The Washington times., 1915-08-20

That harbingcr OF autumn. the foot
ball rules. appeared today with less
radical alterations than have been the
rule in the past few years.
Nothing whatever revolutionary is
contained int he changes. so far as the
active conduct of the game Is concerned.
still certain stringent restrictions have
been placed on the offense through the
insertion Of a clause which makes 1t
illegal to knock down the secondary de-
fense after the whistle has blown. In
the past it has been the rule among the
representative teams to have their men
continue to drive forward until the off,
cial stops the play In the future this
will be a transgression Of the code.
In order to do away with unneces-
sary punishment of men through their
participation when they have been ex-
hausted the committee several years
ago passed a rule making it possible to
return a man at any time In the last
quarter. This privilege, however. was
abused and the board has changed the
regulations so that there will be no fur
ther nocking of substitutes, the new rule
allowing substitution only at the begin
ming Of a period.
The other principal alterations are as
follows:
The presence of field judge has been
been taken away from the linesman and
given to the field Judge so as to make 1t
possible for the linesman to be more
observant Of all the matters coming
and beating" the starting signal
No longer will throwing the ball out
Of bounds be- substituted by teams for
q kick, for a forward pass going out Of
bounds on the fly, whether it touches a
man or not. is now ruled as an incom-
pleted forward pass.
The protection of the fullback has been
somewhat altered. The rule has been
divided into two parts1running into
back. Running into the fullback is penal
ICED fifteen yards, but "roughing'' the
fullback is penalized fifteen yards and
disqualification as well.
The committee recommended that the
players be numbered.
| At the same time they passed a vote
deprecating the putting in OF substi-
tutes for the purpose Of conveying in
formation.
The penalty for unsportsmanlike con-
duct was changed to fifteen yards, but
the power was placed in the hands Of
! the official to disqualfy for fragrant
conduct.
In swapping the ball back. the center
, may not hold it after he has made the
motion; he must actually let the ball
, 60. This prevents play that had been
! practiced. consisting of the center hold
| Ing the ball after he had apparently
snapped 1t and some one coming around
| behind him and taking the ball from
! his hands.
The peculiar method of blocking and
| interfering which has been increasing,
wherein men throw their legs up in the
! air. has been ruled out. for throwing
| the legs and striking with the lower
leg a. man above the knoee will be pen
allied fifteen yards. The rules already
provide thSt striking a man in the same
| way below the knee is tripping"
Another provision was made that un-
| less the captain requests a lesser dis
tance, the referee win always bring the
| ball out from the side line fifteen yards.
II a second eligible man touches a
forward pass after II has been first touch
| ed by an eligible player, IL Is simply an
! incompleted forward pass with the loss
] OF down
several corrective changes were made