The Washington herald., 1915-12-11
Yale-Harvard- Princeton VIII
Not Allow Freshies to
Play with Varsity.
THREE-YEAR RULEAJ0KE
BY FRANK @. lGENkE.

New York. Dec. 1o-Therc ID 20 much
Inconsistency In the rules and regulations
which govern the playing" Of men on tn
big college elevens that they really are
laughable.
Take the one-year residence rule for In
stance. The big colleges like Yale. Har.
ward. etc. do not permit freshmen to
play on the varsity team. A student can
not play on the varsity until his sopho-
more fsecon6 year at that college of
learning. Those higher Institutions of
learning frown upon any private college
that plays freshmen. They make the
seemingly absurd claim that it II unfair
to play a freshman.
Now. when you look at the thing fore
and aft. II seems that the college that
does play freshmen Ii at disadvantage-
not the COLLEGE that doesn't. The older
VIC grow the more we know-or ought to
know. n football gink who has spent a
year In college under the tutorship Of the
coaches. who has had q year In which to
study big league football methods.
surely ought to know more about the
game in his second college year than he
did the year before when he came fresh
from the high or prep school bushes -
That's logical. isn't II?
Boys gradually grow bigger and huskier
between the ages OF Is and q. That
makes II a cinch. doesn't It. that a 1s-
year-o!d sophomore IL stronger. heavier.
taller and therefore more valuable to his
team than Is an 1S-year-old freshman?
The fundamental reason for the adop-
ton OF that no-freshmen-on-varstty teams
is a farce In it-elf. The rule was adopt
ed for the purpose OF abolishing the
practice Of various colleges in coaxing
high school or prep school players to
their institutions and playing them in
their first year out. The practice has
not stopped: the big college scouts"
still use the lure. The only thing the
rule has accomplished IL barring a youth
first year at college 50 that he can be
developed during that year and blossom
forth during his sophomore year.
Joke RsIe Number Two.
And there is joke rule number two.
Suppose a youth plays on the varsity
at Yale or Harvard or some of those
other one year colleges. Can he play
more than three years at any of those
institutions? He cannot Can he 60 to
some other private college and play for
three years-makin~ six years in all? He
cannot Can he play for three years on
any private college team and then go to
the United States military or United
States naval academy and play three
years there? Sure he can. Not only
can he play there for three years but
he can play for four years.
The rules provide that after a player
has served time for three years on
a big college eleven no other private col
lege can use his services unless II wishes
to be footbaIlistically ostracized by all
the other colleges. But in the case of
the Army and Navy II is different.
We pause to ask you:
why should the Army and Navy be
excepted? Why should they be al
lowed to play men that no private
college can play? Charles Daily starred
for three years at Harvard, was grad
uated. went to the Army and played
for three or four years there-and no
one got excited about it, OliphantI
served time" at Purdue University.
was graduated. went to the Army and
has been playing on the team since.
Any private college that plays
freshmen is ignored by the Yale -Har-
gard-Princeton clan. Any private col
baller who already has played for
three years on another varsity eleven
Is pointed to in scorn.
But the Army and the Navy play
freshmen and they play men who have
played on other college e1evens. They
violate both rules. And nothing Is
said.
What is fair for the bootbaIl goose
ball gander. does it?