methods and personal interests to promote the general well-being
of the side. (C. W. A.; F. J. W.)
The literature of British football is very extensive, but the following works are among the best: Football in the “Badminton Library” (London, 1904), where the different games played at Eton, Harrow, Rugby, Winchester and other public schools are thoroughly described; Rev. F. Marshall, Football; the Rugby Game (London, Cassells); J. E. Vincent, Football; its History for Five Centuries (London, 1885); C. J. B. Marriott and C. W. Alcock, Football (“Oval Series”); “Football,” in the Encyclopaedia of Sport; The Rugby Football Union Handbook, Richardson, Greenwich, Official Annual; and The Football Annual, Merritt and Hatcher (Association Game), London.
United States.—In America the game of football has been elaborated far more than elsewhere, and involves more complications than in England. From colonial times until 1871 a kind of football generally resembling the English Association game was played on the village greens and by the students of colleges and academies. There was no running with the ball, but dribbling, called “babying,” was common. In 1871 a code of rules was drawn up, but they were unsatisfactory and not invariably observed. “Batting the ball,” i.e. striking the ball forward with the fists, was allowed. There were two backs, sixteen rushers or forwards, and two rovers or “peanutters,” who lurked near the opponents’ goal. During this period the first international football game was played at Yale between the college team and one made up of old Etonians, the rules being a compromise between the American and the English.
English Rugby, introduced from Canada, was first played at Harvard University, and in 1875 a match under a compromise set of rules, taken partly from the Rugby Union and partly from the existing American game, was played with Yale. The following year Yale adopted the regular Rugby Union rules, and played Harvard under these. Later, several other colleges adopted these English rules. Absence of tradition necessitated expansion of these laws, and a convention of colleges was assembled. Thenceforward annual conventions were held, which from time to time altered and amplified the rules. A college association was formed, and the game grew in popularity. Public criticism of the roughness shown in the play early threatened its existence; indeed at one time the university authorities compelled Harvard to abstain from the annual game with Yale. Changes in the rules were introduced, and the game has been characterized by less roughness and by increased skill. It has become the most popular autumn game in the United States, the principal university matches often attracting crowds of 35,000 and even 40,000 spectators. The association subsequently disbanded, but a Rules Committee, invited by the University Athletic Club of New York, made the necessary changes in the rules from time to time, and these have been accepted by the country at large. In the West associations were formed; but the game in the East is played principally under separate agreements between the contesting universities, all using, however, one code of rules. Later this Rules Committee amalgamated with a new committee of wider representation. Amateur athletic clubs as well as public and private schools have also taken up the game. The American football season lasts from the middle of September to the first of December only, owing to the severity of the American winter. Professional football is not played in America.
The American Rugby game is played by teams of eleven men on a field of 330 ft. long and 160 ft. wide, divided by chalk lines into squares with sides 5 yds. long, leaving a strip 5 ft. wide on each side of the field. Until 1903 the field was divided by latitudinal lines only and was therefore popularly called the “gridiron”; subsequently it was called the “checkerboard.” The end lines are called “goal-lines,” the side “touch-lines.” The two lines 25 yds. from each goal-line, and the middle line, or 55 yard-line, are made broader than the rest. In the middle of each goal-line is a goal, consisting of two uprights exceeding 20 ft. in length, set 18 ft. 6 in. apart with a crossbar 10 ft. from the ground. The ball is in shape and material of the English Rugby type.
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| Diagram of Field |
The football rules provide that when the ball is put in play in a scrimmage, the first man who receives the ball, commonly known as the quarter-back, may carry it forward beyond the line of scrimmage, provided in so doing he crosses such line at least 5 yds. from the point where the snapper-back put the ball in play, and furthermore, that a forward pass may be made provided the ball passes over the line of scrimmage at least 5 yds. from the point at which the ball is put in play. The field is marked off at intervals of 5 yds. with white lines parallel to the goal line, for convenience in penalizing fouls and for measuring the 10 yds. to be gained in three downs, and also at intervals of 5 yds. with white lines parallel to the side lines, in order to assist the referee in determining whether the quarter-back runs according to rule, or whether, in case of a forward pass, such pass is legally made. Thus the football field is changed from the gridiron as in 1902, to what now resembles a checkerboard, and the above diagram shows exactly how the field should be marked. As the width of the field does not divide evenly into 5 yd. spaces, it is wise to run the first line through the middle point of the field and then to mark off the 5 yds. on each side from that middle line. In order to save labour, it may be sufficient to omit the full completion of the longitudinal lines, as the object of these lines is accomplished if their points of intersection with the transverse lines are distinctly marked, for instance, by a line a foot long.
A match game consists of two periods (halves) of thirty-five minutes with an interval of fifteen minutes. Practice games usually have shorter halves. There are four officials: the umpire, whose duty it is to watch the conduct of the players and decide regarding fouls; the referee, who decides questions regarding the progress of the ball and of play; the field judge who assists the referee and keeps the time; and the linesman, who (with two assistants, one representing each eleven) marks the distance gained or lost in each play.
In scoring, a “touchdown” (the English Rugby “try”) counts 5 points, a goal from a touchdown 6 (or one added to the 5 for the touchdown), a “goal from the field,” whether from placement or drop-kick, 4, and a “safety” (the English Rugby “touchdown”) 2. Mutatis mutandis, these are made as in English Rugby. American Rugby differs from the English game, because in the scrimmage the men are lined up opposite each other, and, although separated by the length of the ball, are engaged in a constant man-to-man contest, and also in that a system of “interference” is allowed. Furthermore, a player in the American game is put “on side” when a kicked ball strikes the ground; and forward passing, i.e. throwing the ball toward the opponents’ goal, is permissible under certain restrictions. The costume usually consists of a close-fitting jersey with shoulders and elbows padded and reinforced with leather; short trousers with padded thighs and knees, heavy stockings and shoes with leather cleats. In the early period of the game caps were worn, but, as they were impossible to keep on, they were discarded in favour of the wearing of long hair, and the “chrysanthemum head” became the distinguishing mark of the football player. This, however,
