Minor Changes in Football Rules

At the last meeting of the football rules committee held in New York there were several minor changes in the football rules which will be of interest to those who follow the game closely. Perhaps the most important change was the ruling that a forward pass made from behind the goal line and not fully completed becomes a safety. Another point which arose for discussion was para-O, section 9 of rule No. 6, in its unabridged form; this provided that a safety was made when a player of the side in possession of the ball made an incompleted forward pass behind his goal line or committed a foul which would give the ball to the opponents behind the offended's goal line. This was supplemented by the addition of: "A kick bounding back behind the goal line will immediately become a safety."

This cleared up one point, and to section 7 of rule 26 was added the provision that it was to apply only to fouls committed in the 20-yard zone. This section has to do with the distance penalty for carrying the ball inside the one-yard line or across the the goal line and it conflicted in part with the section of rule 6 already referred to.

The difficulties encountered in section 5 of rule 19 were eliminated by discarding the penalty of giving the ball to the opponents on the spot of the preceding down in the case of an incompleted forward pass, and substituting the penalty provided for in the case of illegally touching or recovering the ball, which shall go to the opponents at the spot of the preceding down instead of where the foul occurred.

Paragraphs B and C were supplemented by providing in each case that it must not have touched the ground in either case. By eliminating the clause "and before the ball has been touched by a player of either side" in section 6 of the same rule, the officials think that they will be able to prevent a scramble for the ball on the side lines.

Another point that came up was with reference to the use of hands and arms touched upon in section 5 of rule 18. It was decided that the players on the side not in possession of the ball may use their hands and arms in a bona fide attempt to get at and tackle the man with the ball. This provision was in the old rules, and although it was not in the code last year the practice was permitted, according to a majority of the officials.

The phrase "if either side is in possession of the ball same as free ball," under section 2 of rule 18, was omitted as being superfluous.

In defining a touchback, the committee decreed that a forward pass going over the goal line or striking the upright or cross bar, or a kicked ball struck by an offside player within the 10-yard line, is a touchdown in addition to the other specifications under section 8 of rule 4. It was also decided that the ball should not be declared dead if it strikes an official accidentally and play continues.

One new rule that escaped general observation was that the snapper back will be under the same rules as the other players with reference to being offside. Section 1 of rule 29 was amended by adding section 4 of rule 29.

Mr. Camp explained that the committee was of the opinion that if a man dropped the ball in the act if making a forward pass and it did not roll forward it would would be considered a fumble, and would be declared such, but if it had any forward movement it would be declared an imcompleted pass.

There were a number of other points of minor interest that will be fully described in the revised rules that will be distributed by the committee. In his preliminary remarks, Mr. Babbitt gave the officials some advice with regard to their expense bills and also intimated that many of the colleges had not done all in their power to make the officials feel that they were the guests of the institution on the days of the games.

Mr. Camp before beginning his task of explanation, said that it was largely because of the splendid way in which the officials handled the game last year that the rules met with such popular success at the outset.