Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1905-11-12
MUST CHANGE RULES
Public Demands Foot Ball Be
Purged Of Brutality.

With each succeeding attack upon college
loot ball by those high in authority it be-
comes more and more certain that IL this
game survives 1t will have to undergo such
radical changes within the year that it will
scarcely be recognizable. The latest and
most sensational attack upon the game
comes from w. I. Reid, jr Harvard's
head coach. After his conferences with
President Roosevelt and President Eliot of
Harvard Mr.. Reid comes to the conclusion
that the game Is subject to too much bru-
tally and unfairness, and that unless these
Objectionable features can be removed by
a revision of the rules the sport should be
abolished altogether. Although Reid Is the
first coach to come out in the open with
such declaration his views on the subject
are accepted with more less reservation
by other leading coaches In the east
Any one who has been following the for
tunes of the game knows full we'll that 1t
will not be abolished, but 1t is certain that
the persistent attacks it has received, es-
pecially this fall, will compel the intercol-
legiate foot bail rules committee to make
some very radical changes during the COM
Ing winter Although the game is rough
1t is not this feature which has aroused
the storm. 1t is rather the tendency TO
smuggling and unfair tactics practiced by the
men in the line where neither the officials
nor the spectators can see.
Last spring the foot ball rules committee
declined to make any changes in the game
although importuned to do so on all sides.
This time they will be driven to it, not only
by college authorities. but by public SEN
timent as well. Walter Camp of Yale has
evidently seen new light, for after his
conference with President Roosevelt he took
hurried trip to Canada, where he viewed
the Canadian Rugby, which for years has
been held up to American college authori-
ties as a better and safer form of sport than
that which Is played on this SIDE The IN
PRODUCTION OF the association game has also
had its effect and unless the Rugby game
is reformed to a considerable extent it Is
sure to have difficulty in holding its own
as the leading college sport. Altogether
the criticism of the game has reached an
acute state. where Its only salvation is
radical action.
X X
Reading over the scores of the big Six
made a week ago, one would almost think
that the days OF this famous combination
were numbered. At the beginning of the
season the entire six-Yale, Harvard Penn
sylvania Princeton, Cornell and Columbia
started off on what looked to be remarkably
even terms But in less than five weeks
what a change. Three members of the
combination were defeated in a single day,
and a fourth tied. and with one exception
all accomplished by the despised minor
colleges" The oyer-confident Cornell team
was taken into camp by little Swarthmore
by the score of ii to o; Princeton lost to
Dartmouth to and Columbia to Yale by
yania brought up the rear by being tied
&C by Lafayette. the team Princeton had
previously beaten 22-4.
OF this sextette Harvard and Yale were
the only ones that finished with any glory
left, and Harvards was dimmed by the two
tOuchdowns which could not be denied to
the Indians. Yales superiority could not
be questioned by the way the Blue smashed
. l.. IL Il.
although tied by Lafayette, should have
won by three or four touchdowns to none,
and would have done so but, for Stevenson's
poor work and the fumbling of the entire
team.
But the defeats of Cornell and Princeton
were well deserved. 1t was the first real
tryout which the Ithacans have had this
season, and their exhibition was keen dis
appointment to their followers and the in
tereollegiate world in general. Ali year re-
ports have been coming from Ithaca laud-
ing the 1905 team to the skies. At the same
time Cornell was running up impressive
scores against her small opponents, and the
east was beginning to expect something ex-
traordinary from this years Cornell eleven.
1t was a matter Of profound surprise that
Cornell should have suffered such an igno-
minious defeat as she did. Swarthmore
rushed the Ithacans all over the field and
Warmers men never had a chance to score,
much less to win
/. There was more reason for Princeton's
defeat at the hands of Dartmouth, though
the score indicates that the Princeton eleven
is hardly bearing out the early season pros
poets of championship team. Dartmouth
has been playing game strong enough In
the last three years to entitle her to MEM
bership in the Big Six ahead of Column
bia. Dartmouth has beaten Harvard once
and tied her again and has now added
Princeton to her list.
But in defense of PriHcetons defeat 1t
should be said that the Tigers were suffer
ing from the effects of the grueling contest
thav bad wi he aely ions
in which Capt Cooney and one or two other
men were incapacitated. A peculiar feature
in connection with Dartmouth's victory was
the fact that Colgate, earlier in the year,
had beaten Dartmouth. The New Hamp-
shire college, however, had not then struck
its gait. and no one believes that Colgate
is really superior to Dartmouth.
X
Yale's triumph over Columbia has re-
vived the charges made in previous years
by nearly every member of the Big Six
that Columbia plays unnecessarily rough
foot ball. Harvard Yale and Princeton
once before broke on relations with CO.
lumbia on the ground that the Blue and
White played rowdy foot ball. Both Yale
and Princeton consented to renewal of
relations on the ground that coi9mpia haa
reformed, but Harvard has steadfastiy re-
fused to have anything to do with the New
Workers. Now both Yale and Princeton
charge Columbia with GRIPPING their play
ers BY unfair tactics and talk of dropping
Columbia The New Workers have yet to
play both Cornell and Pennsylvania and it
behooves them to play different style OF
game or they will have all the other MEM
bers OF the big Six" cutting them on their
schedule.
II the plans now being formulated do not
mlscarry there will be meeting between
the east and west In foot bali next year.
The University Of Pennsylvania win rep
resent the east and Michigan the west.
The news dispatches from Detroit during
37&chi6an authcf3fIea aS1Etn& for q post-se9-