Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1910-11-13

graduate of Harvard, who has fortunately
missed the Brahfninism with which SO
many Harvard men seem to become al
fected writes an. afternoon paper tnat
the new rules have made foot pah
kicking game" IL the new rules nave
really made the use of the foot part OF
foot ball their makers are to be congratu-
lated. For. so far. American Rugby never
has been foot ball.
As far as making tire game kicking
one we have not seen it so In TINS neck
Of the woods. American foot oali is not
and we doubt that it ever VIII be KICK
ing game" This for the reason that the
game season is not long enough or the
conditions of play such as will permit
PLAYER to become good kicker. Then
the "cinch'' spirit of the game is against
taking the chance which the free Dali
gives the opposing team.
Ii the base ball season was OF put tWo
months duration. there would De rev
good fielders or good hitters. 1T taxes
two months to fit base ball player to
hit and TO field and to train the eye and
the hand 1t should take three mohths
to fit a foot ball player. In Englano tne
great matches are all played In march,
after the PLAYERS have had almost or fully
five months work.
MOI q SpOIIA08 = IOPOSASAoA'
The American game is not a sporting
proposition When the snapback was
changed from the old scrimmage, where
in the ball was put down and kicked out
one way or the other. a good deal OF the
sporting chance was taken out of the.
game This was done at Yale. The idea
was to leave nothing to chance TO give
the stronger attacking team the pail so
long az II cOuid advance ii five yards In
three downs.
II was had craftsmanship that made the
snap back manual instead of pedal
contemporary refers to the peculiar
sportsmanship which led the undergradu.
ates of Yale to throw down their goal
posts that Harvard might be deprived OF
the touchdown she had made and Yale
saved from defeat. That was good Sports
manship. was il not? Twould be like
stealing the pitching rubber. home plate
and other bases In base ball game
when the home team was losing.
We do not know OF any more successful
man than Walter Camp. Mr.. Camp spent
thirty years of his life improving Rug
by" When he had done the best he could
the country arose and threw his handi-
work In the waste-paper basket
sad commentary on the life and works
. of Walter Camp the so-called father of
I. foot ball
/. Not very long ago a Yale graduate said
= tn us: IF the rules are bad let Walter
: Camp amend them. He will do 1t right.
One might as well say. Let Nelson AL
drich amend the Aldrich-Payne tariff
law
We know of no man who knows less
real foot ball and who has done SO much
to spoil foot ball as Walter Camp. He
began by destroying the sporting
chance which gave the weaker team an
opportunity when he did away with the
kicking scrimmage and substituted the
cinch manual snapback for 1t. Then,
when weak teams would lose ground to
hold the ball and to keep 1t from the
stronger elevens came the 5-yard game
rule. This provoked the fundament
of all trouble of all bad foot ball.
death and OBSERVATION-DISCLOSURES. In
reference is foul; . 1t is G n,ssS,,,
men of his own side have no more right
TO precede a man carrying a ball than
they have to precede the opposing side
in catching a punt. Plainly a man run
ming in advance of a man carrying the
bali has no right to pick up a tumble
which comes to him from behind. 1t
should be as much off-side as to make a
fair catch of a punt kicked from behind.
The forward pass is the very rottenest
sort of foot bail In its perfect and legiti-
mate form it makes foot ball basket ball.
Rugby's Poor Origin.
We are not very ardent admirers of
English Rugby, but 1t is ten times a more
serviceable. useful more sportsmanlike
and more admirable game than American
Rugby Poor craftsmanship leveled Yales
goal posts when Harvard had the Blue
beaten Poor sportsmanship cut out the
pedal scrimmage. "C1nch play brought
about the manual snap. Poor sportsman
ship brought about interference, the curse
and bane of American Rugby. Poor
craftsmanship brought about the 5-yard
gain. What sort OF sportsmanship was IL
that held a ball even at the cost Of lost
ground rather than take chance Of los
ing it to an opponent who had chance
TO gain and score?
Americans took Rugby foot ball and
thoroughly ruined IL with too many
rules and circumstances. Suppose that the
fields in base ball were marked off with
IO-yard lines and CROSSINGS and check
cred at the foot ball field was last sea-
son. Suppose that safe hit into one square
meant triple; into another an out: into
third single. Suppose that one fielder
had certain limitations and another fielder
was relieved of these limitations. Suppose
that man was allowed to go only one
base on single. two bases on a double.
what sort OF a game would base ball be +?
: We have grave doubts of the suitability
Of any form of Rugby to American
ground. We scarce feel that English
Rugby belongs here, any more than we
feel that cricket does. The ground and
climate make cricket unpleasant in
America, The hard earth and the cold,
northern states are not as favorable to
Rugby as is the soft soil and equable win
ter of England.
Where Game Misses Out.
But whatever the virtues of English
= Rugby may be. American Rugby seems to