Sport: Why Be a Loser?

British Sportswriter Peter Wilson took a mournful look at Britain’s recent sports record. Russia had beaten the British at soccer, France had eliminated their Davis Cuppers, the U.S. had just flattened Britain’s best boxers and her No. 1 golfer. Wrote Wilson last week in London’s Sunday Pictorial: “Losers, losers, all the time.

“The decline and fall of our athletic prowess has been going on so long that I find myself thinking up excuses for our probable defeat even before the event has started.

“I suggest that we try to ‘conscript for sport.’ America has always believed in specialization and has done everything to encourage any outstanding youth. France has come into line, using great athletes as directors [i.e., at paid jobs].

“We have two choices—either to quit international competition or to change our whole system of training, selection and tactics so that we can look like we are competing on even terms with other nations.”