Wednesday, November 24, 2021

Thanksgiving football

1876 Thanksgiving game, Yale vs Princeton
Click image to enlarge

Football is a Thanksgiving Day tradition. It started in 1876 when Yale bested Princeton 2-0. The score puzzled me. Reading the inter-collegiate rules from that era is baffling, but in digging around further football in that era was a sort of mix between rugby and soccer. Blocking (which they called interference) was not yet allowed; nor was the concept of having a set number of downs to advance the ball a certain distance before having to turn the ball over. 

I think points were scored, not by entering the end zone which only resulted in an attempt to kick the ball through the goal posts, but by kicking or slapping the ball through the goal posts at any time. Hence the low score. Teams, without the 4 downs to advance rule (which, when implemented was at first 3 downs to go 5 yards), would control the ball as long as they could as they ground their way down the field. Much of the later rules were instituted to increase scoring and reduce boring games. 

 

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