The news & observer. [volume] (Raleigh, N.C.) 1894-current, 1905-10-29
Mr.. Casper Whitney's
Idea for Sound Rules.
Football Was Played in Venice as
EARLY as 1916 and in England
There Was Complaint as Early
as 1349 Thatit Commanded
Too Much Time.
Too Much Time.

an amount of discussion. Mr.. Caspar
Whitney is with the majority in that
he believes many changes for the bet
ter might have been made. Here is
his idea for a sound and feasible set
of rules to govern intercollegiate foot
bali as set out in The Outing Maya
zine for November:
candidate for membership in any
athletic team must be Cd an anna
teur: CD must be a bona fide student
taking the average number OF hours
OBJ must be in good classroom stand
ing; ca must have been in residence
one academic year. An amateur is
one who has never used his athletic
skill for pecunfary or any material
profit These rules are TO be inter-
preted in the spirit of the law which
obtains among sportsmen. Every col
lege faculty is the sponsor of its own
teams. No protests are to be MADE
or considered. A tribunal Tor the
discussion of questions upon which
light is desired. or for rule-mak1ng
TO govern competition, shall be COM
posed of one representative each from
Harvard, Yale Princeton, appointed
by the faculty: one each from the
New England and Southern lntercol-
Iegiate Association; two from the Mid
die w est, one ITO1l the dCili1 Soe's'e'
and one at large, not identified with
any college. and to be elected by the
others. The tribunal to assemble, not
as counsel for their respective col
leges but as predetermined gentlemen
concerned in the health and develop
ment of American college sport No
paid coach or trainer or physical oil
rector" to be eligible to this tribunal.
The decisions of the tribunal To be ac-
cepted as final.
In Early England.
Here is Mr.. Meyers account of
football and its vicissitudes in early
England:
AT Derby football was played for
centuries also and always on Shrove
Tuesday, and the legend stated that
the game commemorated victory
over the Romans in the third century
How football came to be feature OF
Shrove Tuesday no one knows, yet IL
was anciently so. for in the first writ
ZEN record of the game William Fritz
stephen, who history of London was
published in 1115, relates that the
bows annually upon Shrove Tuesday
go into the fields and play at the
well-known game of ball. couple
of centuries later football became the
subject of imperial edicts. In 1914 Ed
L j.
effect: "For as much as there is great
noise in the city caused by hustllng
over large balls from which many
evils might arise which God forpid'
we forbid such game to be used IN
the city in future" The enactment
plainly questions the courtesy OF the
football players much more than IT
would be necessary to do at the
present day. In 1349 Edward III.
complained to the sheriffs of London
that 1.-THE skill at shooting with ar
rows was almost totally laid aside Tor
the purpose of various useless and un-
lawful games" among which he men
toned football. and ended by COM
manding that such idle practices De
suppressed. Richard II. in 1889 for
babe throughout the kingdom all
playing at tennise, football, and other
such importune games. But foot
ball could not be downed even by the
I.ancasters In Scotland James III. IN
1857 decreed that 'footballe and
collie be utterly cryed down and not
TO be used" while his successor In
worse English, and with no more sue
cess. enacted a statute providing that
Gin ma place of this realme Their be
used futeball, golfe. or other six UNI
profitable sportes. Nevertheless
their laws were inadequate. for a poet
few years later wrote that
1.-THE sturdie plowman, hustle. strong
and bold,
Overcometh the winter with driving
the footeball,
Forgetting labour and many griev-
Gus fall.
Beginning of Football.
A book published at Venice in 1855.
by Antonio Scaino relates methods OF
play in the real football that was actu-
ally called by the same name. The
field was so large that no one, how
ever strong. could quite throw stone
from one end to the other, and it
was about half as wide. Twenty, thlr-
tv. or forty persons could participate,
on a side, the number being regulated
by the size of the available field. Goals
were set up at either end. No one
was permitted To strike the ball with
the outstretched arm or with anything
he might carry in his hand. Never
theless, he was permitted to strike
the ball with whatever part OF his
body that he pleased If the ball
came rolling toward him he was al
lowed to kick it. the inference being
that if ii were lying still he could
not do so. The field was divided by
Il transverse line
Into two equal parts, and in the
middle lay the ball. The players
were chosen, those who were go
ing to make up the opposing par
ties, by means of colors. by which
i'm the struggle of the contest,
each could recognize his own side.
When the signal was given by the
roll of the drum ar the blast OF
trumpet, a player rushed for
ward one who had been chosen
BY lot to be the first to kick the
ball with his foot. This action
was understood to be the begin
ming of the contest, so that after
it it was permitted to no one from
either party to seize it. TO strike
it. and to drive it as victor over
the goal 1t was perhaps from
the method of beginning the game
that it was called football.
These Italian games had their origin
in the ancient pastimes of the Creek
anal Romans, and in reality approach
nearer 10 the modern idea of football
than do the beginnings of the gam
in northern countries. Football Is
believed by some authorities TO haV
boo norton of The wOrShiO of the