Part 8 (1/2)
A short course of the above, and you will be ready to line up.
A FEW POINTS
On entering the tank for an important game, every player should forget his individuality and submit pa.s.sively to the orders of the captain.
There must be only one head for a team to succeed, and an order should be executed without hesitation and without questioning; right or wrong, the best results come through blind obedience. The man giving the orders often sees an opening that the other does not.
Let no personal difference affect your game; play to win, not to pay off an old score. It is the goals made, not the men disabled, that give one victory, and victory is what every player should seek.
To the forward, discrimination is a valuable a.s.set. When caught in a tackle so far away from goal that getting free will not help you pa.s.s the ball at once, don't allow your opponent to punish you. But if you are nailed within easy reach of goal, fight as long as there is breath of life in you. Never mind how helpless the task may seem, a team-mate may come to the rescue at any moment, and then you'll score.
The forward should always play the ball in preference to the man and keep free as much as possible. And above all--play fast and hard.
AMERICAN RULES
1. The ball shall be the regulation white rubber a.s.sociation football not less than 7 nor more than 8 inches in diameter.
2. The goals shall be s.p.a.ces 4 feet long and 12 inches wide marked ”Goal” in large letters. One shall be placed at either end of the tank, 18 inches above the water-line equally distant from either side.
3. To score a goal the goal must be touched by the ball in the hand of an opposing player and the greatest number of goals shall count game.
4. The ball shall be kept on or as near the surface of the water as possible, and shall never intentionally be carried under water. No goal shall be allowed when scored by an under-water pa.s.s.
5. The contesting teams shall consist of six a side, with two reserve men who can be subst.i.tuted at any time when the ball is not in play. A player withdrawn can not return to play. Only six prizes shall be given to the winning team.
6. Time of play shall be 16 minutes actual time, divided in two halves of 8 minutes each and 5 minutes rest between halves. Time occupied by disputes, free trials for goal, repairing suits, and lining up after a goal has been scored shall not be reckoned as time of play.
7. The captains shall be playing members of teams they represent and shall toss for choice of ends of tank. The ends shall be changed at half time.
8. The referee shall throw the ball in the center of the tank and the start for the ball be made only at the sound of the whistle.
9. A ball going out of the tank shall be returned to the place from which it was thrown and given to the opposing team.
10. A mark shall be made four feet from each goal on the side of the tank and an imaginary line between these marks shall be called the four-foot line. No man will be allowed within this line until the ball is within it. The goal-tenders, limited to two, of the defending side are alone exempt from this rule. When the ball is within the goal-line the goal-tenders shall not be allowed any artificial support other than the bottom of the tank.
11. No player is allowed to interfere with an opponent unless such an opponent is within four feet of the ball, except when the ball is within the goal section, when indiscriminate tackling will be allowed in the goal section, the goal section to be a s.p.a.ce of four feet by eight feet within the goal-line and between two parallel lines drawn at right angles to the goal-line and distant two feet from either end of the goal.
12. Upon a goal being gained, the opposite teams shall go to their own end of the tank, and the ball shall be thrown by the referee into the center and play started as at beginning of game.
13. Each team shall have two judges, one at each goal-line, who, upon a goal being made, shall notify the referee and announce the same.
Only in case the judges disagree shall the referee have power to decide whether a goal be fairly made or not.
14. The referee shall decide all fouls, and if in his opinion a player commits a foul he shall caution the team for the first offense and give the opponents a free trial for goal at each succeeding foul.
A free trial for goal will be given by lining up three backs of the defending team within the 4-foot line and giving three forwards of the opposing team the ball on the 15-foot line, when they may try for a goal until a goal is scored or the ball goes outside the 15-foot line. Only three men from each side will be allowed within the 15-foot line, until the ball goes outside that line or a goal is scored.
FOULS.--It shall be foul to tackle an opponent if the ball is not within four feet of him or to hold him by any part of his costume. It shall be a foul to cross the 4-foot line ahead of the ball, unless forced over by an opponent, or to hang on to the sides of the tank except for the purpose of resting.
Unnecessary rough work may, within the discrimination of the referee, either be counted a foul or the referee may put the offender out of the tank until a goal is scored or the half ends.
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GOAL
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GOAL
SECTION
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4 FT. LINE