Starting a New Tradition

IN THE WANING seconds of a Harvard victory over Yale, frenzied fans swarm onto the football field to take down the goalposts. Soon after, one of the metal structures falls, striking a Harvard student on the head. Sound familiar? It happened last year at Soldiers Field, leaving the student with minor skull lacerations. With that event so recent, it should not have come as that big a surprise when this year in New Haven, after another win, spectators again climbed the posts, bringing them down on a Harvard freshman and injuring her critically.

A Yale spokesman said Sunday that security after The Game was "adequate to meet the need," but added that "pulling down the goal is a time-honored tradition and custom at football games." After two serious incidents involving the posts, it is time to stop honoring that tradition, and for both schools to make sure it does not happen again.

The first reaction of administrators might be to beef up security around the edges of the field to keep people off the turf after games, like the Game, in which spectators might tear down the goalposts. But the problem is more complicated than that. Students in a state of drunken excitement probably would not be daunted by the increased force. In fact, the deployment of security personnel might add a violent dynamic to what in itself is a quite harmless way for frenzied students to let off steam.

Officials at both schools, planning logistics for subsequent Games, should begin with efforts to change the powerful mindset of the crowd. Announcements every quarter of the danger of pulling down posts could be followed by some combination of beefed-up security or changes in goalpost construction. Some school facilities have goalposts that cannot be overturned or posts too light to be dangerous. If the schools decide that keeping fans off the field is essential, they could even resort to the moats and chain-link fences of other pro sports.

None of these expedients will prevent students from celebrating victory; they will merely end the most dangerous element of that glee. Tradition is a fine thing, but let's start a new one for the second hundred years.