MEETINGS TO DISCUSS FOOTBALL TO BE HELD

The first general meeting of all football coaches and officials to discuss the changes in rules which seem appropriate, will be held at the Hotel Biltmore, New York, this evening at 8 o'clock. The meeting has been called by Walter Camp, Secretary of the Football Rules Committee, in an effort to allow all those interested in the sport to express their views on the present rule situation and to suggest any changes which seem advisable. The gathering is, of course, unofficial, as no actual changes can be made, though whatever specific recommendations are offered should have an influence on the Football Rules Committee which is to meet Friday, March 10. Tonight's discussion will be primarily for the coaches and officials in the neighborhood of New York, as the plan is to hold sectional meetings elsewhere. Another such gathering will be called by Major F. W. Moore '93, Graduate Treasurer of the H. A. A. and member of the Rules Committee, to take place in the vicinity of Boston later in the month. Upon the results of these sectional discussions the Committee hopes to have some valuable data upon which to base its action in March.

Special Rules for Schoolboys

One concrete suggestion has been offered to the Rules Committee in the form of a recommendation from the Coaches' Association to the effect that they consider the adoption of special rules for younger boys with the view to lessening the dangers of inexperienced players. A shorter length of periods and free catches on punts were among the items suggested. The recommendation was endorsed by the National Collegiate Athletic Association so it should bear weight when put before the Rules Committee.

In the anuual report of the committee which took place in New York last December, Mr. E. K. Hill, the Chairman, said: "It is probably a fact that more people have participated in football contests and certainly more spectators have witnessed these contests during the past season than ever before in a single season. In other words, the modern open game now generally understood and well developed has been subjected to another thorough test."

Mr. Hill went on to say that the report of 1920 stated that the changes from the old style football to the modern game had nearly been completed and that now there was a greater opportunity for coaches to devote their time to a development of the game under standard rules. He added that the past season has added still more evidence to the fact that an open game had at last been established, and that any changes in the rules during the next few years would be confined primarily to the details and to a better understanding of the code, or to a checking of the open game tendencies which may grow to an extreme.

Cooperation of Colleges Necessary

In discussing the prestige and the good name of football Mr. Hill said that the work of the Rules Committee was restricted to a formation of the rules and that close cooperation of the colleges was necessary to maintain the high ideals of football. He cited several cases showing that though the rule book gave every opportunity to the football world to maintain a high standard, yet the players and coaches made little use of the advantages. The Committee has printed a code and a list of reliable officials, yet there are prominent players who are actually unaware of the existence of such documents. In closing his report Mr. Hill said:

"The point I am trying to make is that while we have a magnificent game at the moment, eternal vigilance is necessary to protect it. The Rules Committee stands ready to do its part, and the colleges I am sure are more than ready and anxious to do theirs, but it is only the close cooperation between the two that will with absolute certainty attain the objective we are still striving for--the preservation and integrity of this greatest of academic sports".