The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1833-1916, 1906-12-02
FOOTBALL ON PACIFIC COAST.
AFTER A YEAR OF RUGBY AMERI-
can GAME rs FAVORED.
Rugby Must he Compared, Say western
COIIcsians. Not with Mass Game but
with REFORMED Football -EngIish
Game1sspeciaIly Unpopular I'm schools.

SamoFspcciAiy LupOpuiAF im scn0DhS.
Three different solutions Of the football
reform problem have been tried. In the
East Columbia has covered herself with
distinction of a certain sort takin to extinc-
tionl by abolishing the game, while other
colleges have played the new game. the game
Of the Onside kick and forward pass. Of the
ten yards to gain and the neutral zone"
In the Far West. on the Coast, the Rugby
game has been tried. The story of the<ex-
pertinent is seasonable and mighty interest
ing. and not very nattering to the ~expOnents
Of the English game for American colleges.
At Stanford, for instanoe-and Stanford is
the Coast champion for ls0e-there is a vigor-
Gus demand for the new American revised
game.
The advocates Of the reformed American
game at Stanford insist that comparisons
must be made not between Rugby and the
game Of 1904. In which mass play was pre-
dominant. but between Rugby and the open
game Of 1905. Special claims made for the
English game In California were: First. its
open play. But the Stanford students argue
that the reform game Is Just as open. and
they emphasize this-more In accord with
the spirit of American sport, striking the
falrest possible balance between individual
work and team play. Secondly. 1t was ar gued
that the Rugby game. being new to the Coast.
could be supervised from the start with the
IueH Oh Keeping OUT Inc SVub Oh COU1mcT-
cialLsm." But. Is the answer. this ~watchword
-conAmercialism- is borrowed from the East,
and the spirit Of II has never invaded the inter-
! collegiate sport OF the Far West. Thirdly. the
advocates Of Rugby argued that Its adoption
would do away with the idea Of sport for the
sake OF winning, and would be a game for the
many, not for the few. To this the new
football" people reply. with a years ex-
perience to back them up, that this year. as
nrevinualv tha faama have baen nointed for
a Anal championship contest. while the num-
Der of candidates for the team was practi-
cally the same as the year before.
A summary Of the seasons history shows
that the attempt to introduce Rugby into the
preparatory schools of California was a fail
ure. High schools in and about Frisco and
the n~eighboring cities played the game under
the revised rules used universally in the East.
In the high school Of Palo Alto. the Stanford
town, where the school authorities made a
determined stand for the English game, 1t
was only after suspending seven students that
they were able to coerce the school into play
ing Rugby. One. small college, Coiumblalike
dropped the sport entirely. The attempt to
transplant the English game made trouble
| because It was impossible to wipe out at a
stroke the old traditions. and because the
milder spirit of English sport could not be
grated upon the sturdy American stock.
A the Stanford SeQuoid puts 1t edltorially:
We began with Rugby thirty years ago. and
IL has taken three decades to build up the
splendid game that is all our own"
But the hardest obstacle the Rugby people
had TO buck up against was the fact that re-
form" football, the open game, was having
and little. Of the East. Aleck Chalmers. cap
' tain of Stanford's 1906 team. is dead against
ses hsf ioE T tSe old s "a SdsO he a W MHasai in Sq re-
Spouse to a request for his opinion. Il can't
say that it is. There were many objections
| ~ tho. old aapna hnf fha Anly iunnnrfanf nnA
Is that Of the mass plays They, don't APP
peal TO the spectators. and much less to the
TOO great a strain, Such plays should be
done away with. and they are done away with
in the game as it is now played IN the East.
There ia. no reason why this American
game can't be made even more open than 1t
is without further change Of rules--such as
Riac5Esll It's sne pIa Ss' aS nd f H,fnSas Ss are m S%s
constant than they are. In Rugby. Every
man Is detached and free % use his skill
as he il taught. In Rugby half Of the players
are strung out clear across the field, while
the other half are tightly damned together,
one foot for pushing and the other for hook
ing the ball out. Such a formation Is too
much like mass play. With main strength as
We changed to Rugby because the Ameri-
can game. was. corrupted in the East; nov
almost universally. Why shouldn't we con-
slider tat least give it one years trial?"
Others are with ex-Captain Chalmers.
fearing that II a stand is made for the oher
game the faculty will put the ban, on football
no bread, but most men prefer 10 makes
bold try for the whole loaf. A good argument
brought forward by the anti-Rugby majority
il that next fall the English game will be
harder to boom than ever, because the new
rules have made good and there will be no
the sport in any form was in danger.
" to the star attraction. the Stanford
California game. its history: as told IN one
season Of 1900. That year California. having
Won in 1898 by % and in ises BY 800.
men. and after a desperate struggle Stanford
won il was "A one man victory, Bill Traeger.
whom Stanford people hail as the greatest
tackle they ever had, scoring the winning
points. Now. say the Stanford people. Fem
tons name must stand with. that Of. Trae-
this years game for his team and college.
When il was decided TO play Rugby In their
annual match, i Vas 2 hard problem thai the
s sSsG the oscar game ef pIsSsd . in s New EsaI sn9 aad
Stanford refused to accept the resignation
| of her old coach, flanagan. who had landed
two rim Sh nr 10 sEitisb c tsS@s LANA SSe Tsp h. tS SSs
a chance to study the Rugby. game. At
! first the students OF the colleges looked upon
the new game with apathy, but az they sue
ceeded in defeating other and some older
teams, a certain amount OF enthusiasm de-
| ~ "t' NV 49," ~ 49, rtsNs NhSy AOoNCu
for.
The story of the match would be interesting
to tell and read, but still more interesting
is they way IL appealed TO the spectators.
IL was heart breaking. said an unpreju-
diced observer. The excit enent was ire
mrndous. but it lacked the definiteness OF
our own game the straight advance, the
! crashing, varied attack. the stubborn de-
| fence: Il lacked science and strategy. IL
was individual play largely. and there was
mighty little generalship about IL. When
Fenton made his goal everybody knew what
| a. dafpu The rest nf the ffma va w = Iii
pretty much at sea" To understand the
| difference betw cen the English and the Amer
| lean judgment Of the merits Of 4ugby, one
| should read the chapter In -"TOA Brown
| describing "A school match, and the American
college papers comment on the Stanford
California match.
4 former Eastern varsity player, who was
| Ia Caifornia at the time and took in the games,
declares emphatically that Rugby will never
do for the Eastern colleges. Rugby may
do for the Englishmen," he says. but our
own game is best for u.s."
BROOkLlN BOYS WIN EASILY.