Soccer Rule Changes Should Speed Action, Raise Scoring

Soccer enthusiasts watching Bruce Munro's booters this fall on the Business School field will find that soccer has changed radically over the summer. In order to open up the game, the National Collegiate Athletic Association Rules Committee has made an important new rule: out of bounds balls on the side lines are no longer thrown in, but kicked in.

One of the old English soccer pros who occasionally drift down to the practice field to look at scrimmages shock his head as he watched the "new" game a few days ago. "It'll ruin soccer," he remarked sadly.

Yet strangely enough, first pressure to change the throw-in rule came from England a few years ago, after a professional league championship playoff between Tottingham and Derby.

65 Free Throws

Whenever the Derby offense started to roll, Tottingham would blast the ball out of bounds. This gave the defense time to get set, with the only penalty a ten yard Derby free throw from the sidelines. The tactics worked. As the fourth quarter ended, Derby had taken 65 free throws but had been unable to score.

The huge crowd booed and clamored for action as the game went into overtime. Derby finally broke through for a quick score, and then settled back to boot 24 Tottingham thrusts out of bounds to put the championship on ice.

The N.C.A.A. finally decided to try the new kick-in rule last spring, although the international soccer rules committee has not yet taken any action.

Coach Bruce Munro commented last night after a scrimmage with B.U. that "the new kick-in rule should mean higher-scoring games, although none of the four goals in today's scrimmage resulted directly from kick-ins."

Hardest hit by the new rule will be the fullback. Formerly, if a back liner encountered trouble, he could slam the ball in any direction away from the goal month without serious penalty. Now, if the fullback sends the ball out of bounds, he gives the offense a free looping kick in front of the goal mouth.