The midland journal., 1915-11-26
EARLY FOOTBALL.
1t Was Crude Sport as Originally
Played In This Country.
THE FIRST GAME AT HARVARD.


Death and Resurrection of the Came.
Football was played in American col
leges as early as 1900. The teams
were made up from all the students
who happened to be on hand. The OBJ
ject of each side was to drive the ball
across a given line. The players could
not carry the ball in their hands, but
had to kick it.
In the year 1915 the first football
game at Harvard was played on the
Delta, a small triangular piece of
ground. The contest was between all
the members of the two lower classes
and proved not SO much a football
game as fight. When, in 1860, the
faculty forbade that sort of contest
the students held solemn burial serv-
ice over the football.I Over the grave
they erected tablet that bore the
following inscription:
TIic Jacet
Football Fightum
Obiit July q 1861
Act. LX Years
Resurgat
And in twelve years football ire
surged," when, in 1872, the class of
IA played the class Of rs on Boston
common.
Oddly enough, the history of the
game at Yal was much the same as
it was at H:lyard The sport, which
had been abolished there in 1860, came
to life again in 1872, when the Yale
Football association was founded and
a game was played with Columbia.
In 1869 Princeton and Rutgers play
ed the first intercollegiate game in
America 1t was not until 1872 that
Oxford and Cambridge, in England, ar
ranged contest.
In the game played at Harvard be-
fore 1874 there were no goal posts. To
make goal one side had to strike or
kick the ball on the fly over the end
line Of the field. If the opposing side
caught it no goal resulted. A '1urker"
or offside player could not kick the ball.
A player could not run with it unless
he was chased by an opponent, but
could strike it or kick it. The ball was
into sphere.
In the spring of 1874 the students
at McGill university in Montreal, Can
ada, came to Cambridge to play Har-
ward university a game of Rugby foot
ball.
According to the Rugby rules, play
er could run with. the ball and any
opponent could tackle him. A goal was
scored when one side kicked the ball
over the goal posts. A score was also
made by a touchdown when a player
carried the ball behind the opponents
goal line and there touched it to the
ground.
The Canadians had forgotten to bring
the oval pigskin football that is used
in Rugby, and that first game of Rug
by in America was played with an in
dia rubber football. Perhaps that ac-
counted for the fact that the pupils
were able to defeat the teachers.
All Harvard took interest In the new
game Football enthusiasts quickly
realized that the old American game
did not have the possibilities for devel-
opment that Rugby had. During the
spring and fall the Harvard team prac-
ticed diligently and in October went to
Montreal to play a return game with
McGill. Posters and window cards ad-
vertised the game throughout the city,
and crowd of 1900 spectators was
attracted to the field.
The McGill players wore red and
black striped jerseys, stockings and
white knickerbockers. The Harvard
players wore magenta handkerchiefs
and jerseys and old tweed trousers.
Neither team had any protective pad
ding.
The Boston Advertiser of Oct. 25,
1874, gives the following account Of
the game,
"The game was called at $3.50, and at
3 Harvard was declared the winner,
having secured three touchdowns. In
response to the tiger of the McGills,
the Harvard 'rahs' were delivered with
a vim, and every stranger on the field
seemed much astonished at the style
of the cheer. many being disposed to
think it joke. The small boys yelled
for another, and second was given
for the umpire. The Victoria band
then managed to get through Yankee
Doodle quite respectably."-Joh 4.
Wheelwright in Youths Companion.