The first indication of the changing trend of Harvard football was the disclosure yesterday of a new game, a cross between basketball and tag football, which will take an important place in the spring training of the University squad. The game is the invention of Major Fred W. Moore '93, and, so far as can be ascertained, nothing similar to it has been tried in any other university.

To Make Passers More Adept

The object of the game is to train the players, particularly the backs and ends, in the handling of the ball. If it accomplishes its purpose, it will give the players a mastery over a football comparable to that which a skilled basketball player has over a basketball.

It is easy to read between the lines of this simple announcement and see in it an indication of the intention of the coaching staff to stress more than ever before the open type of game. As the first announcement of policy from what is being hailed as a new regime in University football affairs, it gives those who have been prognosticating a change an opportunity to say "I told you so."

The only equipment needed for the game, in addition to a football, is a pair of regulation goal posts with broad strips of canvas stretched between them. This canvas is about a yard wide and the bottom of it is slightly more than six feet above the ground. In it are three holes 18 inches in diameter.

Major Moore is drawing up a set of rules for the game, with the assistance of D. J. Kelly of the Department of Physical Education. These rules are still in a tentative state, but Major Moore gave a CRIMSON representative a general idea of them yesterday.

There will be a safety zone 20 feet in front of each goal beyond which no member of the offensive team may go. One member of the defensive team will be allowed inside it to defend the goal. The holes in the canvas are the goals, one hole counting three points, another two, and the third one.

Any number of men may play on a side. Running with the ball will be allowed only backward and from side to side. More than two steps forward will cost the possession of the ball. The oval may, however, be passed in any direction, forward, sideways, or back Personal contact will be barred.

As the accuracy of the passers increases, the size of the holes will be diminished, Major Moore explained. As no man is allowed within 20 feet of the goal, a considerable degree of accuracy in passing is necessary.

It is the hope of Major Moore that the game will prove popular with the football men and that it will be played not only during the formal spring practice but also afterward by those who are not busy in other sports. Captain M. A. Check '26 and a squad of baseball men tried the game out yesterday afternoon with apparent success, although only one of the goals had been put up.