Democratic Sentinel, Volume 18, Number 3, Rensselaer, Jasper County, 2 February 1894 — Football in Sumatra. [ARTICLE]

Football in Sumatra.

Among the Malays football has been in existence from time immemorial, says the New York Times, but it is, with them, essentially a game, as, for instance, battledore and shuttlecock is with us, and it is not a contest. The football is rather smaller that that used at Eton, and is made of wicker work. Those who join in the game arrange themselves in a wide circle and kick the ball from one to another with the inside, or at times with the flat of the foot. The object of the players is to keep the ball passing about without its ever touching the ground or the hand of any one. Great dexterity is shown in its performance, and the ball is usually kicked to a very respectable height. There seems to be no penalty to be exacted from a player who may kick the ball badly or fail to kick it at all.