Football play

“ It's just that eagerness to aid the next man, that stand-and-fall-together spirit, that makes the ideal team. I don't want to see any man on Saturday standing around with his hands at his sides; as long as the ball's in play there's work for every one. Don't cry 'Down' until you can't run, crawl, wriggle, roll, or be pulled another inch. And if you're helping the runner don't stop pulling or shoving until there isn't another notch to be gained. Never mind how many tacklers there are; the ball's in play until the whistle sounds. ”

“ The evolution of football from the crude form in which the game began to the present stage of perfection it has attained rests almost entirely on the development of team play. Where originally one man, relying almost entirely on his own efforts, bore the brunt of his own particular play, whether offensive or defensive, now the efforts of ten others are also exerted to the same end for which he is working. ”

“ 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. ”

“ My dear sir, a battle would look much the same to you, except that the boys would be men, and the balls iron; but a battle would be worth your looking at for all that, and so is a football match. You can't be expected to appreciate the delicate strokes of play, the turns by which a game is lost and won—it takes an old player to do that; but the broad philosophy of football you can understand if you will. Come along with me a little nearer, and let us consider it together.
The ball has just fallen again where the two sides are thickest, and they close rapidly around it in a scrummage. ”

“ My idea of perfect play Is when a team performs strictly as it has been coached to perform ... following a system through to the very last regardless of the breaks of the game or the preconceived notions of the individual players. That is team-work in the fullest—that is genuine football. That you failed to win does not alter the fact that you gave a faultless exhibition insofar as your experience and training permitted. ”

“ Harry, we’ve left behind us the playtime of boyhood, and we’re beginning real life! But in that playtime we learned how to play real football. From now on we’ll apply all of the best and most strenuous rules of football to the big art of making a living and a reputation. ”

“ He must always be aware of the trap coming from the inside, however. If the play is a back-up pass, he is responsible for the draw first, and rushing the passer second. If it is a running play, he will slam the center or guard and then pursue the football. ”

“ Showing fine interference - team play. To strengthen the impression in the mind of each of his ten comrades that he himself may be relied on to do his part should form the foremost endeavor of every member of the team. He must show the others that, when the emergency comes, as it does come in every play, he is doing his duty. With such zeal firmly instilled in the mind of each man, football reaches its highest state of perfection. ”

“ When the ball is snapped, the 9 technique man will take a short step with his inside foot toward the offensive end, and at the same time he will deliver a hand or forearm shiver to the head of the offensive end. If the offensive end blocks in and the play comes toward him, the 9 man immediately looks for the near halfback or the trapper expecting to be blocked by either offensive man.
If a running play comes toward him and the quarterback is going to option the football, he must make the quarterback pitch the ball. ”

“ The game is no more violent than is required by the physical demands of the men who play it.
There are no memories which cling so persistently to the mind of the alumnus, always capable of awakening a glow of enthusiasm and always recalled with pleasure, as those interwoven in the football games of his undergraduate days. There are no ties so potent to bind him to the college through the business of after years. The conversations at class reunions invariably drift to football in general and certain games in particular. ”

“ The students always play the association game, and it used to be the ambition of every youth to get the ball, and carry it down the field all by himself, while the audience cheered, "Bravo, bravo!" So the faculty arranged matches with the crews of visiting British warships, and from sad experience the college learned the value of side plays and frequent passes, and began to see dimly that good football is played, not with the legs and mouth alone, but with the head, and that hard team-work is better than grand stand exploits. ”

“ The scrub, against whom the Varsity matched forces that afternoon, had been having some secret practice of their own, and they worked a couple of tricks on the rather surprised first team that netted a good gain, and eventually a touchdown.
"That's something you must be on the lookout for," said Mr. Martin, who was a bit chagrined over what had happened. "It isn't enough to play well on your own team, you must watch what the other fellow is doing. Now try again, and put some ginger into your work." ”

“ 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. ”

“ 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. ”

“ His responsibility is the deep middle one-third, and if the ball is thrown in his area, he must play the ball and not the receiver. We instruct the safety man to be deep enough so that he must come forward to play the football in the air instead of running backward to play it. If the ball is thrown in one of the deep one-third areas to his right or left, he does not sprint for the ball. Instead he sprints for a spot between the place where the ball will come down and the opposition’s goal line. In case the opponent catches the ball, he will be in a position to tackle the receiver. ”

“ We want the other defenders to “tackle the ball,” and make the ball carrier fumble it so we can get possession of the football. We are trying to get possession of the football any way we can. Frankly we want the first man to the ball carrier merely to hold him up, and not let him get away, so we can unload on him. You can punish a ball carrier when one man has him “dangling,” and the others gang tackle him hard. I am not implying we want our boys to pile on and play dirty football merely to get a ball carrier out of the game. ”

“ Folk often wanted to play football when their lords and masters wanted them to practise shooting with their bows and arrows; but they were frequently told what a dangerous game it was, and over and over again it was forbidden. Football was always apparently a game over which the players fell out, much as they do now. ”

“ No American game has won so much praise and, at the same time, so much censure, as has football. The game has been lauded for the scientific play it develops and for the training of mind and body it affords the players. It has been adversely criticised for its roughness and the consequent injuries which the players are likely to receive. From the point of view of some spectators the game seems so dangerous to the players that to allow the game to be played in our colleges seems half-civilized. ”

“ The latter went into the fine points of the game, emphasizing the needs of the individual players, laying stress on what the backs, tackles, ends and guards should do, and urging on the lads the necessity for fast, snappy playing.
"Demoralize your opponents by the quickness with which you jump into formations," said the Yale man. "As soon as one play is finished be ready for the next. In defense, never give up, no matter how the game seems to be going against you. Hold hard, tire out the other side, and then you may have a chance to get the ball and—win!" ”

“ How many times it occurs that, when the line has been successfully assaulted and a runner penetrates into the enemy's territory, one of his comrades who has also broken through is able to grasp the man with the ball and carry him out of the arms of the tacklers into the enemy's country still further! It is team play. ”

“ Two forms for holding ball on plunges through the line. The art of taking a secure hold of the ball when called upon for a gain and retaining its possession from the time it is received from the center or quarter back till the play is ended is an important feature of football, but one often overlooked. How many times, by one disastrous fumble, is a team that has apparently won been forced to see its colors trailed in defeat! ”

“ From his proper stance and position when he observes the flow going away from him, he steps in and checks the counter play and then starts his pursuit for the football. When he recognizes a pass developing, he will plant and try to get back to his short one-quarter area by using a cross-over step. ”

“ The snap-back and quarter-back play soon defined these two positions, and shortly after the individual rush line positions became distinct, both as regards location and duties. All this was an era of development of general play with but few particular combinations or marks of [Pg 119] strategy. If a man made a run, he made it for the most part wherever he saw the best chance after receiving the ball, and he made it unaided to any degree by his comrades. If the ball was kicked, it was at the option of the man receiving it, and the forwards did not know whether he would kick or run. ”

“ 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. ”

“ A few years ago there was quite a fashion for the man putting the ball in from touch to run with it along the edge of the field. For some unknown reason this play seems to have been abandoned, but it is likely at any time to be revived, and the end rusher should therefore be posted upon the modus operandi of it, as well as the best method of preventing its success. ”

“ Eleven men make up a football team now, as in the early days of the game, but modern requirements make it necessary that these eleven men play constantly to one end. If one of them lags, errs or is inefficient, it is almost impossible for the others to get results, no matter how well directed may be their efforts. ”

“ While throughout the New England towns and villages at this period a "dribbling" game was being played, the American colleges naturally adopted a form of play resembling that in progress under the English Rugby rules. Running with the ball and tackling, in fact every feature which tends to make the game a vigorous one, have subconsciously moulded the game in America. College football in the United States now stands as an exemplification of the athletic instincts of its younger generation. ”

“ It is to the English schoolboy that the game of football really owes its origin. During the middle of the nineteenth century there was an athletic revival throughout England and football became the favorite pastime of the winter months in such schools as Rugby, Eton, Harrow, Charterhouse and others. The game came to its present important position through a gradual evolutionary process in which both a standard of play and of rule were developed together. ”

“ But, on the other hand, if any goal-keeper made a good save of a goal, or made a plucky attempt to tackle a fellow who was charging down upon the goal, he was called for immediately to play out, and thenceforth he played out always. The footballs were made by Old Martin in Great College Street, with bladders inside, which were constantly being replaced or reblown, round balls and not very large, first-rate for 'kick-about.' They bounded true, not like those lopsided Rugby balls. You could kick one high, full volley from the hand, watch the bound, and kick up again time after time. ”

“ Like all other ball games, football is based on many other games that had their origin in medieval times. It was only after the game of kicking the ball had been introduced in England, that it became a distinct sport known as football. Since then it has flourished and developed, until to-day it is as popular as tennis, hockey, baseball and golf.
Football is a strenuous game. In England it was confined largely to boys and young men. Even in America elderly men never play the game, but that is no reason why they cannot watch and enjoy it. ”