Pine Bluff daily graphic., 1912-12-29
PRAISE FOR 1912
 FOOTBALL RULES
''Made Possible the Best Games Ever Played in American Colleges"
 Says Coach.

New York. Dec. 2S.-Praise for the 1912 football rules With the statement that thlsy made possible the best games of football ever played in
 America colleges was expressed by
 Henry l.. Williams, coach of the Uni versity of Minnesota football team, in his report today before the Nation al Colleg ate Athletic Committee The association, with delegates from near ly 90 colleges and universities pres sn5 here, me- for it's seventh annual session.
 MT. Williams told of the diff culties
 which had to be overcome and of the many radical changes that were made all of which he said proved most for tuna.e. For msny years, he said, the proper adjustment Of the balance be- tween offense and defense wiSn Just the right equ Giibrium between these 1 forces, has been a. serious problem. The advantage, he contended, has been on the side of the defense, and l it has been well recognized that as the goal line was approached the de- , fense become stronger through the drawing in of the backs to support the line, so that the scoring of touch- l downs by equally balanced teams was exceed ngly difficult. .:. l
 Change of Downs Important. For these reasons, he said, the rules were changed to give four downs in 10 yards instead of three, a change which ne characterlzed as. the most important and beneficial introduced since the 10-yard rule was adopted. The elimination of the on-side, kick was another change which he said was most important for the best in- ;terests of the game, and was made be- cause the committee felt the advan- i tage of the attack of the defense l might be too gre,at; because of the decided danger to the defensive backs and because of the decided element of chancel and luck in the play.
 After recit 'ng the disadvantage of annual changes in the rules, both to the players and the spectators in gen. 1 eral, MT. Williams closed his report
 with the statsmnt that now at last | we seem to have a game that is most satisfactory and popular alike to play 1 CTS, spectators and coaches where the i balance between attack and defense is Il cely adjusted; where team that is 1 properly instructed; and properly di- | rected upon the field of play ought always to be able to score unless out classed, and where the team of su- perior ability and skill almost invar- iably wins"
 No College Deaths In Game. George w. Ehrler. director of phy- 1 cal education at the University of V1oCOAolA, d lOpOAC VII football fatalities among college men, announced that there was no deaths among college men last sea- son, but that school boy was killed. Mr. Ehrler, in discussing the work of the Committee on amdteurism de- clared that there was a twilight zons'' in which the application of law is not always simple or clear.
 "The trouble, he said, "does not arise so much out of the difficulty of determinat.ng whether an actual vio- lation of the letter of the law has Oc- curred, but whether there. has been a violation of tine spirit of the rule. E That there 'fs no widespread de- mand for liberalizing the amateur law
 $ the view of the committee. On ths contrary, several events seem to in dicate tendency to uphold the pres net standards and to extend the ben i efits of cooperation to that end Bexdek on Rules Committee.
 Lieut.. H. M. Nelley of West Point T Fl