Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-08-14

one loot upon the ground. 1t was tine
| mass play and the forward pass that Oc-
| cupied the committee for seven days and
a large part of the intervening nights.
! Princeton. with the University of Chi
cago, proposed as a remedy for massed
| interference an extension of rule II SO
to require seven men of the offensive side
| to stand upon the line of scrimmage and
| to prohibit players Of this side from
aiding the man carrying the ball or one
another by hands, arms or body, either
in pushing or pulling, thus eliminating
| the familiar spectacle of twenty years
| standing Of player being whirled
through the line. After prolonged debate
and considerable experimentation this
change means the return of that style of
game which characterized the late 'SOs.l
| The rush line will probably play a widely
! extended line this fall. and the man with
of the spectators. With the abolition of
| flying tackles line plunging will be the
same as end running, quick dash
| through IAN open line.
Reduces Offensive Strength.
| 1t was obvious to the committee that
this drastic change would reduce the Of
fensive strength of the game more than
| half and that it was incumbent to re-
| store in some way the equilibrium of the
game which must maintain at all times
| so far as the rules are concerned fair
struggle between the offense and the de-
Tense and thus prevent scoreless or .heav-
lily scoring games. This condition the
committee met by removing the restric-
! ton upon the forward pass and the
quarterback run, which hitherto has re-
CURED each of these plays to be executed
five yards distant from the center. The
effect of the second of these changes
means the disappearance of the position
of quarterback since under the new rules
any back may carry the ball through the
| line at any point upon a snap direct from
| center. If the quarterback goes the pres
ent method of swapping the ball will go.
| Swapping the ball is defined under the
| rules as putting the ball in play with a
| continuous motion of the hand or foot"
Since the quarterback will be found this
| fall in the line or group of backs it is
certain that the coaching genius OF the
country will devise better way of send
ing the ball back from center than the
present method which has existed for
thirty-one years This change means
fast, open and running game in which
the premium no longer will be placed
upon players Of gigantic bulk, but in
which the ideal man will be the player
Of middle weight, fleet of foot and keen
Of mind. 1t means the return of the
beautiful passes of the eighties when each
man as he was tackled passed the ball
| to an associate for a further advance
rather than hugging it to his chest and
falling down upon it. Strange to say.
the unrestricted quarterback run is not
new 1t came in with the Rugby Union
code in 1876 and lasted unchanged until
! the intercollegiate convention Of October
Il, 1850. which prescribed, THE man Who
| first receives the ball from the snapback
shall be called the quarterback, and he
shall not rush forward with the ball
under penalty of FOUL
Accidents Last Fall.
The investigation into the accidents
of last fall disclosed the fact that
many were due to exhaustion. This
presents a condition that is beyond
rulemakers to remedy since it devolves
wholly upon players, their captain,
coach. trainer or medical supervisor.
The committee, however, has aided
these men in the performance of their
duties by abolishing the famous
halves" Of foot ball and substituting
instead four quarters Of fifteen minutes
duration, thereby reducing the playing
| time of a game by ten minutes and CIV
ing two additional periods of rest. This
is the custom Of the Canadian game
In connection Herewith the committee
has provided that player once re-
moved may return once again to play
1t is believed that this privilege will
prevent a good man from playing to
exhaustion rather than leave the game
to which he cannot return. Nor Is 1t
| new. This also was in the original
Rugby game and was not abolished un
til the convention of March 81 1890
In the matter of forward pass the
committee faced a difficult problem in
deed. The injurious effects Of this
play in the last three years have been
two-fold. First, it has subjected the
players recovering the pass to violent
lN,
ing the secondary defense to play at
least ten yards behind the line of
| scrimmage to protect the forward pass
zone it has brought upon the unsup-
ported tackles the dangerous continu-
Gus mass plays.
The specific problem before the COM
mittee was to protect the men recovering
the pass and still not disturb the very
foundation of the game. You may say
| as many have suggested. 'simply forbid
a player to interfere with another while
| recovering the forward pass But this
brings up the query, How can the
| players on the defense know that the
| men coming down the field are to take
recover a kick or they may be leading
a running play Thus if became obvious
to the committee that one rule must be
| found which would take into considera-
ton all three contingencies. This has
been done by prescribing that the players
on defense may try to catch a ball when
passed forward. and that any interference
| by them which is incidental to a bona
| fide attempt to get the ball shall be per-
| MISSILE, but that no player shall be
permitted to ignore the fight of the ball
| and violently put his opponents out of
| the play as therefore,. This idea of an
| incidental interference obtains in the
Australian game, where it has worked
| successfully.
| Twenty-Yard Zone.
In order 70 balance UP the equilibrium
| of the game and also to prevent the long
forward pass from displacing the punt. it
| has been found necessary to establish a
| twenty-yard zone behind the defensive
rush line, forward passes to be recov-
cred within it, on-sde kicks to be re-
covered beyond it.
These numerous changes in the often
sive game will bring about automatically
corresponding changes defensively. Thus
it will probably be found that seven men
/ are no longer necessary to maintain the
defensive rush line and that one of these
| men may be transferred to the back
! field. With the playing time reduced ten
| minutes, teams will will be able to play a
| greater number Of major games and
| with the strenuous mass play abolished
all games may be played with full quar-
tiers.
Now that this. the final reform in the
long line of reyiSiOpS has hean