Evening journal., 1915-02-08
CHANCES IN
THE FOOTBALL CODE
Field Judge Added--Num-
bering of Players Rec
commended
FOUR OFFICIALS
ON THE FIELD

tie word "Dut continually butts IN |
and spoils thinss?
Take for instance the dear old Foot
ball Rules Committee. the gridirou |
clinic which annually meets and oper-
ates on the game, no matter whether
il needs il or not The aforemcntion-
ed football solons who gathered in
convention on Friday brought their
deliberations to an end in New York
on Saturday.
Among the things considered by the
supreme court of football was the
numbering of players. For two years
the great football public has been de-
manding that the players carry some
/ Identification. When some bally Haw-
HAYWARD player ran ninety yards
| through the entire Yale eleven the
spectators wanted to know whether
said player was Reginald Montmor-
ency Astorbil or plain Jimmy Brown.
Without some mark of identification
the spectators could not be sure of
anything. even if they waited and read
the papers the next day. Newspaper
men only are human like every one
else and the scribes are in the same
predicament as the ordinary specta-
tors at a football match as far as
knowing and identifying the players is
concerned.
Therefore when the aforementioned
Haw-haw-vard player made the nine
ty-yard run alluded to a few para
sangs to leeward. why the only thing
left for the football scribes to do was
to guess just like the rest of the spec
tators. As a result Of the guessing
contest, when a fan picked up paper
the next day he found the Morning
Scream having Smith the hero
the Afternoon Bugle crowning Brown
with laurel wreaths and the Evening
Howler giving Percy Clyde Million
bucks the coveted niche in footballs
Hall of Fame.
The football fans got up on their
hind legs and emitted howl over the
proposition.
They insisted the players be num-
bered. For the most part their de-
mand fell on deaf ears. Captain Ket-
cham of Yale politely calculated. "The
. public be d-d." or words TO that
effect. saying that football. was not
I played for the benefit of the specta-
, tors. Gap" ducked around the cor
= ner when asked if it wasn't the dear
old football public that fathered and
/. mothered the gridron and gave it its
] daily bread.
Back TO the Football Rules Com
< mittee and its session at the Hotel
/. Biltmore.
y After Saturdays meeting the fol-
- lowing announcement was made
( "The committee recommends the use
l by all teams of numbers on the play
l ers."
Don't cheer. fellow fans and fan
mics. The end is not yet.
"BUT-get that BUT-continues
+. the committee. the numbering of tho
. players is not mandatory"
q Aw shucksl
1 Likewise, pifHe! pooh, pooh. and
r darn darn, darnl
C Situation Unchanged.
A recommendation is like a cheCh
that has not been indorsed-it viii
not go very far. Like a leaky boat
= it will not hold water.
As far as the action taken regard
ing the numbering Of players, tho
committee might as well not have act
ed at all. The committee leaves things
lust as they we're last season 1t is
I'M TO each individual college to decide
whether it will number its players OF
not.
That means there will be little need
of a football fan knowing how TO read
= or know the difference between one
= and thirteen. One college may be IN
!, favor of numbering its players and
=, another may not. Consequently, when
i the two meet, its dollar to dough
. nuts that the players of neither side
=, are numbered. for it would be an un-
= fair advantage for one batch of play
= ers to wear numbers unless the mer
!, of the other side likewise wore some
= identification.
: And so the dear old football public
. can 90 ahead pouring its ducats int
the college football associations en-
4, abling the institutions TO build stad
{, ums seating half hundred Thousand
/ spectators who cough up the coin o
! the realm to take part in guessinl
r contest under the illusion they ar
I" having to see a football game
But in the long session the commit
tee made many minor changes in tn
: code The committee decided TO g
% back TO the old system of having fou
n officials. instead of three. as last yeal
E Next fall the game will be in charg
& of a referee. umpire field judge an
4 lineman. Several changes were mad
8 regarding the forward pass.
Hereafter a forward pass going ou
N Of bounds on any down shall be con
n strued as incompleted. whether touch
cd by a player or not. The actio
will tend TO obliterate intentiona
burling of a forward pass out o
hounds on the fourth down. Penalt
for two men touching a forward pas
81 has been minimized. Under the ne
rule when two men touch the forwar
PASS the only penalty will be that th
3 pass will be considered Incomplete
Only in case of accidents hereaft6
b will any substitutions be allowed. e.
n cent at the start of a period. Roug
~ play or other unspOrtsmanlike col
& duct by a player will incur a fifteeI
3 yard penalty for his team and ma
II result in the disqualification of II
n player. A ten-yard penalty will I
N enforced for unnecessary running ini
8 or touching a player after the whist
b has been blown.
3 Many minor changes i'm the wOrdir
& OF the code were made. several of n
" rules being made more explicit r
y gardine the constituting Of the rules.
e was decided to include i'm the book
s8 rules several Of the recommendation