AUTUMN




CHAPTER XVII

SOME DETAILS ABOUT FOOTBALL


The mere act of kicking a football is a good exercise in itself, but
very few who do so, particularly among boys, know anything about the
game.

In England and her colonies there are innumerable football clubs in
every town and village, but in this country the game is largely
confined to colleges, and even in these not all the students play;
indeed, so many are the physical requirements and so strenuous is the
work that only those with extraordinary strength and activity are
selected in the making up of teams. Yet, as it is, when properly
played, one of our best out-door games, I think it well that my boy
readers should know something about it.

At one time there were fifteen players on a side; now eleven is the
legal number. The ground has much the same appearance of a gridiron,
and the name "gridiron" is often applied to it, just as "diamond" is