The Headmasters' Conference by 36 votes to 10 has reaffirmed
its objection to the proposed public school- athletic champion- ship. The objection seems to us very sound. The existing matches at cricket, football and so forth are excellent. But a kind of Olympic games for public schools would probably mean the loss of all perspective. • There would be undue publicity.; the tendency would be to set-the prize—the prize of kudos— above the game. The financial anxieties would very likely bring on an attack of the professional spirit, and the balance between work and play, which is already sufficiently inclined to the advantage of play, would be altogether upset. It may be said that there is already a public school championship in rackets that does no harm. There is, moreover, already an athletic championship meeting for all the public schools at Stamford Bridge. But obviously these things do not attract an undesirable amount of attention, or at least do not concen- trate attention in an undesirable way. It would be quite other- wise if the principle were expanded and there were Olympic games for running and jumping and championship matches for cricket and football. The public schools will make a very bad mistake indeed if ever they forget to play the game in the main for the game's sake. That is one of the arta which we expect the public schools to teach to each new generation.
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