The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1898-12-12
Is Basket Ball
in County.
BETTER OFFICIALS
AreNeeded Men Who Will
Enforce the Rules.


Basket bali, tile popular tn-dqor !
game. has secured strong hold upon
The lovers Of sport in this vicinity At
,be close Of the foot ball season, lovers /
of sport turned to this game ANA saw /
IN # a means of satisfying their de- .
sjres for excitement during the long
winter months The ATTENDANCE al AIN .
the games this season outside Of Wor-
cester has been way beyond he ox-
rotations of the managers or the
leans and proves that it is the pop
Mar indoor game.
The game as it is now being played
Is quite different from what the orig
mators evidently desired it to be- The
game was originally intended TO ill
the place of light exercise IN Y. NJ. a.
A. gvmnasums, and to he played 10y
trained gymnasts. As it is now played
I'm this vicinity. the game is very rough
and fast and the best players are men
that have made regulations as foot BAH
players But a majority prefer 10 play
foot BAH to basket ball,
This change from a game played for
exercise to one of the fastest games
has been brought about by many
things One of these is the enclosing
of the playing surface by wire netting
or some similar material so that the
hall is constantly in play, time being
called only when some player has re-
ceiyed an injury or a goal has been
thrown This compels the players TO
h. on the move all the time and to do
this player has to be in the best of
physical condition.
But the thing to which can be laid
the blame for the change in the game
Is TO the selecting Of incompetent off
cials or officials who have an interest
IN one Of the coptesting teams and
wishing that team to win show favor
itism Such officials have allowed
players to commit direct violations of
the rules of the game, and the knowl-
edge that such breaches can be COM
mitted without a penalty has led them
10 be committed so regularly that they
are now considered part of the playing
rules
In some respects the game suffered;
in other respects the game has been
made more popular by the overlooking
of some of the rules. The excitement
of fast, rough play and the knowledge
yHo' O. iilaII nus ne ~ ~. - ~, yoilNl
'u ~ sta'iu me ~ a ~ ~ ~ en- M
,% ~ ~ a az ~ IL 5,'i',e,Iu' ~
teStant chances, causes it to be en-
ioyed by the foot ball player
All that is needed at the present time
10 make basket ball fill long desired
want is the selecting Of officials who
thoroughly understand the game as it
IS now played, who have no axes to
Sl'.'u' ana VINO VIII perform lHelf uu-
"79 az IeleieeS II Il Iedttess manner
s ..o w ltliout lesaru 10 thTH Ieellliss Oh
'i, ..lp'sllp toWaro.S men praying on lhe
o}4.eSllns teams.
l.o me opening oil the basket ban
s,d9"ii' great interest was SHOWN IN the
7oIuT ny Ohe towns I'D inns Nlcinlty' ana
..alIy an OF the larger towns organized
.diilS' AFTER few exhibition games,
H4 organization known as the Central
'HaSsSchusetts Basket Bali Association
G'S ioIIneu' ana at us nlfth consisted
" marlboro CLINTON, Mlllpury hudson
'nu Two teams from TINS clty-the Wor-
80, haShe' ban ASSOCIATION ana lile
Iss,eliiS, AZ recent meeting or the
llou neld IN TINS city, the I. I.
~ - OF MlIDuly ana lhe I. ". = "A.
NJ Marlboro We're elected to member
cup
James nave been played between the /
Jams ana some very flne exhibitions
nave neen the result most OF the teams
are evenly balanced and the contests
are are very exciting. The teams from
suis cltY nave been the least success
u. "a OF those in the association, and their
Playing has not been up to the stand |
ard desired by the public of this city.
~. me cause of the poor showing of the
worcester teams can be attributed to
Two reasons. One is that the teams I