How Did Football Start

Football over time has changed. Such as the equipment, rules, and ownership. The sport has drawled lots of popularity and to this day football is one of the most famous sports. Despite being so popular some players still get injured and draw controversy.

On November 6, 1869 the first game of American football was played, players from princeton university and rutgers university met to play the first intercollegiate football game. Back in those days football still resembled rugby more than modern day football, with 20 players to a team. In 1873, representatives from Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale Universities met in New York City to form the first intercollegiate football rules for the now popular game.These four teams established the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) and set 15 as the number of players allowed on each team.

To understand the dangers of football, I believe it is important to know the history of the sport. Versions of American football have been played for centuries, but modern day American football really began to take shape in 1878 by a man named Walter Camp (www.understanding-american-football.com).

He created the game by combining the sport of Soccer and Rugby which was founded by William Webb Ellis. “In the 1880’s, Camp shaped the rules transformed rugby football into American football, including playing with 11 men, using a line of downs, and the present point system.” He got the idea by making Rugby more technical. The early version of American football was very simple and only had a few rules. Nowadays there is a ton of rules that are pointless.

There has always been a controversy of the first American football team, but most analysts say it was a Boston Club founded in 1861, called Oneida Football Club. Even though no one knows the rules or regulations they followed. It’s not until Rutgers versus Princeton game in 1869, that we are given a glimpse of the sports early years. At this time there were 25 players on a team. Each team was made up of 11 “fielders”, 12 “bulldogs”, and 2 “planters” whose job was to wait by the other teams unguarded

American Football was voted the most popular sport in America by 20% over baseball(ESPN Harris Poll). The NFL today has tv ratings off the charts, breaking records every Super Bowl(Coming Soon.com). But what started out as an American staple, actually was a mix of different sports. The first “football” game was actually just an altered soccer game between Rutgers and Princeton, but no one would realize the revolution it would bring to America. It then evolved with the help of rugby. Twenty years later the NFL was born and football went from a simple college game to a professional sport. The NFL today began as a simple concept which blossomed into an American tradition.

On November 6, 1869 the first football game was played between the colleges of Rutgers and Princeton and ever sense that football has been a huge hit for some people. The sport of football is really only popular in the United States and there is two major set of rules for the sport. One of these rules is for football played in college and the other one is for football played professionally. The rules are somewhat similar but there are a couple of changes in them. Football is at its best when it is played at the college level because unlike the NFL, the overtime rules make the game more exciting, the field is bigger on the sides so it has more room to play, and lastly the two-minute timeout does not exist in college football so the game goes faster.

On November 6,1869 Walter Camp invented the sport football! I personally think that that wasn’t the best idea. Maybe people coul reduce their time playing football. The less people would get hurt or injured, and there would be less trips to the hospital. In Canada football is called gridiron, which is a pretty creative name. In Canada less people get hurt there while playing football. My guess is that they don’t play it that often for people to get hurt.

The birth date of football in the United States is November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton University met for the first intercollegiate football game. The game of football has a history of many rule changes. Rule changes have been brought on to give the excitement of the game of football and to increase the game of safety. Within a decade, concern over the increasing brutality of the game led to its ban by some colleges. Nearly 180 players had suffered serious injuries. At a meeting between the schools, reform was agreed upon, and a second meeting, attended by more than sixty other schools, the group appointed a seven member Rules Committee and set up what would later become known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association. From this committee came the legalization of the forward pass, which resulted in a redesign of the ball and a more open style of play on the field. The length of the teams by the length of the ball before each play begins, was also established. But was that enough? When they made these rules, colleges were the only ones playing. As time goes on, younger generations have become interested in the sport. Football is proven to be too dangerous because of high risk of concussion, false safety gear protection, and long lasting effects.

It is believed that football originated from Rugby in the 1800’s. People were tired of playing the same sport and one day decided to pick up the ball and run. Later, people started tackling the person with the ball and the game

Sub-point 1: What we know as today’s American Football was not always played the same way. The first known games were played more like soccer-style then further developed into a more rugby-style. The first development of this sport was extremely dangerous as it caused numerous injures which in fact led to the university ban of American Football. Nevertheless, students would continue to participate in this sport willingly outside of school grounds. According to www.understanding-american-football.com, despite the ban, on November 6th, 1869, the first game of intercollegiate football was played in the United States. It would take a single man to change and solidify the rules and expectations of this rapid-growing

Who created football? Walter camp is the man responsible for creating football. He is known as the “American father of football.” He was a undergraduate and a medical student from 1876 to 1881, he played halfback and he also served as the teams captain. He was responsible for the his transformation from a rugby like sport to tranformationing it into football.

When football was introduced to the USA it wasn’t played like we know it now. It was actually played in multiple variations, some teams associated football with soccer and anted to use more feet than hands, and some preferred the rugby style of play and preferred the use of hands to feet. The first football game on record was between Princeton and Rutgers. For this game players could only use their feet and the objective was to kick the ball and attempt to score. Each team contained twenty-five people, where as soccer only has eleven.

Football had been played for years, with the first ever game being recorded on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers University and Princeton University, with the game taking place at Rutgers in Brunswick, New Jersey (Scott, 3). American football surfaced in the 1880’s being a spinoff of rugby created by yale student, Walter Camp (Hallas, 1). This is where the sport really took shape and it was officially the beginning of the major increase in college football teams, which in later years lead to the National Football League.

Football is a very popular sport in the United States. Many people enjoy watching their favorite teams play and tailgating before the event starts. Even though many people enjoy it, not many know the history of the sport.