446 SPORTS AND GAMES 



patriotism, a kind of national consciousness, similar to that which is generated by 

 warfare, though of much less intensity. At Stockholm, in 1912, international rivalry 

 was even more vivid. The conviction that the credit of a state could be served by 

 success in the Games had become so firmly established that Government subventions 

 were granted to some of the competing teams, while others were assisted by public 

 subscription or donations from wealthy patriots. 



That international sport will occupy a still more important place in the future, 

 provided that the general peace of the world is maintained, may be confidently as- 

 serted. At present the obstacles to free and universal sporting intercourse are con- 

 siderable, but they are not entirely insuperable. One of the greatest difficulties to 

 be overcome is the establishment of an international code perhaps necessitating 

 international legislative conferences. It is only necessary to instance the defects of 

 the fencing, rifle-shooting and wrestling contests at Stockholm in order to show what 

 has to be accomplished in this direction. There also remain the vestiges of political 

 barriers to be obliterated before French and German, Russian and Finnish, Austrian 

 and Bohemian teams, for example, can freely engage in matches at such games as 

 hockey and football. 



At Olympic meetings hitherto the strictly athletic part of the programme has been 

 the simplest to arrange and the most favoured, as well as the most conspicuously suc- 

 cessful. Of what are called games in the limited sense of the word the most cosmo- 

 politan, because most independent of different geographical conditions, are lawn- 

 tennis, golf and football of the Association type. Both golf and lawn-tennis are finely 

 adapted for the recreation of townsmen of sedentary occupations and restricted leisure. 

 Association football, besides being simple, inexpensive and easily learned (though 

 giving scope for great skill and speed), is assisted in its extension by attractiveness 

 as -a popular spectacle; since it affords the excitement of a combat to the spectators 

 while demanding the smallest amount of practical comprehension of its technique. 

 It would be tedious to -catalogue the places where the game is played let it suffice 

 to mention that it has recently taken root in the United States, it pervades South 

 America, and has been played by native Asiatic teams in Jerusalem, besides affording 

 a moment of patriotic and ungrudged triumph to a Calcutta crowd when a native 

 eleven defeated a British regiment. Similarly, it may be recalled that lawnt-ennis 

 nourishes in St. Petersburg and in the Spanish Peninsula; that a journey across Africa 

 has actually been described in the guise of a golfing tour; that a course has been laid 

 out at Kabul for the Amir of Afghanistan. Both golf and lawn-tennis, in spite of the 

 peculiar demands of foursomes and doubles, are essentially games for the individual. 

 International competition in these games is accordingly carried on largely through 

 the private enterprise of players who compete in the open tournaments and champion- 

 ships of foreign countries. But lawn-tennis matches, besides the Davis Cup contest, 

 have recently taken place between teams representing London, Berlin and Paris; and 

 the Dulwich Covered Court Club has received a visit from a Bremen team. In foot- 

 ball, as in cricket, what are termed international matches are almost exclusively played 

 by teams belonging to different sections of Great Britain, with occasional interchanges 

 of visits between British and Colonial teams. But the Football Association has for 

 some years chosen amateur elevens for matches with several Continental countries 

 and English clubs have undertaken tours in the United States, Canada, South Africa, 

 France, Belgium, Holland, Germany, Austria and Bohemia. The one Continental 

 European country which enters largely into competitions in many kinds of sport with 

 Britain is France, but Belgian rowing has been exemplified with great effect at Henley. 

 Particulars of international contests in many sports and games will be found under the 

 separate headings below. 



The new movement towards competitive athletic games has been more highly 

 exemplified in France than elsewhere. Though French athletes were not as numerous 

 or as prominent at the Stockholm Olympic Games as might have been expected, the 

 progress made in running on the track and across country has been sufficiently shown 



