The Minneapolis journal. [volume] (Minneapolis, Minn.) 1888-1939, 1902-12-17
EVILS OF FOOTBALL
Protest of a Parent Who Is Convinced
That the Game Is Indetensible.

Protest of a Parent Who Is Convinced
That the Game Is Indetensible.
To the Editor of The Journal:
"Fifteen dead and 100 injured in foot
ball during the season just closed. Fifteen
young lives offered up on the altar OF this
cruel Moloch in the name of Manly attn
letics," A hundred homes darkened by
death and disaster. Casualties five times
as great in proportion to the number en-
gagged as those Of any compaign of equal
length during the late war. AND for what
The sacrifice of life and limb in a noble
cause is heroic. The death or mutila-
ton of sons in defense of country can be
borne with fortitude, but such disasters
incurred in football games are useless and
senseleSs. ....'r
The objections to football are three fold:
In the fret place it means to those en-
gagged in the sport, the loss to study, to a
great extent, Of two Of the most valuable
months of the school year.
| 1t is self-evidcnt proposition that when
the mind, heart and body are strained to
their utmost tension in the preparation for
and participat ton in the exciting game, no
| continuous application to study can be
given.
eye can not serve two masters is as
! true in the physical IS in the moral realm.
| In fact teachers, alike in the high school.
the academy and the university have said
|
pect much progress in studies during the
| football season" This is wrong alike
to pupil and parent y
The second objection to the sport is that
| it promotes immortality and decentralization
! alike to pupils and the public in genral.
| Betting on the big games is wide spread,
| no little hamlet in Minnesota or in ad-
| jacent states escapes the craze, and many
| a youth takes his first lesson in this vi
! hob
i football games.
Still worse is the rioting and debauchery
| that follow in their wake, as witness the
scenes in Minneapolis the night after the
Minnesota Wisconsin game. The only
| time in the year that university students
disgrace themselves IN numbers IS on these
occasions -.--...- =,
Again altogether wrong ideals are set ur
before the youth. The main object OF
school life, intellectual development and
+ scholarly attainment are relegated to the
rear, and physical development and skill
are exalted beyond their just due.
I Default in studies is. overlooked, and
honors which should be reserved for intel
/ lectual distinction are transferred to ply.
| steal Irowess and brute force.
! An analysis of football in all its bear
| ings, reveals the refinement of cruelty
needless senseless cruelty. All over this
| broad land Of ours, are parents, many o.
! them OF limited means, Sacrlhclng mucf
! to give the boy an education "a better
chance in theSworld than they had" B,
adding an extra burden to- their owr
shoulders, byspiI1ching here and there, the
i son is sent away to the academy or col
lege, not to be trained as an athlete, MOI
to win passing football glory for. himself
or his team as 90 gh grade tackle, or full
back" but to ga an education that will
i fit him for the 9,erf.duties of life.
!. The football So aoii to the student, il
one of default jr. Judy, and constant peri
to life and. E,s:l.so The football season tt
the average rerept is-one long strain o.
il anxiety and al orehension Somebody