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_WINNIPEG FREE PRESS, WEDNESDAY, DECEMBER 21, 1966________Modern Day Football Strictly Coaches’ GameBy BOB MacKENZlE OTTAWA (CP)—The calibre of football has improved over the years, concedes 75-year-old Silver Quilty, “but a lot of the fun seems to have gone The Ottawan’s career as a coach and official—he refereed two Grey Cup games in the 1920s—was reviewed and praised when he was named to the Football Hall of Fame on the eve of this year's Grey Cup classic at Vancouver.But Quilty prefers to remember his days as a player.“We often used to make up our plays on the spur of the moment—right on the field during a game. The coach directed the team in practice and set up some basic playsbut he didn’t have much to do once a game started.”The game today was “acoaches' game.”“Sometimes I think it should be easier to play. But one thing hasn't changed with the years—to play football well. you’ve got to have your heart in it.”A native of Ontario’s Renfrew County, Sylvester—“a name I cordially hate”-— started playing football in high school and moved into senior ranks with University of Ottawa as an end in 1907 when he was 1C.But it wasn’t until 1913 when he played for McGill University that Quilty made his biggest impression on the sport.. He was the first man to play the wingback position—a job he compares to today’s fullback.“A lot of people think of itin terms of a flanker in today’s game but you have to remember we didn’t have the forward pass in those days.”In the playoff against University of Toronto that season Quilty carried the ball 109 yards for a touchdown in seven consecutive plays from scrimmage starting at vhis own one-yard line.But on the following lcickoff —the team scored against had to kick off in those days—a McGill player fumbled the ball in his end Zone and Toronto recovered for a touchdown and the championship. “The game was a lot different then but, despite some descriptions you read, it seldom was a case of two bucks and a kick..“We had a lot of plays Just as exciting as the. forwardpass. There was the old endrun where the hall was lateral] ed from one player to another, and the original sleeper play where you threw a long lateral pass to a man near the sidelines.”Add to this list the kicking that was possible then with a ball quite a bit larger than the present model and you have another series of plays. The original Statue of Liberty play was used on a fake kick where the punter went through the kicking motion but at the last second flipped the ball behind him to a halfback who was running towards the sidelines.“Quick kicks were a big threat too. The idea was to recover the ball yourself—not just force the opposition deep into its own end.”“Some of our other old plays such as fakes and reverses still are used without much change.”The game was ' a little tougher in those days, with no substitution allowed until about 1913. There was little in the way of padding or helmets and players wore canvas suits to protect themselves from stones which often littered the fields.Quilty recalled the switch to sweaters from canvas suits about 1907.“There was a lot of opposition to the move. Everybody was afraid the sweaters would be tom too easily. But the answer to that was if you knew how to tackle there would be no rips. There were very few torn sweaters that year.*“I can't help but think the straight arm should be used more by running backs today, especially with the number of high tackles. But few players seem to know bow to wardoff a tackier.“Sometimes when I’m watching a game on television I wish I could play the game today. But when I see the size of some of those linemen I'mglad I’m just, sitting in myliving room.”Quilty had more than a nodding acquaintance with other sports—his son, John, played in the National Hockey League for Boston Bruins after the Second World War.But he still feels football is the “greatest team sport there is.”