Football Meeting

Philadelphia April 30.—The Intercollegiate Football Rules committee is holding its third and probably final session for 1910 at the University club in this city. The committee expects to occupy two days to complete the work before it.

The chief subject before the committee will be the proposition of Walter Camp, of Yale, to limit the line of defense to the length of line of offense, and the proposition of John C. Bell, of Pennsylvania, to allow linemen and backs to interchange positions at will. The forward pass also must be finally adjusted.

At the session in New York in March the committee finally adopted six changes in the rules, the most radical of which is the proposition of Parke H. Davis, of Princeton, to apply Rule 18 to players of the side with the ball as well as to players of the side without the ball. This is the rule which forbids a player to grasp an opponent with the hands or arms, to place his hands upon him to push him out of play, or to encircle his body in any degree with his arms. Mr. Davis' plan is to apply these same prohibitions to players of both sides alike as a panacea for the injuries and ills of the game.

The general result will be to abolish the present style of welded or interlocked interference, and it also will prevent the runner with the ball from being pushed, pulled or held upon his feet by his associates. Tacticians who are running out this principle to its limit claim that it will wholly revolutionize the present formations and plays of the game.

The remaining changes adopted at the March session were the removal of the 6-yard restriction on the quarterback run, the placing of seven men on the rush line by the offensive side, the prohibition of the diving tackle, the division of the game into four quarters of 16 minutes each and the requirement of onside kicks to go at least 20 yards into the opponent's territory.

Mr. Davis’ plan which also originated the idea of seven men on the offensive line of scrimmage and unrestricted quarterback runs, it is claimed will not only reduce to a minimum the dangerous plays of the game, but by removing the premium on the highly specialized big man will open up the game to a greater number of men, as the ideal player under the Princeton plan will be the fleet, active player of middle weight. This change will also go far to equalize the material strength of the small college with the large.