A Student Royal Commission

At an Executive meeting during the vacations a committee was formed to enquire into the standard of sport in the college and of the ways in which it could be raised. The committee consists of Misses Foote and D. Lescher and Messrs. Phillips, Chatwin. Cordon. Beaglohole and Fox (with the power to co-opt). The reasons which prompted the setting up of this committee I do not know. But we hope that it is not an example of the Royal Commission idea percolating down to student level. Such committees have had little success.

But this committee could do a great deal if it only created a closer liaison between the Executive and the sports clubs. At present some of the major clubs, cricket and Rugby in particular, have become in many ways isolated from the student body as a whole. These clubs do not fulfill their true function unless they are properly integrated with the remainder of the student body. Championships are not the criteria by which Varsity clubs (any club for that matter) should be Judged. If success is obtained at the expense of club spirit and harmony then it were better that we were Wooden Spoon holders. The discrepancy between the success of our club teams playing in local competitions and the meagre amount we obtain Tournament suggests that the clubs are not fulfilling their allotted functions.

—D.B.S.