Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-12-14
It Must Be Thorough to Sat-
isfy Public Opinion.
PART PLAYED BYNONEY
EVILS OF THE SPORT CHARGED
TO coMMERCIALIsM.
Either the Game as It Is Played at
Present Must Give Way to ssSocker,"
or Radical Changes Must Be Made.
By MARION J. PIKE.

4 III
As the members Of the Chicago Press
Club upon the occasion of the visit Of that
organization to Washington and the east
| were fling through the Offices Of the exec
utive mansion. one OF the members Of the
party laughingly congratulated President
Roosevelt, saying as he did SO:
The first republican President that Tam.
many Hall has ever publicly thanked bv a
resolution
The reference was to the fact that Tam
many Hall in its platform, Just adopted at
the time Of the visit Of the Chicago news
paper men. had congratulated the President
upon the success achieved in connection
with the holding OF the peace conference at
Portsmouth, N. II.
do you know. said President Roosevelt
without moments hesitation, 81 am tre-
mendously interested In that historical fact
And am gong to write to my old friend
Tom Grady of the Tammany Hall COM
mittee on resolutions and get copy Of that
particular section Of the platform"
All Of this was not under the rose
not even in the form of an interview-but
the spontaneous observation in public of
the President while acting as host to a
party OF newspaper men visiting the city Of
washington. Then perhaps fearing that the
remarks, so obviously half jest half earnest,
might be taken In too serious a vein the
President added merrily:
But want to say that have just had
conference on my hands which is Civ
ing me more trouble-ten times over-than
that Portsmouth peace conference ever gave
me. In strict confidence don't mind tell
ing you all what 1t was
The Foot Ball Problem.
Here the visiting Journalists all prlcked
up their ears, thinking that possibly Pres
ident Roosevelt had taken advantage of the
informal visit of Opie Reid and his Chicago
followers to reveal a profound state Sc
cret. Everybody laughed heartfly-the
President himself laughing with the news
paper men as he spoiled the scoop" by
adding In his inimitable style
1T is the foot ball conference of college
presidents
Now, however, the newspaper men who
listened to the Presidents laughing run
ming comment upon the subject of foot ball
rules are wondering II after all there is
more truth than fun or fiction in Mr..
RooSevelt's assertions-if after all It will
not be harder for the warning factions of
foot ball to get together" than for the
warning factions of the Russians and the
Japs.
One thing. however, appears clear and
distinct. 1t cannot be made too emphatic
College foot ball has not received death
blow. Many changes will undoubtedly be
made in rules and in methods now that the
season is practically at close. but there
is too much of good in the sport to war
rant any man in making the assertion that
college foot bail must 60.
Commercialisn Must Go.
But it appears to be universally agreed
that 'commercialism In college foot ball
must co. Just how this particular re-
suit viii be arrived at 1t is for future con-
ferences and committees to decide. Pri-
marily the trouble today centers round the
fact that the gate receipts at flrst-cass
college game are enormous. Instances are
reported in which more than 10000 spec
tators must have been in attendance. To
say nothing Of the speculation going in
tickets in spite of all prohibitions and pre-
neutrality-suspicious. which at times must
have been winked at by those in authority
this means that the men on the gridiron
are fighting a battle in which the spectators
have paid more money than is usually paid
In to see championship prize ight-say
5000 or 100000. This one fact alone Is
enough to demonstrate that these games
are tainted with the spirit of commercial
ism, and that the line between the pro-
fessional and the amateur is hard to find
In this sort OF thing.
What the Rule Makers Say.
The makers of rules and the coaches of
teams have laughed at the fears of the
parents of college boys and have smiled at
the cutlery against the brutalfties of the
game. Win! win! We must win-win at
any COST has been the cry of the foot bail
factions contending for supremacy on the
gridiron.
Last year. 1t will be remembered, public
indignation was at white heat just about
the time the foot bali season reached its
end. The makers of the rules protested re-
pentance-changed a word here, juggled
phrase there. and the general public was
told to look forward for an improvement
an improvement which never came. Wise
friends of true sport In every form saw
that foot ball was rolling to q crash and
accordingly bent their efforts and energies
In the direction OF safe and sane foot ball."
Substitution of 'Socker."
Two courses appear to be open to foot
ball authorities of the various colleges and
universities. The first is to abolish foot
ball as 1t Is played In America today and
substitute what is known as association or
'socker' foot ball. Already 'socker" foot
ball has obtained hold In the various col
leges Of the east. At Cornell the athletic
council has given official recognition to this
new sport. placing 1t on an equal footing
with basket ball, lacrosse and the other
minor branches of athletics. At Princeton
association foot ball has been growing in
favor among the undergraduates, and a
squad of thirty men has been practiclng
the game regularly Both Cornell and
Princeton, together with Pennsylvania,
have applied for admission into the Inter-
collegiate Association Foot Ball League
which was formed last May with Column
bia, Harvard and Hayerford as the charter
members. 1t Is expected that Yale viii
join the league In the near future. Fred
Mines Of the Pilgrim "socker" team, which
recently played a series of test matches
throughout this country, thereby adding
materially to the interest taken In this
sport has given a trophy cup to the league
and It Is to be played for under condi-
lions which have been named by him. With
colleges like Columbia out of regular foot
ball and taking up with 'socker'' or ASSOC
citation foot ball, It would appear as though
a strong current is setting In the direction
Of the game as It Is played In England
Radical Changes Necessary.
II the college foot ball authorities take
the other course and cling to the American
style of foot ball It win be because the
rules committee bends insteads of breaks
before the storm OF public Indignation.