More Than Intramural

In the reaction of the last few years against intercollegiate athletics, which, by the way, has been more apparent in books and magazines than in attendance at the games, one of the keywords of reform has been "intramural athletics." It has been generally agreed that if you could only engage class, dormitory and fraternity teams in contests the goal of "athletics for all" would be reached and the alleged sins of intercollegiate competition would be removed. The remarks of William J. Bingham, chairman of Harvard's athletic committee, in his annual report to President Lowell are therefore most enlightening. He says in one place: "He (Mr. Samborski, the director of the intramural program at Harvard) recognizes that successful intramural procedure is inevitably linked with an intercollegiate program. On the days when informal contests are announced with outside teams, more boys report."

This fact, we think, has sometimes been ignored by "intramural" enthusiasts. That famous animal, "the average boy," gets much more thrill and pleasure from representing his college on the third or fourth football team, crew "F," or the second freshman basketball team than in playing for Smith dormitory, the class of 1933, or the brothers of Alpha Beta Gamma. The reason is obvious. Lines distinguishing such groups within the college are often artificial or indefinite, and the lines between his college and another are natural and definite. He feels the common fellowship which is essential to good team play. The reformers should look forward not to the day when Harvard will not play Yale, but to the season when ten Harvard teams will meet Yale's ten. --Boston Herald.