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For some time the Executive has considered it highly desirable that the judging
and refereeing at meetings should, wherever possible, be in the hands of teachers,
owing to their more intimate knowledge of the capabilities and limitations of boys.
This ideal has been hard to achieve, owing to a decided shortage of teachers with
the necessary knowledge and experience, but those concerned have set themselves the
task of training volunteers for this purpose ; already a number have been equipped,
and the association aims at training at least one hundred judges for the London area.
(3) London Schools' Cricket Association.—The scheme whereby many of the
London clubs agreed to have parties of elementary schoolboys to their grounds in
the evenings and to provide coaching has been further developed, and there are now
29 clubs offering this facility. It is estimated that during the course of last summer
830 boys have benefited in this manner.
The following representative matches have been played to date, with the
results stated:—
London Public Schools, 123 ; Elementary Schools, 35, and 44 for 2 wickets.
London Elementary Schools, 109 ; Harrow School, 152.
London Elementary Schools, 158 for 8 wickets (dec.); Eton College, 44
for 0 wickets. Rain.
(4) London Schools' Football Association.—The Honorary Secretary of the above
Association reports that the past year has proved a most successful one, showing
the largest affiliation on record, viz., 44 district associations and six Central School
Leagues, totalling 991 schools, of which nearly 600 are in the administrative
county. He considers, however, that the London County Council districts are
definitely behind the out-county districts in the standard of play, and quotes the
following facts in support of his statement:—
(i.) Only one London County Council district appeared in the finals out
of a possible six.
(ii.) In the five county matches only fifteen places out of a possible 55 were
awarded to boys from London County Council schools.
He attributes this to lack of enclosed grounds in which respect the out-county
areas are better served, and urges that the Council should provide an adequate number
of enclosed practice grounds for elementary schoolboys.
(5) London Schools' Netball Association.—During the fifth year this association
has grown rapidly, showing an increase of four senior and three junior leagues, with
90 new schools, and 126 more teams playing in district matches. The total membership
of the association is now 21 senior leagues; 18 junior leagues.
These leagues account for 420 teams drawn from 261 schools, and a minimum
of 2,940 girls take part in the various matches, quite apart from the netball played
within the school. Thirty-seven matches were played between the champion district
teams before the All-London Champions were found. The senior trophy was won by
"The John Evelyn" School (Deptford), and the Junior Trophy by the "Peterborough
"School (Fulham, E.).
The association organised a class for the training of umpires. This was held
during the summer term, and was taken by an experienced games coach. It should
prove of value in raising the standard of umpiring.
(6) London Schools' Swimming Association.—(a) Swimming.—The above
association, quite rightly, consider their main effort should be to supplement the
work of the London County Council in the endeavour to teach the largest possible
number of children to swim. The success, or otherwise, of the work accomplished
can therefore partly be judged by the number of 1st class swimming certificates
gained. During the past year this has reached the number of 16,890, of which 7,875
certificates were gained by the boys and 9,015 by the girls.
The Hackney Branch again gained the greatest number of certificates for both
boys and girls, with a total of 1,294, but if the reckoning is made on the average