p. 11 | The Influence of Football

Review and Herald Publishing Association · Takoma Park Station, Washington, D.C. · Jan 8, 1914

The Influence of Football

In the Standard of Dec. 27, 1913, Wallace N. Stearns, a college man, brings serious charges against this national game in its influence on student life. He claims that it transforms men into machines, leading them to “play the game” under any and all conditions, regardless of danger to life or health:—

The game as now played transforms a man into a machine. The day of the game may bring rain, hail, snow, or tornado. That game must be played. A streak of yellow is most to be dreaded, and more than one lad has gone to his death rather than incur the suspicion of being yellow. It is worthy of being learned that we should “hit the line hard,” but to prepare a head-on collision of two sausage grinders is no better, and far less refined, than the medieval tournament, or even the German student duel. The latter mars and disfigures; it does not cripple nor dig a premature grave. The number of victims of American football already mounts up into the hundreds, enough, in fact, to provide casualties for a South American revolution. This is not emotion nor a spasm of reform, but a statement of figures.

He charges further that the game fosters the betting spirit among students:—

College football has ceased to be a sport, and has become a betting occasion. On a recent occasion a heavy ground rendered a game a mere wallow in the mud. The fans howled for another game, were loud in their denunciations, called loudly against the yellow streak—because college faculties thought that time had come to study, and that study is the chief end of a college. Who were the fans?—Men with bets on the game, who were anxious to win. Their interest in the game was an interest in the sesterces they hoped to win. The barber’s shop, the lobby, the street corner, and wherever men and boys were wont to gather were de facto meeting places for putting up and arranging chances. Racing books and pools are forbidden; why should boys and young men, and even girls, banter and bet, and publicly, though it be even in entire good humor?

The game depletes physical energy and leads to a lowering of class standards:—

Every leading game brings on a period of unrest. The teacher feels interest in study slackening, there is a growing quiver of excitement, to be followed after the game by a more or less complete relaxation or a bedlam of triumph. Two or three days prior to the game and as many days after are practically useless, because attention is essential to study and classroom work. The heart is with the treasure, the thought follows the interest, and attention is dead.

There is just so much vitality in a man’s body. Strenuous practice and grueling play must be followed by listless recitations, drowsy evenings, and sleepy nights. Every teacher has the annual problem of the football player—extra hours, low marks, and of students half tugged, half carried, through the fall examinations. The boy’s will is good: he is not depraved. But his vigor has been burned up in the game.