Birmingham state herald., 1895-11-08
FOOTBALL GOSSIP.
The University of Pennsylvania Criticised for Not Sending Good Team to Meet
 the Boston Team.

Philadelphia, Nov. 7.-The University of Pennsylvania faculty committee on athletics, at a special meeting this after noon adopted the following resolutions:
 Resolved. That athletic teams repre- senting the University of Pennsylvania shall not hereafter play on other than college grounds, without first having ob- tained special permission from the uni- yersity committee on athletics.
 A member of the committee was seen after the meeting and said that much of the recent criticism of the faculty s action in prohibiting the university s football game in New York with the Boston Athletic association has shown conclusvely that many of the critics and a certain proportion of the public do not recognize clearly the difference be- tween the competitive sports of students, where the first thought should be the promotion of health and strength, and similar sports undertaken by outside or ganizations, for in some instances far different motives actuate the partici- pants. He added that the more strictly the game of football could be limited to colleges and universities the more hope there would be for it's preservation and for ridding it of it's objectionable fea- lures, incident to contests in which gate money" and gambling were conspicuous features.
 The athletic committee has been con- templating this further step for some time, and thought it best to take it be- fore the end of this season, so no matter how future games might result. such re- suit could not be thought to have in- f1uenced their action.
 Besides their reasons on the ground of the physical unfitness of the men for pro- hibiting the university game, the posi- tion of the Pennsylvania faculty on ath-
 letics is concisely given in the above statement.
 It is further necessary, however, to consider the failure of Pennsylvania to send over the strongest eleven that. could be mustered to play under the title of the University of Pennsylvania eleven. This omission has been most severely criticised, and in fact forms the whole basis of the contention that Pennsyl- vania has behaved in an unsportsman- like manner. This charge would appear to be well founded, but from facts that have since developed, it would seem as if 1t would have been a virtual impossibili- ty to have sent team.
 In the first place 1t must be stated that Dr. Whites opinion as to the physical team referred to seven of the eleven men For reasons which every medical man will comprehend, 1t would have been a grave professional error for pr. White to have specified which seven men were un-
 
 impossible to have made up team in cluding the remaining four, which have disclosed the fact that the seven
 men who did not play were the ones re- ferred to by Dr. White. Hence the only alternatives was to send eleven substi- tutes, and this idea was rejected solely because of the following reasons: It would have been an insult to the Boston players, whose only aim was to try con-
 clusions with the strong Pennsyvania eleven, and not to gain a nominal victory to which no glory would attach. It would have been masquerading behind a false face: 1t would have been unfair to the members of the regular eleven to have the title that they had been defended by a team containing not one of their num- ber and it would not have been accept able to Secretary Beals of the Boston's. who, in conference with the Pennsylva- nia football management on Monday evening after hearing of the faculty com mittee's action which he applauded. eX- pressed desire to have the freshmen team substituted for the regular eleven, stating that tn Boston players would pre- fer to meet a weaker team if they could have the glory to be gained from close match with PennSylvania'S regular eleV- en. As is generally known this proposi- ton was aSSented to at once, and after MT. Beals had telephoned for and obtain ed the consent of the Boston team to the arrangement Pennsylvania spent several hours in getting together the freshmen and preparing for their visit to New York in order that the Boston team and the people might not be disappointed. That they were disappointed was due to the subsequent refusal of the Boston eleven to carry out the agreement made by their secretary with their own approval Neith- CT the Bostons nor the owners of the Manhattan field yesterday have suffered financially, the Athletic association of the University of Pennsylvania, recognizing the right of the faculty committee to take the action which they did, and ignoring the liability of the Boston Athletic asso-
 citation because of their refusal to play the substitute in the game. having ex-
 pressed their willingness to foot all bills.