Richmond dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1884-1903, 1897-11-25
ARGUMENT FOR FOOTBALL.
Ministerial Students Take Issue
with "a Richmond Girl"

To the Editor Of the Dispatch
The article in Fridays issue Of the
Dispatch against football and signed
a Richmond Girl" is clearly a case
Of "of side play" The umpire should
not penalze our friendly opponent this
time but should warn her 10 keep on
side hereafter. Ladies seem TO be des-
tined to oppose everything in which they
themselves cannot engage. but their OPP
position in the case of football, is no
thing but the empty and absurd cry,
brutal If they could produce some
real arguments and would face the facts,
there might be some ground for a reply
md some occasion for defence OF the
game. Enemies Of football are found
only among those that have never
played the game. and they never fail
90 make clear their total ignorance Of
the game. Facts ought TO have more
weight than mere appearances, preju-
dicial shouts, and feminine whnes.
Is the game dangerous? II so, how
dangerous? To the first question L an
swer that football. like all athletic
sports carries with IL some chance of
accident. All sports are more or less
dangerous. As 10 the degree, or amount
Of danger. 1 shall allow only experience
and observation TO speak. This Is my
fifth year on the gridiron, and l have
never had so much as a sprained finger
But" you say that Is an exception
90 the rule" Very well: this Is my
nth year at Richmond College. and the
worst accident any member Of our team
has had in the last five years was a
broken finger. and only one accident
Of that kind has occurred although at
least two hundred students have played
,..fIf "a Ia. nGu "a
1t is. The fact is the game is not half
so dangerous as ii seems TO be. The
superior physical condition in which
men must be before entering Il hard
game accounts for their endurance OF
course. a player is frequently stretched
out breathless, but owing to his physical
condition (Which football alone can
give he resumes play in a few moments
Then, you ask, why is 1t that so
many serious accidents occur| So
many do not occur. II a player is killed
to-day In Richmond. long account of
90 will appear i'm the next issue of every
raper Of any note in America. And they
win keep on publishing 1t until you think
% large cemetery has been filled with
victims Of the game. But If an accident
happens 10 a wheelman or dancer, only
the county paper will take notice of II,
and you hear Of il no more In the
thousands Of games that have been
PLAYED this year. only eight have died
from injuries. Yet the enemies Of the
game declare that Death plays in every
game. Surely Death is not good
athlete. for he scarcely ever scores.
Football, like all other games, may
sometimes. by mere accident lose one of
its thousands of lovers: yet it rescues its
many from physical wrecks. |, myself,
have been saved by the game from a
physical wreck, and others at this college
can bear similar testimony. In speaking
Of football players, writer says in the
World: They are sane men and able
men. quite old enough TO determine what
.s good for them, and they should not
De interfered with by old women We
add: Nor by young women
To the horror OF my dear Richmond
girl" play ball and preach, too, and glory
Boz both. ! thought the Richmond girls
taud believe most OF them have} had out
grown and forgotten the old idea that il
IS d sin for a minister 10 laugh, or be
and do Ike other people. My religion
is just the same on the ball-feld as Il Is
.r the pulpit. / hope hers is the same
no the card table. i'm the thdtre, and In
the ballroom that Il is in the pew. We
arc the same old boys on the gridiron and
lr the lecture room and we are willing
20 have our characters judged at either
place II our lady friends think football
an ungentlemanly brutal game, they
ought. AZ least sometimes, for the sake
Of consistency, say mo" TO the players
Football IS not brutal; but is the most
scientific game. and requires more
strategy and cooperation than any game
ever played.
II / had space / should like to show
that college athletics cope with any class
Of students i'm scholarship. Statistics
prove this fact why should they not
be the most useful and most thoroughly
developed men Of our day for they have
sound minds IN sound bodies? The body
81 as valuable as the mind-why disre-
gard e.? Why not allow young men
thoroughly TO develop their bodies, even
" the ladies do Insist upon our being doll
babies and dwarfs?
]. w. r. M'NEIL.
Capt. Richmond College Football Team.