Football History Rewind Part 44

In this episode of the Football History Rewind we will examine the 1921 Foot Ball Code of Walter Camp and his perception of how the gridiron game should be played. Are we living up to his expectations today?

This in depth series on the history of football has mentioned the name Walter Camp once or twice [grin]. In the opinion of this writer Walter Camp is the most influential single man that set the landscape and rule disciplines for the game of football in the United States. He played football in its infancy in the late 1870's when it was actually Rugby, and then became a coach, a Referee, and rule’s innovator after that and actually served on every Rules Committee from the early 1880's until his death at the 1925 Rules Committee Convention. Yes the man actually died at the Rules Convention! That is truly a demonstration of dedication to the game he loved.

To get an idea of just how much this man put thought into the future of the game we can look at yet another excerpt from the 1921 Spalding’s NCAA Foot Ball Rules Book of which Mr. Camp himself was the editor. In the 1921 Rules Book, Camp expressed in written word, what he truly intended the game of football to be. The only way to truly give his message the credit it deserves and to portray the astonishing brilliance of this great man and his idea of football “Utopia” is to let you read it word for word yourself. No one says it better than the well spoken Walter Camp and so here is his 1921 version of prose on his expectations for the game he helped develop.

The Foot Ball Code

Both in play and in tradition foot ball is a distinctively academic game-the game of schools and colleges. The friends of the game must accordingly rely on the schools and colleges for the preservation of its past traditions and the maintenance of the high standards of its sportsmanship in its play, which are to be expected in a distinctively academic game.

In some sports it is possible to attain reasonable high standards simply by the adoption and enforcement of rules but this is not true in foot ball. There are so many men engaged in action, the action is so rapid and so constantly shifting, that it is impossible for any official to discover every infraction of the rules.

The Committee, in the remodeling of the rules that has gradually taken place, has endeavored to prohibit and suitably penalize all forms of unfair tactics and practices. It has also endeavored, so far as possible, without affecting the integrity of the game itself, to remove special temptation or opportunity for unsportsmanlike play.     

So far as the rules themselves are concerned, the Committee feels it has done about all that it can do, and it has been with continually increasing satisfaction that the members of the Committee, in common with all lovers of the game, have observed rapid improvement in the standards of play. Each year there has been less attempt on the part of the players to “beat the rules” and unfair tactics have largely disappeared. The “anything to win” coach is disappearing. Officials are generally more efficient and fearless and their rulings are more and more being accepted without quibbling.

There are, however, still many school teams, and even some college teams, that seem to fail to recognize that the first obligation of every foot ball player is to protect the game an itself, its reputation and good name. He owes this to the game, its friends and its traditions. There can be little excuse for any college player who allows the game to be smirched with unsportsmanlike tactics.

In the case of the players in the school teams however, the Committee is inclined to believe that unsportsmanlike play is due largely to ignorance of what the proper standards are and what the great host of ex-foot ball players and friends of the game expect from the boys who are just learning it.

Summary

Walter Camp had a vision for the game that he dedicated so much of his life to. It was a vision that included collegiate students as well as those of younger men who would honor the game with honesty and fair play. It should be noted that he did not speak about professional athletes because he did not like that fact that players were getting paid to play this game because he felt that it tainted a pure sport. He wanted players to play for the sure joy of playing and not for a pocket full of change.

These words of Camp some hundred years ago still ring with merit in this day and age and it would be wise for every player, official and coach to once again read and understand them. The expectations of the fathers of football are clearly stated here in the context of the Code and they express football in its purest form. We as officials need to remember this Code as well as it’s very basis is what makes the game of football so very special and the enduring spectacle that it is.

The picture in the banner above is from Wikimedia Commons collection of a circa WWI picture of Walter Camp in full miliatary garb from the Bain News Service, publisher.