Their International Implications

     Malcolm Marshall, an internationally beloved black cricket player from Barbados, has died of cancer at age forty one. He played for the Hampshire team, which as a boy I sometimes watched. The games would go on for three sunny days, while the spectators dozed in deck chairs. The teams were quaintly divided into gentlemen and players, the latter paid. The gentleman's idea of playing the game gave rise to the expression "That's not cricket," meaning unfair behavior. Cricket did not involve body contact. It was the game for the leisured, peaceful class.
     Soccer matches were much shorter, faster, more exciting, and more competitive. It caught on with the crowd, first in England then around the world. The paying crowds made it big business, and the best players of various nationalities were bought by the richest clubs and paid astronomical salaries. Soccer spectators became more and more unruly, and today soccer generates more hooligans than any other sport. I should say men's soccer, since very few women are prone to hooliganism. This is the source of serious tensions. For example, the sensitive relations between England, Scotland and Ireland are seriously exacerbated by soccer fights.
     From this we may derive a simple rule. The faster and more competitive the game, the more the body contact, the worse for civic peace. The slower the game, the more peaceful and gentlemanly. Like me, sports should go in the slow lane. The fast lanes are much more dangerous.

Ronald Hilton - 11/26/99