Etiquette Went Fishing

Whether fishing for sport or fishing for one’s food, good etiquette is a requirement. Follow all posted rules and unposted rules, if you discover any apply, if you wish to be welcome back. Etiquette is big component of good sportsmanship!

       

Etiquette Rule of the Sea:

Old Whaling Law Applied to a Twice Caught Cod

The etiquette which is observed among the fishermen that journey to the fishing banks was discovered by an amateur angler on his first trip. The amateur hooked a codfish, but his line parted just as the fish was above the water. Back fell the cod-fish. carrying with him two sinkers and the hook.

Twenty minutes later another angler eried out that he had captured a cod with two sinkers and a hook. The amateur went up to the angler, who appeared to be an old salt, and asked for his hook and sinkers, which had his name stamped on them. He was surprised when the old salt told him to take the fish also.

According to the rules generally followed on the fishing boats, the second angler was entitled to the fish, but the hooks and sinkers should be returned to their owner. The old angler explained why he wanted to give up the fish.

It seems that he had followed the sea a great part of his life. When a young man he was a whaler, and, according to whaling law, a dead whale belongs to the ship whose name appears on the harpoon that killed it. Therefore the old salt figured that the amateur owned the codfish he had taken. –New York Sun, 1909

🍽️Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

A Critique of Early Football Fans

The Philadelphia Athletics of the 1902 National Football League—Public domain image

 

 

Rooting Manners

“The rooting,” declares a sporting authority, critically reviewing a recent game of football, “was noticeably ragged and poorly led.”

What would be thought, in days of old when knights were bold, of the chivalry of a fighting man who took his retainers with him to the tourney, and had them posted about with fish-horns and megaphones, for the express purpose of disconcerting his opponent? Odsbods! not much.

Spontaneous bad manners have something to condone them, especially in a generation whose besetting sin is pose. A lot can be forgiven youthful ebullience, too. But deliberate, studied boorishness — does it pay?— From ‘Puck,’ in the Los Angeles Herald, 1930

🍽Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

Tennis Watching Etiquette Tips

“Clothes and manners do not make the man; But when he is made, they greatly improve his appearance.” The late, great Arthur Ashe... A graceful, a strong competitor and a gentleman. – Ashe was the first black player selected to the United States Davis Cup team and the only black man ever to win not only the singles title at Wimbledon, but both the US Open, and the Australian Open. He retired in 1980. The Arthur Ashe Courage and Humanitarian Award is named for the tennis player Arthur Ashe. Although it is a sport-oriented award, it is not limited to sports-related people or actions, as it is presented annually to individuals whose contributions “transcend sports.” According to ESPN, the organisation that gives out the award, “recipients reflect the spirit of Arthur Ashe, possessing strength in the face of adversity, courage in the face of peril and the willingness to stand up for their beliefs no matter what the cost.”

The pomp and circumstance that surrounds a tennis match is as important to the game as the etiquette that applies to a Coronation or an Inauguration of a President of the United States. These formal occasions draw crowds in the thousands and yet no one cries out “youse was a lucky bum, Queeny” or “Mr. President, we was robbed.” Baseball, football and prizefighting are popular spectator sports and there is a promient place for Leo Durocher, the Sunday morning quarterback and an easy shave with Gillette Blades. Tennis is a participation sport and the gallery is expected to conduct themselves as if they were one of the competitors. 

One tennis impresario suggested that tennis fans should boo the players, heckle the referee or throw chewing gum wrappers and tea bags. Not so long ago, he was a great champion who realized tennis fans like to watch him play because they were concentrating on every point as if they were in the match with him. Tennis, golf and bowling are all good participation sports and the spectators thereof should be aware of the courtesy they owe the participants. “Nice shot,” “sorry” and “good try” are as much a part of tennis as “take it off” at a burlesque show. –By David Gillam for Desert Sun, 1962

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J. Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia

More Golf Etiquette

The world famous championship Pebble Beach Golf tournament is open to the public under Country Club rules. To fellow Country Club rules on all public courses is big advantage to every golfer on the grounds. 

Consider Others on the Course 

By Alix J. Morrison, Author of “A New Way to Better Golf,” Teacher of Champions 

Conduct on the golf course is most important to all golfers. Let me tell you why. Briefly, you get out of golf just what you put into it. This point was constantly emphasized in my early apprenticeship as clubmaker and assistant pro.

This training was had at the Los Angeles Country Club, one of the best golf plants, always operated under highly efficient management, with a large, exclusive, yet democratic, membership. Everything about this exceptionally fine club proved that it paid to observe the rules and etiquette of golf.

I soon learned that all club swingers do not believe this. In serving as manager-pro at a public course, I had to deal with many hackers who persisted in being exceptions to all rules. This amazing experience strengthened my conviction about the advantages to all golfers through applying the Golden Rule.

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More recently my advice was sought about the management of a privately-owned course that is open to the public. I stressed the point held in the Del Monte operation of Pebble Beach —a course open to the public does not have to be run or treated as a public course.

Fundamentally it is a matter of individual deportment. Seemingly you have gotten away with something when you exceeded the speed limit without being caught by the highway police. But you'll never get away with infractions of the official rules and etiquette in golf.

• • • 

Every infraction is as obvious as stripes on a zebra. Even if you break a rule when nobody is around to see you, there remains that factor of self. The more proficient you become at kidding yourself, the less you’re apt to know about what you have actually done. And this must come before you can have any real knowledge of what you can do next.

Golf affords you countless opportunities to show due consideration for others. Learn that by so doing you greatly improve yourself and your game. — The Desert Sun, 1955

Etiquette Enthusiast, Maura J Graber, is the Site Editor for the Etiquipedia© Etiquette Encyclopedia