The Birmingham age-herald. [volume] (Birmingham, Ala.) 1902-1950, 1910-08-07
REFORM OF FOOTBALL

| one foot upon the ground. 1T was the
mass play and the forward pass that
occupied the committee for seven days
and a large part of the intervening
nights
| Princeton, with the University of Chi
| cago, proposed as remedy for massed
interference an extension of Rule xvii, SO
| as to require seven men of the offensive
side to stand upon the line of scrinl-
mage 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 clint
mating the familiar spectacle of 20 years
standing of a player being whirled
through the line. Aftsr PROLONGED ,, de-
this proposition was adopted. This rad
ical change means the return of that
| style of game which characterized the
| late sos. The rush line will probably
| play a widely extended line this fall and
the man with the ball at all times will
be in full view of the spectators. With
the abolition of flying tackles line plung-
| ing will be the same as end running,
quick dash through an open line.
1t was obvious to the committee
| that this drastic change would re-
| duce the offensive strength OF the game
more than half and that 1t was In
cumbent to restore in some way the
| equilibrium of the game which must
maintain at all times so far as the
rules are concerned a fair struggle
between the offense and the defense
and thus prevent scoreless or heavily
| scoring games. This condition the
committee met by removing the re-
striction upon the forward pass and
| the quarterback run which hitherto has
required each of these plays to be eX-
ecuted five yards distant from the GEN.
| off IF these
changes means the disappearance Of
! the position of quarterback since un-
der the now rules any back may carry
the ball through the line at any point
upon a snap direct fgom center II
the quarterback goes the present meth
cd of swapping the ball VIII go. snap
ping 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
1t is certain that the coaching genius
of the country will devise a better
way of sending the ball back from
center than the present method wh1ch
| has existed for 81 years. This change
means a 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, fieet
of foot and keen of mind. 1t means
the return of the beautiful passes or
the eighties when each man as he was
tackled passed the ball to an associate
for a further advance rather than hug
ging 1t to his chest and falling down
upon It, Strange to say, the unre-
stricted quarterback run Is not new.
1t came In with the Rugby union code
| In 1875 and lasted unchanged until the
| intercollegiate convention of OCTOBER
/ hn rraaY W n
first receives the ball from the snap
back shall be called the quarterback
and he shall not rush forward with
| the ball under penalty of foul.
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 committed.
| however. has aided these men In the
performance of their duties by abohsh- :
ing the famous "halves' of football and
substituting instead four quarters or
| Is minutes duration thereby reducing
| the playing time of game by ~
minutes and giving two additional pc
RODS of rest. This is the custom or
the Canadian game. In connection
herewith the committee has provided
| that player once removed may re-
turn once again to play. 1t Is believed
that this privilege Will prevent good
man from playing to exhaustion rath :
err than leave the game to which he
cannot return. Nor is 1t new. This
also was in the original Ruby game
and was not abolished until the con-
vention of March 81. 1890.
In the matter of the 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 play
| ers recovering the pass to violent per-
| sonal collisions and second, by forcing
| the secondary defense to play at least 10
wards behind the line of scrimnage to
| protect the forward pass zone 1t mas
| brought upon the unsupported tackles the
| dangerous continuous mass plays. me
specific problem before the committee
was to protect the men recovering the
mass and still not disturb the very foun-
dation of the game. You may say as
many have suggested, Simply forbid q
PLAYER to interfere with another while
recovering the forward pass But this
brings up the query, How can the play
ers on defense know that the men COM
ing down the field are to take a forward
passY" They may intend to recover
kick or they may be leading running
I%olay. Thus 1t became obvious to the COM
mittee that one rule must be round Whlcn
would take into consideration all three
contingencies. This has been done by
prescribing that the players on defense
NAV try to catch ball when passed
forward and that any interference by
them which is incidental to bona f1de
attempt to get the ball shall be permls-
sible, but that no playeA shall be per-
mitted to ignore the flight of the ball
and violently put his opponents out OF
the play as heretofore. This idea OF an
incidental interference obtains in the Aus
tralian game, where it has worked sue
cessfully
In order to balance up the equilibrium
of the game and also to prevent the long
forward pass from displaclng the punt
n has been found necessary to establish
a 9o-vard zone behind the defensive rush
line. forward passes to be recovered with
in n. on-side kicks to be recovered be-
yond 1t.
These numerous changes in the often
sive game will bring about automatically
corresponding changes defepsively. Thus
It will probably be found that seven men
are no longer necessary to maintain the
defensive rush line and that one or these
men NAV be transferred to the back field.
with the playing time reduced ten min
utes teams 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 quarters.
Now that this. the final reform In the
long line of revisons has been erected,
NAV we expect an injuryless game? No,
for no game involving physical contact
and played with the American spirit
which seeks to excel and to win can exist
without accidents. Football, baseball,