The Worcester spy. [volume] (Worcester, Mass.) 1898-1904, 1899-12-31
BASKET BALL CRAZE
Games at the Armory and Father
Mathew Hall Attract Large
Crowds
PLAYING DIFFERS
IN THE TWO LEAGUES
Girls at the High School, Normal
School and Y. w. C. A. Have
Fast Aggregations

The basket ball craze has secured a
strong hold on the sport loving people
of the city this year and nearly every
game in the Armory Basket Ball league
and Massachusetts Central Basket Ball
league is attended by a large crowd.
The city is represented in the latter
league by two teams, the Father Ma
thew and Catholic Young Mems lyceum
quintets and each is putting up a game
creditable to the organization it rep
resents and satisfactory to its support
ers.
The armory league is distinctly a
Worcester organization, the four teams
that make up it's membership being re-
cruited from four of the volunteer mil
itia companies OF the city. The City
guards, Wellington rifles, Emmett
guards and Battery B support the
teams, the Light infantry being the on
ly company in the city not represented.
The season at the armory opened
Thanksgiving night and since then II
games have been played. All have
been well attended and the playing of
the teams has steadily improved from
the opening game until now nearly all
the men are in good condition and put
ting up a game that has not been ex-
celled on the armory floor.
Besides the representations in the
leagues there are several basket ball
teams at the Y. NJ G. A. gymnasium
engaged. in contest for perpetual
trophy. The playing in this tourna-
ment is fast and the attendance at each
game is by no means confined to gym
nasium or association members. Then
fhnrA
the city, most of them connected with
some organization, which do their play
ing against independent teams of the
country towns in the vicinity of the
city and return home with their share
of the victories.
1t is within the past three years that
basket bali has secured its hold upon
the public and like many another ben
lift to mankind it had had its inception
in this city. One of the first games of
basket ball played in the country was
playe in the Y. NJ. c. A. gymna-
SUM by teams coached by E. w. Wild
er. The game proved popular at the
start and has since spread all over the
country being accepted by the athletes
and people who love sport for sports
sake as the best game to interest them
between the close of the foot ball sea-
son and the opening of the base ball
season. The game quickens the wits,
hardens and works all the muscles of
the body and as a means of exercise is
unexcelled. 1t is simple and easily
learned and the playing does not tend
to fatigue so that it has been quickly
adopted as a part of the gymnasium
work in all Women's gymnasiumS in
Guiding the female colleges
Yet with all the popularity the game
has Won and the great interest shown in
games by players and spectators, it
is remarkable that none of the institu-
tions of learning of the city, which are
noted far and wide for their strong
athletic teams, has representative
team. Holy Cross college and Wor-
cester academy are the only schools
of the city that have gymnasiums and
in these the game is known but only
as pastime and as good exercise
: Neither institution has a team to meet
teams from other schools in its class
The high school and the Tech students
have no gynnasiums and what play
, ing any of them do is with the Y M. c.
A. teams
THE GIRLS AT THE HIGH SCHOOL
however, are not as slow as their bro
theirs. The two girls debating socie-
ties of the school, the Aletheia and
Britoniart, have displayed spirit of
progressiyeness and adopted the game
I Each society is represented by a team
of basket ball players and one of the
best sources of revenue the high school
athletic association had last year came
from the game which the two teams
played for the benefit of their brother
athletes. The girls at the Y. W. c. A.
and state normal school have taken to
the game with a relish and many hard
battles are fought between teams at
each place. The high school girls did
1ao of q
nasium to interfere with their desires
to play and they do their playing in
Father Mathew hall, which is used by
the Worcester teams in the Massachu-
sets Central league. Two teams of
girls made up largely of high school
graduates were organized yesterday
and will learn the game at Father Ma
thew hall with the intention of later
challenging some of the other girls
teams of the city.
The playing in the league games in
the city varies with the playing ground
In Father Mathew hall, where the
playing space is small, five men consti-
tute team and the play is fast, fu-
rious and sometimes rough At the
armory, where the playing ground is
nearly as large as foot ball gridiron,
nine men are played on team and be-
cause of the big floor space team work
can better be developed and individual
ism does not stand out as prominently
as in the smaller hall. The games at
each place are attended by almost diff
ferent crowds and each crowd is salts
fed that the playing in it's favorite hall
is better than that shown in the other
The rules under which the Massa-
chusetts Central league teams play are
the ones generally adopted by the A.
A. u, while the teams at the armory
play under code drawn up by their
representatives. These Are much more
severe than the other rules and were
formulated with the intention of maxi
ing the game free from the least objec-
tionable feature. There is no such
thing as wrangling among players and
officials because of severe penalty
that can be placed on the offending
players team. The captains of the
teams are the only men that are per-
mitted to address the officials and some
OF the leaders take full advantage of
the liberty and do considerable
MORE TALKING THAN is NECES-
SARY.
This has been the case in at least