Evening star., 1927-03-09
RULE ON BACKWARD PASS
SNOT MADE VERY CLEAR
LII 1t Means Ball Is Dead on tumble on Toss From
Quarter to Halfback on Crisscross, or Reverse
Play, Harm Has Been Done.

outside the end, but just how much
further than that the rule goes is not
clear. The pass from quarterback
to a halfback is m backward pass; the
pass on the ordinary criss-cross or
reverse play is a backward pass. 1t
would hardly seem that the rules COM
mittee would include such backward
passes under the category of those
passes which would he dead if FUN
bled. That would eliminate IS per
cent of the danger of opponents get
ting the ball through fumbling, as 1t
is on this type of backward pass that
most fumbling takes place. If de-
fensive team is denied the opportunity.
to recover a tumble on play of this
type, one of the best features of foot
ball has been eliminated.
Again though. it might be men.
toned that the big schools like to
eliminate the possibility of dangerous
errors. or f1ukes. and the new back
ward pass rule applied to backward
passes on the reverse play and on a
pass to a halfback from a quarter
back certainly would eliminate one Of
the most dangerous and disconcerting
mistakes that a foot ball team can
make. What might be gained, though,
in eliminating a part of the penalty
of such an error, the recovery of the
ball by the defense, might be lost in
taking away from the offensive play
ers good deal of their incentive to
be constantly alert.
Rockne and Spears, chief exponents
of the shift. have been quoted as we'll
satisfied with the change made in the
rules governing the shift. They ought
to be. If there is anything different
from what was in vogue last Fall,
then 1t has not appeared in what has
come forth from the rules committee.
True, delay of one full second has
been designated. but actually the
handling of the play again is left en-.
tirely to the judgment of officials
Some officials will penalize the play;
others Will not. Some officials will pc.
nalize part of the time and the game
will become an endurance test be.
tween the officials and the team using
the shifts, and the shifting team will
be victor. especially if the officials
want jobs handling games for that
team. True, 15-yard penalty has
been imposed instead of five. but the
psychology of that probably will be to
make a referee just little more hesi-
tant about imposing it. In all proba.
bility. officials that have never them
selves played under a shift system
VIII bS HiClli6U 10 UG SCTICC, Wnlle OIIl-
cials that have been players or coach
es under that system will be lenient
with it.
Still VIII Cause Trouble.
The shift play has been for years
and still is the bane of officials. What
ever an official does he is wrong with
one of the teams. When two teams
are playing. one with shifts, the other
without, if the official calls the shifts,
then he incurs the enmity of the coach
of that team, and If he does not call
penalties for shifts, then he brings
down on himself the wrath of the op.
posing coach. And whichever way he
turns 1t probably means that one of
the teams will refuse to accept him
for it's games the following year and
possibly may refuse to accept him in
games for the remainder of the cur
rent season. That kind of thing hap.
pened last Fall in this section and
probably in every other section. A foot
ball official gets $50 an hour, plus his
expenses, for two hours work, but he
earns every penny of it, especially