HOCKEY DISCUSSED IN FORUM

"Should Hockey be Made a Major Sport?" was the question discussed at the University Forum in the Union last evening. At the conclusion of the discussion, those present declared themselves in favor of making the sport a major by the vote of 49 to 20.

The chair called upon Captain Gardner to make the first address. He declared that the change in the status of the sport would benefit it by increasing its importance in the eyes of the Athletic Committee, by making members of the team eligible to the Varsity Club, and by removing from the sport the stigma of the appellation minor. The number of rinks in this country, the extent of the sport, and undergraduate interest in it warrant the proposed change. Twenty-one colleges, 32 private schools and 44 public schools now play hockey regularly. In particular, Harvard's record of 10 victories and three defeats in the Yale games of the past six years should be rewarded by undergraduate recognition.

A. J. Lowrey '13, on the negative, outlined the limitations of the sport. It does not allow men who have never played before to become skilful enough to play the game in college. The most important argument against the sport is that only 17 men can be kept busy at one time and that there is no provision made for those who are cut from the squad.

Captain Abeles of the crew aggressively defended hockey as a major sport. "There is no sport in College for which the undergraduate enthusiasm is so great as in the case of hockey, with the possible exception of football and if the undergraduates as a whole show their enthusiasm this is one of the important arguments in its favor." That the facilities for hockey at present are inadequate is not a fair argument, for when track was made a major sport in 1892 there was much less available equipment than hockey has at present.

J. B. Cummings, track captain, in speaking for the negative, emphasized the small number of men engaged in the sport, and showed that as yet the sys- tem by which the sport is run is inadequate and inferior to the major sport systems. There is no coaching and no individual training is attempted.

In answering this argument Captain Gardner asserted that individual training was not necessary, but that any man can learn by himself the technique of skating and stick-work.

Mr. F. W. Thayer '89, president of the Varsity Club, remarked upon the original status of the four major sports. "We are farther ahead in hockey today than we ever were when the major sports started."

Other arguments were advanced later, in the course of which Captain Storer, P. L. Wendell '13, Captain Wingate of the baseball team, R. B. Batchelder '13, and others declared in favor of the plan and H. R. Hitchcock '14, W. M. E. Whitelock '13, and F. B. Withington '15 argued on the negative