Blackfoot news. (Blackfoot, Idaho) 1891-1902, 1896-03-07
INDIAN FOOTBALL.
How the Game 1. Played by
the Papagos.

&iN ways anu ways VI Paehs
ing football and while the highest
type of football evolution may be rep
resented by the long haired, thick
padded ear and nose protected col
legiate gladiators of to-day, who
smash and crush the daylights out
of each other in superhuman efforts
to lodge an inflated pigskin within the
goal, there are other games of foot
ball played annually within the linn
it's of the United States that require
in modified way almost as much
endurance. pluck and skin to lead 10
victory
The Papago Indians of Southwest
ern Arizona and Northern Sonora.
Mexico, have game VI football all
OF their own conceiying. a game which
has been handed down generation af-
ter generation from times far more
remote than the Spanish conquerors
OF Mexico, and IL may be possible that
the southwestern redskin was the
original promoter of the game which
causes thousands at present to yell
themselves hoarse ON Eastern grid
Irons In the ecstacy of victory, or to
20 home covered with gloom thick
err than the padded mud bedauhbed
anatomy of the defeated.
The Papagus play the game with sol.
id balls OF wood four inches In diane
ter, made from the wood of the mes
quite tree They are Clipped and
whitfield into approximate shape, and
finally rounded to nearly perfect
spheres by irksome rubbing upon HAT
stones. The game consists III CARRYING
these balls of wood. by kicking and
throwing them away with the bare
foot. over straightaway course 10
turn and back to the starting point,
the winner being the man who throws
the ball across the line first In the
big contests this course Is from two
To three miles long, or one 10 one and
one-half miles to the turn, and Ii may
be laid over thickly hestrewn eac-
tus and chapparal desert which dc
mands no end of experiences on the
part of the players 10 dodge and es.
cape the obstacles
Away They Go.
Each player has his Individual ball.
and dozen representatives OF differ
ent villages may line up 10 struggle
for supremacy at the same time, the
balls being placed several feet apart
AAth- - AttlE dthW ~ III tue sstIftl. Win
the respective players standing donb-
led up few feet in the rear. waiting
Tor the Tsrd to 90. When the word
is given. each man takes two long
swift strides 10 his ball and inserts
ais Toes under Ii by punching them
In the sand. and then hnrls Ii through
the air with a powerful swinging
kick as far as strong white man can
throw base ball. He Is OF the mo.
ent after 1t leaves the foot. and
at full speed, without even losing a
stride, he Jibes his foot under ii again
and hurts II straight toward the turn
ing stake.
IL Is marvellous how they keep the
ball travelling toward the far off goal.
an the way In which they pick Ii out
OF the holes and Inequalities Of the
ground with the tops of their toes
would put TO blush clever handler
or the diblock IN the game of golf.
No tackling or interference Of the
players is allowed. and padded clothes
are at discount, for the runners sci.
dom wear more than an attenuated
b!eech clout and mud painted fess
Certain mystical markings 1T yellow
and red adobe mud decorate each
players legs, an are supposed TO make
him supple and strong and 10 enable
him 20 fy with the wings OF Mer.
curry himself.
This football contest Is an interyiI-
lage one, and every year In the wide
ly separated villages OF this desolate
and arid region there springs M in
the hearts OF ali the male population
spirit OF contest so fierce, indeed,
that they send curriers' scourrying
across the desert waste to challenge
other villages and to herald the skill
and prowess of their football runners
and to tauntingly voice their ability !
10 mop up the earth with every vii |
lage, singularly and collectively, that
dare come to compete with them.
Challenges are accepted and dates |
for great intervlllage contest are
decided upon, and the pick of the vii /.
lage Drawn and skill go into training
Tor the event-an event which means /
that the visiting villagers. who 90 on
masse to witness the sports, may re- /
turn home uproariOnsly happy with /
all the chattle and personal effects OF
their hosts, or Ii they are loosers they j
go home on foot, plodding over plain I
SAND, without even the soIace of count 1
Ing ties. The Papagos are profound /
gamblers and will stake even their
"a