| OCR Text |
Show PIPES PfillECTl !!l FOOTBAIL SAME Remedy for Foollall Docs Not Lie in Abolition of Mass Plays. EAGER COACHES ARE BLAMED FOR DEATHS Carelessness- Causes Injured Players to Pass Unnoticed, 'With Fatal Results. Tribune Special Sporting- Service. NEW YORK, Nov. J.I. The remedy for football docs not lio in the abolition aboli-tion of mass plays as they aro now executed, ex-ecuted, nor docs suitable protection for young athletes necessitate the abolition aboli-tion of the game itself. There is nothing noth-ing seriously the matter with tho game as it is played today, but thoro is something seriously tho matter with the chances eager coaches permit their players to take. A capable oflicial, with a medical training and with authority to remove from the gnmo a man who is physically physical-ly and menially unfit to pla3' longer should .bo on the Held during every contest. A constant, close range observation ob-servation of tho men should bo his only duty. Ho should be the safety valve for tho ambitious aud grittv young follows who voukl rather fall lielpless in their tracks than give up voluntaril'. Tho coaches who have the interests of the players at heart aro too far away to judge always of thoir condi-lio.n, condi-lio.n, and tho judges of tho play are loo busy with their manifold duties to see the sins of collapse in a player, us a medical man, with nothing else to do, would bo able to see them. Football Ia Not Fing-Fong. Football is' a strenuous game, and those who play it arcJikoly fo be hurt from timo to time. But there aro ninny ways lo get hurt in every outdoor out-door sport. There is no necessity for those who want to bco football abolished abol-ished to harp on the danger question. Admitting that tho uame is not ono for men who Cannot stand hard knocks, we are still of the opinion that in a game between two well-trained elevens, with every player capablo of clear thinking, there 13 no reason wliy anybody any-body should be killed. There is no roason why a well-conditioned, clear-minded football playor should be falallv injurod in the most fiercely contested game that is clonnly played and the college gamo today fs clean, notwithstanding the insinuations of people Who do not know what lhoy arc talking about. A football player who has competent instructors knows how to fall when tackled, aud how to go into a. scrimmage both on offense and defense. To suppose, that every serimmago is a rough and tumble light is ridiculous. There is plenty of "givo''' to the bodies of nlayors who come together before the clangor point is reached, and in lhc majority of cases the men know just how fo receive Llio shock. 4 But tho situation is entirely different when a man has a befuddled brain; and it is nc. credit to the sport, to nay that plnyers often go through a gamo or a part of it in jsuoh a doubt.tul mental condition after a hard knock on tho hoad which the wearing of a headgear might hayo prevented that later, when thoir brain litis cleared up again, they can remember onlv a small part of what transpired. "Miilc the contest was on they had only an idea that thev were out on tho field to oppose with all thoir strength in some way the moil who. did not wear the samo colored jersoys (hat thoy wore. Injurod Playorn. A man in such a condition or oven one not so bad, cannot be expected to lake care of himself, especially on defon.se. Mo has lost tho fiuo balance of mind and body that is a natural protection pro-tection against, injury. Tho opposing plnyors do not sizo. him up as a medical man would. They only see that tho road to a touchdown leads through his position, posi-tion, and they direct a steady attack on him I ho point of least resistance. That's the way they got Bvrne. The right side of tho Army line ami successfully suc-cessfully withstood the Crimson atlaCk. Tho Harvard gcnoral losted tho line at other points, and finally .Bvrno's position posi-tion looked besl. for a f argot. Alroadv weak, tho Army niau could not staucl it. That tho Harvard players knew Byrno wiib not, capablo of taking earo ot himsolf is not lo bo considered for a moment. They did know, however, that ho was weakening. Ouco again, -vo say, tho need of a medical man close to struggling loams becomes apparcut, I hero can bo no reason why the addition ad-dition of such a man to the stair of officials should iu anv way interfere with the work yf his associates. A competent man without anv partisan fooling ought to be ablo to do great work in such a position. To those who pay to see football games ho certainly would bo a welcome addition. |
