Athletic Sports.

Athletic Sports. The ancient Egyptians indulged in singlestick and other sports, but the first organised games were the great Greek open meetings—the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian games (see OLYMPIA, PYTHIAN GAMES, NEMEA, ISTHMUS, PANATHENÆA). Milo (q.v.) was the most noted professional; and Pindar (q.v.) celebrated victors in immortal odes. In 186 B.C. M. Fulvius introduced athletic sports at Rome, where they soon deteriorated into mere gladiatorial combats. Excluding hunting, hawking, and similar pursuits of the rich, the old sports of the English people were archery, bull and bear baiting, cock-fighting, running, jumping, throwing the bar, running at the quintain, tennis, broadsword, quarter-staff, bastard (blunted) sword, singlestick. 'Casting the bar' or the sledge-hammer was a favourite sport of that all-round athlete, Henry VIII. The Londoners have always been famous for their love of athletic sports. The Cotswold Games—famous in the 16th and 17th centuries—were founded by Robert Dover, attorney of Barton Heath, Warwick; they were held at Dover's Hill, near Honeybourne, and are described in Annalia Dubrensis (1636) and the Cotswold Muse. Judge Hughes's Scouring of the White Horse describes a similar meeting in Berks. The carnival at Halgaver Moor, Bodmin, was visited by Charles II. The Westmorland and Cumberland sports are closely akin to the ancient Highland games. The honour of holding the oldest athletic sports in the modern sense—in 1812—is claimed doubtfully by the Royal Military College at Sandhurst. The following are important dates in the history of amateur sport:

• 1837. Rugby School Crick Run founded.
• 1840-50. Occasional sports at chief public schools.
• 1852. 6th and 8th Dec.—Exeter College, Oxford, held the first sports at either university.
• 1853. Oct. 22—Cheltenham College held first 'modern' sports, with programmes, &c.—a regular festival.
• 1855. Oct.—First work on modern athletics, by 'Stonehenge.'
• 1857. Feb.—Trinity College, Dublin, first sports.
• " March 16, 17, and 18—Cambridge University Sports.
• 1860. Dec.—Oxford University Sports founded.
• 1861. Nov.—West London Rowing Club held first open amateur races.
• 1863. June—Mincing Lane Athletic Club formed.
• 1864. March 5—First Inter-Varsity Sports at Oxford.
• " April 21—First Civil Service Sports.
• 1866. Feb. 24—First sports held by London Athletic Club.
• 1866. Amateur Athletic Club formed.
• " March 23—Amateur athletic championships first held.
• 1867. Inter-Varsity Sports moved to London.
• " Irish Civil Service Sports, Dublin, first held.
• 1869. March 18—Lillie Bridge Grounds, London, opened.
• " Swimming Association of Great Britain founded.
• 1877. April 28—London Athletic Club ground opened.
• 1878. Bicycle Union founded.
• 1880. April 24—Amateur Athletic Association formed.
• 1883. June 14—Bicycle Union became National Cyclists' Union.
• 1884. Amateur Swimming Union formed.
• 1885. Amalgamated with Swimming Association of Great Britain, and became Amateur Swimming Association.
• 1887. Sept. 18—Riot at Lillie Bridge, thereafter closed.
• 1888. Queen's Grounds opened for Inter-Varsity Sports.
• 1895. Sept. 4—London A.C. sent a team to meet New York A.C. America beat England in all eleven events.

Chief Athletic Clubs and Grounds.—The London Athletic Club (400 members) holds several meetings in the year at its grounds at Stamford Bridge, Waltham Green (1877), and is the largest athletic club in the kingdom, with a cinder-track of four laps to the mile. The Putney Athletic Club (over

WORLD'S ATHLETIC RECORDS.

PROFESSIONAL.

* These records were made in covered buildings. (a) In America a wire 'handle' is allowed (practically a 'ball and string'); in England the 'hammer' has a wooden handle, 4 ft. over all, and weighs, complete, 16 lb. (b) Cricket-ball records are very uncertain—the authentic 'best' is doubtful. (c) Without weights; (d) with weights—Darby's jumps are 'stage feats' rather than athletic performances. (e, f) Many much better performances than this have been accomplished, but they lack authenticity. Out of above 42 amateur records America claims 16, England 25, Australia 1.

200 members) has, at the Putney Velodrome (1891), a splendid cement track (the first made in the kingdom) for cycling ($4\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ laps to the mile), as well as a running-path. The London County Cy. and A.C. at Herne Hill (1891) have a very fine ground, with wooden surface cycle-track, $3\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ laps—running, 4 laps to the mile. Catford (1895)—the home of the Blackheath Harriers and Catford Cy.C.—has a magnificent cement track, 3 laps to the mile, and banked nearly 8 feet high at the outer edge of the bends, where it is 20 feet wide. There is also a ground (1895) at Wood Green—cycling (cement) $3\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ laps—running, 4 laps; and the National A. and B.C. at Kensal Rise have a big path (cement), 3 laps—running, 4 laps. The Oxford and Cambridge Universities have both running-paths—locally and at the Queen's Club, West Kensington, where the Inter-Varsity Sports are held. There are numerous other clubs, in town and country, notably the Manchester A.C. and ground, Leeds A.C., Liverpool A.C., Bradford, Newcastle, &c. Ireland is without an up-to-date track, and Scotland has only recently had one, a privilege Jersey has long enjoyed.

Chief Athletic Meetings.—Amateur sports had at first a hard struggle for existence, as general sport had then sunk to a very low ebb. They began with the various college sports. At Christchurch, Oxford, 14th March 1861, when the Prince of Wales was present, Lord Beaumont won the hurdles, Sir Frederick Johnson the long jump, with Hart Dyke second. The part taken by the Duke of Hamilton and other noblemen attracted attention to the new departure; then the Inter-Varsity meeting gave the new movement 'tone.' The first big athletic meeting was that in 1864 of the Civil Service Sports, still one of the best meetings of the year; but far and away the most important sports are the annual championships of the Amateur Athletic Association—held the first Saturday in July in London, the Midlands, or Northern Counties. Competitors are attracted from America, Australia, &c., as an English is practically the world's championship. Of closed meetings, the Inter-Varsity are the chief. In London, besides those already mentioned, the chief are the L.A.C., P.A.C., United Hospitals, Railway Clearing-house, Ranelagh, Blackheath, South London, Finchley, and Polytechnic Harriers.

Sports are now general throughout the country, and cycle races nearly always form a strong feature of the programme. Essex takes the lead in county championships, the best 'got up' sports being annually held at Chelmsford. Of late sports have advanced at a bound in the Channel Islands (September). In Ireland, Dublin University draws the largest and most fashionable 'gates.' The Queen's Colleges at Cork, Galway, and Belfast also promote important sports; and the North of Ireland Cricket Club Sports (established 1870) draw a noted gathering. Irishmen excel in shot-putting, hammer-throwing, and jumping. In Scotland there are, as in Ireland, annual championships, but sports have not made nearly such headway.

Except cycling, no branch of sport has so rapidly expanded as cross-country running, formerly known as 'paper-chasing,' or hare and hounds. The Thames Hare and Hounds held the first open race, the 'cross country,' on 7th December 1867, at Wimbledon. The National C.C. Championship (1877) is held alternately in North, South, and Midlands. Each club enters 20, and runs not more than 12 men. The positions of the first six are added together, and the club with the lowest score wins. There are generally about 150 runners, and the distance is about 10 miles of pretty stiff 'hunting country.' In 1892 the Southern Junior was run partly over Epsom Racecourse, and there were over 300 runners. Cambridge and Oxford have now an annual meeting. Amongst the chief London 'harriers' are the Ranelagh, Finchley, Polytechnic, Blackheath, South London, Epsom, T.H. and H., Hampton Court H. and H., Essex Beagles, &c. The London clubs usually meet on Saturdays for a run. They either (1) make the best of their way throughout, or (2) appoint a 'pacemaker' to regulate the speed of the hounds, so as to give the slower runners a chance, or (3), after the hares have had their 'law,' start the 'slow pack' first, and the fast pack afterwards. In the cross-country races for prizes, the trail is carefully laid beforehand, and the runners are handicapped by time starts. Sometimes all the competitors are started together, each being allowed so many minutes and seconds, which are deducted from his time for the whole distance, and he whose time comes out the shortest is declared the winner. This is called a 'yacht race' if the starts are declared beforehand; if not made public till afterwards, it is a 'sealed handicap.' Rugby was the cradle of paper-chasing. Early in the century the fags carried the paper, while the prepostors, armed with horse-whips, were the hunters, and some even hired horses to follow the line. The famous Rugby 'Crick Run' (1837) is the oldest regular athletic event in the world. The distance is $12\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ miles, and the record time 76 m. 54 sec.

In comparing modern records with those of about 1865, it must be remembered that amateur sport was then in its infancy; an athlete had few opportunities for showing his skill, whereas now he has a confusing choice. There were few tracks, and training was but little understood. Still, allowing for this, there has been a tremendous improvement, and the physique of the present generation must be improving. A 'record' is the best known and authenticated performance at the distance or in the sport specified. When this is excelled, the record is said to be 'cut,' 'broken,' 'lowered,' 'raised,' &c.; when equalled, it is 'tied.' The uncertainty of sprint times renders comparison difficult, so we begin with the quarter mile, 1868, E. J. Colbeck $50\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec. (1889, $48\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ sec.): half-mile, 1865, G. R. E. Webster (the late Attorney-general) 2 m. $7\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ sec.; and mile, 4 m. 36$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ sec.; in 1868 Gibbs did 4 m. 28 sec.; in 1875 Slade 4 m. 24$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ sec.; in 1884 George 4 m. 18$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec.; and in 1895 Conneff 4 m. 15$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec. In 1865 Webster ran 2 miles in 10 m. 5 sec.; in 1884 W. G. George 9 m. 17$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec. Walking has not improved nearly so much. In 1870 T. Griffith did 6 m. 48 sec. for 1 mile, and 8 miles in 65 m. 8 sec. In 1868, record for throwing the hammer, 99 ft. 6 in. (Lecke), and 37 ft. 11 in. for the shot (J. Stone). About 1865 the competition record for the high jump was about 5$\backslash frac\{1\}\{2\}$ ft., but this had been beaten in private. Griffith's walking times are the oldest records on the books. George's amateur mile, 4 m. 18$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec., lasted 11 years. His professional 4 m. 12$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec. is beyond question the finest record in the world in any branch of sport whatsoever. In walking, Sturgess is the best man we ever had, his hour's record, 8 m. 270 yd. Kilpatrick's 880 yards, 1 m. 53$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec.; and Conneff's mile, 4 m. 15$\backslash frac\{3\}\{4\}$ sec., are the best feats of 1895.

There are separate articles on the following subjects connected with sports and pastimes: