Los Angeles herald., 1906-10-21

Rugby has no companion In the intelli.
gent, quick thinking American game.
The rules committee harkened so
well to the cry against mass play that
It Is almost eliminated. But they did
not say to the public: Don't you
know that open play Is rightfully dan.
gerous? Don't you know that hard
tackling in open field hurts the menu
The rules committee decided to stand
pat on the public demand and Insert
the rules asked for. still Keinath's
broken ankle and Bruch's broken shoul-
der were the results Of the open field
tacklins.
There win be a lot Of injuries iikc
that before the season Is over, but the
public will be satisfied because there
Will be no repetition Of the cases Of
men like Hurley of Harvard and Carter
of Columbia, who have quit the foot
ball game with their functions par
tally paralysed, and will be affected
for the rest Of their lives, no doubt.
Recovers Speedily
1t is notorious that 1t takes only a
very short while for a man i'm training
to get over broken bones, and no
doubt these first two men mentioned
and the others who are hurt this sea-
son will be at 1t again before the cam
paign is over.
sity one of fierce personal contact, Is
conducted at the cost of an occasional
case of broken bones or torn liEaments,
1t VIII be far better for Its own inter-
ests than the numbering type of the
year before.
Public patience with the game was
well nigh exhausted last year and the
public. at any event, is satisfied with
the introduction of rule that per-
mits &c TO have a say in the manage
ment of the game.
There was lively curiosity over the
first few games this season, because
those who have been puzzlne over It
were unable to guess how the new
games would look. They thought that
possibly Ii would be a. combination OF
basketball and Rugby and at any event
q thoroughly incomprehensible sort of
game. But their doubts were resolved
early. The first lineup showed that
1t was In some way the old game.
Spectators Can See Play
To be sure, the neutral zone idea
put the ball out OF plain view. The
loose formation of the line gave a fine
chance to the spectators to see the In
ception and purpose Of the play. 1t
was no wonder that many coaches put
in lot of time looking up trick ideas,
because some of the plays are SO OBJ
vious that unless they end in a trick
of some kind they never will succeed
at all.
The forward passes have not been
very long in any game. The men have
depended upon short, sharp passes,
with the idea of keeping the ball safe
in their own possession. even If at the
expense of ground gaining.
A feature of the practice has been
the men dashing around swapping the
ball quickly and catching and passing
it again on the run, in order to make
sure that they can do this in the game.
This part of the work has proceeded
slowly and has shown itself to be one
of the hardest things to be mastered
under the new rules.
The so-caled basketball pass, with
the hands high above the head, giving
a chance to turn and twist in any di-
rection, even after being tackled. has
been taught to the Harvard men by
G. w. Randall. the former basketball.
baseball and football player of the
Crimson. and to Yale by Foster H.
Rockwell, the captain Of the Yale bas-
ketball team last year. for several
seasons quarterback on the eleven, and
now field coach of the team.
The value of this play will, of course,
not be so great among the western
teams, solely for the reason that out
west the basketball game played is
the no-contact game, which makes the
players try nothing but the low un-
derhand passes.