The Topeka state journal. [volume] (Topeka, Kansas) 1892-1980, 1896-11-25
GENTEEL FOOTBALL.
Maurice Barrymore, the Actor,
Does Not Favor 1t.
he Disapproves OF the Effort to Re
wise Trough Work and
Manly Sport

season is on, and the welkin soon viii
ring with the applauding shouts Of myr-
lad partisans as their favOrite teams
score a touchdown OF make a goal.
Football deservedly has long been one
of the most popular games with the
English speaking races, for it brings out
all the qualities of head and heart that
a lad may possess. This year an expert
ment is to be tried, and it remains to be
seen il the game as revised will retain
its hold upon the popular affection. AS
understand it, representative players Of
the leading American colleges, at the
urgent request, if not positive demands,
of President Eliot of Harvard and the
official heads of other universities, have
SO amended the rules of the grand old
game as to render it quite harmless
Mass plays. am told. are to be avoid
ed in the future and interference SO
regulated that 'rudeness" of any sort,
as boxers term rough work, viii be an
utter impossi bility. Other minor
changes there are, too, which will in
sure Renteel action upon the part Of the
rival players.
have always believed in keeping all
kinds Of games within the limits of
deoorum. Rank brutality should never
entirely tho element of danger from any
game, be it football, baseball, boxing or
field sports, you render it insipid. In
fact, you. emascuIato it. I trust the rules
as modified in the present game of foot
ball have not gone SO far as that Ex-
perimental plays between Harvard,
Yale, Princeton, Columbia, Cornell,
Dartmouth and the University of Penn
sylvania teams the coming month will
determine the question.
Football Is essentially a rough, manly
sport, as much so as boxing, and calls
for those qualities of strength, swiftness
of foot, quickness of hand and eye, &C
tivity of brain and unfaltering courage
that the majority of men or boys do not
possess. You do not expect to see lads
on the gridiron act after the manner of
croquet, lawn tennis or even golf play
ers. You look for and confidently expect
to see aggressive. courageous. skillful
action, manly struggle for the mastery,
the eliminating triumph of those pos
sessing the superior attributes Of head
and heart.
In all kinds of manly sport one must
expect to see some bit Of rough work.
Football, baseball, cricket, boxing and
wrestling would not be worth a plea
yune without it. If you wish to turn
football into a real nice game, like lawn
tennis, you viii have no more intrepid
rushers like Heffelfnger and Hickok to
hold the line or daring strategists like
Walter Camp or Snake Ames to bring a
ball to goal. Instead you will have a
real nice, genteel, pretty lot of boys,
who viii play as gently as ladies and
look about as we'll upon the field.
No do not emasculate any game. Do
not take from it the elements which
make boys and men bold, confident,
courageous. They will need all these
qualities IN the great battle of life.
They are needfuI in times of peace; in
the dread event of war they are a prime
requisite. The immortal Wellington
said that Waterloo was the football field
of Elton, Harrow and Rugby fought over
again, only lead took the place of Ieath-
er. Lawn tennis players could never
have conquered Napoleon victorious
legions.
Now as to real danger. I have seen
almost every kind Of a game played,
from eroquet to a fstio cOntest-indeed
have taken an active part IN pretty near
" all of them-and I can honestly say
that to a skiIlful, we'll conditioned foot
beyond Jew bruises, skinned shins and
sore ribs and arms. are remote. Once IN
awhile, it is true, a skilled player when
in even the finest fettle as to wind and
limb will meet with a broken arm or
leg. This, however, is accident pure
and simple, just as a pedestrian may
be hit by a falling brick as he passes by
a building in course of construction.
It is rarely such player is killed in a
game.
You win notice the same casualties
happen III other games, generally in |
boxing. The i'll conditioned man is fire.
quently knocked out for all time, the
trained man seldom if ever. In rowing,
too, you viii see it occasionally, the |
most notable instance can recall being /
that Of RenfOrth, champion of England |
and the greatest oarsman Of his time /
He dropped dead in his boat while row
ing with three of his comrades in race |
with the celebrated Halifax four in
Halifax harbor. 20 years ago.. He had |
been ailing for a few days, and despite I
the advice Of his friends determined to |
go on with the race He paid for his
rashness with his life, poor fellow, and |
a game, grand fellow he was, more's |
the pity
As have said before, would like to |
see all brutality, not to say chances of /
fatal casualties, eliminated from every
game But I do not like to see any
game made effeminate 1t should have |
manly points to it. A dash of danger /
only renders it more interesting, and a
few bruises hurt nobody. The boy or
man who can't stand few of them is
unfit to be a husband or a father, for |
his offspring would be almost sure to /
be like him, and in another generation /
or two we would have a poor, puny lot /