The western sentinel. [volume] (Winston-Salem, N.C.) 1887-1926, 1895-04-18
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FOOTBALL IN FRANCE
The French View OF lt-Nevef Brutal Ex
cept When Played bT Rrutes.

The French View Of ,t-Nexsf Brutal Er-
cept When Played bS Brutes.
The game of football, according to
the Rugby rules>Is now officially en-
throned in Fra1ce, It is the great wiz
ter game 81 our athletic clubs and Of
our colleges. Although its adopts are al
rea6y)Guite numerous, many people
Cont even know what the game really
Is, and few know anything of its origin
or its rules. Those whose idea of the
game is formed rom the legends that
have been scattered around it fancy that
it is brutal scramble, which is associ
ated with serious and even fatal acct
dents.
Certainly it is not game for dudes.
The shock is rude, and the rushes and
collisions are too frequent to present a
chance 70 measure their force. But aft
er all there is 40 evidence to show that
the accidents arc more serious or more
numerous IN football than in other open
air sports, such as riding, bicycling.
fencing and boating.
As in all games in which emulation
and the desire 20 win form the princi-
pal features of the struggle, the chances
of accident exist III football; but, judg
ing Of it by the amount of success which
it has received in France. we can sim
ply say that it is exciting, and by no
means so terrible as some people would
have us belisye 1t to be.
Certainly 1t used to be dangerous, but
that was in the days when the rules
which governed it were not so firmly es-
tablished as they are today. In the time
- II IF Ey,,xla.,6 for
in 1914, it was unlawful to play it il
the streets of London on account of tho
frequent accidents which it caused. II
was also dangerous in Brittany. where
it was played under the name of soule.
In fact, it was then more Of fight than
q game It was dramatic and hot af-
fair, IN which there were boxing, stran-
CLING and breaking OF heads. Il was a
game in which a man could kill his en-
envy without neglecting Easter duty,
provided he could do SO apparently by
chance.
Fortunately Eoule is no longer played
in our rural localities, aid the football
which is now played in France is moth
ing moro than the national English
game toned down by the rules OF Eng
lish schools and introduced into Francs
by Messrs. G. de Saint-Clair and Saint
Chaffray, the Authors of very inter
esting pamphlet on the subject, dealing
with rhe progress of the game in France.
This progress appears all the more re-
markable when we consider the number
of the enemies of the thing, including
those who don't understand it, those
who cannot possibly play it and the
chauvins, for whom it is an insult &c
attempt to introduce an English game
into this country.
Moreover, football arrived here On the
heels of the heartrending statistics OF
its killed and wounded, taken from al
English sheet and in all appearance
quite authentic. But in these figurcs
two indispensable clements were want
ing-the total number of the player:
and the precise localities where the &c
cidentS occurred. In round numbers the
army Of footballers count 100, 900 men.
and this of course reduces the proper
ton of accidents enumerated in the
famous list. And, moreover, these acci
dents have occurred in the mining dis
sricts of the north, whose rough ans
brutal population ignore the distinction
and courtesy so necessary.
When played by well bred youne
men. football is not dangerous, and the
proof Of this assertion is to be found il
the five years Of its existence on tn,
programmes of our athletic clubs anj
college games. During that five year,
not one serious accident has happened
at q football contest III this country.
The figures referred to above wer,
well calculated to brighten schoolteach
ers and parents, but now the fathers O
our boys, hostile to the game at first,
encourage them to play, and the pro
| fessors favor it because its chief charac
teristics are discipline and self denial
Figaro.