GRIDIRON CODES

There are so many rules and regulations in this country about eligibility, professionalism, and good manners in intercollegiate football that the need for a uniform congress of colleges on a football code can hardly be denied. At its annual meeting last spring the National Students Federation of America considered just such a need and voted a resolution to the effect that it would exert all of its influence towards the organization of a conference which would reorganize athletic eligibility rules.

At present there are practically no eligibility requirements recognized universally by colleges throughout the country. On the other hand there are highly developed codes such as those existing between Harvard and Yale, Yale and Princeton, the "Little Three", Williams, Amherst, and Wesleyan, and the "Big Ten" conference, and many others which definitely define the eligibility qualifications required of athletes. The transition from this state of sectional understanding to one of national scope would be facilitated all the more by the linking of organizations already in existence.

One of the most beneficial effects of a national football code growing out of a national eligibility conference would be the ostracising power that the members could wield over institutions which refused to conform to the regulations. In the past few years there have been several ruptures of relations between colleges caused by disagreement on eligibility rules, notably that between Army and Navy, which would have had some other results than the long stream of recriminations had such a league with a few basic requirements been functioning.

As it is Harvard can, with a light heart, play the Army and completely ignore whether its opponent has a three year playing rule. With conditions as they are today, however, the Harvard Athletic Association would have accomplished little by refusing to schedule games with the Military Academy when a dozen other institutions would willingly have taken the place thus left open. Surely some more powerful body than the National Students Federation of America should consider seriously a suggestion so potentially important as this reform.