Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1914-12-01
WALTER CAMP SAYS
SOCCER DOES NOT
APPEAL TO U. S.
Football Expert Tells of
Shortcomings of English
Game and Why 1t Is Not
More Popular.

Though Walter Camp, the recognized
football authority of America, is partial
to the American college game, his knowl
edge is by no means limited to that one
branch of athletics. On the contrary, he
is an interested baseball fan and is thor
oughly familiar with all athletics in this
country and a number which are the
''headlIners" in foreign countries,
on the eve of tho Army-Navy game
Camp was discussing games in general
at the Bellevue-Stratford Hotel. Me was
asked what he thought of soccer and the
chances for its becoming a ranking branch
OF athletics in this country. He refused
to commit himself fully on the subject,
but gave several reasons why the game
had progressed no further than it has.
"The main trouble with soccer" said the
Eridiron expert, "is that it lacks definite
ness. BY that I mean that every play
made in soccer does not represent a maxi
mum OF effort You know that on the
soccer field the ball is often dribbled and
many short kicks are made. Now, the
average American wants to see every
play in a game performed as though 1t
were the deciding one of the game. For
instance, when a ball is kicked in a foot
ball game the American spectator wants
10 see the longest kick that can be made.
He doesn't care TO see the short kicks
that appear in soccer because they do not
represent the greatest efrort.
''I have seen many of the big soccer
matches in England and have been pres
ent when there were more people around
the field than there were in the Yale
bowl when Yale played Harvard. These
matches draw crowds because the people
are different temperamentally from US.
Another reason for the large attendance
is the low fee at the gate. A champion
ship soccer match can bs seen for tho
equivalent OF % cents.
Americans want 10 see game" Camp
continued. (which is played by men train
ed for that one event. They want 70 see
the best game that can be played On
the other hand the English people want
a game which any one can play with lit
tie or no training They do not care to
witness a contest In which they them
selves could not take part II the oppor-
tunity were offered
"In England the professional football
player does not take the long chances
which an amateur might take and which
Is taken In almost every play I'm the Amer
lean game. once saw a soccer played by
amateurs in which there was young
AGlloW pAdgluA AbA al no was "0ANAAa On
once occasion he threw himself in front
OF a man who was about 10 kick the ball.
He received the full blow OF his oppo-
nents foot. and In two days from that
tims he died from peritonitis. Now, an
American likes that kind OF a game where
the players are constantly taking chances,
but the Engllshman does not care for 1t
particularly. Few professional soccer
players would have taken the chances
that that man took They would rather
allow the man TO kick the ball and make
goal, than dive in where there
was a chance for injury. such a chance
as the one taken by the player ] have
just been talking about Is taken hun
dred times a season by the American
football player. That's why the people
like the American game and also shows
why soccer Is not more popular.
Americans feel the same way about
the English game or Rugby That, too,
lacks dshniteness. and / don't think Il
could ever be very popular on this side" +"