The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1916-06-19
RULES COMMITTEE
RESPONSIBLE
IA Members of Committee
Subscribe to First Set of
Such Rules in Any Sport

| pblHI where the Iulen NOW sup Was VII
bounced last night by E. X, Hall of Dart
mouth, chairman of the football rules
committee. All the members of the com.
nittee, which comprises Ia graduate rep
esentatives OF various colleges in the
| East and Middle West, subscribed TO the
ode. II is the first such formulation OF
principles to be drawn up for any sport
II this country, according to those who
| planned it.
The rules committee, which has already
eyised slightly the playing rules for
| ext season, is to publish the code as a
| Implement to the rules, for the guidance
| i the colleges OF the country which have
cams playing football, and for those Sec
ndary educational institutions which al
nost invariably follow the collegiate
tandards and forms of play.
Summarizing the code, the committee
| tates: "You may meet players and even
caches who will tell you that it is all
| ight to violate the rules if you do not
,et caught. This is the code that obtains
mong sneak thieves and pickpockets.
rhe crime in their code is in getting
aught.
THE football code is different The
layer who Intentionally violates a rule
guilty of unfair play and unsportsman-
Ike tactics and whether he escapes be-
ng penalized, he brings diseredit to the
God name Of the game"
The code, as finally promulgated by
he committee, follows:
The Football Code
Both in play and by tradition football
distinctively an academic game--the
-ame Of the schools and the colleges.
rhe friends of the game must according
rely on the schools and colleges for
he preservation of its past traditions
md the maintenance of the high stand
rds Of craftsmanship in its play, which
ire to be expected in distinctively
academic game.
In some sports 1t is possible to attain
reasonably high standards simply by the
adoption and enforcement Of rules, but
this is not true in football. There are
30 many men engaged in action, the ac-
ton is so rapid and so constantly shift
ng that it is impossible for any official
% discover every possible infraction OF
he rules.
the rules that has gradually taken place |
Turing the past 10 years, has endeavored |
to prohibit and suitably penalize all |
forms of unfair tactics and practices. 1t |
has also endeavored, so far as possible,
without affecting the integrity of the |
game itself to remove special temptation |
or opportunity for sportsmanlike play.
So far as the rules themselves are con-
cerned the committee feels that Il has |
done about all that it can do, and it has I
been with continually increasing salts
faction that the members of the com
mittee, in common with all other lovers
of the game, have observed the rapid i'm.
in the standards of play dur
ing the past 10 years. Each year there
has been less attempt on the part Of the
players ito beat the rules" and unfair
tactics have largely disappeared, The
anything to win" coach is disappearing.
Officials are generally more efficient and
fearless and their rulings are more and
more being accepted without quibhling.
There are, however, still many school
teams, and even some college teams, that
iail to recognize that the first obligation
IF every football player is to protect the
SnHlF tNNfl4f It's reputation anu It's gnu
name. He owes this TO the game. its .
friends and its traditions. There can be
little excuse for any college player who
flows the game to be smirched with un.
tactics.
In the case of the players in the school
cams, however, the committee is in.
lined to believe that unsportsmanlike
bay is due largely to ignorance Of what
he proper standards are and what the
treat host of ex-football players and
friends OF the game expect from the boys /,
Who are just learning it.
For the benefit of those who are Just
beginning to learn the game. the rules
committee has decided to publish in the
,fficial book of rules the following sug-
Iestions:
Holding Holding is prohibited by the
ules because il does not belong in the
rame Of football. II is unfair play. II
Eliminates skin. The slowest man in the
world could make a 40.yard run in every
Law if the rest Of his teammates would
old their opponents long enough. The a
anne is TO advance the ball by strategy.
kill and speed without holding your OPP
onent.
Perhaps a good game could be invented.
he object Of which would be to advance
he ball a. far az possible with the as.
istsnce Of holding your opponents, but J
would not be football. II would prob
bly, become a team wrestling match Y
nd. unless drastic rules rigidly enforced :
reverted IT, free fight. II your coach ]
snnot show YOU how TO gain distance :
ithout holding your opponents, get an
Their coach. II is fair 20 assume that
2 does not understand the strategy Of
be game d
Side Line Coaching Coaching from the
defines l. prohibited in the rules be- v
,use IL Is considered an unfair practice.
he game Is to b PLAYED by the players
sing their own muscle and their own 2.
rains II an oulooker. having seen al
be hands in a game Of cards. undertook
tell one Of the players what card %