Athletic Government. Part 9
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This section is from the book "Athletics And Football", by Montague Shearman. Also available from Amazon: Athletics and Football.
Athletic Government. Part 9
Were there no field upon which their strength and spirits could be curbed and disciplined, it may safely be said that they would have been worse. No; the athletic movement has benefited the people at large. The lad or man who is a keen athlete is rarely mean, vicious, or a coward; the black sheep of the community are the loafers, and from a host of these a love of athletics has delivered England.
Other and graver objections are sometimes raised to the pursuit of athletics in individual cases. There are, no doubtt many instances of men who have undermined their health by too much training and competition, and there are doctors who shake their heads when they hear that their patient has been an athlete. Most athletes also know of a case here and there of a man breaking down or even dying in his prime under circumstances which at any rate point with some probability to a sport in which he indulged as the cause. We have already expressed our strong opinion that for many years a vicious habit of training was in force, and that even in the present day men are inclined to overwork themselves in their practice. Every system has its victims until it is understood, and the men who have suffered loss of health from an overdose of athletics. are men who have abused a blessing, and, in the name of health and exercise, have placed themselves under an absurd and unhealthy diet and have worn out their vigour by persistent overwork. The present writer is hardly one who by his practice and his preaching can be taken for an alarmist, but he feels constrained to end what he has to say upon athletics with an appeal to the votaries of the sport not to abuse a good system.
The number of those who have gained health, strength, courage and character from the practice of one form or another of athletic exercise is legion, and to a statistician dealing with averages a victim more or less is of small concern; but there is really no reason whatever why athletic sport properly conducted should have a single victim. When fervid athletes keep little boys from running in boys' races at public meetings, when school committees will put a stop to 'junior miles' and 'junior steeplechases,' and when 'twenty-four hour' races and go-as you-please competitions are no more heard of, athletics will be purged of some current evils. When going into training means nothing more than living a regular and healthy life, and the daily exercise is taken to increase the strength and skill, and not to see how much the human body can do without failing, then no one except by his own fault can suffer any harm from athletic sports.
Running
Distance | Name | Time | Place | Date | |||
Yards | h | m. | S. | ||||
100 | A. Wharton .... | 10 | Stamford Bridge..... | July 3, 1886 | |||
C. A. Bradley.... | 10 | Northampton ..... | July 1, 1893 | ||||
120 | W. P. Phillips .. . | 11 4/5 | Stamford Bridge.... | March 25, 1882 | |||
Hurdles | C. N. Jackson.... | 16 | Cowley Ground, Oxford .... | Nov. 14, 1865 | |||
S. Palmer.... | Lillie Bridge .... | April 15, 1878 | |||||
120 | C. F. Daft .... | Stamford Bridge..... | July 3, 1886 | ||||
D. D. Bulger.... | ,, ,, ..... | July 2, 1892 | |||||
G. B. Shaw ..... | ,, ,, ..... | June 10, 1893 | |||||
150 | C. G. Wood ..... | 14 4/5 | ,, ,, .............. | July 21, 1887 | |||
200 | E. H. Felling..... | 19 4/5 | ,, ,, .............. | Sept. 28, 1889 | |||
220 | C. G. Wood ..... | 21 4/5 | ,, ,, ......... | June 25, 1887 | |||
300 | ,, ,, ........ | 31 1/2 | ,, ,, ......... | July 21, 1887 | |||
440 | H. C. L. Tindall . | 48 1/2 | ,, ,, .......... | June 29, 1889 | |||
600 | E. C. Bredin..... | 1 | 11 3/5 | ,, ,, .......... | June 10, 1893 | ||
880 | F. J. K. Cross.... | 1 | 54 3/5 | Iffley Road, Oxford .... | March 9, 1883 | ||
1000 | W. Pollock Hill ... . | 2 | 15 4/5 | ,, ,, .......... | March 8, 1889 | ||
Miles | |||||||
1 | W. G. George.... | 4 | 18 2/5 | Aston Ground, Birmingham | June 21, 1884 | ||
1 1/2 | S. Thomas ..... | 6 | 53 3/5 | Stamford Bridge..... | May 13, 1893 | ||
2 | W. G. George..... | 9 | 17 2/5 | ,, ,, .......... | April 26, 1884 | ||
3 | S. Thomas ..... | 14 | 24 | ,, ,, .......... | June 3, 1893 | ||
4 | E. C.Willers..... | 19 | 33 4/5 | Paddington . . | June 10, 1893 | ||
5 | S. Thomas...... | 24 | 53 3/5 | Romford .. | Sept. 24, 1892 | ||
6 | ,, ,, ..... | 30 | 17 1/5 | Herne Hill | Oct. 22, 1892 | ||
7 | ,, ,, .... | 35 | 36 4/5 | ,, ....... | ,, ,, | ||
8 | W. G. George | 40 | 57 1/5 | Stamford Bridge | July 28, 1884 | ||
9 | ,, ,, ..... | 46 | 12 | ,, ,, .......... | April 7, 1884 | ||
10 | ,, ,, ........... | 51 | 20 | ,, ,, .......... | ,, ,, | ||
15 | S. Thomas .... | 1 | 22 | 15 2/5 | ,, ,, .......... | April 11, 1892 | |
20 | W. H. Morton ... . | 1 | 52 | 51 1/5 | ,, ,, .......... | March 22, 1890 | |
25 | G. A. Dunning.... | 2 | 33 | 44 | ,, ,, .......... | Dec. 26, 1881 | |
30 | J. A. Squires... | 3 | 17 | 36 1/2 | Balham .. | May 2, 1885 | |
40 | G. A. Dunning | 4 | 50 | 12 | Stamford Bridge | Dec. 26, 1879 | |
50 | J. E. Dixon .... | 6 | 18 | 26 1/5 | Balham .. | April 11, 1885 | |
Walking
Distance | Name | Time | Place | Date | ||
Miles | h. | m | s. | |||
1 | H. Curtis ...... | 6 | 36 | Stamford Bridge | July 4, 1891 | |
2 | ,, ,,....... | 14 | 2 2/5 | ,, ,,....... | ,, ,, | |
3 | H. Webster. | 21 | 28 | Southport .. | Aug. 28, 1880 | |
4 | W. H. Meek | 29 | 10 | Stamford Bridge . | July 12, 1884 | |
5 | H. Curtis | 37 | 17 | Birmingham . . | July 12, 1890 | |
6 | ,, ,,....... | 44 | 57 | ,, ,,....... | ,, ,, | |
7 | ,, ,,....... | 52 | 28 2/5 | ,, ,,....... | ,, ,, | |
8 | ,, ,,....... | 1 | 1 | 6 1/5 | Paddington | July 18, 1891 |
9 | ,, ,,....... | 1 | 11 | 14 2/5 | Tufnell Park . | Dec. 27, J890 |
10 | ,, ,,....... | 1 | 19 | 27 3/5 | ,, ,,....... | ,, ,, |
15 | C. W. V. Clarke . | 2 | 10 | 13 | Balham .. | Dec. 26, 1885 |
20 | W. E. N. Coston. | 3 | 0 | 9 | Stamford Bridge | Dec. 27, 1880 |
25 | ,, ,,....... | 3 | 53 | 35 | ,, ,,...... | ,, ,, |
30 | ,, ,,..... | 4 | 46 | 52 | ,, ,,...... | ,, ,, |
40 | 1A. W. Sinclair . | 6 | 38 | 3 | Lillie Bridge . . | Nov. 14, 1879 |
J. A. Mcintosh . | 7 | 1 | 44 | Richmond, Surrey . | Oct. 2, 1886 | |
50 | 1 A. W. Sinclair . | 8 | 25 | 25 1/2 | Lillie Bridge | Nov. 14, 1879 |
J. A. Mcintosh . | 8 | 52 | 25 | Richmond, Surrey . | Oct. 2, 1886 | |
75 | 1 A. W. Sinclair . | 14 | 10 | 0 | Lillie Bridge | Aug. 27, 1881 |
100 | 1,, ,,....... | 19 | 41 | 50 | ,, ,,...... | ,, ,, |
52 1/4 | J. A. Mcintosh . | 9 | 25 | 8 | Brighton Road. . . | April 10, 1886 |
1 In a Match against Time.
Odd Events
Event | Name | Distance | Place | Date | |
ft. | in. | ||||
W. B. Page | 6 | 3 1/4 | Stourbridge . | Aug. 15,1887 | |
Pole Jump | R. D. Dickinson | 11 | 9 | Kidderminster | July 4, 1891 |
Long Jump . | C. B. Fry . | 23 | 6 1/2 | Oxford . | March 4,1893 |
Putting the Shot (16 lb.) | G. R. Gray | 44 | 9 | Dublin . | July 7, 1888 |
Throwing the Hammer (16 lb.) from a 9 ft. circle | W. J. M. Barry | 134 | 7 | Manchester . | July 23, 1892 |
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