The Brussels Post, 1972-03-15, Page 2•
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This is another in a series of pictures of activity
in the Brussels area in years gone by being repro-
duced from time to time during Centennial year.
Sugar and Spice
by Bill Smiley
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BRUSSEp
WEDNESDAY, MARCH15, 1972
ONTARIO
Serving Brussels, and the surrounding community
Published each Wednesday afternoon at Brussels, Ontario
by Mcl,man Bros. Publishers, Limited.
t`lelYo Kennedy Editor Tom Haley , Advertising
Member Canadian Community Newspaper Association and.
Ontario Weekly Newspaper Association,
Subscriptions (in advance) Canada $4.00 a year, QtRerS
,$5.00 a year, Single Copies 10 cents eaeh.'
Second class mail Registration No. 0562.
Telephone 887-6641.
A Deserving Appeal
There are few months in the year
when horrie owners fail to have a '
visit from a volunteer canvasser
seeking funds for a worthy'cause.
For some reason the requests
seem more frequent in the winter
months and perhaps this leads to a
certain resentment as a result of
the continuing calls. This in turn
can have an effect on the degree of
generosity with which the caller is
received.
Regardless of whether or not we
sometimes become annoyed, the fact
is that each of the canvasses makes
possible the continued activity of
a particularly worthy organization.
Without the funds made available by
the campaigns, the community as a
whole and the less fortunate in
particular would be denied most
helpful services.
Typical is the campaign now in
progress. The Crippled Children
Campaign makes possible assistance
for the hundreds of children across
Ontario who because of the activi-
ties of the society are rehabilitated
and established as potentially self
supporting members of the community.
An activity of the Brussels Club
for many years, the C.rippled Child-
ren's Campaign is carried on by
mail.
The appeal is most worthy. It
deserves our whole hearted support.
To the Editor
Enjoys the Post
Sir:
Enclosed please find my cheque for
$4.00 for one year's subscription to the
old "Brussels Post". Have had the
privilege of reading a few copies recently
and wish to follow your plans for Centennial
and wish you every success.
Mrs.George Dawson,
145 Vansittart Ave.,
Woodstock, Ont.
"Lady, you have the right to remain silent
Lady
Lady .
watching our high school hockey team
in action the other day, I could not
refrain from brooding about how the game
was changed.
If what I was watching was "sport",
and "schoolboy" sport at that, I guess
It's time I was put out to pasture.
Oh, it was exciting, all right. That is,
if you like to watch teenage boys trying
to tear each others' arms off with
deliberate hooks, remove each others'
teeth with high sticks, and smash each
others' brains out against the boards.
Throw in some deliberate slashing,
tripping, kneeing, butt-ending and a couple
of fights, and you have the picture of young
Canada playing its national game.
Admittedly, the game is faster and
more furious than ever. But furious is
a word that does not belong in sport,
unless you think professional boxirg is
a sport, which it is not, in my opinion.
In vain do the coaches of high school
teams tell their charges to play hard but
clean. The kids have watched too much
pro hockey, where most of the fans, like
spectators in a Roman arena, want blood,
and the pros oblige.
The only thing that redeems the spec-
tacle - and it is a spectacle, not a game -,
is the fact that there are usually one or
two players on each team who still believe
in skill rather than violence and who use
their heads for something besides butting.
These are the players who emerge
as the team leaders, even though some
of the "wild men" may have more n—ral
ability. These are the players who almost
never get a penalty, who walk away from
a stupid fight rather than look for one,
who put some spark into the team when
it is behind. A pleasure to watch.
And then there are the others. Kids
who are pleasant and well-mannered off
the ice, but go berserk the minute the first
whistle blows.
One of them expressed his philosophy
to me: "Yah. Yer sposeta drop yer stick
when a fight starts, but yuh don't drop it
till the other guy drops his." And, of
Course, if the other guy is following the
same principle, there could be stick-
swinging match.
Put four feet of hardwood In the hands
of two young huskies, let them start swing-
ing their clubs, and you have a situation
more deadly than many of the duels of
history, fought with lethal weapons.
It's about as quick a way as any to
wind up with a smashed nose, a permanent
scar, a concussion, a skull fracture, or
one eye.
In my opinion, a great deal of the blame
for the situation lies with the referees.
They seem to be brain-washed into letting
anything go, short of chopping a head off
with a stick. The game is faster and more
"Colourful" that way. And the colour is
that of blood.
The goalie used to be protected by a
sort of mutual consent. He was slower
and more vulnerable because of his heavy
padding. You took your shot, and if
he stopped it, skated around him. Now, he
comes out to stop a shot and is quite
likely to get a mouthful of high stick.
Result? The goalie starts playing dirty,
to protect himself.
Maybe I'm Just old-fashioned. But
when / played team sports - football,
hockey, baseball - there were one or two
"dirty" players on each team. Caught in
the act, they were penalized and
ostracised.
Nowadays, you have to look hard to
find one or two "clean" players on each
team. And it's the "dirty" players who
get the roars froM the crowd. This is
fact, and it's fact that Is sobering, sad-
doning and sickeninr.
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