New Britain herald., 1929-12-16

in physical and mental trim.
 "Whon you See an official step on the basketball floor, or on to the football field and work for an hour or so and then collect a fee which socms large, you probably say; Easy moucN.' But remember. the official probably has spent many hours Of study and many seasons Of training to fit himself for the as s%nment that he has received
 "Speaking of officials and their work, Dick Dillon of Hartford, one of the best known basketball off rials in the east last week retired from active officiating after 25 years ot mcritorious service, Dillon start cd "calling them as he saw them" years aso when basketball was a rough, tough game and it is largely through his untirin efforts that basketball in Connecticut is on the high plane that it is today. AS an official he was fearless honest, impartial and capable-al- ways making the players play the game. He did much 10 standardize high class officiating in the east
 His retirement leaves a void at the top which will be hard to fill.
 "It is my pleasure to attend the annual interpretation meeting held by the joint rules committee on basketball in New fork last month 4c a Jalpoatr from tho ('oproct icu+ state board and 10 hear discussed there the changes in the rules for this season. I will cndcavor to give you a brief resume >f the more i'm pOrtant changes:
 ''The first change in the rules this year is that of increasing the au- thority Of the umpire. While the two official system is not commonly used in this section, it has proved unsatisfactory in the past because the umpire, in many cases, has been more or less of a tigurehead who walked mp and down the side lines and functioned much as a Inesman does in soccer. By increasing the authority Of the umpire the com mittee has made legal the so-calIrd double referee system which proved 10 be efficient and popular during the past few years. Each official covers one side and one end of the court, thus making it possible to have an official ahead of the ball ct all times.
 The second change has 10 do with the jump at center;
 "On q jump ball at the center or else" here the jumpers are not al- lowed to touch the ball after it has been tapped until it has touched the floor or one of the other eight players, except that the jumpers may tap the ball more than once in attempting to cause it to drop out side the jumping circle. The pen aity for violation of this rule is loss Of bail 10 the opponents out of bounds. The object of this change
 is 10 do away with the monopoliz- ing of the ball by tall center and 70 cut down the physical advantage Of @ tall plapcr. It is safe to pre- Gict that in few years the method ! of putting the laIl in play will bc changed from the present plan Of tossing the ball up between two play CTS to one where q difference in height of ccnterS will not have such % definite bearing on the control of the ball.
 "The technical fouls that were rormcrly called on jump balls. such a3 tapping the ball going up, or leaving the circle have been changed 1 to violations, the penalty for which i is the loss Of ball to opponents out o5 bounds.
 "Another important change this scar is the one which makes il i'm uossIbl" to score five points on :, single ,play. t'o" several years if a layer was fouled in the act oi shooting a basket. th" goal if made comjod and h" vas allowed two