I should say nothing at all in a work intended for sportsmen only about stealing an opponen's signals were it not-for the fact that I want to emphasizet the utter worthless ness of it. I know of a specific case in which the coach gave the signals of the opposing eleven to his own team just before the game. He had stolen them, or rather, they had been stolen for him. His team won the game, but the players forgot all about the stolen signals two minutes after the game started. Their own alertness was better than any amount of knowledge of the opposing eleven's code.

Now to a study of signal systems. I shall not attempt to go into their history beyond stating that they started with simple phrases, went through algebra and geometry, were occasionally picturesque, as for instance the old "Clear ship for action," of the Navy, and finally settled down once more to simple arithmetic. Some of the older systems were of the most complicated nature, and I 10 regret to find that there has been a tendency along that line in recent years. It is a tendency which if pace is to be maintained cannot endure.

It is a football axiom, I believe, or should be, that the simplest signal system is the best. One of the old-fashioned methods was to number every man on the team and every opening in the line, and this is still useful in the early season, when a host of candidates is being tried out, and there must be a common system that can be learned in five minutes or so. In such a system the actual signaling may be begun on the first, second, third, fourth, or in fact any number previously agreed upon. Thus a shift is easily made to mark the difference between the set used by the first eleven and that employed by the second. In these practice scrimmages there will be little attempt to fathom the signals of the opposing team, for the players know that the coaches are not impressed with proficiency in that line but are looking for real football players. This simple system may be carried along until the first eleven is about chosen and the plays that are to be used in the more important games are being taught. When this stage is reached the signal system becomes a matter of considerable moment, for it sometimes happens that the system chosen will have something to do with the winning or losing of the big game. One of the big Eastern elevens of 1912 owed its failure in part to a signal system that would have proved troublesome in the class room, let alone on the field. This system required several processes of thought, and I am not certain that it did not actually include multiplication. Subtraction is bad enough, but the multiplication table has no business in football.

The simplest possible signal system that I have been able to discover is one that includes a key number, a play number, and a starting signal. The last I shall discuss separately, for it is one of the advanced features of football signaling. The key number being movable, the players who are waiting for it have nothing to do in the way of taking one digit from one number, another from a second, and so on, before the key number is given, and have the further advantage of knowing, under the simplest method that has come to my notice, that should the number be above nine, only the last digit need be heeded. In the system to which I refer, the key number is any number ending in 5 or 0. Thus 20, 15, 5, 75, 90, are all key numbers. Then follows immediately the number designating the play, after which the few numbers given may end in 5 or 0 without requiring any attention. Under this system, of course, the play number itself may end in 5 or 0. Thus, if the play number be 25, the signal may be, 32, 16, 35, 25, 27, 45,18. The key number is 35, immediately followed by the play number, 25. The rest may be disregarded as they mean nothing and are used only to conceal the exact instant of the snapping of the ball.

The key number, of course, may be the first, second, third, or any other numbering ending in 5 or 0. The play numbers should be odd or even, I think, according as the play is to go to the left or to the right. Most men naturally associate even numbers with the right side, and odd numbers with the left. With such a system I am sure the coach will experience little difficulty.

But some, even of the biggest teams, require much more brainwork of their men. They will arrive at the signal number, for instance, by combining the first digit of the second number with the second digit of the third number. Thus, if the play number is 31, the signal will run, 26, 38, 21, etc. Again, in using the forward pass and placing kicks, there will be a number to indicate the spot to which the kick or pass is to be made. Even in such circumstances I believe the simplest method is to have one number for each play. It is easier to learn a set of numbers arbitrarily, and become accustomed to recognizing them at once, than to do mental arithmetic under fire. Simplification of the signal system is another reason why it is a good plan for every member of the team to be familiar with the entire scheme of generalship. The tackle, for instance, will know, when he reaches a certain part of the field on a certain down, with a certain number of yards to gain, that the selection of plays will be greatly restricted. He will himself pick one or two out mentally, and will frequently hit upon the right one. He will catch his signal practically without thinking about it, but being prepared for a choice from a small number of plays, a change of generalship will be at once apparent, he will know that the quarterback is taking a chance, and will make his own effort with all the more dash, in the hope of justifying his leader in his choice by making the play go.

One of the commonest methods of arriving at the play number is to add the first two numbers or the second and third numbers. For instance, in the first case, if the play number is 22, the signal will run, 5,17, etc. In the second case it will run, 13, 18, 4, etc. This is easy enough when a man is seated in an easy chair, but it is apt to be troublesome in the heat of a game. No signal system, I believe, should require a man actually to think. With every play numbered and a key number used, the prompt response to signals becomes a matter of habit.

Just how thoroughly rooted in a man's inner consciousness a signal system may become, was well illustrated in the course of one of Yale's games in the season of 1912. One of the Eli players had been temporarily knocked out, had resumed play, and seemed to be getting along well enough so fax as the spectators could see. Captain Spalding had his suspicions, however, and stopped the game, calling Johnny Mack, the trainer, to inspect the injured player. First Spalding put a long string of signals in rapid succession to his player and the latter answered all of them promptly and accurately. "Let me at him," said Mack. "Now," asked the trainer, "How many goal posts are there?' "Sixteen," was the prompt answer, "How many grandstands do you figure there are?" was the next query. "Twenty-five," answered the injured one. "That's all," quoth Mack, "Good night; the side line for yours." The injured player was still straight on his signals, although mentally a blank on anything else.

Most elevens of the first rank use the starting signal, which is a great advantage when it works, and a severe handicap when it does not work. This signal enables the entire eleven to get just the slightest fraction of an advantage over the defense on the charge. The defensive players cannot make their charge until the ball is actually snapped, whereas, with the starting signal in use, the attacking forwards can start actually with the ball. Both players and ball go from the signal. As in all other signals there is a variety of methods in the use of the starting signal. Once again, however, tendencies toward complication should be avoided. The simplest starting signal I know of, and one that has been used by successful elevens of the first rank, is the repetition of the play number, or of some number the second digit of which is the second digit of the play number. Thus, using the system I outlined above, let us say that the play number is 28. The signal will then run, 4,32,15, 28, 66, 14, 48. The third number is the key number, the fourth the play number, and the last the starting signal, which repeats in its second digit the second digit of the play number. Another method is to start on the fourth, fifth or some other number in the signal sequence. This means, however, that there will always be the same number of numbers in the signal sequence down to the instant of the charge, and in such case the starting signal will be as valuable to the defense as it is to the offense.

On nearly every eleven in the country the signals are given by the quarterback, but it sometimes happens that a very green and uncertain quarter has to be used, and a responsible veteran in the backfield is chosen to give the numbers. This is a poor makeshift as a rule, and has sometimes led to disaster because the man who gave the signals was out of his element simply through lack of practice, no matter how well he knew the game, and no matter how good a general.

It would seem hardly necessary to state that the captain should be extremely slow to change the signal of his quarterback. Such a proceeding a few times does no harm, but when persisted in it absolutely ruins a team. One of Harvard's greatest teams a few years ago was reduced in efficiency fully fifty per cent. because of this very thing. Either the captain should have abandoned the policy of changing the signal or a substitute quarter should have been sent in. Better a fair individual player, who can run the team, than an individual star who has to consult with his captain or whom his captain deems it necessary to override. The final word, then, is simplicity, with the burden of running the team and calling the signals constantly on the shoulders of one man.