University of Virginia Library

EXTRACTS FROM THE BY-LAWS OF THE SOUTHERN
CONFERENCE

Article VII

General Code

Section 1. Post-Season Games. The football season shall close the
second Saturday following Thanksgiving and no member of this Conference
shall engage in any intercollegiate football game after that date except with
the consent of the Conference.

Section 2. Freshman Teams. Freshman teams shall be composed of
members of the freshman class only, who shall not compete as such for more
than one year, and shall be eligible under the rules of this Conference, except
the one-year rule.

For the purpose of this rule, a Freshman is a student who enters the Institution
from a High School or a Preparatory School.

The Freshman football teams of this Conference shall be allowed to play
only five games in any regular season.

Section 3. Training Table and Training Quarters. No member of this
Conference is permitted to maintain a training table for any intercollegiate
team.

Section 4. Preliminary Training. There shall be no preliminary training,
assembling of candidates or issuing of equipment prior to the first Monday
in September. Athletic associations of Southern Conference institutions
may bear the expense of food for men during preliminary training provided
that no such expenses shall begin prior to the first Monday in September
nor prior to fifteen days before the opening of the college session.

No freshman students shall be allowed to assemble for practice before
the opening of college.

Section 5. Contests with Non-Conference Members. No Conference
Institution shall compete with any non-conference institution in Conference
territory, of similar athletic rank, that is, one which competes with any member
of the Conference upon the basis of athletic equality, unless both compete
under the rules of eligibility of the Conference. A list of such institutions
shall be determined from year to year at the annual meeting.

Section 6. Eligibility Certificates. Before any student can compete in
any intercollegiate contest, the faculty chairman of the Athletic Committee
of his Conference Institution shall certify the eligibility of football candidates
to the Chairman of the Executive Committee. All lists shall be made on
blanks furnished by the Secretary and such blanks shall have printed on their
face the rules of eligibility of the Conference and also a certificate in the
following form, which certificate shall be signed by the Registrar of the Institution,
who certifies to the competitor's eligibility on a scholastic basis,
and by the Faculty Chairman of the Athletic Committee, who certifies to the
competitor's eligibility on the basis of the Conference Rules:

"We certify that the following men are eligible according to the rules of
eligibility of the Southern Conference and the scholastic requirements of
(member institution)."

Section 7. Rules. All rules of the Conference shall apply to all intercollegiate
sports.

Article VIII

Rules of Eligibility

The following rules apply to all sports:

Rule 1. Bona Fide Students. No one shall participate in any intercollegiate
contest unless he is a bona fide matriculated student with at least 15
Carnegie units regularly enrolled and doing full work as defined by the regulations
of the institution in which he is enrolled; provided that no student in
any Conference institution which admits conditional students with less than
fifteen Carnegie units shall be eligible for varsity competition unless such
student on first entrance presents fifteen Carnegie units either by certificate
or examination and provided further that no work done after such entrance
shall remove such ineligibility.

A student in special agricultural or other special courses who does not
present the full entrance credits is not eligible under this rule.

Rule 2. No person shall participate in intercollegiate athletics at an institution
until after the expiration of twelve months from the date of his
matriculation there, and until he shall have completed the scholastic requirements
of that institution.

Rule 3. Attendance. No student having been a member of any athletic
team of his college during any year and having been in attendance less than
one-half of the college year shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate
contest thereafter until he shall have been in attendance one-half
of the next college year. The term "college year" shall be construed to mean
the term beginning in September of each year and continuing for two semesters
or three quarters.

Note: Attendance during Summer Sessions is not counted as "attendance"
for the purpose of this rule.

Rule 4. Migrant Students. (a) No person who has participated in any
intercollegiate contest in any branch of sport as a member of any college or service
team shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate contest in the
same sport as a member of a team of any other institution in this Conference.

For the purpose of this rule, an intercollegiate contest is a contest played
by the varsity or the freshman teams.

(b) Students who have pursued courses of study at one university or
college but who have not participated in an intercollegiate contest, shall be
eligible to participate in intercollegiate athletics at another institution, but
only when they have satisfied the conditions as set forth in Rule 2—the one-year-residence
rule.

(c) Transfers from a junior college, normal school or other institution
not offering a standard four-year course may be allowed to continue their
athletic careers at the institution to which they transfer provided that they
conform to the one-year-residence rule.

(d) A student in the preparatory department of a college who plays on
the freshman or varsity team of that college, if he transfers to a Conference
college, shall be regarded as a migrant student.

Rule 5. Limit of Participation. Participation in intercollegiate athletics
shall be limited to one freshman and three years varsity over a period of
five college years counting from date of first matriculation. Every student
shall be allowed three years of varsity participation in each sport, provided
such participation falls within the five-year period herein defined.

Rule 6. Compensation. (a) No person who receives any compensation
from his institution for services rendered by way of regular instruction shall
be allowed to participate in intercollegiate contests.

(b) No person shall be allowed to participate in any intercollegiate contest
who receives any gift, remuneration, or pay for his services on a college
team.

(c) No person shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate
contest who has ever used his knowledge of athletics or his athletic or
gymnastic skill for gain.

Note: This rule does not apply to any person who has worked in connection
with a playground or a summer camp where the requirements do not call
for a man with technical preparation in physical training.

(d) The following persons shall be ineligible to compete on any team
in this Conference: (1) Those who hold any scholarship, fellowship or cadetship
involving financial benefit which is awarded wholly or in part for athletic
ability. (2) Those who enjoy any loan fund or similar benefit which is
awarded wholly or in part for athletic ability. (3) Those who hold any position
involving financial benefit which is awarded wholly or in part for athletic
ability.

(e) Any college athlete receiving money for signing a contract with a
professional baseball team shall be ineligible for intercollegiate athletics.

Rule 7. Summer Baseball. No athlete in any Conference institution
shall participate as a member of any summer baseball team without the consent
of his Faculty Committee on Athletics; and such a player when given
permission to play on such team shall submit at the reopening of the school
term to his Faculty Committee, a certified statement that he has not received
pecuniary compensation therefor.

No student playing on a baseball team recognized by the National Baseball
Commission shall be eligible for intercollegiate athletics.

Rule 8. No student shall be eligible to participate in any intercollegiate
contest if he has played on any summer baseball team which played more
than three games a week while he was a member of it. This rule applies to
regularly matriculated college students and not to students who played summer
baseball before entering college.

To this list of professional teams thus prescribed, shall be added all the
teams in any state which the Conference institutions of such state declare
professional and from which they debar their own players. In the event said
Conference can not agree on prescribed teams, the Executive Committee shall
have power to decide the issue and the action of the Committee shall be final.

A student who plays baseball on team which plays three games a week
shall not be allowed to play on any other team during the same week.

No college player is permitted to play on an athletic team other than that
of his own college during the college year.

Rule 9. Assumed Name. No person shall take part in any intercollegiate
contest under an assumed name.

Rule 10. Delinquency in Studies. No student who is found delinquent in
his studies by the faculty shall be permitted to participate in any intercollegiate
contest.

A student to be eligible must have passed during the preceding year three-fourths
and during the preceding term three-fifths of the proportionate percentage
of hours required for graduation in the course in which he is registered.

Rule 11. Outside Participation. No college football player is permitted
to play on a football team other than that of his own college.