The Pacific commercial advertiser. [volume] (Honolulu, Hawaiian Islands) 1885-1921, 1908-11-20
By A: L. Castle.


Several articles have appeared in re-
cent Honolulu papers severely critieiz-
ing the American game of football. 1t
is to be noted that none of these arti-
cles was written by anyone acquainted
with the present game of football. In
fact, the vast majority of such articles
are written by people who do not I'M
derstand the game, do not play the
game, and frequently by ones who have
never seen the game. At Harvard,
when the question arose as to whether
football should be abolished or not, a
committee was appointed, and in the
committee meeting a member asked
"what the white lines were for on a
football field" The gentleman writ
ing the minute report made it ''proud
boast he had never seen a game. Fit
men were these to judge of the great
American camel Yet there were enough
sane men on the committee to save the
game, in spite of the fact that the
undergraduate body did not have voice
in the proceedings. The only article
written in support of the game here
vertiser.
Contrast with the Advertiser editorial
the one appearing in the Star of We'd
nesday, November IS. The Star says,
Football, as played on American
fields, has had very small element of
science as compared to the element of
brute strength, used in a manner cal
culated to arouse passion and personal
hostility. The prizefighter in the ring
uses more skill by far in mauling his
opponent than the football gladiato@ of
the line This statement is absolutely
false, and it's very ferocity condemns
it. There is no analogy between foot
ball and prizefghting. In the latter,
the object is to strike your opponent;
in the former, if you strike your OPP
ponent you are promptly ruled off the
field. Football is not smuggling match.
The "passion and personal hostility is
not there, and any attempt to infiict
injury is severely dealt with under the
modern rules. Brute strength is not the
primary requisite, but team work, skill,
and science. Let the Star pick team
of prizefghters and have it captained
by Jeffries. Then let them play Har-
ward or Yale and the eleven prizefght-
ers would come off the field a very
much surprised set. They wouldn t
have chance, and their "brute
strength" would go for naught
The Advertiser in its sporting pages
of November 10 speaks of there being
three factions in Honolulu: the parents
of Punahou and High School children
who are opposed to football; the stu
dents themselves who are in its favor;
and the twentyfour British who want
Rugby as the true solution of the prob
lem. OF course, we like to hear the
British lion roar, but suggest that pos
sibly there is another faction in Homo
lulu which has a right to be heard,
namely, the younger alumni of Punahou
and the High School who have played
the game of football, and know what
they are talking about. They know
that the game is a good one and will
not be supplanted in the absence of
faculty prohibition, the which they
would strenuously oppose.
We do not mean to cry down Rugby.
It probably is an excellent game, and
the ones who play it are its best judges
Just so it is possible that those who
play the American game are its most
judges. 1t is suggested also
hat the crying down of a game during
it's season is i'll timed. Wait until af-
forwards, and then criticize the season,
and the game as a whole.
1t is true Rugby is now played at
California and Stanford, because foot
ball was prohibited at those univer-
stiles by the faculty. For no other
reason was the American game abolish
ID. Not even the most ardent Rugby
viii contend that such in
crest is shown in Rugby at the Cali
'ornia universities as was formerly
hOwn in the American game. This is
proved by the total attendance at the
,ames, as well as by statements of
'alifornia students.
Further. Honolulu will probably not
'ollow the lead of the Pacific Coast in
sports. To an outsider it would seem
hat Honolulu obviously would. But it
must be remembered that among college
men here the East is in the strong
Harvard and Yale alone have
Yearly hundred representatives, while
Princeton. Williams, Michigan. and 9TH
r colleges far east of the Pacific Coast,
ave a strong hold here. More interest {
5 taken here in the Harvard Yale game
han in the California Stanford, and the
endency among scholars is to go East
f possible Hence if Harvard and Yale
tick to the American game the chances !
re Punahou and the High School will {
The people who criticize the inter
Ollegiate game perhaps have ideas of |
reat mass plays, and dirty work At ]
east recent articles insinuate a chance