New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1912-09-22
DISCUSS RULES
Football Men Touch Lightly on
More Radical Changes.

I Y OOtuQiI VtSIt tSto'' S'S''J "
More Radical Changes.
More than two hundred football officials
with a scattering Of coaches and players,
met the central board OF officials and sew
eral members Of tho rules committee at
the Hotel Manhattan last night for an
Interpretation OF the rules that have been
Isid down for the game II the coming
season. Walter Camp, OF Yale, acted as
Interpreter in chief. and had nj. hands
full answering the questions That were
volleyed ri hhn from all quarters.
DR. A. Rabbit, chairman Of the CEN
trail board before Mr.. Camp took charge.
explained the functions Of tho board and
the success II Is having IN perfecting its
Organization. II has already assigned Of
iicials for most Of the games which arc
under It's control IN that regard. final ar
rangements having oeen completed al a
conference between the board and several
coaches yesterday afternoon. Al sharp,
Of Cornell; Percy ID. HoughtOn, OF Har-
NhINs AMY El4liNiif VI Nt'4aNs' ''"'iA'N 49,
Arthur Howe, Of Yale We're at this con
ference.
Many OF the questions that came Up
dealt with minor points IN the rules, and
it was evident that there was prett%
general undt rstanding Of the more rad!-
! ca, changes that were made BY the COM
nittee last spring One thing that viii
I be imperative now that end zones Of ten
yards each have been created outside o.
the field Of play. IS the construction OF all
goal posts In such manner that the VI
rights and crossbar shall he in the same
place and directly over the goal line.
! This ruling. IN turn, brought up tn
question as 10 how the ball snail bc
played If It Is lodged directly against the
! front side Of tho goal post Mr.. Camp
+ got around that by deciding II would
/ De directly ny 70 the centre TO snap the
nall out Of such q position. When the
bah Is jammed up against goal post by
an Attacking team Il cannot be counted 2
touchdown. although II va. apparently
understood by some that a touchdown
should be scored.
on the suggestion Of Dave Fult2. the
old Brown player, It was recommended
that the rules committee amend Rule VI.
Section IS, Article c. having to DO with
the ball when declared dead. so that the
ball be actually made dead when an
illegal forward pass il made. \ change
was also made IN the phraseology Of
Section u, IN reference 10 touchbacks,
whereby A touchback will be scored when
| IL, he Ful IN hNll
that has struck him or any other player
and has rolled across the goal line.
In order 10 prevent a player from scor-
ing q touchbach when he has the ball
behind hts own goal line, the rules this
year give a safety 10 the opposing team
when man on the side In possession OF
the ball makes an incompleted forward
pass or commits foul, which would give
the ball TO the opponents behind the goal
line. This penalty will prevent a player
from Intentionally throwing the bail on
the ground rather than run the risk OF
making a forward pass into the field OF
play.
| The officials themselves will decide
whether shifting of men IN order 70
play O. heavy line man on the offence III
the backfed and on the line In defence
Is O palpable evasion OF the rule designed
to prevent this practice. direct ruling
was made prohibiting the centre from
swapping the ball catching II himself
and then running with 1t, as was zone
In some games last season
The rule bearing on the forward pass
was gone over but that was practically
no discussion, the new CONDITIONS gov
erning this play being apparently thor
: oughly understood, although there was
an undercurrent of opinion that the rules
committee had not been definite enough
In defining the conditions Of play, 20
that fake passes would be eliminated.
Among the officials. coaches, players and
managers who were on hand for the inter
probation Of the rules were Or. Carl Will
Jams. Of Pennsylvania; Nike Thompson OF
Georgetown; Dave Fultz, OF Brown; Andy
Smith. Of Pennsylvania; /. J. Saunders,
of Columbia; Ham Andrus of Yale Carl
| Marshall. OF Harvard 4. y. Whiting, Of
| Cornell: CAPTAIN "roliy' Pendleton, Of
| Princeton: y. j. Thorpe, OF Columbia
Billy Lush, Of Yale; H. 4. Davidson, OF
Pennsylvania J. q. Johnson Of Virginia
r. Barry. OF Georgetown; Fred Murphy
of Yale: NJ. :. Bennett. of Pennsylvania
Fred Crolius. Of Dartmouth; ]. G. Far
rier Of Dartmouth; J. g. lie Mont, OF
Williams; Dr. $. b. Newton, Of Pennsyl-
vania H. o. Torrey, Of Pennsylvania; j.
Thompson, OF Pittsburgh; j. Nelson. OF
| Nebraska Fred J. Dawson, Of Princeton
J A. Evans. OF Williams; J. D. pendle-
ton. of Bowdoin; Dr. J. A. Rabbit, OF
Hayerford AL Sharpe, Of Yale; W. r.
| Morice. of Pennsylvania, and W. y. Lang
ford, of Trinity.