Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1914-12-27
EXTREME CALM OYER SOCCER
Foot Ball Game Meets with Only
Cool Reception at Universities.
TAKES YEARS TO LEARN IT
Finished Players DO Not Come Into
Their own Until They Have
Spent Several Seasons in
Tuition of sport.


NEW YORK. Dec. 2s.-vlewing the ex-
treme calm with which soccer has been
conducted at the leading universities this
season one cannot help wondering what
mas become Of all that fine spirit OF en-
thusiasm which set in last season and
seemed destined to carry the sport upon
high crest of popularity. Princeton re-
ports interest in the game-as many as
tlIty tried for the team. and yet games
nave been played without a great deal
OF interest on the part of the undergrad
yates as a whole At least, this was my
impression as a spectator at the Har-
vard-Princeton and Yale-Princeton Soc
Ger games The attitude of the Princeton
students, indeed, seemed rather a humor-
Gus one. The wish more than once was
expressed that the Nassau team might
lose, or at least tie, in order that no
jinN' would be established to turn the
afternoon varsity foot ball match TO
Yale. At Harvard the students viewed
the game. very frequently with laughter.
at the gyrations of the players. Qualified
observers, such, for example, as Walter
Camp. have pronounced the game inexact
and hence never likely to rival the Amer
lean game of foot ball. Yet. on the
other hand. there is a lot of fine exer
else In it, and for that and for the posi-
bility it offers the students who have NOT
the physique to play the gr.diron game
it deserves encouragement. Here is the
way in which an expert speaks of the
game:
Variety IL Mediocre.
THE trouble with soccer in this conn
try so far, and especially at the col
leges' is that it is a very mediocre kind
great number of players have grasped
the rudiments of the game, but the
majority have missed the finer points.
This is because soccer cannot be learned
In one or two seasons, and taking all
things into consideration, 1t is wonder
full that the college players have done
as we'll as they have in so short a time.
To take player from college foot
ball team and endeavor to make a soccer
player of him is foolish. It can't be- done
Now and then q player may display a
special aptitude for the game, but such
cases will be few and far between.
Takes Years of Work.
! 1T takes quite a number of years to
make a first-class soccer player. and for
this reason we cannot hope TO have really
tlrst-class teams at the colleges for sew
eral years. However, now that the pri-
vate and public schools are taking up
the game with such zest, the outlook
for the future is distinctly encouraging.
Soccer is not moneymaker, and
therefore, the athletic committees have
had very little time for It. To CONNER
cialize a game is, in my opinion, to ruin
1t, and yet 1 realize that under existing
conditions soccer in the future must
more than pay its way if it is to receive
the unqualified endorsement of the ath-
letic associations. The soccer coach never
will command high salary. for the sim
pie reason that when the game once be-
comes firmly established the services of
coach will be almost superfluous. The
strategy Of the game can be worked out
| by the players themselves when once
they have absorbed the rudiments Of It.