The Yale expositor. (Yale, St. Clair County, Mich.) 1894-current, 1911-12-07

Yale's Side of the Story.

Ii is indeed unfortunate that any ac.
cdent or mistake should occur to mar
the friendly relations existing between
| the athletic teams representing ale
and Marlette high schools. lt has al
ways been the aim of the local author
tiles to give visiting teams hearty
welcome and square deal, and no un.
biased person who witnessed the foot
ball game between Yale and Marlette
can truthfully say that the Marlette
team was rendered such an "unsquare"
deal as the awful wall from our neigh
boring press would have its readers be-
lieve. 1t is our frank opinion that the
report of the contest was badly distOrt-
ed after leaving the hands of the Mar
lette faculty, for a more fair minded
man than Mr.. Magee could not be de-
sired
However, we offer our apology for
the one unsportsmanlike assault which
occurred at the instance of one of the
| local spectators. We very much regret
this feature as it was not at all repre-.
sentative of the feeling existing on the
| field, in spite of the keen rivalry, and
| hope that such an accident may never
happen again.
During the entire game there was
not a single complaint entered con-
cerning any interference of the crowd
with the linesmans apparatus and Mar
lette had their own lnesman, field judge,
time. keeper and official who refereed
one half of the game and umpired the
other half. Certainly any such inter
| ference would have been detected by
Marlette's officials if it had actually
occurred. Marlette's penalties were all
nd nl q
guilty of more infractiOns of the rules
than they were penaliZed for, then the
Marlette officials were equally at fault
with the Yale officials in failing to en-
force the rules. Whenever any dis
pute occurred among the officials, ap-
peal was always made to the faculty
representatives of the two schools and
their decision taken as final.
After talking with many accepted
authorities on the intricacies of the
foot ball rules we are unable to fathOm
the mystery whereby our opponents
were able to make touchdown on a
triple pass when Yale was III possession
of the ball at the time in question. The
truth of the matter is that when the
| Yale quarterback made forward pass
a Marlette lineman broke through,
knocked the ball to the ground, recOv-
cred it and ran over the goal line. At
ter consulting with Mr.. Magee, the
Marlette faculty representative, and
Mr.. Gleason, the umpire, the referee,
not arbitrarily but with their concur.
renee and consent, declared that the
play was governed by Rule XIX. Sec. 4,
and the Yale team was Denalized ac-
cordingly.
Accidental errors in rulings and con-
struction of the rules may have been
made, but the local high school author
tiles do not see fit to shoulder all of the
responsibility, as all matters in dispute
were invariable referred to the visiting
officials and the superintendent of the
two schools and a final ruling made
only after they had reached an agree
ment,
We do not publish this justification
for the purpose Of containing any
possible controversy, but expressly for
the purpose of assuring the public in
general and especially our Marlette
| friends that we never have and never
will knowingly attempt to take unfair
advantage of their athletic teams.