Evening star., 1908-02-03
FACTS ABOUT NEW
FOOT BALL RULES
Entirely Different Construc-
ton on Changes and
the Reasons.
By E. 3. Bushnell.

By =. Il. Bushnell.
| A sane use of the forward pass is as
| sured for the foot ball season of 1905 as a
| result of the meeting of the intercollegiate
| foot ball rules committee one week ago.
| The committee. however, did not follow
the~advice of either of the factioes which
had extreme views for the remedy Of ex-
| listing evils Had it done SO the pay
would either have been abolished or given
| unlimited license. Either alternative would
have been fatal to the future success of
| the game.
What the committee did was accom-
plished solely as a compromise measure.
| and when it's action is fully understood
| foot ball experts everywhere will proba-
bly, agree that the committee acted with
more wisdom than it knew. To DIR. Carl
| Williams, who succeeded John c. Bell as
pennsylvania s representative on the COM
| mittee. must be given chief credit for en-
g1neer1ng the compromise measure. DIR.
Williams had some radical ideas of his
own which he wanted to put through. but
when he realized the hopelessness of the
task of reconciling the two factions to
either view he brought forward a COM
promise.
This compromise was intended primarily
to prevent the indiscriminate throwing
about of the ball on the forward pass
WHICH idsl year almost SpOll6u the play
A second evil which ii was sought to
amend was the rule, or lack of rules.
which permitted members of the team
| making forward pass to either hold or
butt out of the way opposing players
seeking to catch the forward pass The
| Pennsylvania-Ind and the Princeto ton
Indian games brought both evils before
| the college world with great emphasis
and after seeing the two contests in ques-
| ton the critics were unanimous in their
c,ycfn f1,oN ~
remedied
In the Penn-1ndian game the red men
| surprised the college world with a series
of marvelously long forward passes which
had no particular aim or direction. The
Indians merely aimed to fire the ball down
the field far as possible. trusting to
luck tc recover it or by butting out of the
way their Pennsylvania opponents re-
cover the tall on the bound. These tactics
made the play safe and it won the game
for the red men.
Pass a Boomerang.
But the play as used against Pennsyl-
vania proved the undo.ng of the Indians
the very next week. when they played
Princeton. Half dozen or more Tiger
coaches saw the Penn game from the
press box, and they conceived very novel
and effective way of killing this play.
Taking advantage of the rule which or
derS that the penalty for an incompleted
forward pass shall have precedence over
any other penalty, including holding the
Princeton men deliberately held the In
dians trying to catch tie ball on the for
ward pass. Their aim, of course, was to
make the ball hit the ground before an
Indian could touch it.
This put the ball back fifteen yards
from the spot from which the pass wa
made. and the Indians play proved
boomerang. particularly since under the
circumstances there could be no penalty
for Princeton's holding.
The rule makers came to the conclu-
sion that the tactics of both teams were
bad for the game. To get rid of the long
forward pass. which was made so indis
criminately. the rule makers provided
that only one man eligible to receive the
ball could touch 1t. and that IL a player
eligible to recover the pass touched and
fumbled 1t he alone could recover it for
the side which made the pass. Under the
old rules teams put a premium on the long
pass and touching the ball rather thar
catching it. Now all this Is changed
Since only one man can touch and receive
the forward pass accuracy in passing an6
receiving the ball will be strongly insisted
upon at all times This accuracy mus
therefore tend to eliminate the long passes
and develop the short ones, which will be
welcomed both by spectators and players.
In order to prevent holding by the de
Tending side the committee has ruled tina
the players OIL Tie u6IeHSe IluSL 10 UOWf
the field under precisely the same cond-
tions as on a kick, and can only use thei1
hands in pushing an opponent out of the
way. Both Of these provisions will do g
great deal toward reforming the game
and eliminating the most undesirable fea
lures of the forward pass.
Should Number the Players.
The men who deserve the most sym
pathy under the new rules are the off,
cials. who must now be more argus-eyed
than ever. Not only must they determint
instantly whether or not the pass wen
five yards to one side of center, but they
must be able to distinguish for whom the
pass was intended and to be right on the
spot to make sure that the right man
recovered the ball.
In this connection it is to be regretted
that the committee did not make pro-
vision for numbering the players. which
would have made 1t much easier for the
officials to tell whether or not the righ
man got the ball. There is sure to be a
great deal of confusion without this aid
Another very good reason for number
ing the players is the assistance 1t woul,
be to the spectators. The percentage o
spectators who can distinguish individual
players is extremely small. and 1t Is only
natural that the crowd should want to
know who makes particular play OF
touchdown. In track athletics and Other
Sports the cOlnpelltOTS are numbered. aHC
the ease with which they could be num-
bered in foot ball compels one to wond /
why this most desirable reform should
be delayed year after year.
Yale's Unknown Captain.
How big university foot ball captain
is elected has had a striking demonstra-
tion at Yale within the last ten days,
when the Ellis chose Robert Burch who
only won his ''Y'' by playing in the last
ten minutes of the Harvard game, was
chosen captain for 1908. The delay of
two months in holding the election and
the turning down of the veteran Brides
for the substitute Burch naturally anger
ed the Yale undergraduates and was the
cause of host of letters from alumni
all over the country. Everybody at Yale
admitted that Brides deserved and was
the best fitted for the position of cap
tain. yet because he was a medical stu
dent and not a college man he had to
step aside. Apparently any kind of a
man from the college department was
preferable to the finest specimen the
medical school or any of the professional
schools for that matter could furnish.