RUGBY FOOTBALL.*

IT was with a certain amount of misgiving that we discovered ourselves, in the opening chapter of this excellent work, groping, under the guidance of its editor, for the origines of the game, the later developments of which are so fully and admirably set forth in the body of the book. We say "with misgiving" of set purpose, for there is no finality about these antiquarian researches, To Mr. Marshall's credit, then, it must be stated that he has shown great moderation in his historical researches, and rests content with carrying back the game to the time of the Roman occupation of Britain. For this modest pedigree we should be thankful, for it would have been so easy to find in football a relic of primeval sun-worship, or, rather, sun-persecution, the severe treatment to which the ball is subjected representing the hostile feelings of northern savages towards the orb of day in consequence of his prolonged absenteeism.

Mr. Marshall makes out a good case for his ingenious theory that Rugby football is the lineal descendant of the Roman game of harpastunv—the etymology of which points to a Greek source—and as such is the most ancient of all the popular sports of the present day. He also justly points out that our great English schools have been the fons et origo of modern football, and that the chief founders and promoters of football clubs have been old schoolboys. With regard to Rugby itself, it is interesting to learn, on such good authority as that of Mr. Guillemard—an old Rngbeian, an International, and a pillar of the Rugby Union—that the famous description of the match, Schoolhouse v. School, in TOM, Brown's School- days, still remains a locus classicus, in spite of many minor 'changes brought about in the fifty odd years that have elapsed since the date of the supposed match. The diverse beauties of the two Eton games, and of the varieties in vogue at Winchester and Harrow, are descanted on with enthusiasm by former members of those schools ; but in spite of detailed descriptions, diagrams, and photographs, the results are bewildering. The Etonian places the Eton game first as a game for boys; the Har- rovian holds the Harrow game to be the best for the school, which, as he safely remarks, is the chief thing ; and the Wyke- hamist endorses the criticism of a colleague on the game of e Six-and-six " as affording the most perfect field for the display Football the Rugby Game. Edited by Rev. T. Marshall. With Special Chapters by A. G. Gnillomard, G. Rowland Hill, H. Vassall, Arthur Budd, H. H. Almond, LLD., C. J, B. Marriott, and W. Call. London : Cassell and Co.

of youthful vigour. Quite one of the most valuable chapters in the book is that contributed by Dr. Almond, the Head-master of Loretto School, on Rugby football in Scotch schools. The extraordinarily large number of famous University football- players turned out by Fettes and Loretto within the last dozen years may be gathered from the following facts. The two schools between them number only 330 boys, and yet, within the last eleven years, a period during which Rugby football at Oxford and Cambridge has been at its zenith, they have provided exactly eleven captains to the two Univer- sities, while in the season of 1889-90, exactly one-third of the two teams were Fettesian-Lorettonians. Even more remark- able is the record of Merchiston. " I have no hesitation," says Dr. Almond, " in saying that in recent years I believe the best football in the world has been played at Merchiston.

Few of its boys go to English Universities, and they commonly leave school younger than is the case at Loretto and Fettes. Still, with only about one hundred and thirty boys in all, it has held its own in Scotch school championships against the far superior numbers and greater age of Fettes, and has com- pletely distanced Loretto. Since 1880, when the three schools first began to play each other regularly, Merchiston has won the championship six times, Fettes thrice, and Loretto twice, the remaining year being a tie between Merchiston and Fettes." We may here add that Dr. Almond is a strong advocate for inter-school matches, a view which he owns is not shared by the head-masters of the great: English schools. From his very interesting and weighty remarks on the physi- cal and moral value of the special training carried out in the Scotch schools during the football season, we will extract one passage :—

" It has come to be understood, even by the smallest boys, that a place in any of the teams cannot usually be gained without a good deal of trouble and self-denial. Small schools also become aware that they cannot hope for football eminence unless they bring, not only a select few, but the whole mass of their boys into the fittest possible condition. The desire to do this, therefore, gives rise to sanitary rules of various kinds. Regular exercise in all weathers is insisted upon ; boys are encouraged to sleep with open windows, and schoolrooms are kept fresh and airy. And, perhaps, above all, the importance of a proper dietary becomes evident ; and the de- testable and loathsome habit of " grubbing" all sorts of un- wholesomes, even between meals, becomes warred against not only by masters, but by prefects and by public opinion. Why so many public schoolmasters permit, unlimited " grubbing," and yet regard the less injurious vice of smoking as one of the gravest of school offences, is more than I can comprehend. I think, also, that it is becoming evident to the more far-sighted men in my own profession, that attention to matters of this kind produces benefits of a higher order than any football excellence. And this very fact serves to strengthen and perpetuate the foundations on which really good school football rests. On the indirect bearing of all this on school morality I need scarcely enlarge to all who know anything about schools."

Dr. Almond, we may add, holds strong views on the in- jurious effect of recent football legislation :—" By increasing the pace it has also increased its most serious danger, which is not to the limbs but to the heart." He vehemently, and we think rightly, protests against the discouragement of dropping, one of the most beautiful and scientific features of the game ; but he frankly admits, on the other hand, that the deve- lopment of "passing," and of combined play generally, has fostered unselfishness. All schoolmasters should read this admirable chapter. It vindicates systematic athletic training on the safest and soundest grounds.

Mr. Arthur G. Guillemard discourses on the foundation and early years of the Rugby Football Union—quorum pars magna fuit—in a genial and straightforward fashion, interspersing his narrative with an abundance of appropriate and amusing

anecdote. He is very frank on the alleged roughness and dangers of the game, but meets the arguments of the objec- tors fairly and' squarely, and makes it clear that the Rugby Union has invariably set its face against rough or vicious play. The codification of the rules of the game, and its develop- ment, are carefully traced in this and subsequent chapters. The reduction of the number of players, and, far more im- portant still, the introduction and perfection of the" passing " game, has simply revolutionised Rugby football. Individualism has yielded to collectivism. "The whole tendency of modern

play," as Mr. Arthur Budd says, "has been to weld a football team into a machine." Whether the component parts of that machine are as good as they used to be, even five years ago, Mr. Budd is inclined to doubt. The modern game puts a premium on pace pure and simple. And yet, though very

pretty to watch, it has fewer really thrilling moments. The wonderful drop-kicking of Messrs. Freeman, Stokes, and Tristram, is already a thing of tb,e past, a necessary result of the greater swiftness of the game and the rule which assigns fewer points to a dropped goal than a goal from a try. We must pass over the very readable account of International Matches and Players from the pens of Mr. Guillemard and Mr. Budd, full of " appreciations " of the styles of many

famous players. The chapters on International Football in Scotland and Wales are good reading, but the Irish chapter is quite the most entertaining thing in the whole book. Mr. McCarthy's exordium is quite delicious :- " Football in Ireland may be said to consist of three parts,— Rugbeian, Associationist, and Gaelic. The rule of play in these organisations has been defined as follows :—in Rugby, you kick the ball ; in Association, you kick the man if you cannot kick the ball ; and in Gaelic, you kick the ball if you cannot kick the man. This puts the present procedure and position of the rival devotees into a nutshell. The Associationists are mainly confined to Belfast, where they form a body which it would be as difficult to convict of professionalism as it would be for them to prove that they.,are amateurs. The Gaels are a free and festive community, who have their head-quarters at Clonturk Park, Drumcondra, county Dublin. This park is conveniently situated between Glasnevin graveyard and the Mater Misericordia Hospital. A man has been known to pass from the football field direct to the hospital, and from the hospital to the cemetery ; another match being then got up to raise funds for the benefit of the next-of-kin, thus running the risk of killing a few more for the benefit of the deceased."

Mr. MacOarthy's account of the financial difficulties of the Irish Football Union—one escapade in a waxwork show after an international match cost them no less than 250—and his description of the match in 1875, in which almost all the Northerners wore beards, are immensely funny. Ireland de-

feated England for the first time in 1887, and in connection with this match Mr. MacCarthy tells the following anecdote —"Never was a team so determined to win as the Irish one was on this occasion McCauley, of Limerick, was chosen for a place amongst the forwards, and, as he had already had his holidays, he could only devise the expedient of getting married in order to obtain the necessary leave of absence." The short accounts of various eminent Irish players are very out- spoken, and often very amusing, e.g., " Nor must we omit Oliver Stokes, of the Cork Bankers, who, considering his oppor- tunities, achieved the unimpeachable character of being not only a sincere shover, but a certain scorer." Messrs. Vassall and Marriott treat, as none are better qualified to do, of Rugby football at Oxford and Cambridge, and the volume is completed by chapters of Metropolitan and county football.

As to the future of football, Mr. Arthur Budd, who writes with a most engaging fervour, takes, on the whole, a rather gloomy view. The game is already suffering from the defects of its qualities. The " sincere shover" is dying out, and, worst of all, the game is menaced by the introduction of pro- fessionalism. Mr. Budd is a red-hot opponent of the hireling football player, and we, for one, most cordially endorse his

eloquent and slashing indictment of this strange revival of gladiatorial games. In the Association game, professionalism has been legitimised, with the result that in the whole of the North of England and the Midlands there is not a single amateur football eleven. The teams who represent the leading towns are largely, in some cases entirely, drawn

from across the Border, and retained at high salaries to make sport for the populace. We are really almost on a level with the inhabitants of Buenos Ayres, who im- port the players of pelota from the Basque provinces at enormous fees; and we have no doubt that if a Parliamentary candidate were to pledge himself to introduce a bill for the payment by the State of these hireling teams, he would meet with cordial support in certain districts. The cry of " A Free Breakfast Table plus Free Football" would, after all, be only a return to Panem et Circenses. We cannot conclude this notice more appropriately than by transcribing the following sentence from Mr. Budd's brilliant vindication of sport for gates ' are not, thank goodness, sport's sake :— " Scores and

the Alpha and Omega of our game ; and the great game of football of either code was never invented by the school-boy, who was the foes el origo of both, to provide a livelihood for professionals and exclude amateurs, or to become a medium of speculation for gate-money financiers."