Fifty years of athletics

6
FOREWORD
demands a common meeting-ground, a community of
interest. Sport provides that, and I know of nothing which
could take its place.
If we value flattery, then we may claim that the world
has accorded us the sincerest form by imitating our
methods, by accepting our standards and our valuations
with an enthusiasm we can but marvel at.
What the effect upon the diverse mentalities of other
races than our own will be we can only surmise, for national
character is not formed in a generation. Perhaps the
lessons they learn from sport will differ from those we
have absorbed. However that may be, I feel they cannot
be bad, but, on the contrary, must be good and beneficial
in the highest degree.
This book contains a record of Scotland's contribution
to the world of amateur athletics—and indeed it is not a
small one. In it are names honourably known far beyond
the Scottish borders, names of men in every walk of life,
who have upheld the high traditions of our race on the
athletic field.
We can look in retrospect on that first meeting under
Scottish Amateur Athletic Association rules, held in 1883,
and trace the rapid growth and development in everything
pertaining to the sport down to the present day.
We cannot compare the champions of old with the
present day athlete—and who wants to ? Their times
may have been greater and their distances less, but the
conditions under which they competed were inferior in
every respect. Let us, then, leave them that niche they
ever hold in the memory of their countrymen; for their
hearts were in the right place, which, indeed, is all that
matters. In achieving the position it holds to-day, the
Scottish Amateur Athletic Association has had no easy road
to travel, and all praise is due to those who have guided
its destinies along the thorny path of control.
The Editors of this publication have earned the
thanks of all Scottish sportsmen for their meticulous care
in chronicling events of so great an interest, and for leaving
us a record of the traditional and characteristic athletics
of our country, and of those who gained fame in the
fields of high endeavour.
IAIN COLQUHOUN
6
I