The Washington herald., 1915-02-07
NUMBERING THE
PLAYERS PASSES
Football Rules Committee Ad-
vocates Much-needed Rule
for Big Grid Clashes.
FORWARD PASS CHANGE
First Man Touching Ball Only Eligible
Player to Recover Pigskin-Of
Minor Importance.

New York. Feb. 6.-The advocates of
the numbering of football players so
: that the admission-paying spectators
may have a chance to tell one player
/ from another. won their biggest victory
since the movement for numbering was
! inaugUrated when the football rules
committee adopted a resolution today
recommending that all players be num-
bered in future games.
| The committee, which met at the
| BiItmore in a session that lasted for
/ six solid hours with no respite for
! lunch, was not willing to require num-
| herring by a hard and fast rule but il
/ is probable that the recommendation
will be almost as good as a rule. and
will be generally followed by the teams
| next season.
Another matter of importance that
was passed upon. although no new rule
was made, was the practice of sending
] in substitutes for the purpose of carry
ing instructions from the coaches to
the quarter backs or captains. 4 reso-
luton was passed by the committee
IdepreCating this practice, and it will be
frowned upon as unsportsmanlike from
this time forth.
! In addition to the passage of these
! two resolutions. a number of changes
were made in the rules themselves. Few
| Ol them were OF more lnan minor I'M
portanCe, for il was the unanimous
| opinion of the committee that in all
important respects. the rules as they
now stand proved most acceptable -
| both players and public during the
| 1914 season. When the meeting be-
| gan, each member of the committee
was asked to state whether or not he
considered the rules satisfactory, and
| there was not a dissenting voice.
As usual. few minor changes were
| made in the rules governing the use
of the forward pass. The most impor-
| tant of these was the making of a
provision that a forward pass which
goes out Of bounds shall be an incom-
pleted pass whether it strikes a player OF
not, and the same provision governs OIL
all four downs. This change will do
away with the intentional throwing OF
pass out of bounds on the fourth
down, a practice which has been rec
| Ognized as hardly fair.
Forward Pass Changed.
The forward pass was dealt with in
| two other changes in the rules. Here
after no penalty will be imposed when
two eligible men are going down the
| field under a pass, and the ball touches
| first one and then the other. 1t will
be deemed an incomplete forward pass.
| BY the old rule the second player be-
! came ineligible to touch the ball as
soon as it was touched by the first
man, and so a penalty resulted, a penalty
which the committee considered unfair
| 1t was also decided that hereafter the
position Of the feet of the player CATCH
ing the ball and not the position of the
ball itself shall determine whether or not
forward pass Is caught out of bounds.
| If the players feet are out of bounds,
| the ball will be considered out of bounds
The manner of making substitutions
4 also was changed. The privilege of
resubstituting players-that is. put
| ting in players after taking them out
was curtailed Hereafter substitu-
| tions may be made only at the be-
ginning of periods. The old rule per-
mitted them at the beginning of pc
riods and at any time during the
\ fourth quarter. The substitute enter
\ ing the game will be required to re-
port Immediately to any official. In
| the past there has been nothing to
/ require an immediate report, and that
| loophole has been taken advantage of
on several occasions.
The work of the central board of
officials was praised by the committee
and the board was unanimously--re-
elected. 1t consists Of DR.. James A. Bah
! bitt Walter Camp. Harris G. Cope,
Parke Davis, f. K. Hall, Percy Haugh-
ton, c. W. Savage, and Alonzo A.
| Stagg. A special vote of thanks to
DR.. Babbitt was passed for his excel
| lent work as chairman Of the board.
The secretary Of the committee, Wal
ter Camp, was Instructed to add TO
the rules book list of approved rul-
ingS