Montour American. (Danville, Pa.) 1866-1920, 1900-11-29


ging up their men with these new sole
leather helmets, hard leather saddles
on the shoulders, stiff pads on the ell
bows, hips and knees, together with
metallic masks for their faces. 1t has
been charged that these things have
been brought into use not so much to
provide protection for the wearers as
to inf1ict injury upon opponents, and
there is a general cry that there have
been more injuries and bruises this fall
because of this armor than ever before.
An investigation shows that these
caps are so hard that when they come
In contact with mans body his wind
is invariably knocked out, and when
they touch the hands, faces or arms the
skin is often torn off. Yale was the
first to discover this fault. Some Of
her men were wearing these caps in
practice, and so many players on the
scrub" team were cut up and injured
by them that they were prohibited.
Players this fall as a rule have been
Some of them wish to attract attention
or be regarded by their opponents as
"tsrrors," yet there are many stars
who never wear such DEVICES and take
chances of having broken noses, torn
ears and scalp wounds. A rule that
barred the use Of football armor would
be welcomed. 1t would make it impos-
sible to harness up cripples who other
wise would be unable to indulge in
hard games, and only sound players
would be seen In their places. The cru
sade begun at New Haven has caused
a great deal of comment at the other
big universities. Coach Woodruff Of
Pennsylvania is heartily in accord with
Yale's ideas. He says headgear and
harness should be barred and alludes
to rule q (a), which reads:
''No one having projecting nails or
iron plates on his shoes or wearing on
his person any metallic or hard sub
stance that in the judgment of the um-
pire Is liable to injure an opposing par
ty shall be allowed to play in a match"
Woodruff says this rule covers the
point at issue and legally excludes the
hard leather caps and pads. He de-
clares that the harness should be de-
fensive and not offensive-that Is to
say, a convex plate padded on its outer
side 80 as not to injure an opponent is
quite permissible for use on the thigh,
which is frequently struck by the
shoulder and head Of a tackler But,
Woodruff declares, the placing of hard
armor on the elbows, knees and head is
not within the spirit of the rule, as
these parts of the body are used in at
tack, and the placing of hard sub
stances upon them can only be con-
strued as a deliberate attempt to injure
opponents.
"Scotty" MacMasters Of Harvard,
with his usual alertness and keenness,
has devised new article Of football ar
NOR. This Is a wrist splint. 1t Is used
to keep the men from straining their
wrists when pushing against oppo-
nents, as they do many times. Har-
ward has had many men laid out In this
way and got this scheme up to prevent
the continuance Of the injuries. 1t Is
worn now on the Harvard principle
that an ounce OF prevention is worth a
pound Of cure.
There has been general decrease in
the weight of armor used at Harvard
this year. The shoulder pads have
been made smaller and with Alumni
um In them to make them strong, but
light A full fedged Harvard man now
wears ankle supporters, thigh guards
made Of pads and aluminium plates
which fit the front of the thigh and
have prevented all "poops," knee and
hip pads, stomach bands, shoulder
pads, elbow pads, heavy shoulder
guard, wrist guards, headpiece made
OF leather which protects the top Of the
mead, the ears and a nose piece attacn-
ed which protects the face.
At Harvard helmets are regarded as
Indispensable, although Coach Dou-
cette thinks that the men in the rush
line do not need them. Cameron
Forbes and Ben Dibblee, Harvard's
leading coaches, say that a good head
piece gives to q man increased conf
dence and tends to make him strike an
opponent with his head instead of his
shoulder In bucking the line. Then.
too, a good pneumatic headpiece dis
tributes the force of blow over the
entire head instead of centering 1t on
one spot. The Princeton coaches, on
the other hand, favor all kinds Of he'll
NETS and harness. They argue that
haadniaceS ara nacacsarv because the