In the spring of the year at Harvard it has almost become a tradition for the supporters of minor sports to object that spring football takes too many men from the regular athletics of that season. They protest that if this practice of playing football for the three most crucial weeks in the final college semester were abolished, it would be possible for Harvard to assume a role of greater importance in such sports as lacrosse. Ignoring the fact that crew is the most popular spring athletic, activity, the supporters of this belief hold that the men who would be released if pre-season gridiron practice were relinquished would then be willing to participate in the minor sports.

Such, a practice would be an absolute contradiction of the tradition of athletics at Harvard. It has never been the policy of the athletic authorities to encourage any one sport at the expense of another. If football happens to be the form of athletic activity that the majority wishes to participate in, there is no reason for requiring them to enter some other field merely because it needs support. The aim of the Athletic Association is to offer an opportunity for those who wish to participate in sports to take part in whatever game they prefer. It is not that the best men be assigned to the activity most in need of them: but that they be allowed to enjoy exercise. If some men like to play football in the spring, there is no justification for the stand that they should be made to go out for the lacrosse team simply so that team might have a winning season.