The early history of the game of football is a very interesting story. The game was and is a series of evolutions that help make the game interesting and safer for its participants. The changes to make the game safer had repercussions throughout the other rules to the point where as it was sometimes almost a totally different athletic event.
Part 3 of this series on football history alluded to some of the changes but as we continue this nostalgic trip we can more to fully appreciate football’s transformation.
Retro Active 1882 Champions
Historian Parke H. Davis later on declared that the Yale University team was retroactively named as the national champion by the Billingsley Report, National Championship Foundation. 1882 Yale Bulldogs football team compiled an 8–0 record, shut out seven of eight opponents, and outscored all opponents, 51 to 1. Stars of this stellar squad included Captain Ray Tompkins and Henry Twombly who later helped to incorporate General Electric and the Otis Elevator Company. Another member of this teams was Halfback Wyllys Terry went on to set a college football record in 1884 that will never be broken with a 115-yard run against Wesleyan.
Football “Kicks” into Gear in 1883
In 1883 the kicking game began to play a major role in the strategy of early football. Running plays were difficult and tedious, making the field goal the more popular means of scoring. The IFA Rules makers would meet on an almost annual basis to look at rules and entertain innovations to the game.
That years meeting, titled a convention, was held at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City on October 17. The colleges who participated at that time in football which was basically the schools that make up the Ivy League today each sent a representative to participate in the rules conventions. The representatives in 1883 included: Messrs, Darling and Griffith from Columbia, F.L. Clark from Harvard, Alex Moffet and D.M. Look from Princeton, Yale’s Walter Camp (who was the secretary of the convention) and Ray Tompkins also of Yale who served as chairman.
One of the changes from that convention was that a new scoring system.
Safety…………………………1 point
Touchdown…………………...2 points
Goal following Touchdown…..4 points
Goal from the field……………5 points
To get a better understanding of the point differential the definition of a touchdown at this time must be looked at. In 1883 a touchdown was defined as “when a player, putting his hand upon the ball on the ground in touch or in goal, stops it so it remains dead or fairly so.” So a touchdown really wasn’t quite the same as what we think of it today. The point system which was started in the 1870’s was a radical change to the scoring in Rugby which at the time was computed by goals much like soccer and not by points scored.
A side bar rule that modified an original rule on officials from 1876 was also instituted in 1883. The original rule titled Number 59 in 1876 read, “There shall be two judges, one for each side, and also a referee, to whom disputed points shall be referred, and whose decision shall be final.” In 1876 this was a big change to have officials because under the Rugby Union Code the captains acted as officials in games. The modification of 1883 added that the two judges and a referee must be alumnus of the participating schools. This is quite different from our codes of impartiality of today.
Lafayette football team of 1883, Courtesy of Wikimedia commons, by an unknown photographer
Another big rule change in this convention called for a disqualification of a player who was off-sides deliberately three times in one game. The original rule disqualified a player after being off sides once. Can you imagine that rule in the modern era? There would be few players left to play on the offensive line before the games end. It makes our five yard penalty today seem meaningless for the same infraction. We have to remember though that there were only warnings and disqualifications at this time to punish rules violators. Yardage enforcements were nonexistent.
After this convention another was held on December 5 of the same year. Some of the rules that emerged from this meeting were that any player who delayed the game and was warned a third time would be disqualified from the contest. The value of a touchdown would be bumped up to four points and a safety to two points.
Officials were given more responsibility and authority at this convention. One rule was added to say that, “The referee shall take out time for all unnecessary delays.” This is the first time an official’s time out was instituted. The term “take out time” eventually turned into “take time out” as we call it today.. It was a year earlier in 1882 when the referee had been given the authority to call a game when darkness in his opinion prevented the game from continuing on fairly.
Another big item from 1883 was that for the first time the rules would be written down in an official manner. Walter Camp was charged to copyright and print the rules on behalf of the schools in the association.
The 1883 Football Season Snapshot
The Yale Bulldogs repeated with another undefeated season and again years later Davis named them as the champions. A perfect illustration of what the new scoring system did in 1883 becomes quite evident. Remember above we said Yale outscored their opposition 51-1 in 1882 in 8 games? Well in 1883 the Eli scored 540-2 in just nine games! The game of the season took place on November 24, 1883 when Yale defeated Princeton in a battle of unbeatens, 6-0 at the Polo Grounds in New York.
The game of football was beginning to change its course from that of rugby. The neutral force of officials was being developed to create a level playing field and add fairness to the game. We will see more of the same in conventions and meetings in later years which will be examined in Part 7 of our walk through football history titled, “Football Convention 1884”. Right here on PigskinDispatch.com, your place for the good news about football.
We are able to give this in depth look from so long ago in history by careful research. Using someone who was contemporary to the period is the best source. So a very special shout out to our main source of reference information for this article is from Parke H. Davis in his 1911 book Football-The American Intercollegiate Game.
