The daily morning journal and courier., 1906-01-16
FOOTBALL ABOLISHED
 BY HARVARD OYERSEERS
GAME PROHIBITED PENDING 4 RADICAL CHANGE IN THE
 RULES.

Official Announcement Made Board
 Accepts Unanimously the Opinion of
 Special Committee That the Game
 as at Present Played Is Essentially
 Had In Every Particular--NO Mem
 ber of the Present SO-Called Inter-
 collegiate Football Committee Should
 Have Hand in Any Changes.
 Boston, Jan. 15.-Football has been abolished at Harvard, pending a reform in the game that will be acceptable to the board of overseers, according to an official announcement to-day from the university. The diseontinuance of the game is result of a vote taken last week at a secret meeting of the board of overseers, when it was decided that intercollegiate football at Harvard would not be permitted until the rules and regulations had been so changed and amended as to remove what the 1 overseers regard as the evils of the l unanimously the opinions of special committee that the game, as at present played, Is essentially bad in every re- spect, that the method of formation en- courages trickery and foul play, and that the result Is bad for the morals of the players as well as for the body The committee declared that if changes l WA ff,h hp 6a a m bGT of the so-called intercollegiate rules committee should have a hand in it., l the committee believing that these per- sons are so far committed to the pres ent system that they could not agree to such changes as are absolutely neces- sary to produce decent, clean, pleas urable contest. instead of the present apology for a rough-and-tumble fight"
 Football is fine game when prop erly played" the committee says. But the present method is thoroughly bad and ought to be stopped absolutely and finally. Any university taking this ac- ton will later be considered as bene- factor by many players, and by all low CTS of healthful, clean sport and fair play"
 Under the ruling of the overseers football is now in abeyance at the uni- versity until the committee on the reg ulations of athletic sports has made It's report to the board and until the board has accepted the new rules and regula- tions in every particular. Whether the reformed rules can be arranged and accepted In time for the resumption of football next season is prohlematical. Some determined action by the board of overseers had been anticipated in Harvard athletic circles, but the radi- cal attitude of abolishing the game al- together caused great sudprise amonk students and graduates.
 The committees report said.
 The method of formation absolutely encourages trickery and foul play, It is very difficult to see all that is done, even by the most careful and sharpest- eyed umpire, but the results are seen in many serious and even fatal acci- dents. It Is nearly impossible to line up twenty-two powerful and aggressive | young men opposite each other and now have some one lose his self-control and do what is wrong. So long as the larg- CT universities play the game in this way it is bound to have bad effect on the schoolboys. The result is bad for the morals as well as for the body,
 The committee then expresses the opinion that the intercollegiate rules committee should not have a hand in making changes, and adds:
 "A new committee could, it is be- lieved, formulate rules that while sim pie, would cause an absolutely differ ent result In this connection 1t is necessary to point out proper umpires are as necessary as good rules-mer who, unlike many of those used as such in late years, are ready and anx- ious instantly to punish any infrac- tion of the rules. Such men can be found, but few so far have shown the proper spirit and infiexibility. The re-
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