EXILED FOR FOOTBALL.

Evening Star, Issue 15065, 23 December 1912, Page 8

EXILED FOR FOOTBALL.

BALL TAKEN FOR BOMB. About 10 years ago, writes an American AM,?IV m -? 3 + u he reis ? of lhe ex-Sultan Hamid. the son of a Turkish notable having acquired a love of football in his student days in England, formed a football club on his return to Turkey. The club practised on a ground behind high walls near his Fathers house. The secret police, never (laving heard of the game, and learning that :he large elastic ball was called in Turkish oy the same name as that applied'to a canson ball, made a raid on the clubhouse, and irrested the father. Thev found a number 31 jerseys, shmguards, nose protectors, elbow pads, arid other paraphernalia. The footballs were placed in water te prevent their explosion, and the sweaters, etc., were submitted to the Sultan himself! When "the friends of the father learnt of all this they appealed to the British Embassv, and 'a secretary was sent to the Minister of Police to explain the nature of the game and the use of the terrible articles discovered. He unlaced the ball without the slightest trepidation, and put on t,he nose protectors, shinguards, and other armor. But the police au-thoritiesf-perhaps because their pride was 1 hurt—insisted on the temporary exile of the father to an Arabian Province of the Turkish Empire.