This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can usually download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1905 edition. Excerpt: ... TEAM PLAY The evolution of football from the crude form in which the game began to the present stage of perfection it has attained rests almost entirely on the development of team play. Where originally one man, relying almost entirely on his own efforts, bore the brunt of his own particular play, whether offensive or defensive, now the efforts of ten others are also exerted to the same end for which he is working. The players of the old school, mighty men though they were, and equal, beyond a doubt, in individual ability to the men who are playing the game today, would be helpless when confronted with the systematized attack and defense of an eleven with anything like their natural ability, coached in the finer points of the game which have been evolved by the football students of modern times. To the perfection of team play, which has become necessary in a successful eleven of the present day, is due, no doubt, the tremendous strides which the game has made in popularity. The spectator who appreciates the finer points of the game glories in an eleven which works together, and the members of the team themselves are welded into closer harmony by the feeling of mutual obligation which the team play brings with it. The confidence that is felt by the man chosen to bear the brunt of the play, when he knows that his comrades will be there to help him, each in his assigned place, contributes to the efforts of an eleven the ideal feeling of team spirit and makes each game increasingly attractive to those who participate in the play on the field. To strengthen the impression in the mind of each of his ten comrades that he himself may be relied on to do his part should form the foremost endeavor of every member of the team. He must show the...