Early College Football

The first intercollegiate football game was played in 1869 when Rutgers defeated Princeton 6-4 (top picture below).

The game was more similar to a very rough soccer style game than football as we know it. Over the next two decades rules changes would be implemented that would "Americanize" college football.

In 1874, a pair of games between McGill University of Montreal and Harvard (second picture from top) influenced early rules. McGill preferred a rugby style (allowing running with the ball). After the games, Harvard players came to favor the rugby style and over the next several years other Eastern schools finally agreed to play that style.

As discussed in class, Walter Camp of Yale introduced a series of rules changes in the 1880s to further distinguish American football from its rugby and soccer predecessors. Camp is pictured as a Yale player and in later life.