Bridgeton pioneer., 1913-09-11
FOOTBALL TO Be
Wide Open CAME:
Plays Of GOOD Old Days.
Predicted For This Season.
WHAT The CHANGES ARE.
This Year Mass Plays Will Be Re.
served Solely to Gain Last Few
Yards Nesded For a Tou shdown
Othe- Pointers.

When the whistle blows in a week or
two for the first kickoff of the season
on any Of the thousand and one foot
ball fields in this sport loving country
both the players and the spectators
will realize that new game is before
them. Perhaps it is the latter impor-
tant element of the gridirou popula-
ton that will have this fact borne in
upon them the strongest. for the
youths who pursued the pieskin last
fall We're awakening to the possibilities
of the newest football as the season
closed. There wasn't time then to take
advantage of the eleventh hour knowl.
edge. Therefore the coaches and the
players stored it up in their brain files.
and now they are ready and anxious t,
blow the summer dust off and demon
strate what they know to be possible.
Football is opening up to an extent
that wasn't dreamed of ten years ago
Even when the forward pass went into
effect way back in 1905 no ohe on field
or sidelines would have admitted that
there was chance for the line plung-
ing form of attack to be shelved. But
that is practically what was done when
the rules for 1912 We're changed. and
now with the 1913 regulations in force
the changes. though minor have helped
the good work still further
Line PIun9ing as Reserve.
Not that the stirring smash OF squads
of husky men will be done away with
entirely; battering ram tactics are still
of incalculable value in many cases,
but the coaches agree that the time and
place for such attacks are when the
ball Is within the shade Of the goal
posts. not in midfield. The livelest ex-
ample of that theory was staged when
the Michigan Wolverines met the
Quakers at Franklin field last year
ly. long before they went east. as a
team that had developed line plunging
to Q high degree of excellence. 1t GER
tainly seemed so lin the first half. for
they scored three touchdowns right off
the reel. Pennsylvania was fairly swept
NON uCiu WILL +llt IcQ anu Ulut
tactics were changed. There was moth
ing, much to lose and possibly lots to
gain through trying to run all around
the westerners.% and at the end of the
game the Wolverines had been beaten
by 81 to q score Their p!unging
attack had wasted their strength. so
that when called on to extend them
selves after the fleet Quakers there
was no answer. That proved what was
even then well grounded suspicion
that mass plays should be reserved
solely to gain the last few yards need
ed for touchdown.
Changes In This Years Rules.
OF the changes which the rules have
undergone this year the first and most
important is that which does away
with the five yard restriction placed
upon the kicker ANY distance that
suits the man with the boot is allow
able now, so that we may look for
quick kicking from directly behind the
forwards as feature Of this seasons
games.
Another change which will find favor
all around the fields is that which per-
mits a team to substitute a player for
the second time at any moment of the
games last period. In reference to
this change Walter Camp said:
This alteration was brought about
by the, fact that player could not be
returned to the game after he had once
been taken out except at the begin
ming of a period. 1t often happened
that an unexpected situation arose
making his substitution necessary in
the fourth period. and there seemed
to be no good reason why an exception
should not be made in this CASE
For the other differences between
the rules of this season and last a
specific penalty has been placed on ad-
vancing beyond the lines in case of a
punt out. the penalty now being that
the punter's angle be moved five yards
away from the nearest goal post along
the goal line. If the punter out makes
deliberate attempt by feint to draw
the opponents offside the referee is not
to permit him to kick the ball until
the opponents have had time to return
behind their restraining line. In the
rules regarding the conduct of players
after a forward pass or after kick
insertion of words after the pass has
been made" now makes it clear that
players may interfere with one anoth.
er until the pass is actually made
A relic OF the old time when the ball
was not always snapped back with the
hands mas been eliminated. The rule
which read 'by one quick. continuous
motion of the hands or of the foot has
been shortened by cutting out the
words 'or of the foot" The rule re-
lating to forward pass or a kick
made from behind the goal line, to-
gether with the rule relating to drop
ping back linemen. has also been rem
dered clearer.
Increase Value of Race Classics.
The value of the Irish Derby of 1915