Atlanta Georgian. [volume] (Atlanta, Ga.) 1912-1939, 1914-01-25
GIVE PLAYERS
NUMBERS, SAYS
WALTER CAMP
Dean of Football Says There Is a
Public Demand to Distin-
guish Men.


~ Camp, dean of Yale football,
and one of the fathers of the
game, to-day declared that he be-
lieves the popular demand that foot
ball players be numbered will be ac-
coded to by the principal elevens. He
said:
AS to numbering the players,
really think the game has come
10 that. Public pressure seems
to demand il. I expect to see
them all numbering their men in
the future. AS to whether it's
best or not i really can't say. OF
course, there is the argument
that numbering the men may
lead to too much individualism.
Whereas they struggle now for
the team, it may follow that
grandstand work may crop out.
AS to the game as played in
the East and the Vest think
that each section overdid itself a
bit this year. The East ran a
little too much on the defense
and the West on the offense. 1
look for the time when 1t evens
up.
Camps opinion is contrary to that
Yale eleven, who declared just be-
fore the Princeton and Harvard
games that the numbering of players
was demanded only by the newspa-
per men for their own benefit" and,
as his own men were playing for their
college and not for the newspapers,
they would not be numbered.
Ketcham Is Immature.
Ketcham's statement was consid
cred that of an immature man who
failed to realize the fact that football
is supported by the public and not by
the colleges, and since it In turn sup
ports the productive sports, the
problem of supporting college athlet-
les has been solved by the public
support of football
The newspapers requested the
numbering of players simply because
of the great public demand for it,
and not because it made much diff
ference to the newspapers them
selves. About a quarter of million
football attendance paid the bills at
Yale and Harvard this year, and
about 100000 saw the games of the
principal colleges Of the East this
year. The Western colleges drew In
proportion. These vast crowds paid
the cost of most of the college sports
of the current year.
This popularity of football relieved
the graduates and undergraduates OF
the burden of making up deficiencies
for the support of their college sports.
Public Supports College Sports.
1t is obvious that the graduates ana
undergraduates We're a very SINAI!
part of the immense crowds referred
to above OF course, in the case Of
the Yale Harvard game-particularly
when it is played at Cambridge-the
most of the tickets are bought by
graduates and undergraduates be-
cause there is not room in the Har-
ward Stadium for many outsiders
at this game. This single event, how
ever, is only a comparatively small
feature of the productive aspect OF
football.
When the Yale bowl at New Ha-
ven Is completed, with a seating ca
pacity of $4,000 or more, 1t Is OBJ
Vious that the graduates and under
graduates of both Yale and Harvard
will not fill it, and a very large part
of the attendance will have to come
from the general public.
Moreover, there is a demand from
the graduates and undergraduates
themselves for some method of dis
tinguishing the players. Few OF the
vast crowds of college men and wom-
en- accompanying them know actually
who are making the plays in the
games. So football is rather dense TO
them They have TO rely on the news
papers to furnish them with lnfor-
nation of the meaning of what the
spectators actually see.
Two Circumstances Overlooked.
Two circumstances are overlooked
in the arguments of the football lead
ers who object to numbering the
players. First, the fact that in every
other sport where the name of the
player is not absolutely fixed by his
location, numbers are used withou'
thought of objection. Second, in the
old days football was not nearly SO
popular and profitable, playing fields
and stands were smaller, and the
crowds were closer to the players, Sc
that they could distinguish them more
readily.
Moreover. in those days the news
paper writer's followed the game by
walking along the sidelines, and could
distinguish the players more readlly
than they can now, when, because OF
the large number of reporters cover
ing the large games, it is deemed ad-
visable by the football authorities TO
locate them in a stand that is some
times as far as sixth Of mile from
the place where a play is made.