Advertisement

Association Foot Ball.

On Saturday, Dec. 20th, the "Rovers" and "Olympics," both of Fall River, will play a game of association football on Jarvis field for the championship of New England. Cups will be given to the winners out of the proceeds of the game, but outside of that all receipts will be handed over to the university crew. Since this game cannot but be interesting in many ways an excellent chance is presented to college men to help out the crew in a more pleasant way than by subscriptions.

The "association" game of foot-ball is almost unknown in American colleges though largely played in England especially at the universities. It has some of the features of lacrosse and some of those of American foot-ball. The following is a description of the sport:

"This game is begun with the opposing elevens on each side of the field, and the first rule in the game is that no player is allowed to handle the ball, with the exception of the goal keeper, and when the ball is kicked outside of the field limits then shall the opposing player throw it in. One who has not seen the game will wonder how the ball is worked up and down the field. Simply by the use of the feet, body and head, and when the use of the hands is prohibited, one can imagine what science is brought into play. It is wonderful the accuracy with which a good player can kick, placing the ball within two or three yards of the desired point, Scrimmages do not happen once in a dozen games, and they are of very short duration. The rules strictly prohibit any "scrapping," or the use of the hands to keep a player off the ball; hence injuries to players are few. Such occurrences as broken legs and noses are never heard of. The game is very first, the ball travelling from one end of the field to the other, either by the combined efforts of the forward line or the heavy kicking of the defence men. The spectators are continuously kept on the alert, and excitement in a close game is intense."

It is not impossible that the sight of a game of this kind by a large number of students might lead to the introduction of the sport at Harvard.

Advertisement
Advertisement