The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1913-01-29

NEW YORK. Jan. 25.-Wherever
athletes congregated yesterday the
proposed new track and field rules
which were passed by the executive
committee of the intercollegiate A, A
A. A. on Sunday prior to being adopt
ed at the annual convention next
month. were subject to discussion
and in some cases criticism. The at
filiation of the collegiate body with
the Amateur Athletic union ana the
statement made some time ago that
an endeavor would be made 70 nave
the rules as changed adopted by the
governing body of athletics in TINS
country. increased the interest IN the
innovations and led to general dis
cussion as to~their merits or dement's
when applied to general competition.
The most revolutionary move Is IN
regard to the conditions governing
hammer throwing, and the PROPOSE
ton to save this event to intercollegl-
ate sport by making vital changes IN
the rules met with almost unanimous
condemnation from pracucal athletes'
James F. Sullivan, secretary OF the
A A L. and leader in athletic
reforms. was not disposed to com
ment on the general trend OF the
rules as he was convinced that the
intercollegiate committee was en-
gagged in a worthy cause in trying
10 make the rules of all competitions
uniform.
With regard to the hammer throw
ing. however, Mr. sullivan was out
spoken in his opposition to the plan
to 1neddle with the conditions that
obtained and to restrict the distance
thrown by making the weight OF the
hammer head 2 pounds instead OF
sixteen, and decreasing the length OF
4 4T
inches or 3 feet. That said the
A A. L, secretary. would be de-
cided step backwards and | am never
in favor of going backward in attn
q ietic legislation, 1t is true that there
have been~ accidents in hammer
throwing with the present flexible
wire handle, but these were not un-
known when the giants of old threw
the stiff handled hammer from a
stand. Every possible means should
be taken 10 safeguard the public and
officials when his event is on, but /
cannot see the necessity of such dras-
tic legislation as proposed by the in
+iercollegiate- assoelat10n4-------
Properly equipped athletic fields
now have the hammer throwers Gagged
/ in so that the danger to officials judg-
/ ing the event is done away with.
Other officials on the field only have
TO exercise reasonable caution to
avoid being hit. Then we learned at
Stockholm the secret of teaching men
to throw the hammer in direct line,
that is. by excluding as full throws
all such AS do not land within an
are of As degrees. When hammer
| throwers learn to throw for direction
/ first and for distance after, the dam
ger of spectators being hit by the
missile viii be eliminated. / am in
favor of still further decreasing the
Z RAJ ing of throw
1 ers may become even more proficient
/ in this respect. That it is possible
was demonstrated at the champion
ship meeting held at Travers Island
/ last fall. when Ryan and McGrath
threw almost in straight line, and
remember this took place on a field
where the track that encloses it Is
only fifth OF a mile in circlumfer
.anGes ., -.
Having once reached this degree
/ of perfection II would be a pity for us
to retface our steps II took this
country ten years to get England and
the other nations To adopt our meth
DDS of a wire handle with bifurcated
grip and now that this style has been
adopted for the Olympic contests we
would be running our own chances
/ by making changes to hamper the
thrower and decrease the distance.
You may rest assured that. should
America adopt this innovation. other
nations will not; they viii be only
too glad to point with pride TO the
! further distance obtained by their
hammer throwers. at the same time
/ ignoring the difference in style"
An old hurdler commented on the
change Of next Importance contem-
plated in the new rules, running the
hurdle race over fixed hurdles. This
he argued. would be. another mistake.
and the difficulty of having fixed indi-
vidual hurdles on a cinder path was
pointed out. That custom originated
in England, where at rural meetings
the only hurdle obtainable was the
| ordinary sheep hurdle, which, of
course. was driven into the turf as
all such meetings were held on the
squire's meadow or some convenient
field. America originated the nova BILE
hurdle and this resulted in perform
ances over the sticks that never had
4 been dreamed of by the old country
hurdlers. This also has been taken
up abroad and the hurdles at Stock
holm were the tiimsiest that some of
the Americans ever had seen.
| A well known trainer said that the
hurdle with the swinging top wa sthe
| finest thing possible for teaching a
man to hurdle. There is no reason
why an athlete should have to bark
4 his knees in practice, but 1t is well
| known that when once proficient the
American hurdler can travel as fast
over fixed hurdles as over movable
ones. This was proved in 1899, when
| Fox. OF Harvard, ran for the first time
/ at Queens grounds. London, and led