Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-13
Playing Foot Ball All Winter.

Mr. Kennard speaks of organising a
professional foot ball league on the plan
of base ball league. Heartily we wish
he could. That would be real foot ball
six months in year, two games a week.
But without wishing to discourage Mr..
Kennard, we dare him to do it.
In the first place we will find that he
can get, say, twenty-five men to play two
games a week for six months and stand
the strain Of the American game. In the
next place he will find that it is the
fashion and not love OF ingrained love Of
the sport that sends two or three great
crowds year out to see foot ball games.
Let Yale and Harvard play In second
game on December ! and we doubt that
they would draw 5000 persons. where
they draw $4,000 about November %. The
ground and the American climate will
also operate against an all-winter foot
ball league. Not in one point has Mr.:
Kennard got anything with him. At all
points everything is against him. But
we hope that he can do it.
Truly we wish that instead of Mis-
souri, University playing Iowa Univer-
sity we had Missouri playing Iowa. and
st. Louis playing Chicago. not a uni
versity from each city playing. In
Great Britain many men have played
for years for England. Ireland. Scotland
and Wales. We wish that Ben Thomp-
son. the great Missouri center Of 1896,
was still playing for Missouri. The
state would know Ben as it knows
Wallace. the base ball player. Not many
people in Missouri know who Is the
center of Missouri University, which
plays at Sportsman's Park today.
That is it. We wish that it we're
possible to play foot ball all winter,
to pick teams as base ball teams may
be picked. from all the players OF the
state. not from one school
Wed like to see St Louis, Kansas
represented on Missouri team. We'd
like to see township teams and county
teams and city teams, just as they have
them in England. Wed like to see Mis-
souri, with the best men of twenty
years foot ball play Illinois and Kan
sas under similar conditions. We'd like
to see a great annual foot ball game or
a great annual series Of foot ball games
between st. Louis and Chicago. st.
Louis and Pittsburg. Kansas City, New
York. Boston and other cities Wed
like to see north against south and
transmississippi against cismississippf
teams. and America against the Brit
ish empire. That would be foot ball. as
we understand it. South Africa and
England Too bad that we cannot have
these teams. Irish, Engis IN and Scotch
teams. play in America. That we can
not is due to Mr.. Camp In his sure
thing methods They not only spoiled
pretty good game-they made inter-
national matches impossible. Yale did
American foot ball a bad turn when she
threw down her goal posts.
American Rugby IL an illegitimate
game We can't play with other coun-
tries. We can and do play cricket and
golf and polo and lacrosse with other
countries. We have taken all our sports
from England, and only one. have we
spoiled. That is Rugby foot ball.
We can't see American Rugby save
at one point. The strong young man
finds it fun to play 1t. It Is a bully
"russle" for the husky youth horse
play, something like q class fight or a
cane rush. AS game Of public inter-
est IT. has no existence outside Of col
lege towns and college circles. It is
Just a college spasm. like the old ora
base ball, for boys and for men.