Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-04-26

States Field Ar.
| tillery and Ensi-
Henry McLenors. neer units is Ger.
tain to bewilder them.
In an attempt to acQuaint Lon.
don sports writers with football, an
advance showing was held Of a short
film high lighting the most spectac-
ular plays OF the 1912 season. The
film ran for about an hour and
showed the Army, Navy, Michigan.
Notre Dame, Southern California,
Georgia, Alabama and q score Of
other teams In action.
I sat between Mr.. Bailey Of The
Star and Mr.. Peskett Of The Sunday
Graphic at the Aim and at the
finish I interviewed these we'll.
known English sports writers on
what they thought of our game and
how 1t would be received by the Gus
toners at White City.
Mr.. Peskett was particularly i'm.
pressed with the cheer leaders, and
1t was obvious that the shots Of
them Tipping and Hopping in front
Of the stands meant more to him
than the performances Of Sinkwtch,
Kuzma, Bertelli and Governan.
Explanations Misfire.
Amazing performers, those cheer
fellows and cheer ladies'" Mr.. Pes
kett said. 1T must call for tremen-
dous stamina and strength for them
to play an entire game. Their train
ing must be very severe. Do many
Of them get injured?"
did my very best to explain to
Mr.. Peskett that the cheer fellows
and cheer ladies weren't actually
participants in the game but were
simply part Of the sideshow.
"Oh, see, I see,' he said, but I
am not at all sure that he did.
Mr.. Bailey was critical Of the de.
tense in American football. In fact,
he intimated that he felt there
wasn't any and that any one who
got the ball was bound to make q
substantial gain. I pointed out that
the Aim consisted chiefly Of specta-
cular gains and that Aim showing
a stubborn, defensive play would be
very dull. This didn't satisfy him
at all.
I'm our rugby, an advance Of 10
yards Is considered very fine and
longer gains are very unusual. A
chap made 55-yard run at Twick-
enham years ago and 1t is still talked
about in rugby circles and is con-
sidered to be one Of the greatest Of
all time. Your chaps think nothing
Of running so, 80, 10 or even 100
yards. There must be something
faulty with the defense to allow
such scampering about"
See Death Dealing.
Will Lou Little, Frank Thomas or
Bill Alexander please note Mr..
Bailey's words and do something
about the matter?
After the picture several London
journalists inquired as to the In
surance carried on the players.
They all admitted that it was the
toughest game since the martyrs
lined up against the lions in the
Colosseum and they wondered who
collected the money when the play
ers were bumped off. They were
very much surprised to learn that
fatalities were few and far between,
as they had been led to believe that
scarcely game was played with
out some player being killed.
They were surprised, too, that any
man could throw a ball as far as
our passers. Mr.. Peskett said the
English public would be hard pressed
to believe that man could take q
football and hurl it so or 60 yards,
because In rugby the average toss
OF a pass is only few yards. Mr..
Bailey said the interference would
shock the public, too, as in rugby no
blockers are allowed to go ahead Of
the ball carrier.
Deep Fog Certain.
II the sports writers are 80 con.
fused by our game even after a pic
ture explanation Of it, it is easy to
see what deep fog of bewilderment
Is going to settle over the crowd at
White City, which is certain to be
large as the game is being played
for the benefit Of the British Red
Cross and the Prisoners War Fund.
The crowd Is likely to be as as
founded as were the Berliners in
1886 when the American teams
played an exhibition baseball game
as part Of the Olympics. A crowd
Of more than 100000 saw that game.
am convinced, however, that
the exhibition game STAYED of war
for at least one year, as 1t took tho
Germans at least that long to re-
cover their balance after seeing q
game they knew nothing about and
which was complicated by having
. play-by-play detail furnished
them over the loudspeaker by an
Englishman who also was seeing
his first game Of baseball.
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