The Colfax chronicle. [volume] (Colfax, Grant Parish, La.) 1877-1981, 1900-02-24
ARMoR FOR FOOTBALL.
Worn by the Modern
Player.

The full armored football player at
to-day bears striking resemblance to
the knight of the Middle Ages in battle
array, minus his spear and his sword.
With the top of his head protected
from hostile blows by heavy leather
cap, with pads about his ears made OF
lambs wool to withstand the shock OF
the attack, with his nose and mouth
shielded by hard pieces OF rubber
nodded into convenient shape, with his
arms and shoulders padded. his chest
protected by strips of leather so as to
ward off chance blows, his legs encased
in breaches two inches thick with pads,
his shins protected by guards, with
spikes in his shoes, and every joint in
his body encased in and reinforced by
elastics, the football hero of to-day
charging over the gridiron field is not
at all unlike an endorsed knight of the
middle ages in fitting tournament.
The development of the armor of the
gridiron has been coincident with the
development of football. A dozen years
ago the game of football was only be-
ginning to be developed in this country.
Americans got their ideas of the Rugby
game as it is now played in this country
from England. There the game was
then and still is played in tennis shirts
and flannel knickerbockers, with bare
knees and arms bare to the elbow. The
English game is very much like the
American game of polo, with the use of
the hands to drive the ball instead of
polo sticks. The American game of
Rugby football has bean made infinitely
more scientific.
Mass plays were found to be very
dangerous, especially to the team that
sought to break them up. The average
player could not stand the knocks and
bruises which were received in these
plays. Mean were therefore devised to
protect the players from injury. First
came padded breeches, then padded ell
bows. padded shoulders and finally shin
guards. The next addition was the
gutta-percha nose protector, which
was devised at Princeton by player
who had repeatedly had his nose
broken. In a year or two the nose pro-
tector had piece added to it which
protected the mouth and teeth from
cuts and knocks.
The result of the great advance in the
science of football has been to do away,
first of all, with the dangers of the
game. All the tricks that made football
so dangerous few years ago have
either been discarded or have been pro-
hibited. Teams all over the country are
now playing the old-fashioned open
game. with lots of punting and runs
around the end of the line.
The game, however, is harder than
the gaLfe of a dozen years ago. Inter-
ference, diving tackles, line bucking
and formation plays make the players
more liable TO cuts and bruises. For
this reason the armor of football has
not been discarded. On the other hand,
it has been added to from year to year.
All sorts of devices have been tried to
protect the players from hards knocks
and bruises. The first requisite in foot
ball armor is to secure something light
which does not burden the player
For this reason all the padding of the
breaches and arms and shoulders and
chest consists of the best quality of
hair covered with leather. Shin guards
are made of canvas and cork. The shoes
are made as light as possible. Nose pro-
tectors are made of vulcanized rubber
The helmets, with the ear pads, are
made out of sole leather lined with
first quality of wool.
There is also another piece of armor
that is now frequently seen on the grid
iron. 1t consists of a shoulder pad.
or rather a big leather shield. lined with
sheepskin. which is worn over the
right shoulder on which the player falls
most frequently. Notable among the
devices worn beneath the armor are
rubber bandages, with cork splints,
which are worn over a portion of the
body that has been bruised. Almost
every player wears elastic ankle sup
porters, many wear elastic knee sup
porters, elastic shoulder supporters
and elastics about the elbow joints.
Every physical trainer has his own
little kit of tools. medicines and band
ages, which he applies according to his
own ideas. Every big team is haunted
by dozens of specialists with devices for
protecting the players, new kinds OF
food for making boys strong and every
sort of mechanism that might have
been useful in a fitting tournament
n. Y. Herald.