The Ottawa Citizen Ottawa, Ontario, Canada Monday, November 03, 1958
Sports Of Two Continents
Over in Yugoslavia, and throughout Europe for that matter, the name of Mickey Mantle means nothing. But the name of Bobby Fischer means much to a good many people. Even in his own United States 15-year-old Bobby Fischer, now a grand master of chess, isn't a figure of renown, certainly not like the master swatter of baseballs. Of course, the New York Yankees have never performed in Yugoslavia, whereas Grand Master Fischer has, to the amazement of all. His latest accolades were bestowed at the recent international chess tournament held in that country.
This is not to suggest that Europeans are absorbed in chess to the exclusion of other amusements. But there are a number of sports in which they have little or no interest. Baseball is one of these, and football as generally understood in both the United States and Canada is another. In this respect there is a profound gulf between the two continents in a sports sense. Soccer and track and field sports are trans-Atlantic in scope; so nowadays is ice hockey. Skiing, swimming, tennis and golf are also popular in both continents.
But the great mass spectator sports in the United States remain football and baseball, to which Europeans continue indifferent. And since soccer has now become the most widely distributed of all sports throughout the world, it would seem that in some major sporting respects the U.S. (like Canada) dwells in relative isolation.
So far as Canada is concerned, however, the post-war influx of immigrants from Europe may be changing this situation, for they have begun to stimulate interest here in the game of soccer. And perhaps chess as well. All this should do no harm to the cause of international understanding.
