Book of football

ON TACTICS IN GENERAL 61
to dodge in this manner at least twice in the same direc-
tion. The second defender never expects a man who
has just dodged from left to right to again dodge from
left to right in the next stride, partly because it is
difficult of accomplishment and partly because so few
players attempt it. The best dodger I ever saw was
A. B. Fforde of Bedford and Cambridge. The width
of his dodge was something extraordinary. There
is nothing like it in modern football. Without any
exaggeration his sideway stride must have covered
five or six feet at times. And this, when going at full
speed,was naturally very disconcerting for the defender.
I once saw a back make the rush at him and literally
fall flat grasping thin air as the elusive Fforde was clean
away at top speed. Many a try did he get without a
defender touching him. In modern football perhaps
P. F. Bush and A. D. Stoop are two of the best dodgers,
though J. D. Krige of South Africa and R. W. Poulton
of Oxford are both excellent side-steppers.
The hand-off is not employed so much as it used to
be. In fact, since the passing game became
de Yigueur
both dodging and handing-off are in danger of falling
into desuetude. A player holding the ball in both
hands cannot hand-off. The hand-off is done with the
open hand, thumb separate from the fingers, fingers
almost if not quite close together, and all stiffened to
their utmost capacity. For if slack there is nothing
like an attempted hand-off for putting fingers out of
joint, and especially so in the case of the thumb. The
place where to catch the opponent depends upon what
the opponent is doing. If he is " going high," he must
get the hand-off just below the throat. Many a man
has had a very disagreeable jar of the Adam's apple