Rutty and its dubious claim as the birthplace of college football

[Exit 4]

Fantastic write up on the highly questionable Rutgers claim as the birthplace of football. Plus the story gives you a little something to regurgitate to football newbies when they inevitably ask "So XXX, where did football come from?"

A lot of gems in here - like the fact that Rutty and Princeton played 35 times from 1869 to 1938 with Princeton going 33-2 over this span. Hilarious.

Rutgers invented basically nothing about college football

After the first football game, "The Birthplace" had little to do with the sport’s evolution. And was that first game even football?

www.bannersociety.com

Anybody watching in 1869 would not have been able to recognize the game as football, maybe not even as a distant ancestor to football. Per the official Rutgers recounting of the game:

The teams lined up with two members of each team remaining more or less stationary near the opponent’s goal in the hopes of being able to slip over and score from unguarded positions. Thus, the present day ‘sleeper’ was conceived. The remaining 23 players were divided into groups of 11 and 12. While the 11 ‘fielders’ lined up in their own territory as defenders, the 12 ‘bulldogs’ carried the battle.
Each score counted as a ‘game’ and 10 games completed the contest. Following each score, the teams changed direction. The ball could be advanced only by kicking or batting it with the feet, hands, heads or sides.

So each team played with 25 players, not 11. There was no forward pass or line of scrimmage. Nobody could pick up the round ball and carry it. Points were only scored by kicking the ball across a goal. There were no quarters, halftimes, or officials, as timekeeping more closely resembled that of tennis or baseball.

This was not a football game. Historical accounts say the game was “rugby style,” but it was really more like violent soccer.


There is also this important notable:

In 1876, schools again gathered to refine the rules of college football. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met in Springfield, Massachusetts to form the second Intercollegiate Football Association. A freshman at Yale, Walter Camp, would play under these rules during his college career. He would become the most influential football rule-maker for the next 50 years, making Yale’s influence on the sport at least as prominent as Harvard’s, Princeton’s, and others.

Conspicuously absent at that pivotal convention? Rutgers.

 

[Dream Jobbed 2.0]

Rutgers in the Big10 is the death of college football so there’s that

 

[billybud]

How many died?...the southeast fan was crazy as far back as 1790...

"In 1790, the Muscogee and Choctaw were in conflict over land near the Noxubee River. The two nations agreed to settle the dispute by ball-play. With nearly 10,000 players and bystanders, the two nations prepared for nearly three months. After a long daylong struggle, the Muscogee won the game. A fight broke out and the two nations fought until sundown with nearly 500 dead and many more wounded."

 

[Irishfan]

Fantastic write up on the highly questionable Rutgers claim as the birthplace of football. Plus the story gives you a little something to regurgitate to football newbies when they inevitably ask "So XXX, where did football come from?"

A lot of gems in here - like the fact that Rutty and Princeton played 35 times from 1869 to 1938 with Princeton going 33-2 over this span. Hilarious.

Rutgers invented basically nothing about college football

After the first football game, "The Birthplace" had little to do with the sport’s evolution. And was that first game even football?

www.bannersociety.com

Anybody watching in 1869 would not have been able to recognize the game as football, maybe not even as a distant ancestor to football. Per the official Rutgers recounting of the game:


So each team played with 25 players, not 11. There was no forward pass or line of scrimmage. Nobody could pick up the round ball and carry it. Points were only scored by kicking the ball across a goal. There were no quarters, halftimes, or officials, as timekeeping more closely resembled that of tennis or baseball.

This was not a football game. Historical accounts say the game was “rugby style,” but it was really more like violent soccer.


There is also this important notable:

In 1876, schools again gathered to refine the rules of college football. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met in Springfield, Massachusetts to form the second Intercollegiate Football Association. A freshman at Yale, Walter Camp, would play under these rules during his college career. He would become the most influential football rule-maker for the next 50 years, making Yale’s influence on the sport at least as prominent as Harvard’s, Princeton’s, and others.

Conspicuously absent at that pivotal convention? Rutgers.

they don’t have much of a football history. Let them have this. Same with Princeton.

 

[Adios]

they don’t have much of a football history. Let them have this. Same with Princeton.

It's going to us in New England. Screw Rutgers, Princeton and Parke Davis' revisionist history.

 

[HuskyDogArt]

Rutgers? No, Yale has more of a claim on College Football than Rutgers. How many Heisman Trophy winners came out of Rutgers? How many people knows who is Rutgers rival is? And any books written about their rival? At least Yale had two HT winners, Yale has a big game against Harvard and I even seen books on Yale Harvard here in bookstores in Florida...

 

[AZHuskiePop]

Fantastic write up on the highly questionable Rutgers claim as the birthplace of football. Plus the story gives you a little something to regurgitate to football newbies when they inevitably ask "So XXX, where did football come from?"

A lot of gems in here - like the fact that Rutty and Princeton played 35 times from 1869 to 1938 with Princeton going 33-2 over this span. Hilarious.

Rutgers invented basically nothing about college football

After the first football game, "The Birthplace" had little to do with the sport’s evolution. And was that first game even football?

www.bannersociety.com

Anybody watching in 1869 would not have been able to recognize the game as football, maybe not even as a distant ancestor to football. Per the official Rutgers recounting of the game:


So each team played with 25 players, not 11. There was no forward pass or line of scrimmage. Nobody could pick up the round ball and carry it. Points were only scored by kicking the ball across a goal. There were no quarters, halftimes, or officials, as timekeeping more closely resembled that of tennis or baseball.

This was not a football game. Historical accounts say the game was “rugby style,” but it was really more like violent soccer.


There is also this important notable:

In 1876, schools again gathered to refine the rules of college football. Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met in Springfield, Massachusetts to form the second Intercollegiate Football Association. A freshman at Yale, Walter Camp, would play under these rules during his college career. He would become the most influential football rule-maker for the next 50 years, making Yale’s influence on the sport at least as prominent as Harvard’s, Princeton’s, and others.
Conspicuously absent at that pivotal convention? Rutgers
A game as insane as football could only be invented by a a Connecticut Yankee.
I believe he was from Bristol.
I had a friend who watched his first Rugby game and observed it was disorganized football.
He was close but in reality it’s the other way around ,football is organized ,in Yankee fashion , Rugby.

 

[Travelman6]

Well. This is the same school that tried to claim over a billion dollars earned by NBA players with connections to Rutgers staff....

 

[Uconnalliance]

The home of where football started is on Central ave in New haven near a historic building called the YALE BOWL!! F Rutty!

 

[billybud]

And Grantland Rice did not mention Rutgers...


I remember the stand at Thermopylae
The Greek Guard made one day;
I remember the legions that Caesar used
To shatter the Gallic sway;

And I remember across the years
Two banners that crowned the crest,
When Yale was king of the conquered East,
And Michigan ruled the West.

At night in my humble den I dream
Of the glories that used to be.
Of Hannibal taking the Alpine Trail,
Of Drake on the open sea;

And then I wander the ancient ways
To dream a dream I love the best,
When Yale was king of the conquered East,
And Michigan ruled the West.

 

[Adios]

And Grantland Rice did not mention Rutgers...


I remember the stand at Thermopylae
The Greek Guard made one day;
I remember the legions that Caesar used
To shatter the Gallic sway;

And I remember across the years
Two banners that crowned the crest,
When Yale was king of the conquered East,
And Michigan ruled the West.

At night in my humble den I dream
Of the glories that used to be.
Of Hannibal taking the Alpine Trail,
Of Drake on the open sea;

And then I wander the ancient ways
To dream a dream I love the best,
When Yale was king of the conquered East,
And Michigan ruled the West.

Michigan football got its boost after coming to Route 1 to play Harvard, Yale and Princeton in 1881.

Wesleyan still has it's game ball from their only game and victory over Michigan in 1883, played at Andrus Field.