The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1922-01-08
PRO FOOTBALL
LIKELY TO DIE
FROM LACK OF
SPIRIT-ROPER
Princeton Coach Says Money
Can't Make Players Perform
Like They Do for Alma Mater.
He Boosts SandIotters.
BY w. W. (BILL) ROPER.

game seem q trifle more bitter
than the situation warrants. IN
l am In no sense an advocate Of
the professional end of the game.
In. fact. ] have no interest in II.
! haven't seen a professional foot
ball game for more than twenty
years, nor so far as know, have
1 ever coached a man who has
subsequently played on a profess
sional team or ever wanted to, and
! have coached eight Princeton
teams since, left college.
But recognize there are people
who enjoy watching a professional
game and imagine there are those
who like to play in one. And I am
not sure the best results can be &C.
complished by completely ostracizing
them.
twenty-five years of football, as
player, fan and coach-and / am not
cure which description fits me best
have taught me first OF all that the
game II played not by eleven men but
by eleven hundred or eleven thousand
by the whole student and graduate
body Of the Institution, large or small.
which those eleven men represent.
This may sound like the loose and
windy. bomhast OF the all too common
collegiate spellbinder. but my expert
ence has convinced me that It Is
very sober fact. and believe
that because Of this the attempts to
! Introduce the game as a professionally
played spectacle win be sporadic at
best.
~ WIN Die Out.
In my opinion. these attempts will
fail--fail not only as regards the
game itself. but as attractions to the
sportIovins part Of the public. Re-
CARELESS of their quality Of football.
they would certainly continue If they
paid in dollars and cents. I believe
the interest In purely professional
football may flourish for a while, but
that II win gradually die out. This 10
what has happened In the past, and
Z am confident history will repeat
kfself.
Your professional teams and players
have everything that any college
teams or players have, and, indeed.
some professional aggregations have
. distinct advantage In the individual
brilliance Of their men and the fact
that each OF these men has behind
him his own following Of personal
admirers who transfer their allegiance
10 any team on which he plays.
A firSt-class professional eleven 10
always composed Of former college
stsrs. each far better advertised be-
fore he begins his professional career
than any professional baseball player
nan hope to be, and each Of these
men has, too, q certain box-off1ce
value. based on his college connec-
lions. Individually. at least. the pro-
fessionals are certainly superior In
ability to college players. Few col.
lsges can hope to put on the field an
eleven composed entirely Of individ-
ual stars, which 10 the natural begin
ming OF any professional team.
where II Fails.
II anything. the advantage, there
fore. ought to lie with the professional.
and yet I am told by those closely and
technically interested In every minor
move on the field that professional
football II duller to watch. that 1t il
actually poorer football. play for play,
than one may see between even Sec
ond-rats college teams. The old
game. with its imperative demand for
courage and heart. and the new game,
with no less demand for these, and
the added requisite Of lightning in
tellisence, fail alike when the men
are playing for pay instead Of for
something less tangible, but more
compelling.
The one thing which the profess
sional team lacks and which the col
lege or school team has, IL the spirit
which stands behind the institutional
eleven and does not and cannot get be-
hind q mere collection Of hired gladi-
Rtors. Player and spectator alike
feel and show the lack of II, and 80
long as the rules stand roughly as
they are, Just 30 long will promoters
Of professional football lose their
money in the end.
Just here. want to say there In one
kind Of football team that am heart.
lily In sympathy with: that Ia the
bona fide athletic club or small town
team--one that plevs local talent all
through the season and, win or lose.
keeps to the same personnel. There
are Q lot OF these teams in my section
OF Pennsylvania and they certainly
ought to be encouraged whether the
players participate n a share of the
gate receipts or whether they don't.
II man hasn't gone to college, there
IS certainly no reason why he
shouldn't play and enjoy football, nor
IT, there any reason why college
player after his graduation shouldn't
represent and play on his local town
eleven. and II he happens to get a
little financial reimbursement, IL is
nobody's business but his own.
The Coaldale football team, up IN
the coal regions Of Pennsylvania, is a
mighty good illustration OF this kind
of team. They won the champion.
ship OF their section and they won II
with purely local talent. Certainly
no one would say the same spirit
wasn't behind the Coaldaie eleven that
was behind q college team and the
players try Just as hard and play Just
as enthusiastically.
tCopyriEht. 1884, By the Bell syndicate.