Evening star., 1893-12-04
REVIVAL OF FOOT BALL.
A Fine Sport, but 1t fs Becoming Too
BRUTAL to Continue Popular.


Brutal to Continue Popular.
From the Chicago Herald.
The revival Of foot ball as q general sport
IL not commendable. 1t is a brutal, un-
scientific, unmanly game, compared with
which horse racing is refined and prize
fighting rather respectable In the accounts
Of the game between Yale and Harvard on
Saturday last incidents Of brutality are fire.
Quent. At one time Beard Of Yale Is said
to have been ''using Wrightington of Har-
ward none too tenderly in the center Of the
field out of bounds This caught the sight
of Big Acton Of Harvard. who rushed
over and. saying None of that there. u
caught Beard on the jaw with a right.
handler, which, the account spiritedly says
brought him to earth beautifully" This
mind you. was a mere incident-an episode
which had no bearing on the game ITSELF
but simply served to show what the influ-
ences of the so-called pastime are bound to
produce. 1t was knock-down inspired by
the violent brutality which is the chief ele-
ment of the game
The vivid story Of the play reads like the
description of dog fight:
Armstrong broke out of the for eight
yards, being heavily thrown by Mackie
Thorne smashed into Manahan for five and
Armstrong struggled through the center fol-
one Thore found Manahan again for four
ed that he could stop a man once in
awhile. Butterworth dashed into Lewis and
Acton twice for ten yards and the ball was
downed on Harvards fifteen-yard line
Yales offensive play in contrast to Har-
wards was quick and snappy. Her plays
were made in rapid succession, giving Har-
ward little time to think of what was 60
ing on. Butterworth crashed into the CEN
ter again, but didn't gain, but a series OF
push plays netted Thorne and Butterworth
a yard each and then Butterworth jammed
his way through the Harvards tive-yard
line. Harvard's crimson champions were
fighting for every inch of ground, but the
Tales were forcing the ball along slowly but
surely, while their friends gradually lost
their senses. Armstrong smashed into the
big Harvard wedge and fell down under Il
with two yards gain.
Capt. Waters of Harvard was so badly
hurt that he had to be taken off the field
Three times he was knocked down and
finally, notwithstanding that brute pluck
which is one of the most ignoble phases OF
mans vanity when exercised for the mere
purpose of display, he was forced to sue
cumb, leaving his team demoralized and
vanquiShed
The lull in base ball interest has led te
an attempted revival of a number of sports
Tennis was given a considerable impulse
last summer, and cycling achieved q new
popularity. Both of these sports are DE-
cent, clean, scientific and manly, but Ioot
ball is only to be antithetically character
lied. There seems to be 4 probability thai
base ball will recover it's old ground in pub
lie favor and 1t is to be hoped that such
will be the case. 1t is a fine sport Gh6
worthy of popularity in every way. But al
least let us put a stop soon as possible
to the brutality of foot ball-a sport which
in many features, is worse than prize fight
ing, being less a matter of skill, more dan
gerous TO the participants and involving 9
much larger number of contestants.