Henry VIII. certainly in one respect chose his amusements better than some of his predecessors; while Edward II. found his favourite amusement in ' cross and pile ' (or, as it is now known, * pitch and toss '), the much-married monarch, in his early days, was greatly devoted to this ' casting of the barre.' Even after his accession to the throne, his daily amusements embraced weight-putting, dancing, tilting, leaping, and running. The example of a monarch has, it is well known, a most persuasive effect, and hence it is not astonishing to find from a contemporary writer (Wilson) that all active sports, both on horseback and on foot, including leaping, running, and bar-throwing, became /ashionable amusements.

In the succeeding age, how^ever, we begin to find foot exercises less thought of by the upper classes. Richard Pace, the secretary to King Henry VIIL, could advise noblemen's sons to pursue their sports, ' and leave study and learning to the children of meaner people ; ' but although his advice was, no doubt, followed by many of his readers, the ' new learning ' gradually took hold of the upper classes, and cultivated minds began to be rather contemptuous of rough bodily exercises.

Still, throughout the reign of Henry VIII. gentlemen were accustomed to write in favour of pedestrian as well as of equestrian exercises. Sir William Forest, in his ' Poesye of Princelye Practice,' holds that a prince should

In featis of maistries bestowe some diligence. Too ryde, runne, lepe, or caste by violence Stone, barre or plummett, or such other thinge. It not refuseth any prince or kynge.

About the same time that worthy knight. Sir Thomas Elyot, wrote the manual of education for a gentleman, 'The Boke called the Governour,' from which many succeeding writers borrowed largely without any acknowledgment. Sir Thomas, who was in many senses before his time, expresses himself strongly against the system of unnecessary flogging and in favour of a judicious mixture of athletics and learning for a boy. *A discrete master,' he says, ' may with as much or more ease both to himself and his scholler lead him to play at tennis or shoote.' In the sixteenth chapter of his work he speaks of * Sundrye fourmes of exercise necessarye for a gentilman,' and there are, he says, 'some exercises which with health join commoditie : ' ' Touching such exercises as may be used within the house or in the shadowe, such as deambulations, labouryng with poyses made of ledde, Hfting and throwing the heavy stone or barre, playing at tennis and diverse semblable exercises I will for this time pass over,' and he exhorts his readers to study Galen De Sanitate tuoida upon the subject. What follows about running and jumping is curious, as it makes it plain that Sir Thomas knew that there were some people who decried these sports as being vulgar. He says, ' Rennyng is bothe a good exercise and a laudable solace ' (we presume by solace he means pastime, and not consolation in the sense in which a certain well-known athlete of modern times stated that, whenever he was suffering from disappointed love, he took a walking tour to work it off). He defends running by the argumentum ad ho7jiinem^ showing that Achilles, Alexander, and others were famous runners, and that Epaminondas not only ran but jumped every morning before breakfast for health and amusement. He goes on : ' Nedes must rennynge be taken for a laudable exercise sens one of the mooste noble capitaynes of all the Romans took his name from it ' (meaning Papirius Cursor). In this argument he seems to us to be meeting the scholars of the ' new learning/ who, while they studied the classics and classical models, were irreverent enough ta decry athletics. That they did so there is no doubt from other sources. Roger Ascham, in his great book, * Toxophilus,' says roundly that ' running, leaping, and quoiting be too vile for scholars.'