Sport: U.S. v. Canada

The U.S. and Canada had at each other on a London football field last week. The field, with barrage ballons loafing palely overhead in the springtime sky, was London’s White City Stadium. There were no cheerleaders, chrysanthemums, furry beauties or meandering drunks; but there was plenty of color. The crowd of 55,000 uniformed men & women heard a U.S. band blast out the Stars and Stripes Forever and the Notre Dame Victory March, and Canada’s musicians, in a dozen different tartans, shook the air with the skirling of 112 massed bagpipes.

Half the game was played by Canadian rules, half by American. This meant that during the first half there were twelve men on a side ; interference was forbidden more than three yards ahead of the line of scrimmage; the backfield could be in motion before the ball was snapped.

But the Canadian rules were no handicap to the U.S. team, from the moment the Canadian Army’s Mustangs fumbled the opening kickoff. For the U.S. Infantry Blues, Quarterback Tommy Thompson of Fort Worth, Tex., formerly of the professional Philadelphia Eagles, threw two touchdown passes to Halfback Corporal Johnny Bayne, from Ridge Farm, Ill. Corporal Bayne ran the ball to another score, and the Blues just missed two more close chances. Final score: Blues -18; Mustangs -0.