The Bridgeport evening farmer., 1911-11-15
FIuke Goals Not
 To Be Counted in
 ; Games Next Year
Football Authorities Will Change Rule SO That Princeton Dartmouth EiascO Won't
 Happen Again

F1uke goals may be barred hereaf- ter. Yale. Harvard and Princeton are likely to get together, and come to some agreement relative to counting possible field goals made by drop or place kicks that hit the ground and hop over the crossbar. No real foot baller wants to gain a victory on a technicality. But under the present wording of the rules the officers have no other alternative than allowing a field goal if the ball bounds over the crossbar after first hitting the ground.
 It is pretty generally felt that as a matter of equity an accidental bound off the turf should not be construed into being a field goal. At the con- ferences of the interpretation commit tee this very thing has been brought up on more than one occasion; but tLe likelihood of it ever occurring seemed so remote that the committee never gave it more serious consideration than they do many other freak plays which may be imagined but which snever, or hardly ever, happen When ever the question was brought up it was understood that the fiuke goal was to be decided according to the wording of the rule. The rule gov erning a goal from the field is as fol- lows:
 "A goal from the field is made by kicking the ball from the fielf of play over the crossbar of the opponents goal in any way except by punt or kickoff. If the ball passes directly over one of the suprights or if after being kicked it strikes an opponent and then passes over the crossbar or one of the uprights it shall count a goal"
 A goal from the field should be a clean kick, the ball going over the bar on the. fly. Of course sometimes a perfectly executed kick is partly blocked by an opponent, but such in- terference should not mean the loss of the goal. w "But.'' says. an expert, "when the poorest kind of a kick luckily hits the ground so as to bound over the cross bars that seems to be radically against the. spirit of the play. Rules. are not kick should count because Of an ex- traordinary f1uke. Ordinarily poor kick like Dewitt s%would have rolled along as kicks usually do until picked up by an opponent and run back. Any drop kick which is so bad that it hits the ground a few feet in front of the kicker doesn't deserve to be regarded as a score producing play"
 The fact, thatthe same play was re- garded in opposite ways by two ref erees on Saturday has not surprised the Yale coaches. The latter agree Wtlu MIAt lnCtupSOa, WHO QcCidIcu at Andover that the goal claimed was not in accordance with the spirit sof football, and with Referee Langford, at Princeton, that the logic of the let ter of the rules made it almost neces- sary for him to call the goal legal
 Coach Cavanaugh of. Dartmouth said: "No one should blame Princeton for the unfortunate scoring, but Lang ford certainly interpreted the rule lit erally without regard to the spirit of the game. His decision placed prem ium. on miserable attempt at a field goal. I have received letters from many coaches and we'll known author ities, who have asked me why did not protest the decision or at least have it held up. To all of them have answered that we agreed on Langford as the referee and will stand by his decision. can safely predict, however, that before next season that rule will be definitely interpreted so that poor attempt such as De Wits will not count three points, while a beautiful trial such as Hogsett's will go for naught"