The Billings gazette. [volume] (Billings, Mont.) 1896-1919, 1902-12-26
AFO0TBALL DISCUSSION
James r. Day Wishes to Elirni-
nate Gru-@l-ty From Game.
HIS REPL- TO PRECEDENT WILSON

HIS RElL- TO PRESIDENT WILSON
C~hnn"@-s@r o. Syracuse University
Dcc..2@.. lie Is Not Opposed to
T-~tsHil or College Athletics, but
lie Says Massed Playing Is DAN
Chancellor James r. Day of SYRIA
cusc university has declared himself
once more as being vigorously opposed
to certain features of college football.
In an interview with a New York
World reporter in Syracuse the other
night he commented in strong terms on
the statements President Woodrow
Wilson of Princeton university made
concerning his previous ~utterances.
at is not for one moment TO be In
ferred that l am opposed to college ath-
letics, for l believe them a mighty fea-
ture in the development Of the well
trained college man." he said. "There
is no more pleasant recreation for M
than to go on the athletic field and see
the scores Of young men training for
their contests. 1t is only when l see
the Objectionable features creeping in
that my voice is raised against any
form of the recognized college athletic
| sports.
st may be that football is not like
pr%izefghting. l did not say that it is.
My remark was that l did not wonder
that some people classified it with
prizefighting. for in some Of it's fea-
lures it is fast approaching the brutal
ity Of pr%izetighting in it's mass plays.
president Wilson says that football
differs from prizefghting because the
former is an effort to get a ball outside
a goal and its injuries and fatalities
are accidental, while the latter is IN
effort to knock out an antagonist. But
the effort to put the ball over the goal
line is often accomplished by injuring
and manning the opposing players-a
direct and desperate effort is massed
upon a star of the team defending the
goal without regard to his life or limb.
ut is quite true that massed playing
requires great intelligence, but it is re
quired upon the part of the holding
team to keep from getting their necks
broken. Little intelligence is needed
by the team which has the ball and
rushes it with a tandem of weight
against one man to break him down.
We do not want a form of play that re
quires great intelligence and unusual
skill upon the part of a team to guard
a member to keep him from being kill
ed. Massed play is the feature of the
game that makes it unpopular with
the public and dangerous to players.
We should get rid of it.
president Wilson seems to think the
danger of injury is confined to I'M
has been no serious injuries in well
trained, seasoned teams. That is NOT
the report that came from the Prince
ton-C Columbia game. They are fairly
well trained teams. 1t has not been
true of Syracuse and a score of other
exceptionally well trained and sea-
soned teams. At every game men are
being laid out repeatedly. Spectators
see three or four men lying on the
ground, n man running this way for
a pail Of water. another chatting a
mans arms, others rubbing bruised
muscles and still others pumping air
into the lungs of an unconscious player.
president Wilson says: The students
always have a doctor present. Is there
any other college game where it is a
necessity to have a doctor present? Ten
men have been killed this year. not
withstanding the doctor. Ten times ten
have been seriously injured, and Prince
ton has been represented in the list of
injured. .
81 believe in football as an open
game, with massed and tandem plays
eliminated. The test we want for stu
dents is a test of their wits as we'll as
Of muscle and nerve. We car have
this great game without it's appalling
fatalities and injuries. The public de-
mands it. The obligation is directly up
on the colleges. for it is peculiarly a col
lege and school game. We never have
thought that college faculties should
make athletes, but their mental influ-
nee should be exerted not only for hon
est. but for safe. athletics"