Page:Out-door Games Cricket and Golf (1901).djvu/27

villainy. A jockey can be squared, also a trainer, and a stable-boy, and any one of them is sufficient for the purpose. But it is impossible for a bookmaker to bribe or square a whole eleven, and to square one or two would not pay. With the best intentions in the world, they may not be able to effect his purpose. Two men who had been bribed might get no runs, bowl no wickets, and field badly; but some others would score freely, bowl well, and two men fielding badly might not do much harm. It might be possible to find an eleven whose success generally depended on the skill of one man, like W. G. Grace for Gloucestershire, or Richardson for Surrey, when each was in his prime; and if it were possible for such a man to be squared for a series of matches, no doubt his side would lose matches that otherwise they would have won. But to attempt this for one match would be risky; if attempted for a series of matches it would become obvious and impossible. It may at first sight appear that this is equally the case at football. I know nothing of Rugby football, but at the Association game, unless two sides are very unequally matched, the