The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1917-11-10
FOOTBALL GENTLER,
SAYS PITT COACH
warner Asserts Game Is spcrtsman's
Test Now Instead of Rough
Battle.

OieHh warner. coach or the Pitts
burg football eleven, says that within
comparatively few years football has
changed from a rough and risky con-
test to sportsmans test. Football
is a parlor game today compared to
the way 1t was played in the COS"
says the Panther coach.
- warner says that the reason for this
is the change in coaching policy and
the Improvement among officials In
spite of the changes and the improve
ment, the Pitt coach points out that
football is still our toughest game, not
excepting boxing and wrestling. but
| the redeeming thing about rough play
today on the gridiron is that 1t reacts
to rhe disadvantage of the team prac-
| ticing it.
Warner says that he changed from
/ the driving aggressive tactics of
coaching soon after he took charge of
tho Carlisle Indian eleven. Il will
never forget my first week at Carlisle"
says Warner.
! II coached as had been coached
taking advantage of the fact that plav-
! ers do not talk back to the coach Be-
fore the first week was over some OF
the best players had quit the team and
did not show up forfpractice. | sought
them out to locate the trouble They
said that they liked to play football,
but they did not like being cursed and
congratulated SO much l reformed and
got them back on the team 1t was a
valuable lesson for me. soon found
that l could do my work without abus-
ing or insulting my men"
In spite of the fact that as Warner
says, the game has lost many of Its
Objectionable features. and there has
been great Improvement among the Of
fcials. there are still teams which con-
stantV violate the code regarding
roughness and abusive language. The
spectators are so far away from the
play that they cannot hear the re-
marks which are made, and the rules
are violated in such way as not to
be noticeable to the crowd In the
stand. In several of the games this
season. the officials have failed to de-
tect roughing. stealing a few yards
with the ball. and even unseemly lam
guage. Many officials are prone to
regard these violations lightly because
this style of playing was in vogue
when they wore the moleskins.
"A player TO play his game says
warner, must concentrate upon its
problems in order to play hts best.
There is neither time nor need for dirty
football. Indeed. II the game Is not
played in sportsmanlike manner It
should not be played at all"
Coach Jesse Harper. OF the Notre
Dame eleven. which defeated " est
Point last week, asserts that the sue |
cess of his team was due to the fact
that they used the forward pass as a |
threat against the soldiers rather than
as an active play. BY constantly hay- |
ing one Of his players back as II to exc |
cute the pass he kept the army de-
Tense wide open and In that way his
backs were able to gain through the !.
army forwards Harper had the for /
ward pass carefully develoned and used
It successfully few times simply to |
keep the opposition in constant fear of I
II. The scheme worked with unusual /
success.
There has been an unusually large |
demand for tickets for the DARTMOUTH !
Pennsylvania game which Is to be |
played at Braves neld in Boston today. /
Special trains will bring crowds of .
Pennsylvania and Dartmouth students |.
from Philadelphia and Hanover. Tho |
Green regards the Penn game as the |
headline event Of its schedule. Nate |
Tufts OF Brown VIII referee the game /
Carl Marshall. of Harvard. with be the I
umpire; DR.. e. ], OBrien will be lines
man and Tom Thorp, OF Colum bia, Will |
act as field Judge.
Ali chance fer post-season game |
between .Pittsburg and any Of the I
eastern or southern elevens were dis /
PEELED when Pittsburg announced that |
post-season game had been arranged |
for December ] at Forbes field between |
the Pitt team and the team from Camp |
Lee where the 3lcth regiment is sta /
toned The Camp Lee eleven is coached |
by Lieutenant Wilson, the former Yale !
star. There are many prominent col |
lege players on the soldier team.
Coach Rafferty,. of Washington and
Lee. has stirred UP lot of controversy |
In the South with the statement that |
The reason Georgia Tech is so strong i
this year Is because all the other teams
have sent their players 60 the military /
camps Georgia Tech refutes this !
charge by showing that twenty-five OF
last years squad are now serving
Uncle Sam. Three are still under age
and three have been exempt.
A band Of thirty-fve students OF AL
legheny college of Meadville. Penn,
3earneyed to Ptttsburg a couple of
weeks ago In a freight car to see their |
team play Carnegie Tech. They all
lacked the funds to make the 125-miIe /
trip with the team. An approaching !
freight train solved the problem. |
When the students saw an open box
car they piled in and took n long, I'M
comfortable all-night ride.
Jim Thorpe, of the Giants. who was
one of the greatest half backs the I
game produced when he played with !
Carlisle, got back into the game last /
Sunday with the Canton, O.. profess
sional eleven. which he manages |
Thorpe showed flashes Of his greatness |
and although he did not score a touch
down, his great work was the feature |
of the game. Canton played the Patri- |
clans and won by a field goal 3 to o.
Ghee, the former Dartmouth quarter
back, started the game with Canton. |
but retired with couple of fractured !
ribs. Kelleher. one of the Patrician t