I particularly resent the expression "field sport". In my inglorious youth I played rugby (rather badly). This effectively gave fifteen sizeable Philistines the right to trample, thump and squash me in various horrible ways for around eighty minutes on a Sunday afternoon. However, it qualified as "sport" because I was a voluntary participant and was at least assisted by fourteen other masochists. I'll call fox slaughtering "sport" when the fox is armed with a troop of mounted, uniformed thugs on its side. I wonder how many would participate in the "sport" if they ran the risk of finishing the afternoon being disembowelled by a pack of hounds?