Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-06-18
College Athletic Sports

Il
The event of greatest interest to the coll
| iege men during the last week was the
meeting of the intercollegiate foot ball rules
committee in New York on Monday night.
After the columns of newspaper and maya
zine suggestions and opinions of the COM
initteemen relative to changing the rules in
order to compel a more open game, IL was
thought that some radical changes in the
present code would be made Walter Camp
OF YALE and w. T. Reid, the Harvard rep
resentiye. had been committed to the meas
ure to compel the side with the ball to adj
vance II ten yards in three downs instead
OF nve yards, as at present. This sugges-
ton, however, met with most vigorous OPP
position from John c. Bell of the University
OF pennsylvania, A. A. Stage of Chicago
and j. B. Fine of Princeton who contended
That this rule would be too radical and
would make the game slower instead of
more open, because of the great difficulty
or gaining this much ground consecutiyely
FOR the same reason the scheme to put
the hne men farther apart to move the
secondary defense farther back did not
meet the approval of the committee, the OBJ
lection to them being that they would in
crease the dangers of the game and add
nothing to it's interest. Another proposal
which met with considerable favor was that
emanatfng from Harvard and indorsed by
pennsylvania, of permitting the forward
pass under certain restrictions. The argu-
ments used in support of this innovation
We're the same those for the quarter back
run, introduced with much success two
years ago. 1t was not the plan of the sup
porters of the forward pass to permit its
unrestricted use, but 1t was urged that
moderate use of such play would permit
more open game and add to the spectacu-
lar features. 1t was frowned upon, how
ever, and will not be tried for at least an
mi too hn nj
propositions minor ones, however-still
hanging fire, waiting for a mail vote.
x
The changes made are five in number and
are as follows:
i. The line OF scrimmage must be straight.
the ends not being permitted to be in ad-
vance of the center.
2. To prevent the stealing of the ball, the
official shall blow his whistle. ending the
play as soon as the progress of the ball is
stopped.
g. No coaches shall be allowed on the field
of play. In addition to the players and Of
fcials, the only persons allowed to enter the
gridiron shall be an incoming substitute
a trainer in case of accident.
/ a. The captains may ask for the time re-
naming to be played, but the official may
only give 1t approximately. In the last five
minutes the official shall grant this request
but three times.
5. The penalty for side line coaching shall
be set back the offending team ten yards
instead of five, as at present.
The contention of many members of the
committee is that the present rules sat-
isfactory and that the dull game played by
some of the big colleges was due to the lack
of ingenuity on the part of the coaches and
not to the rules. To prove this, they pointed
to the versatile game played by Pennsyl-
vania. The Quakers, with the lightest team
in the big SIX, went through the season
without single defeat and without having
its goal crossed once. The argument fell
lowed that IL Penn could play a spectacular
and an open game under the present rules
so could the other colleges.
Cornell and Princeton have at last settled
their difficulties in regard to future foot ball
contests, and. contrary to The former an
nouncement, they will meet as usual this
fall. The 1905 game will be played at
Princeton. In 1906 the teams will clash at
Ithaca, and the third game will be played
in New York city. Thus Princeton will
have two out of three games played in
Princeton territory. The Tigers objected to
the long trip to Ithaca every other year,
but the present arrangement will reduce
the hai dshlps, and when This agreement ter
inmates the conditions may be changed.
College athletes east and west will have
to take off their hats to Mt. Pleasant,