1905-06 Volume 30 No 1–5 - Phi Delta Theta Scroll Archive

2 26 THE SCROLL.through the very men who have long known about the existingevils and have been largely responsible for their continuance,"he says, and adds:The common justification offered for these hateful conditions is that footballis a fight; and that its strategy and ethics are those of war. One maytherefore resort in football to every ruse, stratagem, and deceit which wouldbe justifiable in actual fighting. New tricks are always desirable, as surprises.The weaker man is the legitimate prey of the stronger. One shouldalways trv to discover the weakest man in the opponent's line, as, for example,the man most recently injured, and attack him again and again. If a man,by repeated blows about the head, and particularly on the jaw, has beenvisibly dazed, he is the man to attack at the next onset. If in the lastencounter u, player has been obviously lamed in leg or arm or shoulder, thebrunt of an early attack should fall on him. Asa corollary to this principle,it is justifiable for a player, who is in good order, to pretend that he is seriouslyhurt, in order thai he may draw the opponent's attack to the wrongplace. These rules of action are all justifiable, and even necessary, in theconsummate savagery called war, in which the immediate object is to killand disable as manj' of the enemy as possible. To surprise, ambuscade, anddeceive the enemy, and invariably to overwhelm a smaller force by a greaterone, are the expected methods of war. But there is uo justification for suchmethods in a manly game or sport between friends. They are essentiallyungenerous, and no sport is wholesome in which ungenerous and mean acts,which easily escape detection, contribute to victory, whether such acts beoccasional and incidental, or habitual.Football as it is now played was severely criticised byWilliam Reid, Harvard's head coach, in a letter to the graduatesassociation of that university. In recommending changesin the game, he refers to the ethical evil emphasized by PresidentEliot, and says:Although I am willing to admit that the necessary roughness of the gamemay be objectionable to some people, that appears to me to be much lesdserious than the fact that there is a distinct advantage to be gained frombrutality and the evasion of "the rules—offences which, in many instances)the officials cannot detect because they are committed when the players andthe ball also are hidden from the eyes of the umpire.At the meeting of the association of presidents of state universitiesat Washington, November 13-14, President Andrews,of Nebraska, delivered an address in which he praised thegame of football. A difference of opinion was developedwhen President Thompson, of Ohio State University, introduceda resolution declaring that the time devoted to footballwas wasted, that its tendency was brutal and that professionalismwas creaping into the sport. Discussion followed, inwhich strong advocates appeared for and against the game,but the subject was dropped until the meeting of the associationnext year.Discussion on the subject has been further aroused by thequestion for the Harvard-Princeton debate: ''Resolved, That