New-York tribune., 1918-12-01
Rules to Allow
Substitutes in
Soccer Planned
By c. A. Lovett

Soccer football is to have its most
war reconstruction period. And one of
the important changes coming in
soccer law Will show the way to legis-
iStors OF the association game in Great
brlt2ln and on the continent, where
the sport is both decades older than
II IS In the United States and wears
longer IN adopting reforms, the need
Oh which Is obvious.
Beyond much doubt the sixth annual
meeting of the United States Football
Association next spring will see rule
{ passed to allow for substitutes for in
! Jufed players in American soccer The
cnange has been talked of for several
seasons past and the time has come
when there is a widespread clamor for
a rule provision to legalize substitu-
tons during the course of a game.
heretofore when a player has been
hurt or ordered from the field during
a match his team has had to finish
the game with but ten men against
the opposing sides eleven. Soccer
history discloses games that have been
finished with as few as seven or eight
men on one side. Elimination throurh
injury of two or three players Is not
uncommon where games have been
played on hard, frozen ground. OF on
coating of ice, or where the play has
DeeH particularly rough.
There is no rule in the laws of inter
national soccer which bars substitutes.
Neither IS there a rule which says sub
stitutions are to be allowed But the
ban on substitutions always has been
an unwritten law in the "old country
and 1T was put into effect here by old
country men whose aid Thomas ".
Cahill enlisted in introducing the game
here.
Custom Uusportsmanlike
The father of soccer in the United
States" now is honorary secretary Of
the United States Football Association
and is surrounded by progressive
Americans for whom the mo substitu-
tions" practice, to begin with, is too
portsmanlike. A full team winning
from team rendered incomplete by
accident does not win on its merits. It
is not intended to allow substitutions
for players ruled off the field for mis-
conduct.
There is yet another argument in
favor of substitutions in American soc.
Ger. The American brand of the kick
ing game is as different from the So
called English style" almost as la
crosse differs from cricket Dash and
aggressiveness is more manifest than
precision and mechanical combination
Because American soccer develops more
of bruising scrap than the "old coun-
try style, injuries to players are more
common.
That this style Of greater aggres-
slveness Is the more effective has been
evidenced against the famous Pilgrims
who toured this country in the earliest
days of American soccer, against Nor
ways and Sweden's best teams en-
countered by Cahill's internationsl
eleven in 1915 and in the recent Bethle-
hem Canada matches It must be
said for Canada, however. that foot
ball style in the Dominion leans TO
the American rather than the English
Among the national champion Bethle-
hens, too, are several old country
stars, among them Fleming. peer Of
modern day penalty kickers. Yet Harry
Jay Ratican, the Bethlehem centre
forward, born in St. Louis, Mo-, and an
exponent of the bustling, aggressive
game. was the foremost goal scorer OF
the United States last season
Public Demands Change
Among the latter day advocates of
substitution in soccer Is an old coun
try soccer man, James A. Waider Of
Philadelphia, one of the ablest referees
of the sport and secretary of the United
States Referee Union. Speaking of
substitutions and the unfairness of not
permitting them, Walder said recently:
'The polnt will be one for American
alteration of soccer football law, and
will be laid before the international
board for its adoption as soon as times
again have become normal. There are
lots of men high up in the soccer world
who are at the present time trying to
bring about this change.
"To allow substitutes in the game
will go a long way in making the game
as popular as it deserves to be in this
country The American player and
public demand that substitutes be al
lowed. The chief argument is that of
fairness. The change will come soon
er or later the world over. Until
then the game will be under a dsad-
vantage.
The men who decide the question.
however, will need to exercise great
care in drafting rules to cover the
point, so that no player or manager
who would try to abuse the privilege
can succeed in doing So I believe that
no team ever should be permitted 20
use more than two substitutes in any
one game"
In order to be truly sportsmanlike.
colleges and field club leagues in this
country, and in rare instances, by per
mission of the opposing club, manager.
IN England and Scandinavia, substi
tutes have been allowed. But the use
of substitute players in all cup com
petition and league games and in m
ternatlonal matches must be provided
for in football law and that soon.