H. U. F. B. C.

Captain Appleton, of the foot-ball team, has given us the following for publication :

CAMBRIDGE, NOV. 22, 1883.

Dear Sir : The attention of the committee on athletics has been sharply called during the past few weeks by the numberous accidents which have happend at foot-ball on the play grounds of various colleges, to the conditions under which the inter-collegiate match games of foot-ball are now played and to the rules of the American Inter-Collegiate Association for the season of 1883. Some of these rules seem to the committee to be highly objectionable. Rules 19, 28 and 38, a copy of which I append, appear to allow of no other inference than that the manly spirit of fair play is not expected to govern the conduct of all players, but that on the contrary the spirit of sharpers and of roughs has to be guarded against. The committee believe that the games hotly played under these rules have already begun to degenerate from a manly, if rough, sport into brutal and dangerous contest. They regard this as a serious misfortune in the interest of the game, which if played in a gentlemanly spirit may be one of the most useful college sports as a means of physical development. They regret that they did not give earlier attention to the character of these rules, and thus earlier come to the conclusion which they have now reached, namely, that the Harvard eleven cannot be allowed to take part in any further inter-collegiate match games until substantial changes in the rules have been made.

Will you be so good as to communicate this decision of the committee at once to the members of our eleven, and to the elevens of other colleges, with whom arrangements for games may have been made ? Should you (or any member of the eleven) desire to learn more fully the grounds of this decision of the committee, I shall be glad to confer with you at my house on Saturday or Monday evening next. There is no objection to your having this note printed in the college papers.

I am very truly yours, C. E. NORTON,

Chairman of the Com. on Athletics.

MR. R. W. APPLETON, Captain of University Eleven.

Rule 19.-The referee shall take out time for unnecessary delay. Shall decide disputed points and shall disqualify any player whom he has warned twice for intentional off side play, intentional tackling in touch, or intentional violation of Rule 28. In all points not covered by the rules his decision shall be final.

Rule 28.-No hacking, throttling, butting, tripping-up, tackling below the hips, or striking with closed fist shall be allowed.

Rule 38.-No player shall intentionally lay hands upon or interfere with an opponent unless he has the ball.