Football field

“ Football now began to figure prominently in our lives. The great aerodrome, where we halted outside Flers the day after Lille was taken, had been converted into one vast football field, with some seven or eight pitches. Incidentally, it was also our training ground, and a little friction was occasionally caused when other battalions used to allow their battalion teams to practise all the morning in our vicinity while we were drilling. ”

“ A coach goes to the blackboard and draws a diagram of a football field, along with the defenses we expect Georgia to use on the hash mark, in the middle of the field, on the goal line, and in a short yardage situation. On the board the coach will also list the backfield personnel, so the quarterback will have an opportunity to use his men properly. To digress for a second: the quarterback uses the wrong judgment if he calls for sweeps with a slow backfield, does not employ the best blocker to block, etc. The quarterback must know his offensive personnel thoroughly. ”

“ It is unimportant whether any such thing as a team appears on the football field during the early practice. In fact, too much attention to team work too early in the season may ruin the opportunities to develop a good team later. If the coach or trainer will spend his entire time preparing each man, as a mechanic finishes up the separate parts of his creation before putting it together, the various positions can be fitted into each other in a short time, to make a smoothly running, accurate and strong football machine. ”

“ Almost every college man is a conscientious and studious follower of the game. In no way is the utter futility of incompetence better illustrated than on the football field.
Aside from the better physical health resulting from a few hours spent on the field as spectators of the daily practice or the regular contests, the students return to their books or recitations with a mental exhilaration which is of great assistance. ”

“ There is no feature of football more beautiful than a long run in circumstances like these. The rush of the attacking phalanx against the rampart of bone and brawn; the melting away of the interference as it disposes of the men in the path of the runner; the emerging of the man with the ball into the open field and the judgment which he exercises, combined with his own strength and speed, call for the very highest ability. ”

“ Those who to-day are prone to decry football as a rough and brutal sport—which it no longer is—might at least reverse their opinions of the present game, could they have spent a certain lurid afternoon in the fall of '87 at Jarvis Field where the elevens of Harvard and Princeton fought a battle so sanguinary as to come down to us through the years legended as a real crimson affair. ”

“ From the opening of college in September, in all sections of the country, to its close in June, football is the most potent factor in the moulding of spirit, in the making of men, and in the bringing them together in the democracy of a common cause in the collegiate life. In the autumn, when the candidates for the team are being tried out and selected according to their worth, thousands of healthy young men take their places on the athletic field every afternoon. ”

“ To borrow a simile from the football field, we believe that men must play fair, but that there must be no shirking, and that success can only come to the player who “hits the line hard.” ”

“ It is played by two teams generally twelve on a side, on a field about twice the size of the regulation football gridiron, with two goal posts at each end. Each player is armed with an oak stick about three feet in length. The teams, facing each other, stand in mid-field. ”

“ From the other entrance to the gridiron the visitors enter and they seem every bit as strong and fit to maintain the undefeated record which they also boast this year. Footballs are produced, the two teams form in large circles in different parts of the field and begin to toss the ovals about in rapid succession, while the enthusiasts in stands and bleachers cheer their heroes till it seems as if their throats would be insufficient for the strain which one or the other side, if not both, will have to bear through the game that is not yet begun. ”

“ Safety—It is very important that the ball is handled in the air and not permitted to strike the ground and bounce around. Assuming the safety man catches the football, he should start straight up the field in order to give his wall time to form and to draw the pursuers into the middle toward him. Then he swings in behind his wall on the sideline. ”

“ The battle-ground should be a field of about 400 yards in length, the fence at either end serving as the goal over which the ball is to be driven. The width of the field is of no account, providing that there is a clear space of at least fifty yards to give a chance for straight and open play. In practice it might be well to roughly indicate these side-lines by means of stakes, and if the ball is knocked out of bounds it must be brought back precisely as in football. ”

“ The most signal improvement which has been effected in the last two months has been the permission afforded the prisoners to use the ground encircled by the race-track for the hours from 8 a.m. to 12 noon and from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. The space thus gained is approximately 200 yards by 150 yards, and affords a splendid field for all kinds of games. Materials for the various sports have been provided by the camp, including the laying out of a football field and a small golf course. ”

“ A gate opens at the farther end of the grounds, there is a vociferous cheer from the nearest section and the team in whose success our hopes are centered, trots out on the field, to be met by a tumult of welcome. Big fellows they are, stout of limb and victors through the season over every team they have met. ”

“ It’s a scramble for tickets, playing parlays, wide-eyed youngsters getting autographs, a fist fight in the stands, second guessing, banquets, icy rains, color guards, fumbles, goal line stands, homecoming queens, and the typical mutt running onto the field attracting everyone’s attention. ”

“ The field game is a rather modern institution. As has before been said, ordinary football does not seem to have been very popular amongst Etonians of a hundred years ago, though in the last century it gradually rose in favour. ”

“ His area of responsibility is the deep one-third to his side of the field. He must always be as deep as anyone in his area, and he must be in a position so that he can cover his whole zone. If the football comes into his zone, he is responsible for it. He must play the ball at the highest possible point he can reach it safely. He must not get closer than eight yards to the sideline because this cuts down his ability to cover the entire one-third, his responsibility. When the ball is thrown, he must sprint for it. ”

“ Squarely in front of us forms our team, stretching across the field along the 55-yard line which marks the middle. In the exact center the ball is carefully stood on end, ready for the kick-off, which is the method of putting it in play. Defending the west goal the visiting team, which has won the choice of positions, is so disposed in scattered array over the half of the field that the kick which is coming, regardless of its direction, may fall into the ready arms of some waiting player. ”

“ Again we start our march toward their goal, far up the field. It is still a fight, every inch of it, but the visitors are playing now solely to save the name of their Alma Mater from disgrace. Defeat is certain, but the spirit of the team inspires its men to keep playing the game with a zeal that cannot but rouse our admiration. Occasionally their brace gives them possession of the ball and once their feared, fleet runner brings back a punt for a thrilling dash of 30 yards, but he cannot play the whole game alone to a successful conclusion. ”

“ He must carry his whole heart into every play of the game and must never lose his temper. These same rules, properly carried out, bring success in after life.
The same vital points, continually drummed into a player in his training, are sure to influence the spectators who daily gather on the field to witness the practice. These attributes, personified in the ideal football player, dominate the entire student body and create a spirit which reaches out from the athletic field through the campus and into the very recitation room. ”

“ 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 running half, who was well started, came tearing up the field, seized the ball, and usually made a long run before he was stopped by the astonished halves. ”

“ Football is the thing.”
There is a tradition in Harvard that, although football was not actually born until 1872, the first seeds were planted long before the Civil War. The 36sophomores and freshmen—always enemies—used to take this round rubber ball out on the field as an excuse for a fight. ”

“ Between the twenty-five yard lines seven players of the offense were required on the line of scrimmage and the first man receiving the ball from the snapper-back might run with it provided he crossed the scrimmage line five yards out from center (Football Guide for 1903, pp. 127 and 142) . Between the twenty-five-yard line and the goal, however, only five men were required on the line of scrimmage. In that case, however, restrictions were adopted requiring the men to be back five yards or outside the end men. In 1904 came the “checker board” field. ”

“ Our seats have been selected weeks ago, so there is no occasion to take part in the hurly-burly that attends the acquisition of a place in the general admission stands, for a good view of the game is indispensable. We soon make our way to our places, the sun at our backs, the field sweeping down past us, fifty-five yards on either side. ”

“ From across the field a loyal encouragement is still given by the visitors to their beaten team. The hopes of months are going down to defeat, but the men who are beaten have done their best and, when the final whistle is blown and the game is over, the players of each team gather close together and cheer each other after the style of true sportsmen who have tested each others' mettle with mutual respect. ”

“ Our ends rush the kicker from the outside, making certain he kicks the football. The interior linemen and linebackers use the same techniques our offensive backs use when they are protecting the passer. When they feel they are losing their men, then they will go into a cross body block. Our halfbacks will be the personal protection for the safety man. The safety will field the ball in the air and start upfield. ”

“ The teams are now playing on the 25-yard line of the visitors. To score against us, the ball must be carried to the opposite end of the field, across the goal line of the home eleven, or else cleverly kicked by drop or placement, between our goal posts. It is a long distance to be gained but there is plenty of time to accomplish the feat if the enemy's eleven has the grit and power to do it. ”

“ The measured cadence swells, draws nearer, and the thousands rise as one, when first the long gray column and then the solid ranks of blue swing out upon the field. The precision of the thing, the realization that order and system can go so far as to hold in check to the last moment the enthusiasms of these youngsters thrills him to the core. ”

“ When we are using our regular coverage and the flow goes away from our corner man, he will sprint to his outside and cover the deep one-third area, but when the flow comes toward him he has to key the offensive end and determine if he is blocking, slamming, going down field to block or to catch a pass. The action our corner man takes will largely depend upon the action the offensive end takes. ”

“ It is a bright November day, warm enough for comfort in the sunshine but sufficiently crisp to tell us that we should be well wrapped up for the two hours, more or less, that we are to spend on the field. We mingle in the crowd of undergraduates, alumni, invited friends of the students and other devotees of football who are wending their way to the athletic field. ”

“ Hurry up and be the first man to line up. Hurry all the time; football is not a slow or lazy man's game. Hurry up; football is a game of hurry, hurry, hurry. Hurry up if you are behind in any play. Then is the time you need most to hurry. Hurry up and get into every play. Football is played by eleven men. Spectators are not wanted on the field; their place is in the grand stand. Hurry up and be the first man down the field on a punt or kick-off. ”

“ When we are trying to rush a field goal attempt, we never rush from both sides at the same time, and we always play our 3-deep pass coverage. The only exception is that our safety will line up a little deeper so he can handle the ball if the situation warrants it. We are always as conscious of the fake field goal attempt and pass as we are of the actual place kick. ”

“ This game of football is not entirely unknown in the country, but it has been hitherto restricted to those immediately connected with the emperor's palace. The authorities have set apart a capital field for us, and football is all the fashion among our students now. Leapfrog, jumping, and running all seem quite naturalized here, as also skipping with ropes, as practised by girls at home. Walking, running, and wrestling on stilts also appear to be national sports amongst boys. ”