Football

a well known game at ball. The standard game is played on an oblong field. There are twenty-two players, eleven on each side or team. An inflated oval ball, about 7 by 11 inches in diameter, is used. The game is started by placing the ball in the center of the field. The men on each side line up as follows: Center, or snapback; right guard and left guard; right tackle and left tackle; two ends, and in the rear a quarter back; two half backs, and a full back. It is the aim of each team to force the ball, by kicking, carrying, and throwing, over a bar between two posts at the opposite end of the field called a goal. The player provides himself with Spalding's Official Foot Ball Guide, sold at ten cents a copy, but the following simplified statements may be of value to the ordinary spectator who wishes to understand the points of the game:

The American game is played upon a rectangular field, 330 feet in length and 160 feet in width, enclosed by heavy white lines marked in lime upon the ground. The lines at the two ends are termed goal lines. In the middle of these lines are goal posts, 18 1/2 feet apart, with a cross bar 10 feet above the ground.

The length of the game is seventy minutes, divided into two halves of thirty-five minutes each, exclusive of time taken out, though it may be of shorter duration by mutual agreement. There is a fifteen minute intermission between the halves.

A place kick is kicking the ball which is being held in position by another player of the same side.

A kick-off.--The ball is kicked off from the center of the field, by a player. This is done at the beginning of each half and after each score except a safety.

Drop-kick.--Dropping the ball from the hand and kicking it the instant it rises from the ground.

A fair catch.--Catching the ball after it is kicked by one of the opponents, and before it touches the ground, provided the player, while advancing towards the ball, signals his intention of making the fair catch by raising his hand clearly above his head, and does not take more than two steps, after making the catch.

A down occurs when the referee blows his whistle.

A touchdown is made when the ball lawfully in possession of a player is declared dead by the referee, any part of it being on, or above or behind the opponents' goal line. This counts five points, after which the team making the touchdown is given an opportunity to make a goal from touchdown. If the kick is successful, an extra point is given the team.

A touchback is made when the ball in possession of a player guarding his own goal is declared dead by the referee, any part of it being on, above or behind the goal line, provided the impetus which sent it to or across the line was given by an opponent.

It is also a touchback when a kicked ball (other than one from kick-off, free kick, or one scoring a goal from the field) goes over the goal line either on the fly or after striking the ground (before being touched by a player of either side). If such a ball strikes the uprights or cross-bar it shall be considered as having crossed the goal line.

It is a touchback when a player on defense permits a ball, kicked by an opponent, to strike his person and then roll across the goal line, and any player of his side then falls on it back of the line.

It is not a touchback if such player juggles the ball so that he in any way forces it over the line and he or any player of his side then falls on it.

A safety is made when the ball in the possession of a player guarding his own goal is declared dead by the referee, any part of it being on, above or behind the goal line, provided the impetus which caused it to pass from outside the goal to or behind the goal line was given by the side defending the goal. Such impetus could come:

(a) From a kick, pass, snap-back, or fumble by one of the player's own side.

(b) From a kick which bounded back from an opponent.

(c) In case a player carrying the ball is forced back, provided the ball was not declared dead by the referee before the line was reached or crossed.

Time taken out for injuries.--Each captain may ask that time be called three times during each half without penalty. After that a penalty of two yards is inflicted for each offense. Only two minutes is allowed each time.

Penalty for holding in the line is fifteen yards. Holding occurs when one of team holds an opponent, such as grasping an opponent with the hands or arms.

Penalty for hurdling is fifteen yards.

Penalty for uncompleted pass is fifteen yards from where the pass is made, after the first or second downs. On the third down the ball is given to the opposite side.

Penalty for offside, five yards. When a man is ahead of his own line of scrimmage when the ball is put into play.

Officials.--There are a referee, umpire, field judge, head linesman, and time keeper.

Historically, the main element was present in a Greek game. The game was played at Rome by opposing teams and was handed down to the Italians. A famous football field was in existence in a square at the end of the Church of Santa Croce, the Westminster Abbey of Florence. There were twenty-seven players on a side. Six judges, former players of renown, sat in a commanding position, three on each side of the field, to render decisions. Of the twenty-seven men, fifteen were runners, five interferers, four half-backs and three full-backs. The ball was kicked over a goal. The names of the Medicis and other noble families appear in the lists of players. In Germany, France, and England the bladder of the hog was much sought by children. When inflated and dried it made a juvenile football.

In 1314 Edward II issued a proclamation: "For as much as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over larger balls from which many evils might arise, which God forbid, we forbid such game to be used in the city in future." Various monarchs inveighed against football as tending to cause archery, of greater military value, to be neglected. In 1457 the Scottish James III decreed that "footballe and golfe be utterly cryed down and not to be used," while his successor, with equally uncertain spelling, gave orders that "In na place of this realme ther be used futeball, golfe, or other sik unprofitable sportes." James I of England declared football "meeter for lameing than making able the users thereof." Nevertheless the game was for centuries a favorite pastime throughout Great Britain. When it ceased to be a pastime for men at festivals and fairs it was kept alive by the boys of the public schools at Eton, Harrow, and Charterhouse. It was a cherished game at Rugby. The Rugby game and Rugby rules were introduced into Canada and the United States. Harvard took up the game in 1875. The first American intercollegiate game was played between Harvard and Yale in 1876. Nine years later a football association was formed by Harvard, Yale, Princeton, Wesleyan, and the University of Pennsylvania. The evolution of American rules may be said to date from this time.

College and school spirit carried the game to excess. Athletic associations went to the extent of employing trainers at salaries far in excess of those received by professors. Professional players were smuggled into the team. Tremendous excitement attended the college games. As high as 40,000 spectators are known to have been in attendance, reminding the reader of the old Roman gladiatorial exhibitions. The high schools and academies caught the fever, and for years football was the one form of athletics in which interest centered. About 1905 a reaction set in. The public felt that football had been carried too far. The game is now carried on in a more moderate way.

See Games

The Australian game, devised to get rid of accidents, requires a field oval in shape and at least 180 yards from one goal post to the other. The players at the start are ranged along the edges of the field, down to the center. As the science of the game is to keep the combined method of play open, the game never closes up, and the teams never meet in personal struggle. It is not allowable to trip a man, put arms around his neck or otherwise endanger him. The ball can be taken from a man only by knocking it from his hand. The game has been well established in Australia, to the exclusion of the old style, and the consul's report says as many as 40,000 persons attend the games at Melbourne.--H. D. Baker, in Consular Reports.