The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1930-10-18
TALKING
IT Over
By JOE WILLIAMS
NV YORK. OF. 10.

NEW YORK, Oct. 10.
T~OOTBALL has become SO in
II VOWED there is no telling what
the boys with the whistle are going
TO do when some particularly crazy
play hobs up. and it appears that
these particularly crazy plays are
always bobbing up. You don't have
to go any further back than the
game last week between Yale and
Georgia to get an idea what the
boys with the whistle can do under
the rules even when they are trying
to do their best and their fairest.
n
In that game the referee misinterpreted
one Of those beautifully scrambled rules
touching on the tumble and It gave Yale
an illegal touchdown. Nobody discovered
the 'nerkIe' until the Esxt day. The
three other officials on the field con-
CURED in the decision. Neither the Yale
nor the Georgia coach detected the error,
and none Of the players disputed the score.
crowd of $4,000 customers-msny Of
them partisan 70 the southern team-sat
in the bowl and accepted the TOUCHDOWN
4sp6r ta o. coop fun Of am smdq young
gents representing the metropolitan news
papers took squint at the play. accepted
the decision as It was MADE, ana con-
count Of the game in calm, undis-
turbed mood.
THIS decision was made on a
Il reasonably simple play, too.
Yale kicked off to start the second
half Kelly, a Georgia half back,
captured the ball on his ten-yard
line and started to run it back. At
about the twenty-yard line Vincent,
the Yale captain, hit him with 165
pounds of concentrated ferocious-
ness. The force of the impact caused
the ball to skyrocket out Of Kelly's
arms and another Yale man, Barres,
following up the play, caught the
ball before it hit the ground and
galloped across the goal line.
The rule covering the play is specific
and simple. eff the ball is recovered by
q player Of the kicking side before 1t is
declared dead) the ball is dead at the
poInt Of recovery" There's nothing in
voIved about that It's ore of the few
really simple, clear cut rules in the book,
and at first blush you are properly
astonished that nobody In the bowl
recognized that vital mistake had been
made.
But it so happens that this is only one
of q staggering number of rules and inter
pretations with which the officials are
forced to grap5:e and the game is inflicted;
Tor instance. you can run with a free ball
under others Example A: VincentS hard
tackle Of Kelly produced a fugitive ball
Barres recovered. but under the rules he
arTes reeoTered he coHld have run ali
dsy and part of the night with 1T.
II n
lust why it shouldn't be perrnis-
- sible to run with all unattached
balls or run with none under any
circumstances is a mystery. The
wonder is not that the officials pull
an occasional bone but that they
are able to give so many decisions
on the spot as they should be given.
II has been pretty obvious for a long
time that the technical phrases of football
are less understood by officials. players
and customers than any other sport and
the fact that an illegally scored touch
down was perpetrated in full view of
thousands without one dissenting may be
accepted as a convincing illustration.
This IS something that couldn't have
happened in any other well known or
popular sport. and the reason is that foot
ball is the Only sport that is subjected to
constant tampering and alterations
n n
In its fundamentals football is a very
simple game The team with the ball is
trying to 60 somewhere and the team
without the ball is trying to see that it
doesn't. Why it should be necessary to
surround these simple labors with legis-
lative manual that is as battling to the
average person as an Einstein paper is
mystery.
lust the same I'm happy the
- Yale bowl incident occurred.
Heretofore I have always sat meek
ly back afraid to open my chops at
a football game lest I betray my
colossal ignorance. But when $4,000
people can't be right I see no dis
grace in being wrong.
n 4
From now on that chattering magpie
in the press chambers telling how the
game ought to be played will be old
Colonel Williams. Even If 1 don't know
fake lateral from cheer leader it looks
as II know as much as the others about
this game of feetbalI.