[To MN Burros or TIM SPECTAT01:] SIR,—With reference to Professor
Pollard's excellent letter to the Times on the subject of putting a stop to professional football, and also with reference to Punch's cartoon on the same subject, the following extracts from the Sunday Chronicle
of November 8th make one realize more than anything else that there are tens of thousands of people who apparently fail absolutely to realize the position which this country is in at the present moment :-
" A splendidly contested game seen at Stamford Bridge played before 24,000 spectators : sparkling football was witnessed."
"Hotspur and Bradford played desperate football in White Hart Lane before 15,000 spectators."
"Aston Villa and Middlesboro attracted 15,000 spectators."
"A fine game at Hillsboro' was witnessed by 20,000 spectators!' "12,000 people witnessed the match between West Bromwich
and Notts County."
" 13,000 people saw a curious game at Valley Parade." "Preston finished on the right side before 9,000 spectators." "The game between Leeds City and Huddersfield Town
attracted the largest attendance of this season, there being 14,000
people present."
And this is the finishing touch :— "Oldham ' crowned themselves with glory' by defeating Hull by
seventeen points to seven."
[And yet we are censured for suggesting that the Govern- ment should make the British people realize the seriousness of the situation in which we stand, lest it might depress the nation's spirits and cause panic. A little panic would not do harm but good to people who still think that the really important thing in life is football.—En. Spectator.]