The Fargo forum and daily republican., 1916-12-28
GRIDIR0N
GAME IS
LAUDED
Enforces Organization, Co
operation and Obedience,
Says Professor
(By Associated Press )

New York, Dec. sS.-In an address
on, The Value of Football. delivered at
the eleventh annual convention of the
National Collegiate Athletic associa-
tion here today, Prof. Raymond Gar
field Gettell, of Amherst college, said:
"a phenomenon Of frequent recur-
renee in widely separated times and
places has been the intense general
interest in games or contests manifest
ed by those peoples who held the lead
ing place in the civilization of their
day. The Olympic games in Greece,
the gladiatorial contests in Rome, and
the tournaments of the middle ages
alike were characterized by the
enthusiastic zeal of those actively en-
gagged, by the presence of crowds OF
frenzied spectators, and by the inter-
est and attention centered upon them
by the public at large. All these ath-
letic carnivals were subjected to severe
criticism in their age. yet they in
creased in popularity is spite of op-
position, and declined only with the
decadence Of the peoples interested or
with changes in culture that made
them no longer possible. In. the modern
world, Teutonic peoples hold the reins
of power, and among them great foot
ball, baseball, and cricket contests in
spire widespread interest and
enthusiasm. One explanation OF this
phenomenon, using football as an
example OF the modern type, is here
attempted. ..... -.
''As might be expected, football has
been subjected to unusually severe
criticism. The danger to life and limb,
the accompanying evils of gambling,
professionalism, or unsportsmanlike
methods, the enormous expenditures,
the comparatively small number who
actually take part in proportion to the
numerous spectators, the false stand
ards created in the minds Of growing
school boys, the ver-emphasis on ath-
letics in general in colleges and uni
versities-these are some of the direct
accusations that the sport has been
compelled to face.
"In spite of these criticisms and
these defects. however, football has
become during the autumn season, the
preeminent sport, especially in Ameri-
can schools and colleges. The foot
ball star is a college hero: ambition
to make the team is a chief desire in
the mind of many student, and pride
over football victories is powerful
stimulant to loyal college spirit. Nor
does public interest in the game show
sign of decline. Each Saturday during
the season, thousands assemble to witt
ness the contests, additional thou
sands, even in the remotest parts of
the country, crowd around bulletin
boards, which give detailed descrip-
tions of the plays or announce the
scores, and still other thousands turn
first to the sporting columns of the
Sunday morning newspapers. A game
that inspires such widespread devo-
tions must rest upon certain vital
underlying principles of human ma
ture. .... ....... s. .... -.... -. D. o..
Football is not contest between
individuals. It is a contest between
groups and teams. The union Of eleven
men under their captain typifes the
characteristic human factor Of organi-
Zation. In no other game is the
individual, as individual, of so little
moment, and the unit, or team, SO
closely integrated. The success OF al
most every manoeuvre depends upon
q detailed division, of labor, a distinct
part being assigned to each member
within the machine; and the success
of team in competition with others
depends mainly upon the perfection OF
it's organized teamwork. Football then
demands cooperation, the subordina-
tion of the individual interest to the
welfare OF the large unit. 1t re-
produces on a small scale that process
of organized social effort by which
man first attained supremacy over the
world of nature, and by which the
more highly organized and more close
ly cooperating peoples have conquer
ed and surpassed their less advanced
rivals.
Football, while retaining the vir-
tues OF physical combat, remedies its
worst evils by emphasizing organiZa-
tion cooperation and obedience
These necessitate self-sacrifices
subordination, mutual aid and fail
play. They discipline the individual
teach self-control and inculcats
principles of honor and loyalty. Els.
pecially do they build up an ideal.'