Posted on 09/25/2009 5:17:02 AM PDT by Homer_J_Simpson
what is this two-team system employed by the Giants? Is it a designated defense?
Good question. The Giants played 28 people, total, so it can't be they used all different people on O and D. It sounds like he had the same eleven basically playing both ways for 7 1/2 minutes and then sent in a different eleven. Maybe a football historian can enlighten us.
While baseball is little changed in rules and style of play (with the exception of the abomination of that stupid rule in the AL) football of 1939 would be virtually unrecognizable to today’s fan. In fact, football of 1939 has evolved in much the same way as warfare. Old ground-slogging infantry has been replaced by high-tech aerial assaults.
But what made it all possible was the evolution of rules regarding substitution of players. I found a nice summary of coolegiate rules but in 1939, the pros were similar:
From 1922 to 1940 all “players withdrawn during the first half may not return until the second half. Players withdrawn during the second half may not return to the game”. This includes injured players. The significant rule change in 1939 that still remains in today’s rules: is all players were required to wear “head protectors”. 1939 was the first year this rule came into being a mandatory rule.
Foot Ball Rule 5 section 1 governed substitutions in 1939. A substitute had to report to the UMPIRE before participating [5 yd. penalty for not reporting]. The substitute was prohibited from communicating with anyone other than the umpire until the ball was snapped. [15 yd. penalty if he communicated with anyone].
SUBSTITUTIONS:
1876—Fifteen players to a team and few if any substitutions.
1882—Replacements for disqualified or injured players.
1897—Substitutes may enter game at any time at discretion of captains.
1922—Players withdrawn during the first half may not return until the second half. Players withdrawn during the second half may not return to the game.
1941—Players may substitute at any time but may not be withdrawn or the outgoing player returned until at least one play has intervened. “Platoon” football was made possible. This is one of the affects of WW I and WWII - the military’s influence on the game and personnel.
1948—Unlimited substitution on change of team possession.
1953—Two-platoon abolished and players allowed to enter game only once in each quarter
1954-64—Changes each year toward more liberalized substitution and platoon football.
1965—Platoon football returns. Unlimited substitutions between periods and after a score.
1974—Substitutes must be in for one play and replaced players out for one play.
1993—Players who are bleeding or whose uniforms are saturated with blood must come out of the game until their return has been approved by medical personnel.
http://en.allexperts.com/q/College-Football-2792/2008/5/substitution-rules-1939.htm
In 1939 players were expected to play both ways. Think how different that made the game from today.
Thanks. I didn't realize the radical evolution that has occurred with respect to substitution. But that makes the question of the Giants coach's substitution strategy even more mysterious. Anyone who came out after 7 1/2 minutes was done for half. Unless the big switch happened only in the second and fourth quarters.
Here’s more as it applies to the NFL. I will note that the “two way player” did not become immediately extinct in 1950, but it didn’t take very long. The excerpt below shows how important free substitution was to the evolution of the technically advanced game of today featuring it’s highly specialized players.
The last regular two way player was Philly’s Chuck Bednarik, who played Center and Middle Linebacker during the 1960 season at age 35.
**********
Free Substitution Rule 1950
The Quarterbacks rules the NFL - Pro Football History
Free Substitution Rule 1950 No longer did the same players play on offense and defense In 1950 the NFL adopted the free-substitution rule that introduced the modern pro football game. Football History Because fans were packing the NFL stadiums the league teams could afford squads of 35 men. Coaches could train offensive and defensive teams. Specialists appeared. The big man who was hard to move and was fast enough to rush the passer was wanted on the defensive team’s forward wall. The fast back who could also tackle and run back intercepted passes for yardage went into the defensive secondary. On the offensive teams were the best passers, runners, blockers and pass receivers. And of course there was the man who came into the game only to kick placements or to punt.
The age of the specialist, with the accent on the forward pass, had actually begun in 1945. In that year quarterback Bob Waterfield led the Rams (then in Cleveland) to the league title. Thereafter, no team would win a title without a great quarterback at the helm. In 1946 it was Sid Luckman and the Chicago Bears; in 1947 Passin’ Paul Christman and the Chicago Cardinals; in 1948 and 1949 one-eyed Tommy Thompson of Tulsa put the Philadelphia Eagles on top. The following year it was quarterback Otto Graham and the Browns; in 1951 it was Waterfield and Norm Van Brocklin with the Los Angeles Rams. Bobby Layne and the Detroit Lions did it in 1952 and 1953; Otto Graham was on top again in 1954 and 1955. In 1956 the elderly gentleman from Mississippi, Chuckin’ Charley Conerly, led the Giants home; and Bobby Layne was the star again in 1957. Quarterback Johnny Unitas brought the Baltimore Colts out of nowhere to the top in 1958 and 1959. In 1960 it was Van Brocklin again, this time with Philadelphia. For the next two years Bart Starr shone for the Green Bay titlists; and in 1963 Billy Wade put the Chicago Bears out in front.
http://www.footballhistorian.com/football_heroes.cfm?page=48
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