New-York tribune., 1901-11-08
FOOTBALLIN FORMER DAYS
1T DIFFERED IN MANY WAYS FROM THE
MODERN GAME.
"REMINISCENCES OF AN OLD YALE PLAYER
TWENTY MEN on EACH SIDE
KICKED A ROUND BALL.


The old time game of football no like the
modern game than scrub is like a varsity
player The game as American college elevens
play II TO-DAY IS a different thing from what II
was previous TO the early seventies. Then there
were twentg n side. and the men were not
allowed TO pick up the ball and run with 1t, but
instead of that batted IT with their hands or
abied' it along the ground with their feet
There were TO plays no scientific seneralship
by the captain or quarterback. plays or sig
nails at all The game of to-day. with its intricate
moves like those of a ches-piayer; its sohh
smashing line attacks its trick end runs. its heav!
centre pIunges and. above all. its scientific train
ing Of the players. is vastly different thing. od
time football players look modern game OF
football with something like the awe that a fresh
man looks upon the varsity captain SAID an ola
Yale football player recently;
Fifty years ago the only football known TO Yale
men was tn annual game between the sophomores
and the freshmen. The game called football
only by courtesy. for the only likeness Which IL
bore to the modern contest was that two goals ana
A pgskin figured it. 1t was merely the annual
rush between the newly fedged second year men
ard the Incoming freshmen.
soon after the opening OF the fall term In the
afles Il was the custom OF the freshmen 10 post
somewhere on the campus generally AT ire eh-
trance to the I.yceurn a highly decorated chn!-
leng, to the sophomores for footo&i contest.
After the lapse OF such an interval as con'ror'Ha
viii, The dignity OF the upper classmen. notice OF
the acceptance OF the challenge was postec AT 'he
entrance to the Athenaeum. This notice was usu-
ally accompanied with a formal assurance 10 'he
freshmen that the issuance OF such a piacaro as
h,5 boan nottoed was merely courtng self-destruc-
ton. These forewarnngs of Judgment to come
were usually couched in fine poetic frenzies.
4 TERRIBI.E CHALLENGE.
For instance I remember that the last chaiienee
posted at Yale coupled with the ioho"ihs
dreadful threat:
To the fre-eyca maid OF smoky saI var ,o,,
The sophomore answer to this denunclatory
challenge often even more sang at the time
is one that 1 copied from the poster at 'i'e ''''e
Each soil s'aned .a! d., Ghur sp,ieien skull,
A sod for their base back
.Tb. hattie ground chosen always the south
west section of the green-now called the Upper
Greenland between the old State House. "hich
stood opposite Phelps Gateway. and TRINITY ohuich-
Among students and townies alike there was
great interest in the contest. The State House
steps were filled with eager spectators ana 'he
omnipresent small hoy ranged tirelessiy on the out
skirts of the eddyfng fray. 1t was certainly
terrfnc struggle Bruises and torn garments were
nrofuse incidents of the currents of heady nsht
that ehb4d and flowed before the throng OF rapt
spectators. -
-rba game was opened with a kick. after the
two sides of twenty each took their places
and from that moment there was ceaseiess iush
from goal to goal. There were no hhohientdiS
stops for slgnals-for there were none-nor was
time called on account of injuries, for II man
,,s hurt and laid out. occurred every ten min
utes he either rolled off the field or was rescued
from the crush by a band of classmates. VINO I'M
pered their limbs by rushing on TO the helo anu
bodily carrying off the injas d hero
.-As lcok back those early games IL seems 10
me a wonder that more men were not fatiliy hurl
For roughness the game Of those days far outoid
anything the present day, There was no umpire
10 disqualify a man If he slugged nor was 'heHe
referee give ten yards to the opposing team LOT
offside play. Everything was grand mixuP ana
most Of the forty men were always offside. The
pressure of the masses of contending collegfans
was something fearful a threat OF fractured bones
that nearly always evolved into verify
ISAAC BRoMLEYs EXPERIENCE
Isaac Bromley was of these early football
nlavers and his own recitals of his experiences
show what the game He said once that he
recoected sophomores who In one OF the an
nual games got him down back of Trinity Church
and walked up and down his anatomy to their
hearts content. 1t was always, he said source OF
intense qualification to him to reflect that he had
been the humble whereby the two sopho-
mores had been prepared for the success which
they afterward achieved in the missionary field.
Most of these primitive games were Won by the
sopohomores, who. by reason of their greater ex-
perience usually able to get the best of their
adversaries.
II remember of these early games very we'll
At the precise moment when the college clock
struck 2 sophomore class. grotesque in dress.
and with their faces painted In more varieties or
colors than any Kaleidoscope could boast. came
rushing to The ground with yels or oenahce
The freshmen then entered from another quarter,
also done up a variety of fearful costumes The
freshmen usually had the sympathy OF the crowd
that throrGed the State House steps. and OF the |
women who filed the balconies of the nearby hotel |
The game began a feigned kick by the fresh
man captain who picked the ball and
rushed backward into the phaianx which MS GLASS;