http://www.yahoo.com/headlines/current/sports/stories/footballliberty.html (Einblicke ins Internet, 10/1995)
NEW YORK (Reuter) -- The NCAA Friday modified its new celebration rule to allow a player to kneel for momentary prayer in the end zone following a touchdown.
The revision was announced one day after Liberty University, which was founded by evangelist Jerry Falwell, filed a lawsuit in U.S. District Court in Lynchburg, Virginia seeking a temporary restraining order that would prevent the NCAA from enforcing the rule.
The rule previously subjected violators to a 15-yard penalty for the first expense and expulsion for a second offense. As part of the agreement between Liberty and the NCAA, U.S. District Judge James Turk declared the temporary restraining order to be moot.
The original rule was designed to cut down on unsportsmanlike conduct and prohibits ``any delayed, excessive or prolonged act by which a player attempts to focus attention upon himself.''
Before today's revision, players were allowed to kneel in prayer on the sideline, but not on the field or in the end zone.
Falwell praised the NCAA Rules Committee for making the change.
``These are decent men, many of whom I know to be evangelical Christians, and they were honorable enough to correct an unfair one,'' Falwell said. ``Now, all college football players in America can kneel in the end zone any time when they wish to pray.'' Liberty coach Sam Rutigliano praised Falwell for taking a stand.
``I want to thank Doctor Falwell because we are going to kneel tomorrow as we have done in the past and we're going to play as we did in the past but we are not going to get a penalty,'' said Rutigliano. ``I don't consider that a victory. I'm just thankful we're at a university with Doctor Falwell as our leader and more importantly that we live in a country where we can have people honor our rights. For us, it's to follow the teachings of Jesus Christ.''
Liberty opens its season Saturday night at home against West Virginia Tech.