by Mike Toone, sports editor

The history of football in America did not start with a "Hup One Hup Two". It started mostly with kicking a ball, cursing, bandages, and a lot of arguing. We got the idea from England. Football was first noted there around 1823. England called it football or rugby. Rugby’s Boy School was the name of the school that brought attention to the game. It was there that they first started using hands to move the ball along. One thing for sure. It was not a game for the weak of heart. It was a bit violent. It was football, no matter what the name.

About that time the cousin of rugby known as soccer was also catching on. Here in America college students did not want to be left out. Most notably were the students of Princeton University who played it among themselves for leisure, and bragging rights. It was modeled after rugby but with a twist in the use of hands. The fists were as important as the feet involvement in moving the ball down field. Plus the Princeton version of the game was called "Ballown". A name left over from the 1600’s when the first wave of British colonists settled in later America. Loosely translated Ballown means "Ball, feet, play" all in one word.

In time Harvard University caught wind of what the boys in Princeton were doing. It did not take long before the first Monday of each school year pitted the incoming freshman class against the sophomore class. These games were well known for their roughness. So fearsome were the encounters that the day of the game became known as "Bloody Monday". People loved it and by 1860 the game was popular in the entire Boston area.

Then an even bloodier battle started taking attention away from the games. Almost all had to put away balls, books, and life, as they knew it during the Civil War. When the war was over, around 1865, colleges began organizing the American football game. By 1867 Princeton came up with some rules to tame the "free for all" image it had. They even went so far as to patent the football. At the time it resembled a basketball. Rutgers also added some rules. When the two universities reached an agreement to the rules, in 1869, they played each other. This became the first intercollegiate football game in history. Rutgers won by 6 goals and this game really got the football rolling. Other institutes of higher learning joined in on the rule making.

In 1873 the football took a big roll forward in New York City. Representatives from Columbia, Yale, Rutgers and Princeton came together to agree on a few things. They formed the Inter-collegiate Football Association or IFA. Among other things this group set 15 as the number of players to be fielded on each team. This, with a few other adjustments, formalized football rules. Prior to this soccer rules were the standard.

Not that everyone was happy. Walter Camp was the football coach at Yale. He strongly felt there should be an 11-man team on the field. He was not alone and in time Camp, and friends, changed the rugby style of play football still had. Camp is credited with cutting the number of players down to eleven. He also set the size of the playing field to a standardized 110 yards in 1881. In 1882 he introduced the concept of "downs". Thus allowing each team three chances to advance the ball five yards for a first down. It was not until 1906 till this was changed to ten yards. In 1912 a fourth down was added and the length of the playing field became one hundred yards. This allowed for 10-yard end zones. Prior to that passes caught over the goal line was a wasted pass. It did not count. Plus kicks that were blocked or even fumbles, could roll up to thirty yards behind the goal line and still be in play. The field of play, and non-play, was now established.

Among the evolving changes there was a strange one for football introduced in 1882. It was that year that tackling below the waist was legalized. Despite all the new rules one aspect of the game remained the same. Call it the fan favorite, or call it violent, the game kept doctors busy. After numerous deaths on the field and hundreds of serious injuries colleges started banning the game. The extreme bruising was cutting into their class attendance.

United States President Theodore Roosevelt in 1905 called on leaders of Harvard, Princeton and Yale to save the game from collapse. The schools agreed and at a second meeting more then sixty colleges attended. The first order of business was the establishing of a seven-member rules committee. Today we know that group as the National Collegiate Athletic Association or NCAA. Some of the changes that came from this meeting included the legalizing of the forward pass. This opened the door for a more open style of play. In addition rough mass plays were no longer permissible. One example of this is that players could no longer lock arms to clear the way for a ball carrier. They also shortened the game length from 70 minutes of play to 60. In addition for the first time a neutral zone was put into effect. In this zone members of one team could not touch members of the other without penalty. At least till the ball was put into play. Today that zone, between downs, is the length of a football.

The changes caught on with the players and fans so the game of football endured. During this path of history the sport had become a game not just for kids. Adults enjoyed playing it, and many towns large and small had adult leagues. As in college an association was formed to manage this evolving sport. In 1920 they called it the Professional Football Association. It seems they agreed on little except change. To reflect this in 1922 this American football organization was renamed the National Football League.

Some players in the professional circuit even started making money playing the game.

What could be next?

Part 2