CHANGES IN FOOTBALL

Athletic Association of Harvard Graduates, James J. Storrow, Esq., President: Dear Sir,--The Committee appointed by your body to consider the present game of football has collected a great number of oral and written opinions and suggestions from expert players and those interested in the game; has held many protracted meetings, and has arrived at the following conclusions:

(I) That the game possesses too many excellent features to be abandoned;

(II) That it should be radically modified.

Your Committee believes that the present rules are neither explicit nor strictly and courageously enforced; and that the present game offers abundant opportunity for brutality and cheating and makes them profitable risks to take.

Your Committee believes that the game should be made more open and visible.

The following suggestions by your Committee naturally group themselves under two heads:

(a) The conduct of the game, and

(b) technical changes in the playing rules.

Under (a) your Committee recommends:

(1) That in addition to the present officials there shall be a second umpire to watch the conduct of the players;

(2) That the head-linesman shall keep such a position on the field as will best enable him to watch offside play, and that it shall be his special duty to watch for and penalize offside play and illegal formations;

(3) That any player shall be instantly disqualified by either umpire, by referee or by head-linesman for any act of brutality, roughness or insulting talk to opponents or officials, and that a player so disqualified shall not play again in that game and that no substitute shall be permitted for five minutes of actual play;

(4) That a player twice disqualified in any one season shall not be permitted to play again for one year from the date of his second disqualification;

(5) That Rule 17, Sec. (b) as published in the Rules Book for 1905 shall be revised and amplified as follows:

"The players of the side that has possession of the ball shall not hold, block or otherwise obstruct the opponents except with the body; but the player running with the ball may ward off an opponent with the hand. ('Holding or unlawful obstruction' includes (a) grappling the opponent with the hands, (b) placing the hands upon an opponent to push him away from the play, (c) locking legs with an opponent, (d) circling in any degree any part of an opponent with the arm, (e) any use of the arms to lift an opponent in blocking, and (f) any obstruction of an opponent by the hand, arm or elbow";

(6) That the penalty for holding or unlawful obstruction by the side in possession of the ball shall be the loss of the ball; also that the penalty for holding or unlawful obstruction shall be inflicted whether the holding affects the play or not;

(7) That any interference with the player behind the line of scrimmage after he has kicked the ball shall be punished with immediate disqualification;

(8) That a competent body of officials shall be selected in advance of the playing season. Your Committee suggests the following method of selection:

That the Rules Committee shall be requested to appoint a committee of three men not members of the Rules Committee or of the coaching staff of any college; that this committee of three shall have full charge of selecting and instructing a corps of football officials; that it shall select in such manner as it sees fit the officials for any intercollegiate contests for which it shall receive a written request from the head coaches of the opposing teams accompanied by the required fee, provided such request shall be received not less than twenty days before the game; that it shall not announce the officials so chosen until the day of the game, but shall be responsible for their prompt attendance;

(9) That, in general, all rules shall be strictly interpreted and enforced.

Your Committee believes that such changes as are suggested above are essential to the preservation of the game.

Under (b) your Committee recommends:

(1) That in a scrimmage the holder of the ball shall place it flat upon the ground and put it in play with its long axis at right angles to the line of scrimmage, and that until the ball is put in play no part of any player, except of the man who puts the ball in play, shall be ahead of the point of the ball nearer his own goal.

The following arguments in favor of this rule appeal strongly to your Committee:

1. It will prevent personal contact, and will tend thereby to eradicate brutality in the line.

2. It will make holding more difficult and easier of detection.

3. It will tend to prevent injuries.

4. it will simplify the duties of the officials.

5. It will make the game more visible;

(2) That the distance to be gained in three downs shall be increased from 5 yards to ten yards, provided the defence be weakened or the offence materially strengthened;

3. That between the 25-yard lines any player who has not advanced beyond the line of scrimmage may pass the ball in any direction;

(4) That the punt-out for a try at goal after a touchdown shall be abolished;

(5) That the distance between the goal posts shall be 25 feet;

(6) That no players in the rush line shall interlock legs;

(7) That after a free kick, except the kick-off, no player of the kicker's side shall touch the ball until it has been touched by an opponent;

(8) That a "fair catch" shall be a catch made from a kick by one of the opponents, provided the player before making the catch indicates his intention by holding his hand above his head with the arm fully extended and no other of his side touch the ball; that opponents shall not in any way interfere with a player who has signified his intention of making a fair catch, nor shall he be thrown after making such a catch; that after signifying his intention to make a fair catch a player shall not run with the ball; that the penalty for interfering with a fair catch shall be 15 yards and the choice of a free kick or a scrimmage.

(9) That before the ball is put in play in a scrimmage no player of the side which has the ball shall take any step in any direction, except that one man may be in motion toward his own goal;

(10) That the question whether a fair catch has been attempted or made and whether there has been any interference shall be decided by one official, and that this official shall be designated by the central committee;

(11) That the rules shall be recodified and illustrated by means of pictures to show more clearly what is meant by holding and other offences against the rules.

(12) That of the side having possession of the ball, not more than three men besides the man receiving the ball from the snapper-back shall be less than 5 yards behind the line of scrimmage unless outside the position occupied by the outside man in the line.  Respectfully submitted,  W. T. REID, JR., Chairman,  L. B. R. BRIGGS,  EDWARD H. NICHOLS,  WILLIAM H. LEWIS,  LORIN F. DELAND,  ROBERT D. WRENN,  Committee.

Additional Report by Lorin F. Deland.

While agreeing with the above recommendations as far as they go, I do not think they go far enough to remedy the present demoralization in football. I feel that the game has lost its just proportions by the introduction of mercantile standards, and as a corrective, I advocate the abolition of gate-receipts. I do not see why a match game between students of competing colleges should not be played before invites guests, as in the Army-Navy contest. When a single game between Harvard and Yale brings in gate-receipts of $80,000, I think that commercialism has found good soil for propagating serious evils.  Respectfully submitted,  LORIN F. DELAND.

Your attention is called to the fact that Mr. W. Cameron Forbes has been unable to attend any meeting of the Committee.

Explanation of Report by Coach Reid.

Head Coach of W. T. Reid, Jr., who has also been chairman of the committee appointed by the Athletic Association of Harvard Graduates to consider football, said in explanation of the Committee's report:

"Probably the public generally, and especially that part of the public not particularly familiar with the football rules, will not appreciate at first glance the full effect of the recommendations of the football committee of the Athletic Association of Harvard Graduates, as made in their report. Entirely aside from the suggestions for more strictly enforcing the rules and making brutality too expensive a risk to be profitable, there are a number of important changes suggested in the technical part of the game.

"The formation of a neutral zone between the two teams, as wide as the ball is long, will tend to keep the teams far enough apart to enable the officials to distinctly see every motion of every man in the line, and the fact that the minute a player puts any part of his body into this neutral zone he may be penalized for offside play will do away with much of the rough contact now possible in the line of scrimmage.

"Of course every football man will readily realize that the permitting of the forward pass is a radical departure and will be open up possibilities that are difficult for any one to forecast until they have been tried in actual play. Probably the forward pass will not only result in weakening the defence--in forcing them to play some of their line further back; but it will have a tendency to prevent men in the line from crouching, as they do at present, as it will always be necessary for a player to get quickly be necessary for a player to get quickly to any spot to which the ball may have been passed.

"In the clause opening the offence the coaches and captains are given a free hand to develop any kind of a fast running attack, the only limit which has been placed being to guard against a preponderance of mass plays, by requiring any additional players who are placed back of the scrimmage line to be at least 5 yards back, and by increasing the distance to gain from 5 to 10 yards.

"Abolishing the punt-out will place a premium on touchdowns made near the middle of the goal-line and a premium on skill in kicking goals at difficult angles, and eliminate any possibility of roughness on the part of the defending team in attempting to interfere with the punt-out.

"Widening the distance between the goal posts will increase the tendency to try for goals from the field, and make goal kicking at difficult angles a little easier.