Football`s Origin

Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology shares his research and knowledge of when the game of American football, actually came to be. 

Timothy P Brown

Tim Brown, one of the foremost experts on early college football, is the host and founder of FootballArchaeology.com. Tim's love of the gridiron's past goes beyond just the website. Mr Brown, to date, is the author of three books on football history, appears on various football history podcasts, and has been quoted in articles by The Athletic, The Chicago Tribune, and other publications. He guest authors articles on UniWatch, and his research on the 1920s West Point Cavalry Detachment teams contributed to All American: The Power of Sports, currently on display at the National Archives Museum in Washington, D.C.

His books include: Fields of Friendly Strife; How Football Became Football: 150 Years of the Game's Evolution; and Hut! Hut! Hike! A History of Football Terminology, which explores the history of football’s words and expressions and how they became connected to the game.

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It is common knowledge that the game of American football derived out of the games of rugby and soccer at some point in time during the 19th century. Timothy P. Brown of Football Archaeology has researched the question in a recent Tidbit and shares his findings with us in the podcast above.

Here is Tim's original Tidbit on the subject.  

Over the years there have been multiple dates for the actual start of American football offereed up by historians and experts. The most popular of these may be the November 6, 1869, Princeton versus Rutgers contest.

If we could magically watch the game played  back then almost 150 years ago, our modern eye would not recognize it as American football. That is because it wasn't the gridiron game. There were 25 men to a side kicking a ball. They were not allow to carry it. Basically this was more of a game of soccer, otherwise known as Association Football. Some claim that this game was chosen by former Princeton Alum, and original football historian Parke H. Davis as the start of football in his 1911 book.

Here is more on the 1869 match:

Rutgers team of mostly classicists beat Princeton in first-ever intercollegiate football game

Another look at the 1869 Rutgers vs Princeton game

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Others look to the 1874 meeting of McGill University from Canada traveling to Harvard University to play a weekend of football. The May 14 and May 15, 1874 contests were more generally regarded as rugby game adaptations more so than football. Here is more on this improtant weekend on football history.

The world's first football game - Bicentennial - McGill University ‣ Harvard Crimson

Could the mcGill at Harvard games of may 14 & May 15, 1874 be the 1st football games?

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The meeting of the Intercollegiate Football Association or IFA, was a meeting that established set rules of what we think of as Rugby Football, that many started using to make the play consistent acorss the realm of rugby. Many of these rules form the fundamentals of American Football. below is more on this important development.

Scrimmage ‣ 1876 IFA Rule #11

Timothy P Brown researched the IFA rule of 1876 on scrimmage and how it made way for the modern game of American Football

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Football History Rewind 1874 to 1882

Football History Rewind: A glance at how football developed in stages especially in post Civil War America^**

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In October of 1880 a young Yale man from New Haven, Connecticut proposed some thoughts that changed the game forever. Walter Camp at the Rule Committee Meeting brought the scrimmage, center , quarterback and a series of downs to the IFA rules that put the American game on a course all its own.

A Very Special thanks to information obtained from the following brilliant internet sites: Timothy Brown and his FootballArchaeology.com website.

Banner photo is courtesy of Wikimedia Commons of The Rutgers Queensmen football team that played the first official intercollegiate game in 1869, being honored on the field several years later..

Football Archaeology

Timothy Brown's FootballArchaeology.com is a website dedicated to preserving pigskin history. digs into gridiron history to examine how football’s evolution shapes today's game. The site has a variety of articles, history of football word origins, and Daily Tidbits, which have a daily football factoid that shares some quite interesting items and aspects of the gridiron in a short read. They preserve football history in a very unique way Visit the site at Today's Tidbits.

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