The Game of Foot-Ball as Played in England.

Foot ball, as played by our college elevens, is a very different game from the foot-ball of England. And, in fact, there are two kinds of foot-ball over there. Those who play the Association game think there is nothing like it as a scientific and exciting sport, while the Rugby players are just as devoted to their style of game.

Just at present the Association game as played on the other side is under-going a boom in and around Boston. Not long ago two star players, Priest and Westwood, arrived here from England, and were much disappointed at finding that foot-ball as they know it was almost unknown here. They were professional players in England, and on settling here they conceived the scheme of instructing twenty-two athletes in the fine points of the game and forming two elevens to play matches. No sooner had they started in to develop the game than they found that there are a good many enthusiasts on the game in the city who were formerly Association players. They have been bobbing up one after another, until a goodly number have come forward to take hold of the sport. Unless all signs fail, the coming spring will see some foot-ball matches in Boston as played in England.

In a long talk with Priest, one of the two English players who arrived here recently, he gave an interesting and intelligent description of the Association game. In the foot-ball of the American colleges the leading feature is running with the ball in the arms. It is just the reverse in the Association game, where it is a foul if any one save the goal keeper touches the ball with the hands or arms. As Priest put it, "No one but the goal keeper must touch the ball, but he must do his very best with head, hands and feet, to defend the goal."

There are eleven players in the Association team, the same as in our college games, but they are differently arranged in the positions. There are five forwards, rushers as they are called in the college elevens, three half-backs, two backs, and one goal keeper. The construction of the goal posts is the same as you will see on Jarvis Field at Harvard in the fall, but to score in the Association game you must put the ball under the crossbar instead of over it, and touchdowns are not known.

Priest was centre forward for the Wolyerhampton Wanderers, four times winners over the famous Astor Villas, who are now holders of the English challenge cup. In talking about the game, he said: "You must never pick the ball up with your hands, but you must carry it along just the same. If the ground is good, you can keep the ball on the ground and still take it down the field and still take it down the field by dribbling it along, dodging around the players on the other side as they get in front of you. If the ground is bad and you can't dribble the ball, you have to use the head for passing. Many a time I have been down the whole length of the field with two others, carrying the ball by passing it with our heads and shoulders from one to the other. A player is not first class until he can catch the ball on his head and pass it from the head."

"Do you have what we call tackling?"

"Oh, not at all. If you take hold of a player it's a foul. You can shoulder him and shove him over, but you must not touch him with your hands. And it's a foul, too, if the ball hits your arm below the elbow. The great point about the Association game is that it is not so rough as the Rugby. Of course you cannot play foot-ball without being a bit rough, but it is not nearly so bad as Rugby."

"Which is the more popular in England, the Association or the Rugby game?"

"They are both great games over there, but more people go to see the Association matches. In championship matches for the challenge cup I. have seen 15,000 people on the field. Ten thousand is an ordinary crowd. They only charge six-pence (12 cents) to see the game, and a shilling (your quarter) for the pavilion. Of course, here we would have to make it a shilling admission, and two for the pavilion. How many times do we play a week? Generally twice, on Saturday and Monday, and I can tell you, two good matches in a week are quite enough for a player. The best ones are all professionals, and get paid by the match. I have got L2 for a match when it was a big one, but L1 is good wages for a game. And do you know, the women think foot-ball is a great thing. If there is a match on Saturday afternoon, they can get their husbands to go, and then they are not spending their week's wages in drink. They can only spend the six-pence it costs to see the game."

When I asked the English foot ball expert something about the number of teams he pulled a weekly Birmingham paper out of his pocket and showed me a full page devoted to summaries of games that had been played since the issue of the previous week. There were clubs by the score, and the number gave one something of an idea of the interest in foot-ball in England.

Since enthusiasts Priest and West wood began to work up an interest in their hobby they have been joined by a number of athletes who are anxious to learn the game, besides a goodly number of old players who have come over from England and settled in Boston. They are anxious to meet all who would like to help put Association foot-ball on its feet here.- Globe.