Football days : $b memories of the game and of the men behind the ballEdwards, William H. (William Hanford)
General
Football days : $b memories of the game and of the men behind the ball
Edwards, William H. (William Hanford)
Football
"Football rules are changed from year to year. The causes of these
changes are usually new points which have arisen the year previous
during football games. A good many rules are interpreted according to
the judgment of each individual official. I remember two points that
arose in the Harvard-Penn' game in 1904, at Soldiers' Field. In this
year there was great rivalry between the players representing Harvard
and Pennsylvania. The contest was sharp and bitterly fought all the way
through. Both teams had complained frequently to Edwards, the Umpire.
Finally he caught two men red-handed, so to speak. There was no
argument. Both men admitted it. It so happened that both men were very
valuable to their respective teams. The loss of either man would be
greatly felt. Both captains cornered Edwards and both agreed that he was
perfectly right in his contention that both men should have to leave the
field, but--and it was this that caused the new rule to be enforced the
next year. Both captains suggested that they were perfectly willing for
both men to remain in the game despite the penalty, and with eager faces
both captains watched Edwards' face as he pondered whether he should or
should not permit them to remain in the game. He did, however, allow
both to play. Of course, this ruling was establishing a dangerous
precedent; therefore, the next year the Rules Committee incorporated a
new rule to the effect that two captains of opposing teams could not by
mutual agreement permit a player who ought to be removed for committing
a foul to remain in the game."
Bill Crowell of Swarthmore, later a coach at Lafayette, is another
official who has had curious experiences.
"In a Lehigh-Indian game a few years ago at South Bethlehem, in which I
was acting as referee," he says, "in the early part of the game Lehigh
held Carlisle for four downs inside of the three-yard line, and when on
the last try, Powell, the Indian back, failed to take it over, contrary
to the opinion of Warner, their coach. I called out, 'Lehigh's ball,'
and moved behind the Lehigh team which was forming to take the ball out
of danger. Just before the ball was snapped, and everything was quiet in
the stands, Warner called across the field:
"'Hey! Crowell! you're the best defensive man Lehigh's got.'"
Phil Draper, famous in Williams football, and without doubt one of the
greatest halfbacks that ever played, also served his time as an
official. He says:
"From my experience as an official, I believe that most of their
troubles come from the coaches. If things are not going as well with
their team as they ought to go, they have a tendency to blame it on the
officials in order to protect themselves."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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