''a^ ,^^^ ""^t ■'■^-' '"^^ .^^' ^.^■^' 4. •» ■^-- / ^°^.. '% ^ S\ %^v^>i :.^%. ^ \ v^^ . ^-' ^ ^^' ;^Si': ■%<^' .0^ . '.% *^ c „ <'^^/' • « ■- ^^x"- „ 1. I « , '^?-- ^'^If "^ .V^^^C^-^^'^:. .^^' O-^ V T^ l^h^' ^ X^ ^• ^ ■^" ;^s^ ■-^^^ \ ■--f-^ * » , A ■ .V C /• <^ ^'%- .V-' V ^ ,. > ^" \0 o^. • ,^ -u - ^; ^^^ '^. 0,^-' v>%^»" HECTOR COWAN. Princeton. AMERICAN FOOTBALL BY ,-.>' / WALTER CAMP ILLUSTRATED AE»' ^JfO ENLARGED EDITION NEW YORK ' HARPER & BROTHERS PUBLISHERS 1894 Cl^ Copyright, 1891, by Harper & Brothers. Copyright, 1893, by Harper & Brothers. Copyright, 1894, by Harper & Brothers. All rights reserved. PREFACE. The progress of the sport of football in this country, and a corresponding growth of inquiry as to the methods adopted by expe- rienced teams, have prompted the publica- tioh of this book. Should any of the sug- gestions herein contained conduce to the further popularity of the game, the object of the writer will be attained. CONTENTS. PAGE English and American Rugby . . i End Rusher 23 The Tackle 39 The Guard ......... 53 The Centre, or Snap-back. ... 67 The Quarter-back 79 The Half-back and Back .... 91 Signals . • . . 115 Training .......... 131 A Chapter for Spectators . . .165 Interference and Wedge Play. . 177 Appendix: Team Play 207 The Effect of the Changes in Rules 243 LIST OF PORTRAITS. [P. Stands for Princeton, Y. for Yale, and H. for Harvard.] Hector Cowan, p Frontispiece. Harry W. Beecher, Y. . . . Facing p, ^ Henry C. Lamar, p " 8 D. S. Dean, h '* 12 E. L. Richards, Jr., Y . ... " 16 W. A. Brooks, H . ..... " 20 R. S. Channing, p " 28 L. K. Hull, y " 32 E. A. Poe, p " 36 Everett J. Lake, h '*> 44 Wyllys Terry, y '* 48 B. W. Trafford, h " 56 T. L. McClung, y ^' 60 V. M. Harding, h *' 64 Jesse Riggs, p *' 72 W. H. CORBIN, Y " 'jd Alexander Moffatt, p . . . ** 84 Viii LIST OF PORTRAITS. ^ Ralph Warren, p Facing p. ZZ ^JOHN CORBETT, H. .*.... '' 96 ^W. BULL,Y '' 100 ' Knowlton L. Ames, p . ... " 104 ^W. C. Rhodes, Y " 112 ^ P. D. Trafford, H . .... " 120 ^ R. M. Hodge, p " 124 * H. H. Knapp, y *' 128 ^ A. J. Cumnock, H ** 136 - Jeremiah S. Black, p . . . '' 140 C. O. Gill, Y . " 150 E. C. Peace,? . " 156 ^W. Heffelfinger, Y *' 160 'R. M. Appleton, H . .... " 168 ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY AMERICAN FOOTBALL Rugby football — for it is from the Rugby Union Rules that our American Intercollegiate game was derived — dates its present era of popularity from the formation in England, in 1871, of a union of some score of clubs. Nearly ten years before this there had been an attempt made to unite the vari- ous diverging football factions under a common set of laws ; but this proved a failure, and the styles of play became farther and farther apart. Of the Asso- ciation game one can say but little as regards its American following. It is 4 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. quite extensively played in this coun- try, but more by those who have them- selves played it in Great Britain than by native-born Americans. Its popu- larity is extending, and at some day it will very likely become as well under- stood in this country as the derived Rugby is to-day. Its essential charac- teristic is, that it is played with the feet, in distinction from the Rugby, in which the ball may be carried in the hands. To revert to the Rugby Union. Years before the formation of this as- sociation the game was played by sides almost unlimited in numbers. One of the favorite school matches was '^ Sixth form against all the rest of the school.*' Twenty on a side, however, became the ruling number; but this was, after a time, replaced by fifteens, as the days of twenties proved only shoving match- es. With the reduction in numbers ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 5 came increased running and an added interest. This change to fifteens was made in 1877, ^^ the request of Scot- land. At once there followed a more open style of play, and before long short passing became common. In 1882 the Oxford team instituted the long low pass to the open, and by the use of it remained undefeated for three sea- sons. After the decrease to fifteen men the number of three-quarter-backs, who real- ly represent our American half-backs, was increased from one to two, and two full-backs were played. A little later British captains put another full-back up into the three-quarter line, playing with only one full-back. The Englishmen also play two men whom they call half-backs, but whose duties are like those of our quarter-back, for they seize the ball when it comes out 6 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. of the scrimmage and pass it to a three- quarter for a run. Nine men is the usual number for an English rush line, although a captain will sometimes take his ninth rusher back as a fourth three-quarter-back. There is much discussion as to when this should be done. The captain selects his men much as we do in America, and he is generally himself a player of some posi- tion behind the line, centre three-quarter being preferred. The opening play in an English Rugby game is, as a rule, a high kick well followed up. If one will bear in mind that the half backs are, like our quarter, the ones to seize the ball when it emerges from a scrimmage and pass it to the three-quarters, he will gain some idea of the character of the English method. He should understand, howev- er, that the English half-back is obliged to look out sharply for the ball, because ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. ^ it comes out by chance and at random, and not directly as in our game, where the quarter can usually expect to re- ceive the ball without trouble from the snap-back. The forwards in an English match endeavor, when a scrimmage occurs, by kicking and pushing to drive the ball in the direction of their opponents' goal line, and they become extremely expert in the use of their feet. There are two umpires, whose duty it is to make claims (which they do by raising their flags), and a referee, who allows or disallows these claims. The penalty for fouls, which was at first only a down, is now in many cases a free kick. The American game, it must be re- membered, came from the Rugby Union in 1875, and not from the Rugby Union of to-day, although the changes in the English game have been by no manner 8 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. of means commensurate with those made on this side the water. Being bound by no traditions, and having seen no play, the American took the English rules for a starting-point, and almost immediately proceeded to add and subtract, according to what seemed his pressing needs. And they were many. A favored few, whose intercourse with Canadian players had given them some of the English ideas, were able to explain the knotty points to a small degree, but not enough to reaU ly assist the mass of uninitiated play- ers to an understanding. Misinterpre- tations were so numerous as to render satisfactory rulings almost out of the question and explanatory legislation im- perative. In the autumn of 1876 the first game under Rugby rules between American colleges was played at New Haven, and before another was attempt- ed a convention had tried its hand at HENRY C. LAMAR. Princeton. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 9 correcting the weak points, as they ap- peared to the minds of the legislators, in the Rugby Union Rules. The feature of the American game in distinction from the English is, just as it was within a year from the time of the adoption of the sport, the outlet of the scrhnmage. In this lies the backbone to which the entire body of American football is at- tached. The English half-backs stand outside the scrimmage, and when the ball pops out it is their duty to seize it and pass it out to a three-quarter, who runs with it. The American quarter -back stands behind the scrimmage and gives a signal, immediately after which he knows the ball will come directly into his hands to be passed for a run or a kick. What is, therefore, in the English game a matter of considerable chance is ^^ cut -and -dried" in the American lO AMERICAN FOOTBALL. game ; and the element of chance being eHminated, opportunity is given for the display in the latter game of far more skill in the development of brilliant plays and carefully planned manoeuvres. The Americans started with the Eng- lish scrimmage, kicked at the ball, and pushed and scrambled for a season, un- til it was discovered that a very clever manifestation of the play was to let the opponents do the kicking — in fact, to leave an opening at the proper moment through which the ball would come, and a man a few feet behind this opening could always get the ball and pass it while the men who kicked it were still entangled in the scrimmage. After a little of this, no one was anxious to kick the ball through, and the rushers began to roll the ball sidewise along between the lines. Then almost immediately, it was discovered that a man could snap /■ ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. II the ball backwards with his toe, and the American outlet was installed. At first the play was crude in the ex- treme, but even in its earliest stages it proved distinctly more satisfactory to both player and spectator than the kick- ing and shoving which marked the Eng- lish method. The same man did not always snap the ball back as he does now, but any one of the rushers would do it upon oc- casion. The men did not preserve their relative positions in the line, and any one of the men behind the line would act as a quarter-back. Such a condition of affairs could not, however, last long where intercollegiate rivalry proved such an incentive to the perfection of play, and the positions of centre-rush or snap- back and quarter-back became the most distinctive of any upon the field. The centre-rush at that time was selected 12 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. more for his agility, strange to say, than for his weight and strength ; but in case he was a light man he was always flanked by two heavy guards. One season's play convinced all captains that the centre section of the forward line must be heavy, and if any light-weights were to be used among the rushers they should be near the wings. Quarter-back has, from the very out- set, been a position in which a small man can be used to great advantage. The half- backs and backs have usually been men of speed coupled with skill as kickers. The number originally adopted for matches in this country was eleven on a side. From some silly notion that it would increase the skill displayed, this number was changed to fifteen, although the Englishmen were moving in the other direction by reducing their num- bers frorn^ twenties to fifteens. A year D. S. DEAN. Harvard. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. I3 or two of fifteen on a side drove the American players back to elevens, and there the number has rested. In the early days of the sport, while the players individually were coura- geous, the team play was cowardly ; that is, the tacticians were so taken up with a study of defence — how to protect the goal — that the attack was weak. The direct result of this was to place too few men in the forward line and too many behind it. If to-day we were to revert to fifteen on a side, there is little doubt that we should throw eleven of them up into the rush line, and upon occasion even twelve. We now realize that the best defence does not consist in plan- ning how to stop a man after he has ob- tained a fair start towards the goal, but in throwing all available force up against him before he can get free of the for- ward line. The only way to effectively 14 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. defeat this aggressive defence is by means of skilled kicking. It is possible with really good kickers to throw a team playing in this fashion into dis- order by well-placed and long punting, followed up most sharply > but it re- quires nerve and an unfailing accuracy of aim and judgment. It is only a few years ago that it re- quired considerable argument to con- vince a captain that he could with safe- ty send one of his halves up into the forward line when his opponents had the ball ; but it will take better kicking than is exhibited in most of the cham- pionship matches to frighten that half- back out of the line now. Even the quarter was wont upon occasion to drop back among the halves and assist them rather than the rushers. All the tendency for the last two years has been towards diminishing the ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 1 5 number of men held in reserve, as it were, behind the line, and increasing by this means the crushing force by which the forwards might check either runner or kicker before his play could be exe- cuted. Should the English ever adopt an outlet for their scrimmage, making the play as direct as is ours, their men would gravitate to the forward line as rapidly as have our players. Next to the difference in scrimmage outlet between our game and that of the British stands a much more recent development, which we call interference. This is the assistance given to a runner by a companion or companions who go before him and break a path for him or shoulder off would-be tacklers. This, to the Englishman, would be the most de- testable kind of off-side play, and not tolerated for an instant upon any field in the United Kingdom. 1 6 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. Even into this the Americans did not plunge suddenly, but rather little by lit- tle they stepped in, until it was neces- sary to do one of two things — either legalize what was being tacitly consent- ed to, or penalize it heavily. The re- sult was that it was legalized. With this concession, though, there went a certain condition which gained a meas- ure of confidence for the new ruHng. To understand just how this state of affairs above mentioned came about one should know that, in the attempt to block opponents when the quarter-back was receiving and passing the ball, the forwards fell into the habit of extend- ing their arms horizontally from the shoulder, as by this method each man could cover more space. For a number of years this went on without detriment to the sport in any way,- but after a time there was more or less complaint E. L. RICHARDS. Yale. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 1 7 of holding in the Hne, and it was ruled that a man must not change his position after the ball was snapped, nor bend his arms about an opponent at such a time. Unfortunately the referee (for at this stage of the game there was no umpire) could not watch the ball and the play- ers with sufficient care to enforce this ruling, and the temper of the players suffered accordingly. It is always the case when a rule is not enforced un- flinchingly, no matter from what cause, that both sides suffer, and the tendency always is towards devising additional in- fringements. The additional infringe- ment in this instance was even worse than could have been foreseen ; for, not content with simply blocking or even holding an opponent until the quarter should have passed the ball in safety, the players in the forward line saw an opportunity for going a step farther, 2 l8 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. and actually began the practice of seiz- ing an opponent long after the ball had been played, and dragging him out of the way of the running half-back. In the thick of the rush line this was fre- quently possible without risk of discov- ery by the referee ; and, emboldened by successes of this kind, men would reach out even in the open, and drag back a struggling tackier just as he was about to lay his hands upon the runner. It was this state of affairs which brought up the question, ^^ How much should a comrade be allowed to aid the run- ner?" American football legislators answered this question satisfactorily, after long discussion, by determining that the run- ner might be assisted to any extent, pro- vided the assistant did not use his hands or arms in performing this office. The first result of this was to lower the arms ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 19 of the rushers when lined up, and, in spite of some forebodings, this proved really a benefit to the game. The sec- ond result has been to perfect a system of flanking a runner by companions who form almost an impassable barrier at times to the would-be tacklers. At the same time with mention of the solution of this problem, one should also call attention to a menace which threatened American football far more seriously than did this ; and that, too, at a time when the sport was by no means so strong in years or popularity as when this later difficulty arose. I re- fer to the ^^ block game." This method of play, which consisted in a succession of '^ downs " without advance and with- out allowing the opponents any chance of securing possession of the ball, proved a means by which a weak team could avoid defeat. The whole object of the 20 • AMERICAN FOOTBALL. match was thus frustrated, the game re- sulting in no score. To meet this difficulty a rule was in- troduced making it incumbent upon a side to advance the ball five yards or re- treat with it ten in three ^Mowns.'* If this advance or retreat were not accom- plished, the ball went at once into the possession of the opponents. Never did a rule in any sport work so immedi- ate and satisfactory a reform as did this five-yard rule. Within the last few years there has been no important change in the conduct of the American game, nor in the rules. Outside of the above-mentioned points of difference between it and the Eng- lish game, there is only that of the meth- ods of enforcing rules and determining differences. The English have a refe- ree and two umpires, although the um- pires are sometimes replaced by touch- W. A. BROOKS. Harvard. ENGLISH AND AMERICAN RUGBY. 21 judges. The umpires act, as did the judges in our game of ten years ago, as advocates for their respective sides, and it is this advocacy which is causing them to fall into disfavor there exactly as they did here. Touch-judges merely watch the lines of the field, and decide when and where the ball goes into touch. In cases where they are em- ployed, the referee renders all decisions upon claim of the captains. In our method there is a division of labor, but along different lines. Our two officials, the umpire and referee, have their sepa- rate provinces, the former ruling upon the conduct of players as to off-side and other offences, while the latter deter- mines questions of fact as to when the ball is held or goes into touch, also whether a goal is kicked or not. As the rule has it, the umpire is judge for the players, and the referee for the ball. END RUSHER The end rusher must get into condi- tion early. Unless he does, he cannot han- dle the work that must fall to his share, and the effect of a poor performance by the end is to produce disorder at once in the proportion of work as well as the quality of the work of the tackles and half-backs. This is not well understood by captains and coaches, but it is easy to see if one follows the play. A tired end rusher, even one who has expe- rience and a good idea of his place, will lope down the field under a kick, and by his lack of speed will allow a return ; and, against a running game, while he will, it is true, force his man in, he will do it so slowly that the runner is en- 26 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. abled to pass the tackle. The first will surely result in his own halves shortening their kicks, and the second in drawing his own tackle too widely from the guard. Both these results se- riously affect the value of the practice for halves and tackles ; consequently, the end must be put in condition early. The finer points of his position can be worked up gradually, but his endurance must be good at the outset, in order that the others may become accustomed to rely upon him for regular work. But it sometimes happens that the captain or coach has no chance to make sure of this. His candidates may be raw, and only appear upon the first day of fall practice. In that case there is a method which he can adopt to advantage, and which answers the purpose. It is to play his candidates for that position one after the other in rotation, insisting END RUSHER. 27 upon hard playing even if it be for only five minutes at a time. In this way not only will the tackle receive the proper support, but the ends themselves will improve far more rapidly than under the usual method. Every player upon a team has to labor under two distinctly different sets of circumstances : one set arising from the possession of the ball by his opponents, and the other from the possession of the ball by his own side. Many an error in instruction or coaching arises from terming the tactics adopted under these two conditions de- fensive and offensive. It is no uncom- mon thing to see an end rusher, who has been told that such and such is his defensive play, so affected by the word defensive^ as applied to his action, as to fail entirely to perform any aggressive work when his opponents have the ball. And a similarly undesirable state of af- 28 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. fairs IS brought about by the term offen- sive when his own side have the ball. In this latter case, he seems inspired to become aggressive in his conduct tow- ards his opponent from the moment the men are Hned up, and this very often leads him to make any interference of his so premature as to render it useless tow- ards favoring his runner. One of the first things, therefore, for a coach to tell an end rusher is that the terms offensive and defensive, as applied to team work, have nothing to do with the aggressive- ness of any individual. Then, as a mat- ter of still better policy, let him avoid using these terms in individual coaching. When the opponents have the ball, the end rusher must, in the case of a kick, do his utmost to prevent his vis'h'Vis from getting down the field early under the ball, and he should stay with him until his own back has secured the ball. That is the cardinal R. S. CHANNING. Princeton. END RUSHER. 29 point, and it is not necessary for him to do much thinking regarding anything else when he is facing a kicking game. When his opponents are about to make a run, the situation is much more in- volved. He must then consider himself as the sole guardian of that space of ground extending from his tackle to the edge of the field, and he must begin at the touch line and work in. That is, he must remember that, while on one side of him there is the tackle, who will do his utmost to help him out, there is on the other side — that is, towards touch — no one to assist him, and a run around the end means a free run for many yards. ^^ Force the man in '* is always a good motto for an end, and one he will do well to follow conscientiously. To force the man in does not mean, however, to stand with one foot on the touch line, and then reach in as far as 30 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. possible and watch the man go by, as nine out of every ten ends have been doing for two years. It means, go at the runner with the determination of getting him any way, but taking him always from the outside. An end cannot tackle as occasionally does a half-back or back, slowly and even waiting for his man, then meeting him low and strong. An end always has to face interference, and good interference will bowl over a wait- ing end with ease. An end must go up as far and fast as he dares to meet the runner, and when his moment comes — which must be a selected moment — he must shoot in at his man, reaching him, if possible, with his shoulder, and at the same time extending his arms as far around him as possible. Many times this reaching enables an end to grasp his man even though a clever interferer break the force of his tackle. And END RUSHER. 31 when his fingers touch the runner, he must grip with the tenacity of the bull- dog, and never let go. It seems almost unnecessary to say that a high tackier has no chance what- ever as an end rusher. He may play guard or centre, but before a man ever es- says the end he must have passed through all the rudimentary schooling in tackling, and be such an adept that to pass him without the assistance of the most clever interference is an impossibility. An end should be a good follower ; that is, if the runner make in towards the tackle, the end should run him down from behind when interference cuts off the tackle. This is one of the best points for cultivation, because it effect- ually prevents any dodging by the run- ner. If he fail to take his opening cleanly, a following end is sure of him. This is not a safe point, however, to 32 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. teach until the player has fairly mas- tered the ordinary end-work ; for the tendency is to leave his own position too soon, giving the runner an oppor- tunity to turn out behind him, and thus elude the tackle without difficulty. A few years ago there was quite a fashion for the man putting the ball in from touch to run with it along the edge of the field. For some unknown reason this play seems to have been abandoned, but it is likely at any time to be revived, and the end rusher should therefore be posted upon the modus operandi of it, as well as the best method of prevent- ing its success. The most popular execu- tion of this manoeuvre was the simplest ; that is, the man merely touched the ball to the ground and plunged ahead as far as he could until brought to earth or thrown out into touch. This was ac- companied by more or less helpful in- L. K. HULL. Yale, END RUSHER. 33 terferences upon the part of his own end and tackle. There were more in- tricate methods, however; and surely, with the amount of interference allowed in these days, it is odd that the side line has not been more fancied by those who have generalled the great games. There was one team a few years ago whose captain used to deliberately place the ball just inside the line on the ground, as though only thoughtlessly leaving it there, and then spring in, crowding the end rusher three or four feet from the touch line, while a run- ning half, who was well started, came swiftly up the field, seized the ball, and usually made a long run before he was stopped by the astonished halves. Many also were the combination passes in which the ball was handed to the end rusher, who, turning suddenly with his back to the foes, would pass to his 3 34 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. quarter or running half. Of these close double passes at the edge of the field the most effective were those wherein the runner darted by just inside the touch line, and the weakest the ones wherein the attempt was made to ad- vance out into the field. For this rea- son there ought to be no particular necessity for coaching any but the end rusher and the tackle upon means to prevent advances of this nature. To the players in the centre of the line there is no apparent difference whether the ball be played from touch in any of these ways above mentioned, or through the more customary channel of the quarter-back. To the end and tackle, however, the difference is marked, be- cause the runner comes so much sooner and the play is so greatly condensed and focussed, as it were, directly upon them. END RUSHER. 35 The instructions to the end are to handle the ball as much as possible while the opponent is endeavoring to get it in, and thus make the work of that individual as difficult as possible ; and, secondly, to plant one foot close to the touch line and the other as far out into the field as is consistent with stability, and to maintain that position until the play is over. He must neither try to go forward nor around, but, braced well forward, hold his ground. If he does this, no runner can pass within three feet of the touch line, and outside of that the tackle can take care of him. This player, like the end, should, when the ball is played from a fair, be very loath to plunge forward until the play is located, because in the present stage of development of the game one can be quite sure that the opponents will not play the ball from touch unless they 36 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. have some definite and usually decep- tive line of action. Without such it is by far the better policy to walk out the fifteen paces and have it down. The quarter-back also has work to do upon side-line plays, in assisting at the edge as much as possible. But to return to the end. When his own side have pos- session of the ball, his play, like that of any other man, must be governed by the character of the intended move, and the knowledge of what this move will be is conveyed to him by the signal. The nearer the play is to his end, the greater is the assistance he can render. There is little need of coaching him to do his work when the run is along his line, nor, in fact, when it is upon his side of the centre. The knowledge of the prox- imity of the runner stirs him up suffi- ciently, if he have any football blood in him. The point towards which coaching E. A. POE. Princeton. END RUSHER. 37 should be directed and where it is need- ed is in starting instantly to render assistance when the play is upon the other side of the line. There is no limit to the amount of work an end may perform in this direction. A good end can toss his man back so that he cannot interfere with the play, and then cross over so quickly as to perform effective interference even upon end runs. In '' bucking the centre'' he can come from behind with valuable weight and pressure. Dropping the end's back has come to be a favorite move in these days of wedge work. A coach should remember, though, that it will not do to start an end into doing too much unless he is able to stand the work, for an end had better do the work well upon his own side than be only half way useful upon both ends. A tired-out end makes the opponents doubly strong. ( THE TACKLE Those teams upon which the work of end and tackle has been best devel- oped have, for the last few years, been markedly superior in the opposition of- fered to plays of their opponents. This fact in itself is an excellent guide to the style of play one ought to expect from these two positions. The four men oc- cupying them are the ones to meet nine tenths of the aggressive work of the op- ponents, unless in the exaggerated use of centre wedges. The position of end has already been dwelt upon at length. That of tackle, a position much later to reach the full stage of development than the end, has nevertheless now attained almost an equal prominence. The tackle is an assistant to both end and guard, 42 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. while he has also duties of his own de- manding constant attention. When the opponents have the ball and are about to kick, the tackle is one of the most active components of the line. He may not be moving until the ball is snapped, but upon the instant that it is played he is at work. He may himself go through to prevent the pass or kick, or he may make a chance for a line half-back to do this. By a line half-back is meant that one who, upon his opponents* plays, comes up into the line and performs the duties of a rusher. This method has become so common of late that it is well understood. The play of this line half-back must dovetail into the work of the tackle so well as to make their system one of thoroughly mutual understanding. For this reason they should do plenty of talking and plan- THE TACKLE. 43 ning together off the field, and carry their plans into execution in daily prac- tice until they become in company a veritable terror to opponents, particu- larly to kicking halves. One of the very simple, yet clever and successful, combinations worked in this way has been for the line half to take his position outside the tackle, who immediately begins to edge out towards the end. This opens a gap be- tween the opposing tackle and guard, for the tackle will naturally follow his man. This line half simply watches the centre, and as he sees the ball played goes sharply behind the tackle and through the opening. This play can be greatly aided by cleverness on the part of the tackle, who, to perform it to perfection, should edge out most cau- tiously, and with an evident intention of going to the outside of his man. He 44 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. should also watch the centre play, and, most important of all, jump directly forward into his man when the ball is snapped. This will enable the half to take almost a direct line for the half, and with his flying start have more than a fair chance of spoiling the kick. The tackle must not be idle after his plunge, but should follow in sharply, because there will always be an opposing half protecting the kicker ; and if the line half be checked by this man, as is not unlikely, the following tackle has an ex- cellent opportunity by getting in rapidly. The tackle and half should alternate in their arrangement, neither one always going through first, and thus add to the anxiety^ and discomfort of the op- ponents. When the opponents are about to run instead of kick, the same combination of line half and tackle can be put in opera- EVERETT J. LAKE. Harvard. THE TACKLE. 45 tion, except that it will not do for these two to follow each other through with such freedom, as there is too much dan- ger of both being shunted off by a clever turn coupled with well-timed interfer- ence. The cardinal point to be remem- bered is, to be far enough apart so that a single dodge and one interference can- not possibly throw off both men. The tackle's duties towards the end have been partially described in dwell- ing upon the work of the latter, but there is plenty of detail to be studied. One of the first things to impress upon the tackle is, that he must watch the ball, not only upon the pass from the quarter, but also after it settles in the runner's arms, for the most successful double or combination passes are those which draw the tackle in towards the centre and give the second recipient of the ball only the end to pass. It has 46 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. been too common a mistake of coaches to caution a tackle who has been de- ceived by this double pass against ^^ go- ing so hard." This is wrong. It soon results in making a slow man of the player, for he hangs back to see if the runner be not about to pass the ball, un- til he is too late to try for the man be- fore he reaches the rush line ; and, with the present system of interference and crowding a runner after he reaches the rush line, there is no chance to stop him short of three, and it may very likely be five, yards. The proper coaching is to send him through on the jump, with his eyes open for tricks. Let him take a step or two towards the runner, so that, if no second pass be made, the tackle will be sure to meet him before he reaches the rush line, and not after it. This method of coaching makes not only sharp tackles., but quick and THE TACKLE. 47 clever ones, with plenty of indepen- dence, which willbe found a most ex- cellent quality. As regards the relations between the tackle and guard, they are best defined by saying that the guard expects to re- ceive the assistance of the tackle in all cases requiring agility, while in cases requiring weight the guard is equally ready to lend assistance to the tackle. When his own side has the ball, the tackle has far more than the end to do. In fact, the tackle has the most respon- sible work of any man along the line, having more openings to make, and at the same time the blocking he has to perform is more difficult. The ear- lier description of the work of a line half and the tackle in getting through is sufficient to indicate the difficulties which the opposing tackle must face in preventing this breaking through. 48 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. While blocking may not be the most important duty, it is certainly the one which will bear the most cultivation in the tackles of the present day, for the ones who are really adept in it are marked exceptions to the general run. It is no exaggeration to say that more than two thirds of the breaking through that does real damage comes between the end and guard, and therefore in the space sup- posed to be under the care of the tackle. By successful blocking is meant, not un- fair holding, which sooner or later will result in disaster, nor backing upon a runner or kicker as the charger advances, which is almost as bad as no blocking, but that clever and properly timed body- checking of the opponent which delays him just long enough to render his ef- fort to reach his man futile every time. This kind of blocking looks so easy, and is so difificult, that it is found only in a WYLLYS TERRY. Yale. THE TACKLE. 49 man who is willing to make a study of it. Coaching can but give any one wish- ing to acquire this a few points ; the real accomplishment depends upon the man's unflagging perseverance and study. The first thing to be noted is, that a really good forward cannot possibly be blocked every time in the same way. He soon becomes used to the method, and is able to avoid the attempt. Dashing violently against him just as he is starting may work once or twice, and then he will make a false start to draw this charge, and easily go by the man. Standing motionless, and then turning with a sharp swing back against him, will dis- concert his charge once in a while. Shoul- dering him in the side as he passes will throw him off his balance or against some other man, if well performed, oc- casionally. Falling down before him by a plunge will upset him even when 4 50 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. he has quite a clear space apparently, but it will not work if played too often. By a preconcerted plan he may be coaxed through upon a pretended snap, and then the ball pjayed while he is guarded and five yards gained by his off-side play, but he will not be taken in again by the same method. These are but a few of the strategies which engage the study of the tackle. How soon to let the man through is also an important question. When the ball is to be punted, the tackle upon the kick- er's side must block long and hard, while the tackle upon the other end should block sharply, and then let his man through for the sake of getting down the field under the kick. When a drop is tg be attempted, the blocking upon both sides must be close and long, much longer than for a punt. Moreover, it is by no means a bad policy to have the THE TACKLE. 5 1 blocking last until the ball is actually seen in the air in front of the line, be- cause then, if the kick be stopped, the tackles can go back to assist the backs in recovering the ball. The blocking for a kick, as a rule, should be close ; that is, every opponent must be matched from the centre out, leaving the free man or men on the ends. This rule has its exceptions, but when there is any doubt about the play it is safest to block close, and take the chances from the ends rather than through breaks in the line. In blocking for a run the case is very different, and depends upon the point of assault. If the run is to be made around the right end, for instance, by the left half-back, the right tackle must block very slowly and long. That is, he must not dash up to his man the in- stant the ball is snapped and butt him aside, for the runner will not be near 52 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. enough to derive any advantage from this, and the opponent will easily re- cover in time to tackle him. Rather should he avoid contact with his man until his runner makes headway, and then keep between the opponent and runner until the latter puts on steam to circle, when it is his duty to engage his man sharply, and thus let the runner pass. In blocking for an inside run upon his own side, he should turn his man out or in, as the case may be, just as the runner reaches the opening, be- ing particularly careful not to make the break too early, lest the opponent reach the runner before he comes to the opening. THE GUARD The position of guards while it re- quires less agility than that of tackle, can never be satisfactorily filled by a man who is slow. Many a coach makes this mistake and fails to see his error until too late to correct it. I remember once seeing upon a minor team a guard who weighed at least 190 pounds re- placed by a man of 155, and the latter actually filled the position — greatly to my astonishment, I confess — in excel- lent fashion. This does not at all go to prove that weight is of no value in a guard. On the contrary, it is a quality especially to be desired, and if one can find a heavy man who is not slow he is the choice by all means. But weight 56 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. must be given work to do, and that work demands practice, and slowness of execution cannot be tolerated. At the outset the coach must impress this fact upon the guards, and insist upon their doing their work quickly. It is really wonderful how much better the effect of that work will prove to be when per- formed with a snap and dash that are not difficult to acquire. When the opponents have the ball and are about to kick, the guard should have in his mind one persistent thought, and that is, to reach the quarter before the ball is away from his hand, but not to stop there. It is only once in a great while that fortune favors sufficiently to crown this attempt with success. When it does, so much the better; but the guard should take in the quarter only in a general sweep, making on for the kicker, and at the same time getting B, W. TRAFFORD, Harvard. THE GUARD. 57 his arms up in the air when he comes before him, so as to take every possible chance of stopping the ball. Just here it may be well to explain the confidence with which in these details of coaching the phrases are used ^^when the oppo- nents are about to kick '* and " when the opponents are about to run.'' It is true that one cannot tell infallibly every time whether the play will be a kick or a run, but experienced players are really so seldom at fault in their judgment upon this point that it is safe to coach as though there never existed any doubt about the matter. To continue with the work of the guard when the opponents are about to attempt a run. One of the most im- portant features of the play in this po- sition is to guard against small wedges. If a guard simply stands still and straight he will be swept over like a 58 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. wisp of straw by any well -executed wedge play directed at him. An ex- perienced man knows this, and his chief thought is how to avoid it, and how, first, to prevent the formation ; second, to al- ter the direction, and, finally, to stop the progress, of this terror of centre work, the small wedge. There are as many ways of accomplishing these results as of performing the duties of tackle or end, and it rests with the individual player to study them out. To prevent the formation of small wedges, the most successful method is that of sudden and, if possible, disconcerting move- ments. Jostling, so far as it is allowed, sudden change of position, a pretended charge — all these tend to break up the close formation. Once formed and started, the change of direction is usu- ally the most disarranging play pos- sible ; but this should not be attempted THE GUARD. 59 by the player or players opposite the point of the wedge. At that spot the proper play is to check advance, even temporarily ; for the advance • once checked, the wedge may be swung from the side so as to take off the pressure from behind. So it is the men at the side who must endeavor to turn the wedge and take off this pressure. Without the actual formation upon the field it is difficult to fully explain this turning of the wedge ; but if the prin- ciple of the defence be borne in mind, it will not be found so hard to under- stand. Check the peak even for a mo- ment, and get the weight off from be- hind as speedily as possible. The men who are pushing must necessarily act blindly ; and if their force is not directly upon the men at the point of the V, they pass by the man with the ball and so become useless. Both guards must 6o AMERICAN FOOTBALL. keep their weight down low, close to the ground, so that the wedge, if di- rected at either, cannot throw that one at once off his balance backward. If this occurs, the wedge will always make its distance, perhaps go many yards. Lying down before the wedge is a prac- tice based upon this principle of keep- ing close to the ground, and is by no means an ineffectual way of stopping an advance, although it is not as strong a play as bringing about the same result without actually losing the power to straighten up if the wedge turns. More- over, the men in the front of a wedge are becoming so accustomed to meeting this flat defence that they not infre- quently succeed in getting over the prostrate man and regaining headway upon the other side. This, as one can readily see, must always yield a very considerable gain. When a run is at- T. L. McCLUNG. Yale. THE GUARD. 6l tempted at some other point in the line, it is the duty of the guards to get through hard and follow the runner into his opening, even if they cannot reach him before he comes into the line. In this class of play a guard should re- member that if he can lay a hand upon the runner before he reaches the line he can spoil the advance to a certainty, for no runner can drag a heavy guard up into and through an opening. It is like dragging a heavy and unwieldy anchor. A guard can afford to, and must some- times, tackle high. Not that he should, in the open, ever go at the shoulders, but in close quarters he often has no time to get down low, and must make the best of taking his man anywhere that the opportunity offers. He must always, however, throw him towards the opponent's goal. Another point for guards to bear in mind is, that in close 62 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. quarters it is often possible to deprive the runner of the ball before he says ** down." A guard who always tries this will be surprised at the number of times he will find the referee giving him the ball. He will also be astonished at the way this attempt results in the run- ner saying ^^ down " as soon as he finds some one tugging at the ball. A man gives up all thought of further advance the instant he finds the ball slipping at all in his grasp ; and when his attention is distracted from the idea of running, as it is when he is fearful of losing the ball, he can never make use of his op- portunities to good advantage. For this reason the coach should impress upon all the forwards the necessity of always trying to take away the ball ; but the men in and near the centre are likely to have the best opportunity for this play, because it is there that THE GUARD. 63 the runner encounters a number of men at once rather than a single individual. When his own side have the ball the guard must block sharply until the quarter has time for receiving the ball, and, at any rate, beginning the motion of the pass. It is safer, in the case of inex- perienced guards, to tell them to block until the quarter has time to get rid of the ball. The distinction is this : that an experienced guard sometimes likes to gain just that second of time be- tween the beginning of the pass and the completion of the swing, and utilize it in getting down the field or making an opening. So accustomed does he become to measuring the time correctly that he will let the opponent through just too late to reach the quarter, al- though it seems a very close call. It is not safe to let green guards attempt anything so close. They must be 64 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. taught to block securely until the ball is on its way to the runner or kicker. The blocking of a guard is much less exacting in its requirements than that of the tackle. Not that he must not block with equal certainty, but the act requires no such covering of two men as often happens in the case of a tackle. The guard forms closely towards the centre, and then follows his man out if he moves out, but only as far as he can go, and still be absolutely certain that the opponent cannot pass between him and the snap-back. To be drawn or coaxed out far enough to admit of an opponent's going through the centre shows woful ignorance in any guard. When a kick is to be made the blocking must be prolonged a little, and on a drop-kick (as mentioned earlier) it should last until the ball goes from the foot. When blocking for a run, of V. M. HARDING. Harvard. THE GUARD, 65 course much depends upon where the opening is to be made, and a guard must be governed accordingly. The method itself is, again, different in the guard from that exhibited in the tackle. A guard may not move about so freely and must face his man more squarely than a tackle, for the guard must pro- tect the quarter first, while the tackle considers the half only. If a guard al- lows his opponent to get a fair lunge with outstretched arm over or past his shoulder, he may reach the quarter's arm even though his body is checked, while such a reach at the point in the line occupied by the tackle would be of no value whatever. Previous to the snap-back's playing the ball it is the duty of the guards to see that their in- dividual opponents do not succeed in either kicking the ball out from the snap-back's hand or otherwise interfer- 5 66 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ing with his play. This is quite an im- portant feature, and a centre should al- ways feel that he has upon either hand a steady and wide-awake assistant, who will neither be caught napping nor al- low any unfair advantage to be taken of him. The guard should bear in mind one fact, however, and that most clearly. It is that squabbling and gen- eral pushing about are far more liable to disconcert his own centre and quarter than to interfere with the work of the opponents. THE CENTRE, OR SNAP-BACK The man who may be selected to fill the important position of centre -rush must be a man of sense and strength. Brain and brawn are here at their high- est premium. But there is another ele- ment of character without which both will be overthrown, and that is pa- tience. Practical experience has taught football coaches that none but a thor- oughly self-controlled man can make a success in football in any position, while in this particular one his disposition should be of the most equable nature. He will be called upon to face all kinds of petty annoyances, for his opponents will endeavor to make his play as dif- ficult as possible ; and never must he al- 70 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. low himself for one instant to lose sight of the fact that his entire attention must be devoted to his play, and none of it distracted by personal feeling. Moreover, while he must be able to play the ball quickly when called upon, he can never afford to be hurried by his opponents. With the present excellent rulings of umpires regarding interfer- ence with the ball before it is snapped, much of the most harassing kicking of the ball from under his hand has been stopped ; but, for all that, he is indeed a lucky centre who does not feel the ball knocked out from under his grasp sev- eral times during a game. In addition to this, every man who breaks through gives him a rub. Sometimes these knocks are intentional, often they are given purely by accident, and the latter are by no means the lightest. Then, too, a man is pushed into the snap-back 71 just as the ball goes. It may be his own guard, but the blow hurts just as much ; and a centre who is not amiable under such treatment soon loses his head and forgets that he should care for noth- ing except to accomplish gains for his own side. The object of placing so much stress upon this qualification is to impress upon a coach the almost in- estimable value of the quality of patience in any men he may be trying for this position. He can never say too much about it. As regards the duties of the place, they differ from those of any other po- sition in the line on account of the con- stant presence at that spot of the ball. The centre is either playing the ball himself or watching his antagonist play the ball at every down ; so that while he has all the other duties of a forward to execute, he has the special work besides. 72 AMERICAN FOOTBALL, Here is the weakness of so many cen- tres. They are snap-backs only or for- wards only, the former being by all odds the more common. A good criti- cal coach of experience will see nine out of every ten men whom he may watch in this position playing through day after day with no more idea of do- ing any forward work than if they were referees. Putting the ball in play at the right time, and properly, is a great achievement, but it does not free the centre-rush from all other obligations. He must protect his quarter ; he must aid in making openings, and perform any interference that may be possible, as well as always assisting a runner of his own side with weight or protection. He must always get down the field un- der a kick, for it is by no means unusu- al for him to have the best opportunity in these days when end rushers are so JESSE RIGGS. Princeton. THE CENTRE, OR SNAP-BACK. 73 carefully watched. When the oppo- nents have the ball, he must not be con- tent with seeing that the opponent does not roll it to a guard, but must also see that there is no short, tricky passing in the scrimmage. Then he must be as ready as either guard to meet, stop, or turn a wedge. He must make openings for his comrades to get through, even when he himself may be blocked, and always be ready to reach out or throw himself before a coming runner to check the advance. The details of the special work of the centre are many, and thorough knowl- edge of them can only come from ex- perience. During his early progress a new snap-back usually sends the ball against his own legs, or, if he manages to keep them out of the way, is upset by his opponent for his pains. It is no child's play to hold a ball out at arm's- 74 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. length on the ground in front of one and roll it back so that it passes be- tween one's feet, and still preserve a good balance in spite of a sudden push of a hundred-and-eighty-pound oppo- nent. But that is just what a centre has to do every time the ball is down and belongs to his side. The first thing to teach a centre is to stand on his feet against any amount of jostling. Then he must learn to keep possession of the ball until ready to play it. Both of these acquirements take practice. The most finished and experienced centres have a way of playing the ball just as they are half straightening as though to meet a charge from in front. This insures their not being pushed over on to the quarter, and yet does not cause them to lean so far forward as to be pitched on their noses by a little assist- ance from the opposing centre. When THE CENTRE, OR SNAP- BACK. 75 a man stands so as to prevent a push in the chest from upsetting him, he natu- rally puts one foot back some distance as a support. When a centre does this he IS apt to put that foot and leg in the path of the ball. A second objection to this way of standing is, that the cen- tre does not offer nearly as much oppo- sition to any one attempting to pass as he does when he stands more squarely faced about with a good spread of the legs. As to holding the ball, some cen- tres prefer to take it by the end, while others roll it on its side. It can be made to rise for the quarter if sent on end, v/hereas if played upon its side it lies closer to the ground. The quar- ter's preference has, therefore, some- thing to do with it. It requires longer practice and more skill to play the ball on its end, but it permits an umpire to see more clearly whether the ball be 76 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. actually put in play by the snap-back or played for him by the surreptitious kick of the opponent. It has also the advantage of sending the ball more nar- rowly upon a line, so that its course is less likely to be altered than when rolled upon its side. While the snap-back is seldom held to the very strictest con- formity to the rule about being on side when he puts the ball in play, it is nec- essary for him to practise with a view to this particular, because he is liable to be obliged to conform every time if the opponents insist. The reason for care- lessness in this respect is, there is no penalty for infringement except being obliged to return to the spot and put the ball in play properly. A certain laxity, therefore, is granted rather than to cause delays. But, as stated above, a centre must be able to put the ball in play when fairly on side, and must live W. H. CORBIN. Yale. THE CENTRE, OR SNAP-BACK. 77 up to this with some moderate degree of regularity, or else the umpire will call an off side and bring him back. A centre ought to practise putting the ball in play with either hand until he is fair- ly proficient with his left as well as his right. Not that he should use his hands alternately in a game, but that an in- jury to his right hand need not neces- sarily throw him out of the game. It is by no means an unrecognized fact that the greater amount of experience possessed by the regular centre is so valuable as to make it policy to keep him in his place so long as his legs are good, even though a hand be injured, rather than to replace him by the sub- stitute with whose methods the quarter- back is not so familiar. A coach should see to it that his centre has a variety of men to face, some big, some tricky, some ugly. If any old play- 78 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ers come back to help the team in the way of coaching, and among them are some centre rushers, they can do no bet- ter work than by donning a uniform and playing against the '' 'Varsity'' centre. THE QUARTER-BACK The quarter is, under the captain, the director of the game. With the excep- tion of one or two uncommon and rare plays, there is not one of any kind, his side having the ball, in which it does not pass through his hands. The impor- tance of his work it is therefore impos- sible to overrate. He must be, above all the qualifications of brains and agil- ity usually attributed to that position, of a hopeful or sanguine disposition. He must have confidence in his centre him- self, and,' most of all, in the man to whom he passes the ball. He should always believe that the play will be a success. The coach can choose no more helpful course during the first few days, 6 82 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. as far as the quarter is concerned, than that of persuading him to repose confi- dence in his men. Many promising half- backs are ruined by the quarter. There is nothing that makes halves fumble so badly, get into such awkward positions, start so slowly, and withal play so half- heartedly, as the feeling that the quarter does not think much of them, does not trust them, or believe in their abilities. Every half-back can tell the same story — how he is nerved up by the confidence of the quarter, and what an inspiration it is to good work to see that confident look in the eye of the man who is about to pass to him. But not alone in the work of the half does it make a great difference, but in that of the quarter himself. When he lacks confidence in his man, his passing is unsteady and er- ratic as well as slow. He allows the opponents a far better chance of reach- THE QUARTER-BACK. S^ ing the man before he can get started, both by irregular and slow passing, and also by a nervous looking at him before the ball is played. In practice, great stress should be laid on quick handling and sharp passing of the ball. A quarter can slow up in a game if advisable, but he can never do any faster work than that which he does in practice without throwing his men completely out. In order to make the play rapid, a quarter must be figuratively tied to the centre's coat, or rather jacket, tails. As soon as the centre reaches the ball after a down, he should know that the quarter is with him. Usually there is an understood signal between them, which not only shows the centre that the quarter is on hand, but also when he is ready to receive the ball. One of the most common of these signals has been placing the hand upon the centre's leg 84 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. or back. A pinch would let him know when to snap the ball. In spite of this method's having been used by oppo- nents to fool a centre, it has been, -and still is, the most common. One of the best variations of it has been for the quarter to put his hand upon the centre and keep it there until he is ready for the ball, then take it off and let the centre snap the ball, not instantly, but at his convenience. Should anything occur making it advisable, for some rea- son, to stop the play, the quarter puts his hand upon the centre again at once, and until it is once more removed the snap-back understands that the quarter is not ready to have the ball come. Al- most any amount of variation can be made in the signal of the quarter to his centre ; but in arranging this it should be constantly borne in mind that the signal should not be such as to give the ALEXANDER MOFFATT. Princeton. THE QUARTER-BACK. 85 Opponents the exact instant of the play, because it gives them too close an idea of the moment when they may start. The speed of a quarter's work de- pends upon his ability to take the ball close to the snap-back and in proper position for a pass. In merely handing the ball to a runner, one might suppose that there would be no particular posi- tion in which the ball should be held ; but in that he would be in error, for a ball so handed to a passing runner as not to settle properly in his arms or hands means in many instances a disas- trous fumble, or at best a slowing-up of the runner's speed. In giving the ball to a passing runner, it should be held free and clear of the quarter's body and slightly tilted, so that it can be taken against the body, and without the use of both hands for more than an instant, because the runner must almost imme- 86 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. diately have use for his arm in going into the line. It is impossible to give in print the exact angle and method of holding the ball for this purpose, but practice and the wishes of the runners, if consulted, will soon show the quarter just what is meant. When the ball is to be passed any considerable distance, it should be taken so that the end is well placed against the hand of the quarter, while the ball itself lies against the forearm, the wrist being bent sharp- ly. This will enable the quarter to send the ball swiftly and accurately almost any distance that it may be necessary to cover. Of course, in many cases the ball does not actually rest against the forearm of the quarter ; but this is the best way of conveying the idea of the proper position of the hand upon the point of the ball, and by practising in this way the correct 'motion for steady THE QUARTER-BACK. 87 passing is speedily acquired. In receiv- ing the ball, the right hand, or the hand with which the throw is made, should be placed upon the end of the ball, while the other hand stops its progress, and should be placed as nearly upon the opposite end of the ball as convenient. This is the theoretically proper way of receiving the ball ; practically, the hand- ling cannot be as accurately performed as this would indicate. If, however, the quarter will in practice be constantly aiming at receiving the ball so that his right hand grasps the end just as his left hand stops the ball, and settles it securely against his right, he will find that after a few weeks he can receive four out of five snap-backs in such a way as to make any great amount of ar- ranging the ball for his pass, after it is in his hands, quite unnecessary. After the preliminary weeks of practice, and when 88 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. in a game, he must bear in mind the fact that, in order of importance, his du- ties are, first, to secure the ball, no mat- ter how ; second, to convey it to his own man, no matter whether in good form or not. He must never pass the ball if he has fumbled it, unless he has a per- fectly clear field in which to do it. He must always have it down in preference to taking the slightest risk of losing it. Even though he receive it without a fum- ble, there may be an opening through in that part of the line towards which his pass is to be delivered ; and here, again, he should hold the ball for another down rather than take any chance of the opponents intercepting the pass. After letting the ball go, the quarter should follow his pass; in fact, he should be on the run as the ball leaves his hand. No matter whether the ball be caught or fumbled, he is then RALPH WARREN. Princeton. THE QUARTER-BACK. 89 ready to lend assistance ; whereas if he stand still after his pass, he is of no use to the rest of the play. When the play is a run, he can do excellent work in in- terfering; and when the play is a kick, he can take any opponent who gets through, and thus aid the half in pro- tecting the kicker. In either case, if his own man muff or fumble he is close at hand to lend assistance in an emergen- cy, which otherwise might prove most disastrous. When lining up the quarter should take a quick glance, not directly at the player he is to make the recipient of the ball, but covering the general po.- sition of all the men. In doing this he locates his individual without making it apparent to the opponents which man is to receive the ball. Any amount of disguise may be practised in the way of taking a last glance at the wrong man, or calling out to some one who does not go AMERICAN FOOTBALL. enter into the play. The chief point, nevertheless, is to avoid that tell-tale glance at the right man which is so dif- ficult to omit. When the opponents have the ball, the quarter makes an extra man in or near the forward line, and, as a rule, he can by his shrewdness make it very un- comfortable for any point in the line which he chooses to assail. No law can govern his tactics in this respect, but he should be a law unto himself, and show by his cleverness that he is more valu- able than any man in the line whose position is fixed. One caution only is worth giving to the quarter in this line of play, and that is, to be less free of going forward sharply when the play is evidently to be a run than when a kick is to be attempted. In the latter case, a quarter can always be sent for his best. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK As the game is at present played, the back is more of a third half-back than a goal-tend, and so should be trained to half-back work. It has been well said that all that one can ask of the best rush line is to hold the ground their half-backs gain ; and when one follows carefully the progress of the play, he sees that this is the proper division of the work. The half-backs, then, must be the ground-gainers of the team. Such work calls for dash and fire — that ability to suddenly concentrate all the bodily energy into an effort that must make way through anything. Every one has such half-backs in mind, but unfortu- nately many of those half-backs who g4 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. possess this type of character have not the necessary weight and strength to stand the amount of work required. Although a Hght man be occasionally found who is particularly muscular and wiry, the constant shock of going into a heavy line of forwards usually proves too exhausting for any but those of middle weight before the end 'of a sea- son be reached. It is not that the work of a single game proves too much for the light-weight half. It is that in both practice and games he is so overmatched by the weight of the forwards whom he must meet that every week finds him less strong than the preceding, until his playing falls off so markedly that the captain or coach is at last convinced that there is something wrong, and the man is replaced by some one else, often too late to bring the substitute up to anything like the mark he might have THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 95 reached had he been tried earlier in the season. Such thoughts as these will suggest themselves to the experienced coach when at the outset of a season he has placed before him a number of can- didates for the position of half-back, among whom very likely there may be two or three men of perhaps one hun- dred and forty pounds' weight. Likely enough, too, these men may be at that period easily superior to the middle or heavy weights. In such a case the very best advice that can be whispered in the ear of coach or captain is, to make quar- ters or ends of them, even though it be only substitute quarters and ends. It will leave the way open for the proper cultivation of half-backs better built to stand the wear and tear of a season. Almost equally to be deprecated is the waste of time often devoted to making half-backs of slow heavy weights. Only 96 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. a quick man can perform a half-back's duties successfully ; and although much can be left to practice, there must be some natural quickness to build upon. Slow men can be improved far more rapidly in the forward line than among the halves. All this regarding the weight of half-backs applies not only to Varsity teams, but school teams as well, if one will make the proper pro- portional changes in weight. That is, a Varsity player will be called upon to face a forward line averaging one hun- dred and seventy -five or thereabouts, and men of less than one hundred and thirty-five to one hundred and forty are too light to meet that weight. In school teams the rush line will.be some twenty pounds lighter, and the halves can there- fore be selected from even one-hundred- and-twenty-five-pound men, if well built. In other words, a half-back ought not to JOHN CORBETT. Harvard. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 97 face over twenty-five pounds' difference in weight ; and the more that difference is reduced, supposing that speed and agiHty be retained, the more chance there is of turning out a thoroughly successful player. It is worth while to be thus particular upon the point of the early selection of candidates for the position of half-back, because, while no more work is demanded of them in a game than of others of their side, the quality of that work must be more uni- formly good. When a half-back has to tackle, he must be as sure as a steel- trap ; when a half-back has to catch, he must be a man to be relied upon ; when a half-back is called upon for a kick, it must be no fluke; and, although no one expects a half-back to always make on his run the five yards, he must be a man who will not be denied when he is called upon for that last yard 7 98 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. which will enable his side to retain the ball. Almost the first thing to be critically noted by the coach is the way in which a half-back takes the ball from his quar- ter. The case in which he takes it di- rectly from the hands of this player has been already dwelt upon at some length under the head of the quarter's passing ; but when the ball is thrown or passed some little distance, it is just as impor- tant that it be properly received. Ex- cept when about to kick, the half-back should be moving when he receives the ball, and, more than that, the reception of it should have no perceptible effect upon his movements. In other words, he must take it as easily and as natu- rally as a batsman in a ball game drops his bat after he has hit the ball fairly.- No batsman remembers that he has had the bat in his hands after the ball THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 99 has been hit, and yet, when he is at first base, he has left his bat behind him at the plate. Thus a football half-back should so receive the ball as not to know the exact instant of taking it, but find that he has it as he comes up to the line. It will never do for a coach to suppose that an inexperienced half can be told that he must take the ball '' without knowing it," but it is necessary to explain to a half that until he does take the ball naturally, and without having to stop and calculate about it, he can never come properly up to the hne nor get his whole power on early. To acquire the habit of taking a pass easily, a half-back should spend a little time every day off the field in practising taking a sharp pass when on the run. By a sharp pass is not meant hurling the ball with all possible force against a runner so that he is nearly 100 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. knocked over by it, and cannot by any possibility catch it except at the ex- pense of giving the catch his sole and undivided attention. Such passing in practice does far more harm than good. The ball should be passed with that easy swing which sends it rapidly, accu- rately, and evenly up to the runner with- out any great apparent force, for it is remarkable how much the appearance of force tends to rattle the runner, who easily handles fully as much speed prop- erly delivered. Daily practice of this nature between the quarter and half ac- customs each to the -other, so that the regular work of the team on the field is not disorganized by loose passing and looser catching. While this passing is progressing, the coach should stand by the side of the half, and watch him closely, correcting any careless tenden- cies of receiving or stopping, and pay- W. BULL. Yale. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 1 01 ing particular attention to his going in a straight line — that is, not running up to meet the ball and then sheering off again. The best half-backs endeavor to receive the ball at approximately the same height relative to their bodies, no matter how it comes, and they will cor- rect quite a variation in the quarter s throw by a little stoop or a slight jump. A half-back must be taught to be uni- form in starting, and in reaching the spot where the ball is to meet him. The coach will have no great difficulty in teaching him this steady uniformity of pace, which will enable the quarter to throw the ball so as really to assist rather than retard his motion. There are two other things which the half-back must practise apart from his team-play. They are kicking and catching. The former is of sufficient importance to de- serve a separate chapter, but a few hints 102 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. under the half-back column will not be out of place. It is usually the case that of all three men behind the line, the two halves and the back, any one can do the kicking upon a pinch, but one of the three is, nine times out of ten, mani- festly superior to the other two. In this state of affairs there is altogether too great a tendency to slight the practice of the two inferior kickers, and rely al- most entirely upon the best man. It is quite proper to let the best man do all the kicking possible in an important game, but it is a very short-sighted pol- icy to neglect the practice of the other two during the preliminary games. Not only should they have the advantage to be gained in the length of their kicks by daily practice, but they should also have the steadying experience to be acquired only in games. It may happen at any moment in a most important game that THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 103 the kicking will devolve upon them on account of an accident to the third man, and it is, indeed, a foolhardy captain or coach who has not taken sufficient fore- thought for this contingency. The prin- cipal reason why we develop so few really good kickers is, that coaches, captains, and players have given so lit- tle attention to the detail of that part of the work. Fully nine tenths of the men who do the kicking upon American teams are more natural kickers than practised ones. Let me explain this so as to be fully understood. As in box- ing one often sees a man who, having taken no lessons, and being therefore unable to make the most of himself, can yet more than hold his own against a more finished opponent on account of his natural quickness, strength, and apti- tude ; so in football one sees here and there a man who is able to do some fair 104 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. kicking without having devoted particu- lar attention to it. In boxing, however, when a teacher takes the natural hitter in hand, he begins by putting him at work upon the rudiments of guarding, holding himself upon his feet, hitting straight, and moving firmly. He never undertakes to make a first-class man of him by merely encouraging him to go in harder, and increase his power with- out regard to the proper methods. In football, coaches rarely teach the kick- ers the first principles, but instead urge upon them only the necessity of con- stant practice in their own way. For this reason our kickers show all manner of styles, and the only wonder is that they kick so well in such wretchedly bad form. While it is neither advisable nor nec- essary that a kicker be prevented from attempting to kick hard until he has KNOWLTON L. AMES. Princeton. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 105 mastered every detail of the swing and brought it to the same point of perfec- tion that a finished oarsman does his stroke, it certainly is best, in his prac- tice, to subordinate power to method until he acquire good form. The coach should take his man in hand by watching him make a half- dozen kicks in his own way. Then he should select the worst of his faults, and show him why it is a fault, and how to correct it. He should keep him upon this one point for a few days, until he is convinced that there will be no backsliding, and then begin upon the next. In this way a few weeks will serve to make a second-class man a good one, and open the way for his becom- ing something out of the ordinary run in another season. In judging the faults of a kicker, the coach should note just where he gets I06 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. his power on, what is the position of his leg and foot upon the swing, and what part of the foot strikes the ball. These are the principal points, and de- serve the first attention. Regarding the first of these, his power should be put on just as his foot has passed the lowest part of the arc in which it swings, and it should meet the ball in the up- ward sweep very soon after passing this point. The position of his leg and foot is to be next noted, and the *^ snap the whip '' phrase is as good a one to convey the idea as any that can be adopted. As the leg begins to swing the knee is bent and the body pitched a little forward, so that the weight of the kick seems to start from the hip and travel down the leg as it straight- ens, reaching the foot just as it meets the ball, as above mentioned. As for the third point, the ball, when punted, THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. 107 should be struck by the instep and not hy the toe. In a drop-kick and a place-kick the ball is met by the toe, and the sweep is made with '^a longer leg," as the expression has it ; that is, the foot swings nearer — in fact, almost along the ground. All these three points can be most clearly illustrated by noting the effect of departures from them. If the power is not put on as above described, the man will simply send the ball along the ground, or will hook it up, merely toss- ing it with his foot instead of driving it. These two are the extremes, of course ; but they illustrate where the power is lost or wasted. If the leg be not swung in proper position, the ball will be sim- ply spatted with the foot, the only force coming from the knee. Finally, if the ball be not met with the proper part of the foot it may snap downwards off the I08 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. toe, or be merely bunted by the ankle. There is still another thing to be watched, which, while not the kick proper, really belongs to it as much as the swing of the leg. It is the way in which the ball is dropped to the foot from the hand or hands. The usual tendency of beginners, and many half-backs who could hardly be classed in that category, is to toss the ball from the hand ; that is, to give it a motion up from the hand, which, however slight, causes much valuable time to be lost. The ball should always be dropped to the foot, the distance between the hand and foot being made as short as possible. The hand should be merely withdrawn just at the proper moment, and with practice it is not difficult to make the entire transfer from hand to foot so rap- id as to almost eliminate any danger of having the ball stopped or struck during that part of the play. In drop -kicking THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. I09 the fall is necessarily greater, but it should never be a toss even then. There has been no little argument as to wheth- er the ball should be held in one or both hands by one about to kick, and such are the examples of good kickers arrayed on both sides that we cannot fairly say that either way is the only right way. If a player has become so accustomed to the two-hand method as to make him uncomfortable and inaccurate if forced to the one-hand way, it is hardly ad- visable to make the change. But any player who is taken early enough can be taught to drop the ball with one hand, to the great advantage of both his quickness and his ability to kick from tight quarters or around an opponent. The entire series of motions, there- fore, which go to make up a well-per- formed kick should be in the coach's mind just as the separate parts of an no AMERICAN FOOTBALL. oarsman's stroke are in the boating- man's mind when coaching a crew. The ball dropped, not tossed ; the leg well swung, the power coming from both leg and hip with all the advantage that the poise of the body may add ; the foot meeting the ball with the forward part of the instep on a punt, with the toe on a drop, and in either case just after passing the lowest point of the arc of swing, rather later on a punt than a drop, because the ground helps the lat- ter to rise, while the rise of the former must come entirely from the foot. The next step in the education of the kicker is the side swing. The ball cannot be kicked as far when met directly in front of the kicker — his leg swinging straight, as it would in taking a step in running — as it can be kicked by taking a side sweep with the leg and body, the hips acting as a sort of pivot. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. m One of the most common false ideas regarding this side kick is, that it is not performed with the same part of the foot as the straight punt, but that the ball is struck by the side of the foot. Of course, this is all wrong. The foot meets the ball as fairly and directly as it does in the ordinary straight kick, and the ball impinges upon the top of the instep and toe just as before, the word '' side " referring to the swing of the leg and position of the body only. All the suggestions thus far have been applicable to both half-backs and back, but before bringing the chapter to an end it is well to note a few of the spe- cial features of the full-back*s position. The place originally was that of a goal- tend, but with the increase of the ag- gressive system of defence his duties have become more those of a third half- back. Other things being equal, it is 112 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. eminently proper to select as a full-back an exceptionally strong tackier ; but as for placing tackling ability above that of kicking, that is a mistake which might have been made six years ago, but of which no coach or captain would to-day be guilty. The importance of the position is rap- idly growing, and there is no doubt that the time will come in another year, if it be not already here, when the selection of the three men behind the line will be after this fashion — namely, picking out the three best half-backs, all things con- sidered, then selecting that one of the three whose kicking is the best, and making him the third half or full back. After the man has been in this way chosen there will devolve upon him certain duties which do not commonly fall to the lot of the other two half- backs. Chiefest among these is the S^'^*^ W. C. RHODES. Yale. THE HALF-BACK AND BACK. II3 duty of making a running return of a kick. The opponents have sent a punt down towards him, which he secures while the opponents are still some yards away from him, although they are com- ing down rapidly. In this case, a thor- oughly finished player will not only gain a few steps before he takes his kick, but he will take that kick on the run, some- times dodging the first man before tak- ing the kick. A full-back who can do this and never lose his kick is the great- est kind of a treasure for any team, and it is worth a captain's while to devote a good bit of attention to the full-back's perfecting this special feature of his play. He will also be likely to have the long place-kicking to do. In fact, it is prop- er to practise him at this, because, if he be the best punter among the men be- hind the line, he can be made the long- est place-kicker, and few realize the great 114 AMERICAN FOOTBALL, advantage of these long place-kicks to a team upon occasion of fair catches, especially when a favoring wind brings the possibility of a field kick goal. Tackling, when it does fall to the lot of a full-back, comes with an importance the like of which no other player is ever called upon to face. It usually means a touch-down if he misses. For prac- tice of this kind it is well to play the Varsity back once in a while upon the scrub side. This is likely to improve the speed of his kicking also. SIGNALS When Rugby football was first adopt- ed in this country, there was a strong feeling that it would never make prog- ress against what had been known as the American game. This old-fashioned game was much more like the British Association in a rather demoralized state. Not only was there no such thing as off- side, but one of the chief features consist- ed in batting the ball with the fist, at which many became sufficiently expert to drive the ball almost as far as the ordinary punter now kicks it. There was very little division of players by name, although they strung out along the field, and one (known as the ^^pea- nutter" — why, no one knows) played in Il8 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. the enemies' goal. Coming to players accustomed to this heterogeneous ming- ling, it is no great wonder that the first days of Rugby were characterized by even less system than that displayed in the old game. The first division of players was into rushers, half-backs, and a goal-tend. The rushers had but little regard for their rel- ative positions in the line ; and as for their duties, one can easily imagine how little they corresponded with those of the rush- er of to-day when it is said that it was by no means unusual for one of them to pick up the ball and punt it. The snap-back and quarter-back play soon defined these two positions, and shortly after the individual rush-line po- sitions became distinct, both as regards location and duties. All this was an era of development of general play with but few particular combinations or marks oi SIGNALS. 119 strategy. If a man made a run, he made it for the most part wherever he saw the best chance after receiving the ball, and he made it unaided to any degree by his comrades. If the ball was kicked, it was at the option of the man receiv- ing it, and the forwards did not know whether he would kick or run. It was at this point that the demand for signals first showed itself. The rush- ers began to insist upon it that they must be told in some way whether the play was to be a kick or a run. They main- tained quite stoutly and correctly that there was no reason in their chasing down the field when the half-backs did not kick. As a matter of fact, the for- wards even went so far as to contend that the running-game should be en- tirely dropped in favor of one based upon long kicks well followed up. Fail- ing to establish this opinion, they nev- I20 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ertheless brought it about that they should be told by some signal what the play was to be, and so be spared useless running. This was probably the first of the present complicated system of sig- nals, although at about the same time some teams took up the play of making a rather unsatisfactory opening for a runner in the line, and made use of a signal to indicate the occasions when this was to be done. The signalling of the quarter to the centre-rush as to when the ball should be played antedated this somewhat, but can hardly be classed with signals for the direction of the play Itself. To-day the teams which meet to de- cide the championship are brought up to the execution of at least twenty-five different plays, each of which is called for by a certain distinct signal of its own. The first signals given were '* word p. D. TRAFFORD. Harvard. SIGNALS. 121 Signals ;" that is, a word or a sentence called out so that the entire team might hear it and understand whether a kick or a run was to be made. Then, when signals became more general, *^sign sig- nals" (that is, some motion of the hand or arm to indicate the play) were brought in and became for a time more popular than the word signals, particularly upon fields where the audience pressed close upon the lines, and their enthusiastic cheering at times interfered with hear- ing word signals. Of late years nu- merical combinations have become most popular, and as the crowd is kept at such a distance from the side lines as to make it possible for teams to hear those signals, they have proven highly satis- factory. The numerical system, .while it can be readily understood by the side giving the signal, because they know the key, is far more difficult for the 122 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. opponents to solve than either the old word signals or signs. Still, the inge- nuity of captains is generally taxed to devise systems that shall so operate as never to confuse their own men and yet completely mystify the opponents throughout the game. Clever forwards almost always succeed in interpreting correctly one or two of the signals most frequently used, in spite of the difficulty apparent in the solution of such prob- lems. The question as to who should give the signals is still a disputed one, although the general opinion is that the quarter-back should perform this duty. There is no question as to the propriety of the signals emanating from that point, but the discussion is as to whether the captain or the quarter should direct the play. Of course all is settled if the captain is himself a quarter- back, but even when he is not he ought SIGNALS. 123 to be able to so direct his quarter pre- vious to the actual conflict as to make it perfectly satisfactory to have the signals come from the same place as the ball. It is in that direction that the eyes and attention of every player are more or less turned, and hence signals there given are far more certain to be ob- served. Moreover, it is sometimes, and by no means infrequently, necessary to change a play even after the signal has been given. This, if the quarter be giving the signals, is not at all difficult, but is decidedly confusing when coming from some other point in the line. The important fact to be remembered in selecting a system of signals is that it is far more demoralizing to confuse your own team than to mystify your opponents. A captain must therefore choose such a set of signals as he can be sure of making his own team com- 124 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. prehend without difficulty and without mistake. When he is sure of that, he can think how far it is possible for him to disguise these from his opponents. Among the teams which contest for championship honors it is unusual to find any which are not prepared for emergencies by the possession either of two sets of signals, or of such changes in the manner of giving them as to make it amount to the same thing. Considering the way the game is played at the present time, this preparation is advisable, for one can hardly overesti- mate the demoralizing effect it would have upon any team to find their oppo- nents in possession of a complete under- standing of the signals which were di- recting the play against them. While it is well for the captain or coach to arrange in his own mind early in the season such a basis for a code of R M HODCE. Princeton. SIGNALS. 125 signals as to render it adaptable to al- most indefinite increase in the number of plays, it is by no means necessary to have the team at the outset understand this basis. In fact, it is just as well to start them off very modestly upon two or three signals which they should learn, and of which they should make use un- til the captain sees fit to advance them a peg. If, for instance, the captain decides to make use of a numerical system, he cannot do better to accustom his men to listening and following instruc- tions than to give them three signals, something like this : One-two-three, to indicate that the ball is to be passed to the right half-back, who will endeavor to run around the left end ; four-five-six, that the left half will try to run around the right end ; and seven-eight-nine, that the back will kick. The scrub side 126 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. will probably ^^get on" to these signals in short order, and will make it pleasant at the ends for the half-backs ; but this will be the best kind of practice in team work, and will do no harm. After a day or two of this it will be time to make changes in the combination of numbers, not only with an idea of deceiving the scrub side, but also to quicken the wits of the 'Varsity team. Taking the same signals as a basis, the first, or signal for the right half-back to try on the left end, was one-two-three — the sum of these numbers is six. Take that, then, as the key to this signal, and any numbers the sum of which equals six will be a signal for this play. For instance, three-three, or four-two, two- three-one — any of these would serve to designate this play. Similarly, as the sig- nal for the left half at the right end was four-five-six, or a total of fifteen, any SIGNALS. 127 numbers which added make fifteen — as six-six-three, seven-eight, or five-four- six — would be interpreted in this way. Finally, the signal for a kick having been seven-eight-nine, of a sum of twenty-four, any numbers aggregating that total would answer equally well. A few days of this practice will fit the men for any further developments upon the same lines, and accustom them to listening and thinking at the same time. The greatest difficulty experienced by both captains and coaches since the sig- nals and plays became so complicated has been to teach green players not to stop playing while they listen to and think out a signal. By the end of the season players are so accustomed to the signals that all this hesitation dis- appears, and the signal is so familiar as to amount to a description of the play in so many words. 128 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. The other two methods of signalling by the use of words rather than numbers, and signs given by certain movements, although they have now given way in most teams to numbers, are still made use of, and have merit enough to deserve a line or two. The word-signal was usually given in the form of a sentence, the whole or any part of which would indicate the play. As, for instance, to indicate a kick, the sentence ^^ Play up sharp, Charlie.*' If the quarter, or who- ever gave the signals, should call out, ^* Play up," or *^ Play up sharp," or ''Play," or ''Charlie," he would in each instance be giving the signal for a kick. Sign-signals are more difficult to dis- guise, but are none the less very effec- tive, especially where there is a great amount of noise close to the ropes. A good example of the sign-signal is the touching of some part of the body with H. H. KNAPP. Yale. SIGNALS. 129 the hand. For instance, half-back run- ning would be denoted by placing the hand on the hip, the right hip for the left half, and the left hip for the right half. A kick would be indicated by placing the hand upon the neck. Par- ticular care should be exercised when sign-signals are to be used that the ones selected, while similar to the acts per- formed naturally by the quarter in stooping over to receive the ball, are never exactly identical with these mo- tions, else there will likely enough be confusion. No matter what method of signalling be used, there is one important feature to be regarded, and that is, some means of altering the play after a signal has been given. This is, of course, a very simple thing, and the usual plan is to have some word which m^ans that the signal already given is to be considered 9 130 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. void, and a new signal will be given in its place. There should also be some way of advising the team of a change from one set of signals to another, should such a move become necessary. It is very unwise not to be prepared for such an emergency, because if a captain is obliged to have time called and person- ally advise his team one by one of such a change, the opponents are quite sure to see it and to gain confidence from the fact that they have been clever enough to make such a move necessary. TRAINING At the present advanced athletic era there are very few who do not under- stand that a certain amount of prepa- ration is absolutely essential to success in any physical effort requiring strength and endurance. The matter of detail is, however, not faced until one actually becomes a captain or a coach, and, as such, responsible for the condition, not of himself alone, but of a team of fif- teen or twenty men. Experience regarding his own needs will have taught him the value of care and work in this line ; but, unless he differ greatly from the ordinary captain upon first assuming the duties of that position, his knowledge of training will 134 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. be confined to an understanding of his own requirements, coupled with the handed-down traditions of the preced- ing captains and teams. When he finds himself in this position and considers what lines of training he shall lay down for his team, unless he be an inordinate- ly conceited man he will wish he had made more of a study of this art of preparation, especially in the direction most suited to the requirements of his own particular sport. Many inquiries from men about to undertake the training of a team have led me to believe that, even at the expense of going over old ground, it will be well in this book to map out a few of the important features of a course of training. It should go without say- ing that there are infinite variations in systems of this kind ; but if a man will carry in mind the reasons rather than TRAINING. 13s the rules, he has always a test to apply which will enable him to make the most of whatever system he adopts. He should remember that training ought to be a preparation by means of which his men will at a certain time arrive at the best limits of their mus- cular strength and activity, at the same time preserving that equilibrium most conducive to normal health. Such a preparation can be accomplished by the judicious use of the ordinary agents of well-being — ^^ exercise, diet, sleep, and cleanliness. One can follow out the reasons for or against any particular point in a system rather better if he cares to see why these agents act towards health- and strength. Exercise is a prime requisite, because the human mechanism, unHke the inani- mate machine, gains strength from use. Muscular movement causes disintegra- 136 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. tion and death of substance, but at the same time there is an increased flow of blood to the part, and that means an in- creased supply of nourishment and in- creased activity in rebuilding. As Mac- Laren has expressed it, strength means newness of the muscle. The amount and quality of this exercise will be treat- ed of later in this chapter. In considering the matter of Diet, a captain or coach should think of this question not according to the tradition of his club, nor according to his own idiosyncrasies. He should regard the general principle of not depriving a man of anything to which he is accustomed and which agrees with him. Of course, it is advisable to do without such arti- cles of food as would be injurious to the majority of the men, even though there might be one or two to whom they would do no harm. Men should enjoy A. J. CUMNOCK. Harvard TRAINING. 137 their food, and it should be properly served. I remember once being asked my opinion regarding a certain team at the time in training, and I expressed the conviction that something was wrong with their diet. The team, as a whole, were not seriously affected, but some three or four were manifestly out of sorts. I heard the coach go over the bill of fare, and it sounded all right. I then decided to take dinner with them and see if I could discover the trouble. One meal was sufficient, for it was a meal! The beef — and an excellent roast it was, too — was literally served in junks, such as one might throw to a dog. The dishes were dirty, so was the cloth. Vegetables were dumped on to the plates in a mess, and each one grabbed for what he wanted. Some of the men might have been brought up to eat at such a table, still others were not suffi- 138 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ciently sensitive to have their appetites greatly impaired by anything, but the three or four who were ^^ off'' were boys whose home life had accustomed them to a different way of dining, and their natures revolted. So, too, did their ap- petites. As it was then too late to cor- rect the manners of the mess, I simply advised sending these men elsewhere to board, and they speedily came into shape. I cannot too strongly advocate good service at a training table. The men should enjoy their dinners, should eat them slowly, and should be encour- aged to be as long about it as they will. As food is to repair the waste, it should be generous in quantity and taken when the man will not, from being over-tired, have lost his appetite. Sometimes a team is not overworked, but worked too late in the day, so that the men rush to the table almost directly from the field, TRAINING. 139 and fail to feel hungry, while within an hour they would have eaten with a zest. This course persevered in for several days will show its folly in a general fall- ing-off in the strength as well as the weight of the men. To train a football team should be, in the matter of the diet at least, the simplest matter com- pared with training for other sports, be- cause the season of the year is so favor- able to good condition. Crews and ball nines have oftentimes the trial of exceptionally hot and ex- hausting weather to face, while a foot- ball team, after the few warm days of September are passed, enjoy the very best of bracing weather — weather which will give almost any man who spends his time in out-door work a healthy, hearty appetite. In order that any captain or coach reading this book may feel that, while it offers several courses 140 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. of diet, it would emphatically present the fact that there is no hard-and-fast system of diet that must be religiously followed, I submit a variety of tables, showing some old as well as new school diets. None of them are very bad, sev- eral are excellent ; and I don't think that a captain or coach would be called upon to draw his pencil through very many of the items enumerated. JEREMTAH S. BLACK. Princeton. ^ w 141 B o o C3 a o o 2 < ^ Q ^ a Id -4-> C/J o ^ ^ 6 C/5 o <1 <1 ^ O cJ pqpQ §1 S CO cd •'rl ^ 3 ^^"3 ^ v^ 0) ::i CD o o :3 o c3 y -a P^ K PQ W ^ P f-1 w W 142 143 m m m W m < o W § c 2 0) a3 P- S ^ (D t+^ ^ ^ O ^3 ^^ 1. w 1> o rl3 O bJD (D 0) $=! O T3 Id: ±1 0) o S • ?^ to ^^§ g 5 ^ i=3 ^ r^ C ^ o; 0) cj . ;X -^ C5j ;-! rj [>• ^^-d ^^-^/^ ■ *-• r^ ^ U 0) .s bjo r bjQ ' C/3 OS t/) _, w O G c •5 ^ o ^-^ ^■ ^ o H H <^— ^ S-H O C3 rO 0) cj '^ a o C/> . 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(D O 0) • (U fl ri4 ^.S • O Qj a u u ^^W^5^ :3 o rt C3 Jh (D !m (U c^ I O c3 O rt I ^ ^ rT* ^. ?M • CO ►' n^ ^ ^s b§. ■s 2 p. ^ <-rA S^ r—* ^ Cd .1:3 b/Dc^5"^ o rt o Tj -^^-^ 2 s o bJO g rt $u 9-0 {=! O - S^ O' ci Jn^-^ .- , o rt C 13 o rS t;^ -^ <^ U :i:d ^V t^rrt '^ rS -^ o o rC3 o O T3 c3 j_, 2 n3 n3 ^- S SI o 00 53 4-> c3 • o rt U 0) . O o1^ -^ .^ «^ CO O , e^ w PQ w "" o ^ en S CO S o n •-O -r- 00 148 SYSTEM OF JACKSON AND GODBOLD. Breakfast. — Stale or whole -meal bread, or toast, a little butter, plenty of marmalade if you like, but not jam. Ba- con and eggs, or chops or steaks, with wa- tercress if obtainable. To those who like it, a basin of oatmeal porridge, properly made^ taken with pure milk about an hour before breakfast, is an excellent thing, and has a very beneficial effect upon the stomach, but it should not be taken every day. It is better to miss it every third day, or to take it regularly for a fortnight and then omit it from the next week's diet, as the too frequent use of it is rather injurious to the skin of some persons. Tea — not too strong — is better than coffee. Good ripe fruit is a cap- 150 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ital adjunct to the breakfast-table, and is an excellent article of food. Dinner. — Lamb, mutton, beef, fowl (tender and boiled), varied by fish, of which haddock, whiting, and soles are the best, with potatoes (well boiled, and not much of them), and well -cooked vegetables, followed by a small allow- ance of light farinaceous pudding or stewed fruit, will be a good, wholesome diet. If you want bread, have it stale. Never eat new bread. Avoid all sauces, or made dishes, and adhere to plain food only. One thing we would particular- ly impress upon the reader, and that is never to take his exercise immediately before or after meals, nothing is more in- jurious, or likely to produce indigestion, and its concomitant evils. Some author- ities abjure the use of sugar, but taken in moderation it is not injurious. A well- known champion of our acquaintance, C. O. GILL. Yale. TRAINING. 1-51 when in the pink of condition, was wont to amuse himself by eating the contents of a sugar basin, if one were inadvert- ently left near him, and without feeling any ill effects from so doing. Our read- ers need not follow his example, for al- though it might suit him, it probably would not agree with them. We have said, take sugar in 7iwderation, Now, in this last word lies all the lectures one can give on this subject. Be moderate in all things, one might say, but above all things be moderate in the use of all edibles not actually necessary to sup- port the increased exertion which a man in training is called upon to perform. No liquid should be taken except with, or just after meals, but we would not advise stinting the quantity too much. In summer three or four pints, and in winter two or three pints per diem would be about the quantity. Never 152 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. drink just before exercise, and it is bet- ter not to drink just before going to bed. la fact, the less one has to digest when retiring for sleep the better, and be sure not to drink tea late at night. Tea. or supper, should be taken at least two hours before bedtime, and we would allow a small chop, or some light fish, bread, and very little butter, with some ripe fruit. The best meal to take before a race, and which should be taken about two hours before starting-time, is the lean of mutton-chops and a little dry toast. We have said that no liquids should be taken except at meal-times ; but we do not intend to state that if a man be very thirsty he may not touch them. If he does so, it must be a very small quantity. Thirst can often be as- suaged by rinsing the mouth out with cold water, and this is by far the better plan if it is efficacious. A COMMON-SENSE SYSTEM. One author says: ''Rise at six; bathe ; take about two ounces (a small cup) of coffee with milk : this is really a stimulating soup. Then light exer- cise, chiefly devoted to lungs ; a little rest ; the breakfast of meat, bread, or oatmeal, vegetables, with no coffee ; an hour's rest. Then the heaviest exer- cise of the day. This is contrary to rule ; but I believe the heaviest exer- cise should be taken before the heav- iest meal ; a rest before dinner. This meal, if breakfast be taken at seven or eight, should be at one or two, not leaving a longer interval than five hours between the meals. At din- ner, again meat, vegetables, bread, per- 154 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. haps a half -pint of malt liquor, no sweets. Then a longer rest ; exercise till five. Supper light — bread, milk, perhaps with an egg. Half an hour later a cup of tea, and bed at nine/' J. B. O^REILLY. Seven o'clock is a good time for an athlete in training to rise. He ought to get a good dry- rubbing, and then sponge his body with cold water, or have a shower-bath, with a thorough rubbing afterwards. He will then go out to exercise before breakfast, not to run hard, as is commonly taught, but to walk briskly for an hour, while exercis- ing his lungs in deep-breathing. Before this walk, an egg in a cup of tea, or something of the kind, should be taken. The breakfast need not always con- sist of a broiled mutton-chop or cutlet ; a broiled steak, broiled chicken, or broiled fish, or some of each, may be taken with tea or coffee. 156 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. Dinner may be far more varied than is usually allowed by the trainer's '' sys- tem/' Any kind of butcher's meat, plainly cooked, with a variety of fresh vegetables, may be taken, with ordinary light puddings, stewed fruit, but no pastry. A good time for dinner is one o'clock. An American athlete, when thirsty, ought to have only one drink — water. The climate and the custom in England favor the drinking of beer or claret; but, beyond question, the best drink for a man in training is pure water. After dinner, rest, but no dozing or siesta. This sort of rest only spoils digestion, and makes men feel slack and ^^ limp." Supper, at six o'clock, should not be a second dinner; but neither should it consist of ^^ slops " or gruel. The ath- lete ought to be in bed by ten o'clock, in a room with open window, and a E. C. PEACE. Princeton. TRAINING. 157 draught through the room, if possible, though not across the bed. The American football captain or coach should bear in mind, when read- ing these various systems, that the use of ale and port seems to be much bet- ter borne by those who live in the Eng- lish climate than upon this side the water. Also, that stiff exercise before break- fast has not been proven advantageous to our athletes except as a flesh-reducer, and then only in exceptionally vigorous constitutions. Also, that tea is not as popular with us as with the men who train in Eng- land. SLEEP AND CLEANLINESS. To come to the third agent of health enumerated some pages back, Sleep. As a rule, it is not a difficult matter to see that members of a football team take the requisite amount of sleep. There are occasions, as in college, when some society event of unusual impor- tance tempts the men to sit up late, but with such exceptions as these there is no great difficulty experienced in mak- ing the majority of the men keep good hours. And this is growing more and more simple as athletics become more general, for they take the place of much of the dissipation which was formerly the only outlet for the superabundant animal spirits of young men. In the TRAINING. 159 case, however, of the occasional candi- date for the team who comes under the captain's eye as inchned to late hours, there must be the strictest kind of dis- cipline shown. Such a man is the very one whose stamina will be affected after a while by lack of sleep, and that too at a time when the rest of the men are near- ing the perfection of condition. Thus he will be found falling off at the very time when it is a most serious matter very like- ly to fill his position with a new man. Eight or nine hours sleep should be in- sisted upon, and that sleep should be taken with regularity. In fact, not only the sleep, but the meals and the exercise, should all be made as nearly regular, re- garding hours, as possible. Men should have separate rooms, and particularly when off upon trips they should not sleep together. Plenty of fresh air should be admitted to the sleeping- l6o AMERICAN FOOTBALL- room, but draughts are to be avoided. This is not because every time the air blows upon a man he is liable to con- tract a severe cold, for the chances are against this, but because there are times when he is particularly prone to such an accident, and if he is in the habit of sleeping without regard to draughts it is not likely that he will take precau- tions then. If a man has, for instance, played an especially stiff game and upon a muggy and exhausting day, he will undoubtedly turn in thoroughly tired out, and perhaps still somewhat heated. Now if he, when in that state, sleeps in a draught, he will probably find himself very lame in the morning, even though he escape other more seri- ous consequences. Just one more word of caution regarding sleep, and that is in the matter of obtaining a good night's rest just before the important W. HEFFELFINGER. Yale. TRAINING. l6i match of the season. To insure this is to do much towards securing the best work of which the men are capable from the team upon the following day. First and foremost, they should not be allowed to talk about the game or the signals or anything connected with foot- ball during that evening. If possible, they should do something to entirely divert their minds from all thought of the game. Nor should they be hustled off to bed an hour or two earlier than usual. Rather ought it to be a half-hour later, for then the chances are that the men drop off to sleep immediately in- stead of tossing about, thinking of the exciting event of the morrow. Finally, as to overtrained men, and that restlessness and inability to sleep that almost always comes with the worst Cases of this kind. There is but one thing to do with a man when he II l62 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ^' goes fine '' to this extent, and that is to sever his connection with the team for a time. If it is early in the season, there is some chance of his recuperating rapidly enough to still become service- able. If it is late, there is no hope of this. In either case he must neither play, eat, nor spend his time with the members of the team. He can do al- most anything else ; he can go and watch the crew row or the ball nine play ; he can study or read ; he can, and in fact should, do everything possible to disassociate himself from football and violent exercise for a time, and, un- less the trouble has gone too far, it will only be a couple of weeks before he will find himself coming out of it all right, and among the first signs will be good, refreshing sleep. ' To pass now to the fourth of our agents for health, Cleanliness. It is fort- TRAINING. 163 unately seldom necessary to argue the advantages of the *^tub'' or *' sponge bath '' to our football players, because they are usually accustomed to it. A daily splashing has been their ordinary habit. It is well to mention also that a fortnightly warm bath may be indulged in to advantage. But with the present understanding of all these advantages, the wisest remarks that can be made are cautions as to indiscretions in the use of baths. In the first place, one bath a day is enough, and any other should be a mere sponging and rub- bing. Men who indulge in a tub in the morning and then spend another fifteen minutes in a plunge after prac- tice in the afternoon get too much of it. Again, the habit of spending a long time under the shower every day is a mis- take. It feels so refreshing after a hard practice that a man is tempted to stay 164 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. too long, and it does him no good. The best and safest plan is to take a light, quick sponge bath in the morning imme- diately upon rising, and then, after prac- tice in the afternoon, to take just a mo- ment under the shower, and follow it by a good rubbing. This, with the fort- nightly warm bath, will be all that a man may do to advantage. A CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS To those who have never played the game of football, but who chance to open the covers of this book, a short ex- planation of the divisions and duties of the players will not be out of place. For these this chapter is added. The game is played by two teams, of eleven men each, upon a field 330 feet long and 160 feet wide, at either end of which are goal-posts with a cross-bar. The ball, which is like a large leather egg, is placed in the centre of this field, and each team endeavors to drive it in the direction of the opponents' goal-line, where any scoring must be done. Goals and touch-downs are the only points which count, and these can be made only as follows : l68 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. A goal can be obtained by kicking the ball in any way except a punt (a certain kind of kick where the ball is dropped by a player and kicked before touching the ground) over the cross-bar of the op- ponents* goal. A touch-down is obtained by touching the ball to the ground be- hind the line of the goal. So, in either case, the ball must cross the end of the field in some way to make any score. The sole object, then, of all the. strug- gles which take place in the field is to advance the ball to a position such that scoring is possible. A firm grasp of this idea usually simplifies matters very much for the casual spectator. The object of the white lines which cross the field at every five yards is merely to assist the referee in determin- ing how far the ball moves at a time ; for there is a rule which states that a team must advance the ball five yards R. M. APPLETON. Harvard. CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS. 1 69 in three attempts or retreat with it twenty. If they do not succeed in do- ing this, the other side take possession of the ball, and in their, turn try to ad- vance it. There are certain rules which govern the methods of making these advances, any infringement of which constitutes what is called a foul, and entails a pen- alty upon the side making it. Any player can run with the ball or kick it if, when he receives it, he is " on side'' — that is, between the ball and his own goal-line. He may not take the ball if he is *'off side" — that is, be- tween the ball and his opponents' goal- line — until an adversary has touched the ball. Whenever a player running with the ball is held, he must cry '' down," and a man of his side then places the ball on the ground and snaps it back. This 170 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. puts it in play, and is called a scrimmage, and this scrimmage is the most com- monly recurring feature of the game. For the purposes of advancing the ball or repelling the attack of the op- ponents it has proved advisable for a captain to divide his eleven men into two general divisions: the forwards and backs. The forwards, of whom there are seven, are usually called rushers, and they make practically a straight line across the field when the ball is put in play on a ^' down.'* Next behind them is the quarter-back, who does the pass- ing of the ball to one or another of the players, while just behind him are the two half-backs and the back, usually in something of a triangle in arrange- ment, with the last named nearest the goal which his team is defending. The following definitions will also aid the spectator in understanding many of CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS. 171 the expressions used by the devotees of the sport : A drop-kick is made by letting the ball fall from the hands, and kicking it at the very instant it rises. A place-kick is made by kicking the ball after it has been placed on the ground. Kpunt is made by letting the ball fall from the hands, and kicking it before it touches the ground. Kick-off is a place-kick from the centre of the field of play. Kick-out is a drop-kick, or place-kick, by a player of the side which has touched the ball down in their own goal, or into whose touch-in-goal the ball has gone. In touch means out of bounds. Kfair is putting the ball in play, from touch. Afoul is any violation of a rule. 172 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. A touch-down is made when the ball is carried, kicked, or passed across the goal- line and there held, either in goal or touch- in-goal. A safety is made when a player, guarding his goal, receives the ball from a player of his own side, and touches it down behind his goal-line, or carries the ball across his own goal-line and touches it down, or puts the ball into his own touch-in-goal. A touch-back is made when a player touches the ball to the ground behind his own goal, the impetus which sent the ball across the line having been received from an opponent. A fair catch is a catch made direct from a kick by one of the opponents, provided the catcher made a mark with his heel at the spot where he made the catch. Btterference is using the hands or arms in any way to obstruct or hold a player who has not the ball. 6-OAL FN GO/Kl. 25 YAR.D U (ME. -\ 3 o o 13 -s-f i| "If • -^--^g-o--«--o-T#*- ...j.j.4->.|-|-^- lllL...i.l J X s X O c 2 o si ^ ^ ? ^ 1 ^ 5 ---S > iir--> ^ ;« ; ^ ; 00 O. awn ayvA ?2 ._ a - CD > ^ H 3KJ I nvoo Kii ^y 09 1 S3 CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS. 1 73 The penalty for fouls and violation of rules, except otherwise provided, is a down for the other side ; or, if the side making the foul has not the ball, five yards to the opponents. ^ , The following is the value of each point in the scoring : Goal obtained by touch-down, . 6 Goal from field kick, .... 5 Touch-down failing goal, ... 4 Safety by opponents, .... 2 The rules which bear most directly upon the play are : The time of a game is an hour and a half, each side playing forty-five minutes from each goal. There is ten minutes' intermis- sion between the two halves, and the game is decided by the score of even halves. The ball is kicked off at the beginning of each half; and whenever a goal has been obtained, the side which has lost it shall kick off. 174 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. A player may throw or pass the ball in any direction except towards opponents' goal. If the ball be batted or thrown for- ward, it shall go down on the spot to oppo- nents. If a player having the ball be tackled and the ball fairly held, the man so tackling shall cry ''held,'' the one so tackled must cry "down," and some player of his side put it down for a scrimmage. If, in three con- secutive fairs and downs, unless the ball cross the goal-line, a team shall not have advanced the ball five or taken it back twenty yards, it shall go to the opponents on spot of fourth. If the ball goes into touch, whether it bounds back or not, a player on the side which touches it down must bring it to the spot where the line was crossed, and there either bound the ball in the field of play, or touch it in with both hands, at right angles to the touch-line, and then run with it, kick it, or throw it back ; or throw it out at right CHAPTER FOR SPECTATORS. 1 75 angles to the touch-line ; or walk out with it at right angles to touch-line, any distance not less than five nor more than fifteen yards, and there put it down. A side which has made a touch-down in their opponents' goal must try at goal. INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY Since adding to the second edition of this book an appendix upon Team Play, in which I commented at some length upon that play known as the Wedge, as well as Interference, the progress in development of both these plays, and the fortunate opportunity offered by the publication of a third edition, tempts me to add a chapter upon the further advance upon these lines. To thoroughly understand In- terference in American football, one must go step by step along the line which our players have followed both in legislation and in practical develop- ment upon the field of play. The chief factor of modern football l8o AMERICAN FOOTBALL. is team play, and the point towards which team play is principally directed is the interference for the runner. The growth of interference was at first a peculiar one, for, as a matter of fact, it was illegal, and so recognized by cap- tains, players, and judges. But for all that, the temptation to indulge in it was so great and the liability to discov- ery so small that line-men made use of it with what was coming to be alarm- ing frequency. The rule was flat in its statement that a man when off side could not interrupt or obstruct an op- ponent unless he had the ball. There could be no mincing matters about this, for any man who was ahead of the runner was off side, and hence must not interrupt or obstruct the opponent. The trouble began in the rush -line when drawn up for a down. Of course they could not, when the ball was INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. l8l snapped back behind them, help being off side, and no more could they avoid being an interruption and obstruction to their opponents unless they melted at once into thin air. They therefore stood their ground. Then they went further : they extended their arms from their sides, thus making it very difficult to get through their ranks. But for a time that was the limit of their offence. Gradually, however, those arms took to hooking themselves too closely about a man who was near the runner, and be- fore long they were actually dragging him out of the runner's path. Up to this time there was almost no inter- ference in the open — it was all in the line. But it became impossible for the umpire to stop the practice entirely, because he could not draw the line be- tween what must be allowed and what should be stopped. If he ruled that l82 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. literally no man when the ball was snapped behind him could interrupt or obstruct an adversary, what could he do with the whole forward line ? Make them move off the field, or forbid the centre to snap the ball? The wisest course of all seemed to be to face the situation fairly, admit that a certain amount of interference was unavoida- ble, but place limits to that interference which should be clear and thoroughly understood by player and umpire. This method was adopted, and rules so al- tered as to make it fair for a man who was off side to interrupt or obstruct the would-be tacklers of the other side, pro- vided that in doing it he did not make use of his hands or arms. Primarily, this rule at once brought down to their sides the arms of the forwards in the line on a down. In fact, it was upon this point that a great deal of the dis- INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 1 83 cussion prior to the passage of the rule depended. It was even argued by one of the opponents of the measure that forwards could not protect themselves from injury at the hands of the charg- ing adversaries unless they were al- lowed to extend their arms and thus push them off. But with all the opposi- tion, the measure went through, and from it has grown one of the most sci- entific features of the play. Perhaps the simplest form of interference was in the tandem play, where a single man would precede the runner, and by charg- ing through the line, make an opening for him to follow, at the same time dis- tracting the attention of those about to tackle from the man with the ball. As a matter of fact, there is now al- most no play in the game into which good interference may not find an entry. So it comes about that one of the im^ 184 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. portant attributes of the modern coach is an ability to adapt all the plays of his team to the amount of interference of which they are capable. He may have strong and agile guards, whose weight is not so great as to preclude the possi- bility of their getting into the interfer- ing line of almost every play. He may have some very valuable but light man, who can be used only to a limited ex- tent against heavy opponents if he is to be kept fresh for his own individual work. It is no uncommon mistake made by captains at present to thus ex- haust a light, dashing man, by using him too injudiciously in heavy interference, thereby rendering him unfit for special work. Of course every coach and captain knows better than to put a small quarter up into the peak of a wedge, to be smashed into disability by the charging heavy weights of the opponents, but there are INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 185 other places where his interference is none the less hazardous. This really is the first point to be considered in laying out the interference of a team — to so use the men as to leave them still in condition to perform their own special parts of the regular work. The coach should apply this to every plan for in- terference, making it a test question be- fore proceeding to develop the play. To begin with the opening play so common now among all teams, the close wedge. In this play almost the entire team are used as interferers, the runner and the two or three lightest men being the only ones who go inside. They only endeavor to preserve the formation as long as possible, or until there comes an opportunity for the runner to break out towards the opponents' goal. There are many plays directed at the centre or guards which partake very closely of l86 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. the original wedge formation, only dif- fering in the number of men involved and the time of the formation. Then there are the plays directed at the tackle, where the run is short and straight for- ward. Here the two men making the opening are the chief interferers, and they select their men and crowd them apart just as the runner plunges forward into the opening. It is the custom to combine this with the tandem system, running one or even two men through this opening in advance of the man with the ball, and still another man behind him to push. In the event of one or more of the men preceding the runner succeeding in getting through and clear of the line, they are expected to make themselves useful by proceeding down the field and interfering with the halves and back. The run around by the tackle involves a similar method of interfer- INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 187 ence, his opening being made in precise- ly the same manner as the opening for a running half or back. But it is in plays around the end or between the end and the tackle that interference is developed in its high- est form. Here it is not a question of quickly separating two men for a mo- ment, until a runner can plunge between them and then shift for himself. It is rather a prolonged and continuous block- ing off of, it may be, seven or eight men, and some of these not only once, but two or three times in the course of the play, while the runner circles around be- hind this line of protectors, until, if the play be properly made, he comes flying by the end of that line either at the ex- treme edge of the field or more fre- quently far enough inside to go between the opposing end and tackle. The prin- cipal study of the play is directed tow- 1 88 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ards the proper timing of it, that is, to insure the arrival of first one man, then another, at the previously undefended point just as the runner is passing that point. Theoretically, if one could shift the entire line of forwards toward the end which is being assailed, and keep within that line all the opposing tacklers, he would have a perfect interference for an end-run. But practically the oppo- nents refuse to be thus hemmed in, and it is therefore necessary to form a pro- tection for a space of perhaps five yards, and the protection must move as rap- idly as the runner behind it. This pro- tecting mass first strikes out across the field for two reasons — first, to move the play quickly to a point where the heavy centre and guards cannot assist in stop- ping the runner; and secondly, to allow the runner to get his full speed on. As the protecting mass moves along the INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 189 line, it reaches a point where the resist- ance will be weakest, and then presses its weight rapidly in towards the oppo- nents' goal, and the runner performs his circling part, while the one or two inter- ferers he has more closely tied to him either still precede him, or more usually go on towards the opposing end, thus effectually preventing him from coming in to head off the runner. Now, it must be remembered that this protecting mass of men is obliged to meet the assaults of the opponents, and still preserve the impregnability of its line. This they must also do without the use of their hands or arms. There are two distinct ways of performing this duty : one is by moving so rapidly and closely that an opponent cannot dart in between them, and the other by running into the opponent and knocking him out of the way. The former always yields the igo AMERICAN FOOTBALL. most successful results, because the mass is thereby kept intact much longer ; the latter usually results in the falling out, man for man, of the interferers with the men they stop. It is easy to see, how- ever, that so long as the attacking party cannot replace the men whom the inter- ferers tumble over, the result is almost identical, for the runner finally reaches his end, even though the last interferer go down with the last of the attacking party. Again, even the swift -moving compact interference is apt to lose one or more men on the way to the end, and there is a great deal of labor in- volved in teaching them to close the ranks in time to prevent the next oppo- nent from taking advantage of it. Up to very recently the men who went into the interference were drawn from that side of the centre only upon which the play was to be executed ; but the INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. I91 possibility of getting the other guard over to assist has already been demon- strated, and this will be even more com- mon in future. Some captains believe in giving each one of their interferers a certain man to take, and it is by far the simplest way to try the play. But it does not follow that it is the best way, and the more recent developments have already consigned this practice to the category of ** has-beens " in the football world. It is impossible to give any cap- tain definite advice as to the relative time and speed to set his interferers, be- cause it all hinges upon the individuals involved ; but he must bear in mind one fact, and that is that the interfering mass should increase its speed progressively as it goes towards the end, just as the best runner always puts on steam as he nears the point he is to try to compass. One other question which sometimes 192 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. arises can only be answered by experi- ment. It is, How close should the inter- ference be to the runner ? It depends not upon the opponents, but upon the individual desire of the runner, and he ought to be the sole judge. Close in- terference completely upsets and slows some excellent halves, whereas there are men who want to have the interferers literally against them as they run. As to the men who can get into the interference, it is a cardinal point that every available man should be drawn over if the time admits, but as a rule the opposite guard is about the farthest to which it can be carried behind the line. The opposite tackle can get through and take a half-back, as such a player as Newell demonstrated. The order then is two guards, a tackle, and an end, thus giving four men ; then, a lively quarter, like Dean, King, and perhaps one or two INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 1 93 others, has been able to do effective work in preceding the runner. That gives a hne of five. Then the extra half and back, who are, however, used more fre- quently in tandem style, are added to the combination, giving a total of seven men. Lewis and Balliet are examples of centre men who can and sometimes do succeed in making their number eight, and any team that can crowd eight men into the interference may consider them- selves as coming close up to the limit if the play is to be made fast. For all this, the development of the game is such that no one can with safety set any limit to t*he number engaged in an interference play of the future with- out giving the entire eleven. THE WEDGE The wedge, a play which at first was only used at kick-off and kick-out, 13 194 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. then a little later upon fair catches, soon became sufficiently attractive, and so eminently successful as to suggest that a modification of it could be made available upon the occasion of ordinary downs. It is quite within the range of possibility to say that one Harvard- Yale match was, in its final result, de- termined by the advantages possessed by the Yale teani of the use of what were then dubbed '' small wedges on downs.'* The touch-down which de- cided the match was obtained by two or three of these small wedges supple- mented by a similar formation, from the side of which a player emerged and crossed the line. Wesleyan in that same year, and a short time after this match between Harvard and Yale, met Pennsylvania, and surprised every one by defeating the Philadelphians by a succession of these small wedges. INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 195 Since that, time football captains have been devoting more and more at- tention to this mass work, until now (1893) it bids fair to monopolize too much of the play. Naturally, this means that the wedge or mass play is successful in gaining ground, for no captain uses a play in order to produce an effect upon the spectator. He uses it to gain distance, and the play which can most repeatedly add in three downs five or more yards to his coveted prog- ress, is the play he will bring to the highest pitch of perfection. If one will bear in mind the features of the ordinary wedge at kick-off, such as described in a previous chapter of this book, he will readily grasp the principle of the smaller wedges on downs. It is to bring a group of men, behind whom is the runner, into con- tact with such part of the enemy's line 196 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. as shall be most easily reached and broken through. This group of men must partake in their formation of the nature of a V; that is, there must be concentrated pressure, and in a pre- arranged direction, to insure the suc- cess of the play. The chief difificulty in perfecting wedge work on downs lies in the too great proximity of the opponents. At kick-off, kick-out, and fair catches, it is possible to take sufficient distance not only to perfect the formation, but also to secure momentum before the oppos- ing line is met. There is, therefore, more of the ^' smashing '* character in these wedges where the lines are sepa- rated than there can ever be in wedges formed on downs. This the captain or coach should bear constantly in mind in his planning, or his wedges on downs will never be markedly sue- INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 197 cessful. Such wedges depend for their value upon very close formation, and, as it were, a cumulative pressure. The first start of the wedge is more a clos- ing-up than anything else, then comes a very rapidly increasing pressure from behind that lifts the opponents back and crowds ahead for a few yards. A wedge on a down ought never to make over a few yards, although certain outlets for the runner may result in an eventual gain of quite a distance. There are several types of these wedg- es, the most common being the straight wedge, which forces the centre or guards, and what is called the revolving wedge, which, turning upon itself, may and sometimes does succeed in rolling past the obstructing forces. In all the methods it is customary to snap the ball to the quarter, he being very close up to his centre man and the wedge 198 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. being packed in tightly around him be^ fore the ball is played ; he then hands it to the runner, who stands within the wedge, and the mass moves in the determined direction, either directly ahead or deflecting to one side or the other. This latter method is the prop- er one for revolving wedges, and is far more successful than the crude attempts where the players themselves endeavor by turning around like tops to impart a revolving motion to the mass itself. Almost all these wedges depend, un- fortunately, upon the use of hands and arms to hold them together, and there is a question as to how far this should be allowed by the umpire. As a mat- ter of fact, so lenient has been the ac- cepted ruling that it is doubtful if the opinion of football-players would at this day support an umpire who ruled strictly that such interference was ille- INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 199 gal, if it prevented the opponents from breaking into the wedge. At a time when it seemed to be the fad of every one who talked, wrote, or played football to reiterate the state- ment that legislation must in some way demolish the wedge, it seemed only fair that the other side of the question should be heard, and, particularly, that any legislation should be neither hasty nor ill-considered. I am one of those quite ready to admit that the further development of wedge and mass plays would be detrimental to the interests of both player and spectator. I stated this in a New York journal previous to the final games of the season of 1892, and put myself thoroughly upon record to that effect. For this reason I feel that I can propose something in the nature of a suggestion, showing what appears to be a safe experiment to try 200 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. w before resorting to the knife and excis- ing the wedge altogether. Let me first call the attention of all interested in football legislation to the fact that it has always been impossible to predict exactly the result of any alteration in the existing rules as affecting the char- acter of the play, so that all one can do at best is to hazard guesses. *' Bar out the wedge/* says one ; *' Curtail it," says another ; while ** Limit its use,** says a third. But the first thing to do in each of these cases must be to define the wedge, in order to legislate against it ; and while we all know what is meant by *^ the wedge '* and *^ wedge plays,*' it would be more than the best of us could do to at once give a defini- tion of such a nature as to preclude the evasion of a rule to bar out, limit, or curtail the use of the wedge. Were we to say that a certain number of men INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 201 when massed together constituted a wedge, what number would we select ? and how should we consider a number of men starting from different points, and not massing until the runner and his interferer had struck the line ? There are great possibilities in this line still undeveloped. Still others have suggested that the problem might be solved by a ruling forbidding the men to hold on to one another in the wedge formation. But here, again, it would be practically im- possible for the umpire to decide, be- cause the men in mass plays are so quickly in the midst of the opposing players that the law would prove a dead letter as far as strict ruling was concerned, and only render the um- pire's lot a still more disagreeable one. A suggestion has been made that the wedge be permitted only inside the 202 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. twenty-five-yard lines, or only outside the twenty-five-yard lines, thus limiting the use of it, and making the play more open. The objection stated above re- garding defining the wedge is the chief obstacle to this. But there is one objection to any legislation of this nature, and it is an objection in sustaining which I know that I may count upon the support of every devoted lover of the game. It is this, that legislation ought not to usurp the captain*s rights in designating what plays he is to use so far as the placing of his men is concerned. We should give him all the chance we can for the exercise of his judgment in this respect, for it is one of the chief charms of the game. It is the result that we should ask of him rather than the means. The plan I would propose has the merit of following close upon the heels INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 203 and after the fashion of a rule which has done more to make the game satis- factory to American colleges than all the rest of the legislation combined. I refer to the five-yard rule. As we now provide against the block game (which was to the spectator of the nature of the present wedge) by saying that in three consecutive at- tempts the ball must be advanced five or taken back twenty yards, so we can, by following out a similar line, pro- vide, I believe, for the lessening of the wedge plays, and the introduction of many very pleasing long passes and combination plays. The rule might be combined with the five-yard rule, and provide that in perhaps two downs or fairs, if the ball be not advanced ten yards, it must traverse a space of twen- ty yards across the field whether in the hands of a player or not. When a gentleman in San Francisco first men- 204 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. tioned a similar proposition to me I was inclined to hesitate about advocat- ing it, but the more I have turned it over in my mind the more feasible it seems. In the first place, it will ma- terially lessen one of the ^' grown-too- great " features of our present style of play. Possession of the ball has be- come abnormally desirable. It has been demonstrated that a strong team, even against skilled opponents, can carry the ball from kick-off to touch-down without giving the opponents an op- portunity of exhibiting any offence; and to be scored upon before having a chance at the ball discourages any team too much at the outset. Pos- session of the ball ought to be valua- ble, but not to such an extent, and the rule above suggested would insure the more frequent exchange of possession. Then, again, it would probably stim- ulate kicking, and especially long pass- INTERFERENCE AND WEDGE PLAY. 205 es towards the ends as well as end running, and these are the features which please not alone the ordinary spectator, but every football-player who watches the great games. Finally, and best of all, such a legis- lation avoids any arbitrary assumption that the wedge is bad or unskilful or dependent upon brute force, avoids placing the umpire in a position which no man could possibly fill with satis- faction to himself, permits the captain to select his own method of play, and only provides for the results that he must accomplish. The wedge play will continue to be used, but to a more limited extent, and with a probably greater distance of movement before meeting the line. The wedge play is not a mere weight play. It is a play that, w^hen well de- signed and skilfully executed, has be- hind it weeks of planning and study. 206 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. The University of Pennsylvania's wedg- es were models of skill. The Harvard flying wedge was a piece of clever headwork. The wedges which drove Butterworth through any line that op- posed Yale were not mere push-plays. The wedge has a right to stay, and ought to be given a chance. But the wedge has a way of tying up the play to a too limited space; it has a way of exhausting and using up men who face it too many times in succession. Those outside the lines can seldom see its plan of action; they can only see the mass, and it loses its interest when worked too often. It ought to be a possible play, but not all the play, and legislation which will induce the cap- tain for the interest of his team to use other plays as well is the legislation that will be productive of the best re- sults in the end. APPENDIX TEAM PLAY. If ever a sport offered inducements to the man of executive ability, to the man who can plan, foresee, and manage, it is certain- ly the modern American football. Already in the few years during which the game has been played in this country the fact has been time and again demonstrated that a team composed of the very pick of individ- ual players has no chance whatever against the systematic methods of even the ordina- rily well-drilled team, whose members are by no means equal in attainments or physique to the picked team, but who have played together for months, and whose force can be concentrated on the word at any desired point. Team play is the road to victory, and the only one in these days of football, when 14 210 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. captains and coaches spend far more time and thought over the conduct of the cam- paign than over individual work. Not only is the general dependence of one man upon another brought out and made a feature of the work, but the general movement of the struggle, the point of pressure, and the lines of resistance — all are become an interesting study for those who mean to win. Unfortunately the fact that, when the sea- son commences, probably half the men on a team are new militates very strongly against any early attempts at general team-work, but with patience the rudimentary knowl- edge is drilled into the new recruits, and after a few weeks the coach can begin to teach them uniformity of action as a whole. Of the plays most commonly practised by teams of the present day, there are perhaps a score which one can note as regulation plays, and a brief description of certain of these will aid captains and coaches who have new teams to break in. TEAM PLAY. 211 THE WEDGE, OR V* The wedge, or V, is the play used to open a game by probably nine tenths of the teams. This takes its name from the peculiar ar- rangement of the players during the attempt to advance. The formation is that of a huge V-shaped mass of men, with the runner in- side this V. The point is directed towards the enemy's line, and the endeavor is to force an opening through which the runner may emerge, and continue on even after the wedge of protecting men is brought to a standstill. The first point in this play is an actual advance of the entire body by main force of weight and pushing as far as possi- ble, keeping the formation unbroken, so that the runner with the ball may not be stopped- This usually means an advance of ten or twenty yards at least. Then there is the ad- ditional chance of so separating the oppo- nents as to allow the runner to come out at the peak or through the side suddenly and 212 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. unexpectedly while the opponents are in- volved in the mass, and by this unexpected emergence add to the gain made by the wedge an ofttimes unimpeded and consid- erable run of his own. Some coaches in- struct the runner to use his own discretion about selecting his opening ; others have a definite understanding as to where he is to emerge, the two men between whom he goes making the opening at the time when they find the wedge stopping. The latter method is far preferable in a well-drilled team whose men are not wofully overmatched by their opponents in respect to size and strength. A team should practise variations of this play in order that the runner may have the advantage of surprising the opponents by not coming out at always the same point. Several modifications of the wedge play have been practised with more or less suc- cess by different teams. One of the most clever was a one-sided V play in which the men started off sharply, making a long diag- TEAM PLAY. 213 onal line of men running across and up the field, while the man with the ball ran just behind them, and managed to make the dis- tance which this line could cut off from the field. The wedge and its principles are, of course, chiefly applicable when the oppo- nents are restrained from advancing, as in kick-off, kick-out, and fair catches, although the same formation upon a smaller scale is already coming to be practised in the case of ordinary downs. HOW TO MEET A WEDGE. Many are the ways in which opponents try to meet and defeat the ends of this wedge play. The most simple, and the one which has commended itself most generally, is that of lying down before it. It is not deeply scientific, and is sometimes rather trying to those who perform the duty ; but it is effective to a degree, and, when there are no other means which seem to check the 214 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. advance, is not to be scorned. The men in the front ot the wedge fall over the prostrate antagonists, and the advance comes to a stop suddenly and surely. But there is an objection in the case of a cleverly manipu- lated wedge when the runner is helped out at the side, and the men who are down in front cannot rise to be of any assistance in stopping him. Of course there are others upon whom this duty should devolve ; but rapid and judicious interference at the prop- er moment may take these out of the way, and the gain made be far greater than by a direct forcing at the peak of the wedge. Other methods of opposition are : breaking in the peak by main strength; sending a man over the heads of the leaders ; and, finally, and more scientific when skilfully performed, holding the peak and turning the pressure off, so that the wedge goes across the field instead of straight ahead. TEAM PLAY. 215 A SECOND PLAY. When the game has been started, and the wedge play executed, almost the next ma- noeuvre will be a punt, say by a half-back or back. The team play upon this is to secure the ground gained by the kick. This is only possible by the coincidence of several events — a well-directed kick, strong and rapid fol- lowing up, aided by slow or careless play by the opponents. But in every case the at- tempt must be made, and the forwards, par- ticularly the ends, or, if they be badly im- peded, the tackles, must go down the field hard, upon the chance of getting the ball or forcing a down, rather than a return kick or a scratch. Here good judgment plays a most important part. First, in the kicker. If he can select the most difficult point for the half or back of his opponents to reach, and there place the ball, he gives his own men a fair chance to make good his kick. If he send the ball too high, his opponents 2l6 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. will surely be able to reach the spot and secure a fair catch. If he send it too low, his own men have no time to get down the field, and the opponents will surely return the kick — probably on the run, and with in- terest. A happy medium between the two is what he must try for, and it is only long practice which will enable him to hit upon this happy medium. FORWARD PLAY UNDER A KICK. Then, too, the judgment of his forwards often makes the difference between success and failure in this play. It must be remem- bered that the forwards cannot start off madly down the field as soon as the ball is snapped. If they could there would be no difficulty about their being on hand when the ball came. But each has to block his man first, in order that the kicker may not be stopped by a man getting through upon him while in the very act of kicking the ball. The usual fault of green forwards is to block TEAM I>LAY. 217 too long, and hence to be late in getting after the kick. The fault of the older men is apt to be the opposite one of taking too great chances for the sake of an early start. Then there is also a way of telling where the ball is going to fall by the movement and faces of the opponents, rather than by stop- ping to look over one's own head to actually see the ball itself. Veteran forwards seldom have to see the ball as they go down the field. They can judge exactly from the op- ponents where to go. This knack of reading at a glance the probable dropping-point of the kick is ac- quired by nearly all men who play long in the forward line, and it makes a wonderful difference in the quickness with which they can follow up a kick. But there is one other point often — too often — neglected in the practice, and hence of no manner of use in a game. I refer to an understanding be- tween the forwards and the kicker as to where he intends driving the ball ; also as 2l8 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. to whether he will send a high kick or a low one ; still further, and most important of all, whether he will kick into touch or not. KICKING INTO TOUCH. One play by no means unpopular last sea- son was that of deliberately kicking into touch on the third down and making a try at recovering the ball. Of course the suc- cess of the play depended largely upon whether the opponents were taken by sur- prise or not ; but even when they suspected such a stratagem there was still some chance of success, because they could not place a man over in touch without greatly weakening their defence, and giving a fair opportunity of driving the ball between them in the field of play. When this kick- ing into long touch upon a third down is attempted, the forwards are always apprised of it. But there is almost as much reason for advising them of the probable destina- tion of the ball in other kicks as well, and TEAM PLAY. 2I9 before many more seasons the crack teams will have signals that shall convey this needed information to the forwards. The reason this development has not come ear- lier is that the punting of Americans is not up to the standard of the rest of their play. Most strikingly is this true of the accuracy of their punts. When, therefore, a kicker does not know himself where he is going to send the ball, there is no great demand for a signal which would only mean that he might possibly send the ball in a certain di- rection, but the chances were about even of its going elsewhere. As soon as American teams have half-backs or backs competent to place the ball when they punt it with some fair measure of accuracy, we shall find them signalling the direction of each kick to their forwards. Then will the opposition that may now be advanced against this play with quite a preponderance of success be- come far more difficult. 220 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. DEFEATING A KICK. At present the team play to defeat the ob- ject of a kick consists of sending one or two extra men up into the forward line — one of them the quarter and the other a half if deemed safe — and then attacking the kick- ing side at any of the points along which the ball travels in its course ; that is, en- deavoring to secure the ball while it is being snapped to the quarter, while the quarter is passing it to a half, while the half is catch- ing it, while he is kicking it, and, finally, just as it starts on its course, before it passes above the uplifted hands. All this in the direction of stopping the kick. Next, as to neutralizing its effect ; and here, per- haps, is the less clearly understood portion of the play. When the ball has passed safely from the foot of the kicker over the heads of the attacking forwards, only the smallest portion of the gain has been effect- ed, and it is possible to entirely neutralize TEAM PLAY. 221 the play if the action is quick and united. First, the men who are following up the kick must be stopped or retarded ; and, next, the man who is about to receive the ball must be protected. But the style of kick must determine which of these two elements is of the greater importance. For instance, if the kick be a high one, and one that do^s not carry the ball very far down the field, no amount of interference — legitimate interfer- ence — can prevent some of the forwards reaching the spot where the ball will fall some time before it comes down. And, again, on a low long kick going directly at the full back, a very slight amount of inter- ference will allow him plenty of time to take the ball and return it, and he may need no protection whatever beyond what that of early interference will give to him. And the final point is, of course, the quickness, cool- ness, and skill of the man who must receive and return the kick either from a fair catch or on the run. As a rule, unless for a 222 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. chance at goal or a particularly placed kick, the return on the run is the preferred meth- od, because then the forwards are up under the kick, where they, in their turn, may take advantage of the fumbling of an adversary. Then, too, it gives the enemy the larger share of the running to do. A fair catch recalls the forwards to " on side," and gives the opponents a chance to rearrange their scattered men, as well as a clear field in which to catch and return. BUCKING THE LINE. The simplest form of team play in *' a run '* is that wherein a half-back attempts to make his way through the line at some given point. Let us take, for the sake of an example, a run between guard and tackle. The princi- pal feature of this play, and yet the one most regularly neglected, is to get the run- ner up into the line in good form and with the ball well held. Three out of every five failures of this play come from a cause op- TEAM PLAY. 223 erating before the runner strikes the line. The ball may be badly passed to him, he may be too slow in starting, he may fumble the ball when it comes, or he may hesitate or even drop the ball just before he reaches the line. Any one of these mistakes may serve to bring a man upon his back before he takes his plunge. But there are faults which are not to be attributed to the runner, yet just as fatal to his success, although they are the work, or rather lack of work, of others. Any man along the line may let his opponent through, and that opponent be able to reach the runner from behind before he can make his opening. The likeliest places for this to happen are on the opposite side at tackle, and sometimes, in the case of an extra man, like a quarter, near the centre. The first lesson for the coach, then, to teach his pu- pils regarding this play is the absolute ne- cessity of blocking sharply until the run- ner can start. It is not necessary to hold a man until the runner has gone through ; it is 2 24 AMERICAN. FOOTBALL. only necessary to block long enough to be sure that the man let through will be too late to reach the runner. As to the men who are engaged in making the opening, they must be unanimous in their action. If the guard pushes his man out of the way a min- ute before the tackle disposes of his man, the runner will never be able to get through safely. The two men must act at the same instant, and merely force their men apart, rather than attempt, as some forwards do, to carry the opponent ten yards or so out of the way. The most successful opening is not the large one, but the small, sharply de- fined one that just lets the runner through, and lets nobody through behind him. From this, one must see that the calculation of the proper time to make the opening is rather a delicate matter. That it certainly is ; for, made too early, it is sure to become choked before the runner reaches it ; and made too late, it delays him so that he is caught from behind. It ought to come just as his foot- TEAM PLAY. 225 steps bring him up to it. In fact, it has not been badly described as appearing to be made by a " cow-catcher " preceding him by a few feet. THE TANDEM PLAY. This idea has been carried into execution by making an accompanying half act as a ^' cow-catcher," preceding the runner through the opening to clear the way, and in many cases to be tackled by mistake for the hold- er of the ball, who is thus enabled to make on a few steps farther. This play, with its general application to runs made through the rush line, has been known as the " tan- dem play,'' and is often diversified by hav- ing a third man still take part in it by join- ing his comrade in preceding the runner, or else by following after the runner, and giv- ing him a much-needed push when he seems likely to come to a standstill. The chief caution to give the assistants in this tandem play is that if they precede the runner, they IS 2 26 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. must not under any circumstances fall down or allow themselves to be thrown to the ground. If a leader find himself losing his balance, and realizes that he cannot regain his feet, but must tumble, his last attempt must be to throw himself — and, if possible, an opponent — clear of the path he knows his runner is likely to need. SPOILING A RUN. And this indicates what the opposition is that should be advanced to meet this play. As in the case of a kick, every attempt should be made to spoil the quarter's pass, to prevent the half from receiving the ball safely, and, finally, to overtake him before he reaches, or just as he has entered, his open- ing. In order to make this last attempt more successful, there should be a general understanding among those near the play that they must "choke up the opening'' at all hazards, by getting into it themselves or by throwing an opponent there. It is TEAM PLAY. 227 well to remember that if, by mistake, a man tackles the one who hasn't the ball, he has still done good service if, by so doing, he has blocked the way of the runner ; whereas if he tackle the man in this way, and throw him to one side instead of into the opening, he has aided the runner. After the runner has gone through the line, and is making his way down the field, every rusher should feel it his duty to follow him, no matter how hopeless the chase may at the moment appear to be. There is always a chance of overtaking the runner, even if he have no one to pass ; and in this case he will probably have to go by two men at least, one half and the back. Here is also a point which the coach should thoroughly instil into the minds of his halves and back, and that is the advisability of going forward to meet the runner rather than waiting for him to come. There are two reasons for this act, both of them sound ones. In the first place, if the tackle prove successful, the gain made 2 28 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. by the run will be shortened by just the amount that the tackier advanced ; and, sec- ondly, if it prove unsuccessful, it neverthe- less increases the opportunities for still over- taking the runner, both by upsetting his cal- culations in regard to his direction, and by giving him less time to think how he shall make his turn. END RUN. The next distinctive team play of impor- tance is an end run. Usually one of the half-backs is the man selected for the great- er part of this work, and in the execution of it clever interference reaches its height. Not that the interference itself is more difficult in this play than in any other, but that the massing of men at the point of attack is more long-continued, and hence must be planned not as a single instant of combined pressure, but as several minutes of running interference. When well performed, it looks like the swinging of a long line of men against TEAM PLAY. 229 the flank of the opponents, as one might swing a line of boys in "snap the whip," and one, the runner, goes spinning off around the end just as the Hues seem to meet. AH this is in appearance only, for to accomplish the play successfully several men must be checked or interfered with as the runner makes his way out to the end ; and just as he reaches that point, and puts on his burst of speed, there must be a clever shutting-off of the outermost man. Such work cannot be learned in a day. It requires the steady practice together of the same men for weeks before the precision of movement can be at- tained. All teams do not carry out the end play in exactly the same manner, and it is by no means certain that any particular method may be selected and called the best of them all. But whatever the method is, it must be practised faithfully, its weaknesses patched up, and its movement regulated, if it is to prove a success when the important time of trial comes ; that is, in actual contest with a strange and strong team. 230 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. EXECUTION OF AN END RUN. The description of a single method will suffice to show the chief points of the play, and will indicate the lines upon which it should be built. Let us suppose that the coach chooses to send the left half-back around the right end. Even the most ig- norant of football novices will appreciate the fact that such a play is mere madness if the ball is well over on the right side of the field, for then the runner would only be going straight into the very thickest of the crowd, and with clear space ahead only after he should have gone outside the touch line. The first thing to be done, then, is to select an opportunity or make one when the ball shall be well over upon the left side of the field. Then give the signal for this play, and let the left half-back, as soon as the ball is snapped, start towards the right, receiving the ball, and then running directly across the field ten yards or less behind the line of for- TEAM PLAY. - 23 1 wards. At the same moment the right half- back and back make off in a similar direc- tion, but, from the advantage of their posi- tion, preceding the runner by a few yards. The quarter, too, immediately after passing the ball, runs to the right, very much nearer the forward line, however, than any of the other three, and in such a way as to jostle off any man who may have succeeded in get- ting through the line of rushers. The guard, tackle, and end on the right are meantime blocking their men as well as they can ; and it is easy to understand that, as soon as these men see the direction of the runner, they will endeavor to get over to the right end as rap- idly as their encumbered position will allow. The result is that the entire side of the line moves in that direction ; but as each oppo- nent is impeded to a greater or less degree by the man who is blocking him, the runner and his two preceding comrades are making much better time towards the desired gap that intervenes between the end of the rush 232 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. line and the edge of the field. When the runner finds himself approaching a point a few yards inside the opposing end, he puts on his highest speed, and tries to circle the end of the line. At the same moment his two comrades have reached that end, and, by interfering, crowd into the field any op- ponent who has succeeded in reaching a dangerous proximity to the side line. As the runner goes past the extreme end, the combined force of his half and back with the end and tackle, and perhaps a quarter as well, compresses the line of straggling op- ponents into a kind of cramped semicircle, outside of which the runner has a fairly good chance of a long run. There is no reason why the players mentioned in this descrip- tion should be the only ones who can be used in this end run. In fact, a clever fast guard can block his man, and then get out to the end in time to be of service. So, too, can an opposite tackle, or even an end. The principal element is not the number of men TEAM PLAY. 233 who are engaged, but the proper timing of their interference to so tangle up the op- posing Une, as the runner makes for the end, that, when he makes his spurt, he shall have a fair chance, by the use of his highest speed, to pass the narrow gap without being tackled or forced into touch. MEETING AN END RUN. The opposition to this end run is based upon two things — one, the activity of the general line in breaking through and reach- ing the runner; the other, the cleverness of the end in avoiding the interferers and guarding the edge of the field. It would seem perfectly simple for a coach to instruct an end to stand at his post, close to the touch line, and thus block up the gap ; but if that be performed too literally, the runner turns earlier and comes inside the end, making his run just as effective as though he passed out- side. Green men on the end err, as a rule, far oftener on the side of coming in too far 234 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. or too soon than they do in sticking too closely to the touch line ; so that in coaching green men it is better to keep them for some time under the strictest orders to make the runner go on the inside. Later, when they have mastered the idea that there is nothing to help them on the outside except a slender touch line, they can be gradually permitted to exercise a little judgment on their own account in the matter of leaving the side line in case of emergency. The truth of the mat- ter is that so much depends upon thorough co-operation between an end and his own tackle, that the two should be law each to the other. No other method of play, such as laying down a hard and fast rule as to when an end may try for a man, can ever meet with the success that can be brought about by a thorough understanding and play- ing in pairs of these two positions. ADAPTATION OF THE FOUR PLAYS. These plays — the wedge, the kick, the run TEAM PLAY. 235 through the line, and the run around the end — make a framework upon which a coach may build up an almost endless variety of movements ; and if he follow the points laid down for the successful execution of these, he will find that they act as guides to almost any manoeuvre he may wish to attempt. For example, the principle of the wedge may be adapted to almost any forcing e7i masse, no matter at what point it may be di- rected. Similarly, the blocking for a punt is not very unlike that to be adopted when a drop-kick is attempted. All running by half-backs through the line takes on the character of either the run between guard and tackle or that around the end, while the assistance rendered by interferers is usually either that shown in the tandem play or that illustrated in the end run. TEAM TACTICS. But there is still another branch to be dis- cussed, which might be classed under the 236 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. head of team tactics rather than that of team play. That branch is the study of transfer- ring the play from point to point, and the adaptation of the various methods to the end immediately desired. One can readily see that a team might be proficient in all the plays described, and be composed of good material, and yet, by a failure to use the play at the proper time, make a most pitiable showing. To take an extreme case, a team might be directly under the opponent's goal and within a few yards of the goal line, with the ball at first down, and, instead of forcing the ball over or trying a drop, might let a half or back punt the ball over the line, and thus give the opponents a touch back and the privilege of bringing the ball out to the twenty- five -yard line. Or, again, a team might have a strong wind at their backs, and the ball be down in their own goal at the third down. Instead of driving a long punt down the field, they might send a run- ner ploughing up into the line, and, making TEAM PLAY. 237 no gain, be obliged to surrender the ball to their opponents. Such generalship, while it seems, when studied in cold blood, ab- solutely idiotic, is in minor ways regularly exhibited a dozen times in a game by cap- tains who ought to know better. USING THE WIND. The study of the best methods of taking advantage of the wind is one of the most important, and will reward the captain and coach fully as much as the same amount of thought expended upon any other feature of the game. The majority are contented with the mere knowledge that the side which has the wind should do the most kicking, but in reality such a statement of the case is whol- ly inadequate. When the wind is blowing straight down the field, its value as a factor in the kicking game is something which spec- tators scarcely realize, and even the players themselves hardly reckon at its full account until they are compelled to face it. But, for 238 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. all this, one must not conclude that the thing to do is to punt the ball as far down the field as possible every time the opportunity offers. Especially is such a policy a poor one when the ball is near enough to the opponents' goal to make the kick send it past the goal line. A drop kick under such circumstances is sometimes, though not always, indicated. The true way to make use of the wind under these conditions depends oftentimes upon the stage of the game at the moment. If the runners on the team are fresh and strong, and from their earlier attempts have shown that they can repeatedly succeed in making their five yards, it is frequently advisable when within the twenty-five-yard line to play for a touch-down. But, on the other hand, if there be only a few minutes of playing time left, and five points will turn a defeat into victory, the drop kick may be strongly called for. TEAM PLAY. 239 KICKING INTO TOUCH NEAR GOAL LINE. But chiefest of all, in a game where the sides are fairly well matched and the game in its early stages, is the kick into touch near the corner. American players seem as yet to have gained no great knowledge of the immense value of this kicking into touch. An English back will seldom kick anywhere else than into touch, while our players do not even realize the value of such a kick in the most marked cases. When the ball is still far from the goal, and yet so within the enemy's territory as with the wind to make it likely that a strong kick will send it to the goal line, the play should always be to kick into touch as well down towards the corner as possible. Such a play puts the opponents upon the defensive, and that, too, in a most unpleasant manner, for it brings them up against their own goal with a course and two alternatives from which to choose. They must, by wonderful run- 240 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ning, gain their five yards more than once, or be forced to kick directly before their own goal, or finally make a safety touch- down. If they make a safety, it gives their enemies two points ; if they kick the ball, it gives their enemies a more than fair chance to catch the ball, heel it, and place kick a goal. If they try a run, it may turn into a safety. And it is by no means an encour- aging situation for a runner called upon to carry the ball out of such a predicament. The side which is forced is likely to be dis- couraged, while the attacking side is doubly confident and strong from their close prox- imity to the opponents' goal. WHEN AND WHERE TO KICK. But this is only a very simple case, and the reasons for the play are evident. There are many other occasions where there is more opportunity for discussion ; for instance, the question whether, when with the wind, it is always advisable to kick on the first down. TEAM PLAY. 241 One of the best rules to follow in this case is that a captain can safely send his men occasionally for a run on first downs, or even second dov/ns, so long as he only gives them enough work to keep them active, and not to tire them in the least. He should always remember that one of the chief ad- vantages to be gained from the wind is that of keeping his own runners fresh by kicking, while his opponents are obliged to exhaust their men by making their recovery of lost ground almost entirely by running. One rule when playing with the wind the captain is never justified in breaking, so long as he is not close to the opponents' goal, and that is to "get' in his kick.''' In other words, no matter if he has gained in his two attempts all but six inches ^of the five yards, he must take no chances of another run when the vnnd is with him, but kick. A point sometimes forgotten is that in im- portant matches the crowd are often so ar- ranged upon the stands as to shut off much 16 242 AMERICAN FOOTBALL, of the force of the wind in the lower strata of the air, and for this reason as well a kick with the wind should be a high kick. For the same reason^ the side which is facing the wind should always, when forced to kick, send the ball rather low, and as hard as possible. THE EFFECT OF THE CHANGES IN RULES. In no sport so much as football does a slight alteration in a rule effect such re- markable changes in the style of play. When, therefore, a number of essentially radical alterations are introduced and a general revision made, as has been done in 1894, there can be little doubt of our seeing some remarkable effects. Many of them will be agreeable to the spectator and probably to a considerable proportion of the players, although the older players are always conservative about any altera- tions in a rule. Perhaps, therefore, it is well at the outset of this chapter to state the reasons which led to this general re- vision. The tendency developed in the last three 244 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. or four years towards more closeness of play led to an over-reliance by the captains upon wedge and mass plays of all descrip- tions. This was only natural, because it was by means of these plays that posses- sion of the ball could be most advanta- geously continued. Except at opening plays, these methods were not productive of long gains or brilliant rujis, but par- took of a general hammering nature, yield- ing, however, enough to make the five yards in three downs. No one could afford to ignore the fact that in close, hard -fought games, and particularly in rainy weather, these were the safest tactics to adopt. But all this meant a general disregard of the kicking game and the sacrifice of long passes and brilliant methods to something which should be safer in the captain's eye. The interest of the spectator, and especial- ly the interest of the spectator who was fairly versed in the game, began to wane under these conditions, and there was a EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 245 great deal of dissatisfaction felt even with the play of 1892. When all these faults be- came still more exaggerated in 1893, there was a loud call for action of some kind; and by the time the season was ended players and the public were ready for, at any rate, the first steps towards the curtail- ment of the close play and a reintroduction of the more open kicking methods. The University Athletic Club, at the invitation of some of the leading colleges, appointed a committee of experts, who held meetings during the winter and spring, and in May proposed a set of rules which were accept- ed by the University Athletic Club, and adopted to govern the Harvard-Yale con- test, and later by the Intercollegiate Asso- ciation. So far for an explanation of the causes which led to the general revision. The ef- fect upon the play no one can be sure of. The wedge and mass plays will undoubted- ly still be continued, though not to so great 246 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. an extent ; and the kicking will surely not be, as a great many have supposed, the general feature of the contest in the future. It will take more severe legislation to bring such a change as that about. The game will, however, open with a kick, and very likely, when there is much wind, with two kicks — that is, the winner of the toss, hav- ing his choice of goal or kick-off, will probably take goal, and the opponents will, therefore, have the kick-off. The new rules provide that this kick-off must be an actual kick into the opponent's territory of, at least, ten yards, so that it is probable that we shall see the old-fashioned start once more. But the side receiving the ball, having the wind with them, will be inclined to take an early opportunity of returning the kick, so that, as stated above, we shall probably see two kicks early in the game. The running play may even be deferred until the ball has been thus kicked and returned, and the opening play, by the EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 247 holder's flying wedge or an attempt made to hold the ball through a succession of downs until a touch-down is secured, will be done away with. The final difference, however, will not be very great, because after the return kick the side playing against the wind will then naturally en- deavor to play a running game and hold the ball as long as possible. To sum up the first few minutes of the game, therefore, it is not unlikely that we shall see the side which started off in possession of the ball beginning their running game, instead of at the middle of the field, some ten or fifteen yards back of that centre, dependent, of course, upon the force of the wind, and be- ginning with a down instead of with the fly- ing wedge. Having gone thus far into the game, the effect of the more stringent rule against fouls will be of interest Instead of five yards, the penalty has been increased to ten yards for fouls and violation of the 248 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. rules, unless the offending side has the ball, in which case the penalty is the same as of old — that is, an immediate surrender of the ball to the opponents. This at once brings a new element into the game, because the penalty for a foul to the side holding the ball is no greater than it was a year ago, but the penalty inflicted upon the side acting on the defence is doubled. Just what the outcome of this will be is hard to say; but the first thought is that it will benefit the attack, and so, perhaps, make it easier to retain possession of the ball and make distance. It is certain that it will tend to make the captain drill his men to a very strict observation of the rules when on the defence. So far, then, we find that the captain and coach will have to educate their men for good place kicking ; and by " good " is meant not only long place kick- ing, but a development of accuracy as well, and an even more rapid following up of the play than ever before. Then the captain EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 249 must hold his men under the greatest re- straint, to prevent their getting off side during the scrimmage when the opponents have the ball. The next point we come to is that of the fair catch. Here a provision has been made that will give the catcher protection if he so desires it ; but it is hardly proba- ble that many of the men will take regular advantage of that protection — that is, in- stead of holding up the hand, and thus confining himself to a fair catch, the half- back or full-back will very probably not hold up his hand, but take the chance in a great many kicks of a run with the ball. Of course, when it is a high kick, or he is surrounded by his opponents, he will put up his hand and heel the ball ; but he is not likely to put up his hand until the last moment, and then only when there is no chance for a run. To tell the truth, the half-back and backs are really not so afraid of being thrown as they are of muffing the 250 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ball, for all the pity which has been be- stowed upon them in the past. Apropos of these offences, the third offi- cial or linesman will be of considerable as- sistance to the umpire and referee on fouls as well as on timing the game. He will probably confine his work mostly to the side lines, in keeping track of the downs and distance covered. This, as well as all his other conduct, is, however, under the advice of the umpire or the referee, and he is, therefore, by no manner of means as im- portant aji official as either of these. Fields will be kept clear by a rule which provides that only one man, and he presum- ably competent to take care of an injured player, shall go upon the field in case of an accident. When the ball goes into touch we shall see no more scrimmages on the side of the field as we have at times, for the player can- not bound it in and run with it, but he must either walk out and put it down in accord- 17 EFFECT OF CHANGES OF RULES. 25 T ance with the most common fashion, or touch it in and kick it. This latter play is seldom seen, and " fairs'' will probably re- solve themselves into what they have been practically for the last few years — namely, a down fifteen yards from the side line. The effect of limiting the time of the game to an hour and ten minutes will be to make the playing faster and even more dash- ing than formerly, for it will be the duty of the captains to get all the play possible out of their men in the two shortened halves. Moreover, no time being allowed to recover breath will keep the play going with such continuity that spectators will hardly be bored by the slowness of the progress. Perhaps the most important change in methods will appear when the ball goes in- side the twenty-five yard line of either goal. In the case where it is in the possession of the defenders of the goal, they will strive very hard to retain possession of it, or to surrender it to the other side at some point 252 A1VEERICAN FOOTBALL. outside of the twenty-five yard line. Where, on the other hand, it is in possession of the attacking side, if their running game is not working very well, they will likely enough resort at once to a drop kick, because by the new rule if that kick fails the opponents can bring the ball out only to the ten-yard line instead of the twenty -five -yard line. The fact is at once plain that this really means a kick out from behind one's own goal, and in addition to this it must be a kick, for the defenders of the side cannot run the ball out. This, like the rule increasing the distance for fouls, is hard on the defend- ing side, and will probably result in more scoring than formerly. The rule limiting mass-momentum plays is not sufficiently strong to curtail them very materially, but it will take off some of the extra weight which has been used in these plays in the past, and in that way will be of service. While ouly three men can get in motion before the ball is snapped, they will EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 253 be joined by others who stand still until the ball is actually put in play, so that while we shall not see six or seven men at ten or fifteen yards back starting in a mass and getting under full headway before the ball is snapped, we shall undoubtedly see three men doing this, and being joined by others upon their approaching the line. The or- dinary flying wedge at the opening play and on fair catches is, however, relegated to the background by the rule that the ball must be actually kicked, so that we shall see these momentum plays used only on downs. A general survey of the situation leads one to believe that the cardinal points of the play will remain very much the same ; that, in fact, the men who have thoroughly learned their positions in the past few years will be the best men for the new methods, because the new methods are only the cut- ting out of the exaggerated faults that have come in in the last two years. Coaches will find it necessary to have on their teams 254 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. not only runners but kickers, and the edu- cation of the rush line cannot be left merely to mass plays and pushing, but must con- sist of an intimate knowledge of the possi- bilities of a kicking game and the way to hold the ground gained by kicks as well as how to defend their own side. How to use the kick-off will be a very interesting prob- lem, as will also whether to make a fair catch or not. There certainly will be times when it will be more advantageous for a man not to make a fair catch than to make it, which seems very strange. Then, too, at what particular point to try a drop kick when inside the twenty - five - yard line is likely to make plenty of study. For the early practice and preliminary work in the game under these changed con- ditions a few suggestions may be service- able. While it will be quite practicable for a team desiring to do so to continue the run- ning game to the absolute exclusion of any EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 255 open playing, and while such a team, if well drilled and expert in their team work, will be almost as dangerous to face as ever, there has been enough of a premium placed upon kicking to make it unsafe for a team in the first class to ignore that feature. Al- most the first thing to do, then, is to provide that among the candidates for the team there may be enough kicking - halves and full - backs, to last through the season for both sides — ** the Varsity" and '' the scrub." Something of a kicking game should be practised daily, to the exclusion for a time of the running play — say for fifteen or twen- ty minutes. A team to play a really effec- tive kicking game must, in addition to hav- ing the punters able to place their kicks with accuracy, be equipped with a set of signals by means of which the forwards may know the direction and approximately the distance of the kick. Short kicks and putting the men on side will become again worthy of consideration. Kicking into touch 256 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. will assume more of the importance it holds in the English Rugby Union. Perhaps kick- ing by the quarter— such as was done years ago by Mason of Harvard, and last year practised by the University of Pennsylvania team — may once more be revived. All these plays can be used in combination with the running game, but to develop them up to the level of the play will mean hard work. Still another feature of the game entailed by this kicking method will be the greater necessity for pace among the forwards. How the heavy men of our present forward lines will stand the more rapid progress up and down the field that a very lively interchange of kicks, should they take place, might mean, is a grave question. But it will never do to lighten up the line very much so long as the oppo- nents have the right to send any crushing force of several interferers in front of the runner, for heavy men alone can stand the frequent meeting of such onslaughts. EFFECT OF CHANGES IN RULES. 257 It will be well for the captains and coach- ers to once again consider a more gener- al passing game — more of the short-pass- ing of the English player when tackled, as well as such doubles and long passes as Princeton showed the possibility of accom- plishing even under the rules of 1893. A short pass for a return kick when the back, catching the ball, is not yet tackled, but too hard pressed to get in his kick, is worth a reintroduction. For all this style of play, and one hopes its development will be considerable, life and activity are essential, and it is but fair to warn the over-zealous captains against working their men too hard. It will be even a more serious error "to take the edge off a team before its final effort under the new rules than under the old. Work enough to develop the skill, but not enough to take the heart out of the men, will be the only way to make a first-class team. The exaggerated features of summer train- 258 AMERICAN FOOTBALL. ing will, it is to be devoutly hoped, yield to a better sense in a few years, and instead of having men tired of the play before mid- season, we shall find them as eager as ever up to the very end. THE END, FOOTBALL FACTS AND FIGURES. Compiled by Walter Camp. Post 8vo, Ornamental Paper Covers. {Just Ready.) STATISTICS COLLECTED BV The Hon. JAMES W. ALEXANDER, of the Equi- table Life Assurance Company. The Rev. JOSEPH H. TWICHELL, of the Yale Corporation. The Hon. HENRY E. HOWLAND, of the New York Bar. WALTER CAMP. The Rev. ENDICOTT PEABODY, of Groton SchooL ROBERT BACON, of the Harvard Board of Overseers. This volume embodies the results of careful and painstaking inquiries as to the effects, physical and otherwise, of football, upon those taking part in the game. Information and statistics have been gathered from those best qualified to supply them— expert and celebrated players, members of the faculties of our colleges, etc.— and the work throws a flood of light upon a much-discussed subject. PUBLISHED BY HARPER & BROTHERS, New York il^** The above work is for sale hy all booksellers, or will be sent by the publishers, postage prepaid, to any part of the United States, Canada^ or Mexico, on re- ceipt of the price. BLAIKIE'S HOW TO GET STRONG. How to Get Strong, and How to Stay So. By William Blaikie. IUus' trated. i6mo, Cloth, $i oo. Mr. Blaikie has treated his theme in a practical common-sense way that appeals at once to the judgment and the understanding. A complete and healthful system of exercise is given for boys and girls ; instructions are set down for the development of every indi- vidual class of muscles, and there is sound advice for daily exercise for children, young men and women, business men and con- sumptives. There are instructions for home gymnastics, and an easy routine of practice laid out. — Saturday Evening Gazette^ Boston. Every word of it has been tested and con- firmed by the author^s own experience. It may be read with interest and profit by all. — Christian Instructor^ Chicago. A successful performance, everything in the line of gymnastic exercise receiving co- pious illustrations by pen and pencil. The author's aim is genuinely philanthropic, in the right sense of the word, and his work is a useful contribution to the cause of physical culture. — Christian Register^ Boston. Published by HAEPEE & BEOTHEES, NewTork. D^^ The above work will be sent by tnail. postage prepaid y io any part of the United States, Canada, or Mexico, on receipt of the price. BLAIKIE'S SOUND BODIES. Sound Bodies for our Boys and Girls. By William Blaikie. With Illus- trations. i6mo, Cloth, 40 cents. A manual of safe and simple exercises for developing the physical system. Mr. William Blaikie's new manual cannot fail to receive a warm welcome from parents and teachers, and should be introduced as a working text-book into thousands of schools throughout the country. — Boston Herald. A book which ought to be placed at the elbow of every school-teacher. — Springfield Union, The directions are so simple and sensible that they appeal to the reason of every par- ent and teacher. — Philadelphia Press. The influence of judicious exercise upon mind as well as body cannot be overesti- mated, and this will be a safe guide to this end, requiring no costume nor expensive apparatus. — Presbyterian^ Philadelphia. PubUshed by HAEPEE & BEOTHEES, NewTork. 5@p* The above work will he sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any Part of the United States^ Canada^ or Mexico ^ on receipt of the price. 't BOOKS FOR ANGLERS. Ply-Rods and Ply-Tackle. Suggestions as to their Manufacture and Use. By Henry P. Wells. Illustrated. Square 8vo, Cloth, $2 so. The book is one of great value, and will take its place as a standard authority, and we cannot com- mend it too highly. — Forest and Stream^ New York. An illustrated volume, elegantly presented, that will make all anglers jealous of possession until upon their shelf or centre-table. — Boston Commonwealth, Mr. Wells's competence to expound the somewhat intricate principles and delicate processes of fly-fish- ing will be plain to any reader who himself has some practical acquaintance with the art discussed. The value of the author's instructions and suggestions is signally enhanced by their minuteness and lucidity. — iV. F. Stm, The American Salmon-Pisherman. By Henry P. Wells. IlFd. Square 8vo, Cloth, %i oo. The success of Mr. Wells's ** Fly-Rods and Fly- Tackle " has made his name familiar to thousands of American anglers. " The American Salmon-Fisher- man," like the former work, is the fruit of the au- thor's long experience and practical knowledge of this subject. The text is illustrated throughout. — Boston Traveller. A practical, interesting guide to the sport of salm- on-fishing. The tyro will read it through profitably; the old hand will not be offended by it as too ele- mentary. The author is alert and companionable. — Atlantic Monthly^ Boston. Published by HAEPEE & BEOTHEES, NewYork. m^^ Either of the above works will he sent by mail, postage prepaid, to any pjp-t of tke^ynite^gn&iates, Canada, or Mex- ico, on reciipl ofmfpAceS^, ... ? ' »» T09 4 ■0 o] J "^ ^ ^ . >- ^ ^ '^' ..s^- A^ <.vi A' -^ ^-^ ^^ "^.l.'^' \#' aV . '^ ^. , >^Y%. ^ xO M^'. ^ #' ^^> .^^ \' Jj .k A \ >^ .«3r;.c ^ ^^ % x^" ' /• C' ,xv -p.. H% ^^ H^ ■ \:>'^* LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 029 708 298 A ii:-" .il-M • c,:; t\! ■■;;:■ "?^i ;(v^^ \iM }^'C ''■'■'■ ^'^ ;-!;■'. ii^;fi r^-y :iS ^ ? /s