Antedating of American "Football"

Thu Apr 14 16:03:10 UTC 2011

Following in the (base) path, or foot steps, of John Thorn, and
wondering how soon U.S. newspapers reported the "first match of the
[first?] season" --

The question of when "American football" started is definitely beyond
my untangling.  Simplifying [!], Wikipedia's article "History of
American football" starts with varieties of English "mob football";
the banning of football at Yale and Harvard in 1860 and 1861; the
"Boston game" and its "Oneida Football Club" of 1862; and the revival
of intramural football in the late 1860s.  Progressing to
"Intercollegiate football", it discusses Rutgers--Princeton (1869),
"played with a round ball under "Football Association" rules (i.e.
soccer) but [] often regarded as the first game of intercollegiate
football"; rules standardization in 1873--1880; and finally Walter
Camp and his 11-man team, "line of scrimmage", and "snap" to the
quarterback, adopted in 1880.

So was the game named in Fred's 1873 citation "American
football"?  The question is not, I think, facetious -- although
perhaps pointless, since between 1862 (the Oneida Club year) and 1880
(Walter Camp's year), 19th Century U.S. Newspapers has 629 quotations
for "football"!  Finding quotations that actually say anything about
the rules seems like the proverbial haystack.  I only looked for/at:

1808 -- the earliest hit for "football", which happens to be figurative.
"football" + "Oneida" -- the earliest hit is 1898, from Milwaukee.
"football" + "Boston" -- the earliest hit is 1887, from [doh] Boston
(University).
1873 -- a couple below.
"football" + "camp" -- the earliest hit is 1889, an interview with
Walter after Yale's defeat.
"American football" (as phrase) -- the earliest hit is 1885; this
plus 1889 (as far as I went) are perhaps useful (see (0) below).

Citations all from 19th C. U.S. Newspapers.

(0)  "American football" [here adjectival], s.v. "American, n. and
adj.", interdates OED2 1879 -- 1943

(0A)  1885 --

World of Sport.
[continued from Second Page]
...
The football controversy continues to flourish. C. J. Williams, an
English amateur athlete and football player of great experience and
who is now captain of the Chicago football club, gives his experience
with American football players as follows. "On November 22 last," he
writes, "I took a team of English Rugby football players to Ann
Arbor, Mich., to play the University at that place. We played under
the American Intercollegiate rules and had about the roughest game I
ever played, and I have played the game for over twenty years. As the
Harvard committee very justly remark, 'International off-side play
and unlawful interference with opponents who were not running with
the ball were the rule rather than the exception," ..."

[The rest of the article does not imply anything more about the
rules, only describing the "savage" play but the "gentlemanly" players.]

Rocky Mountain News, (Denver, CO) Monday, February 02, 1885; pg. 2
[continuation presumably on page 3]; col A [in continuation of
article, 2nd col.]

(0B)  1889 --

Football Next. / The Game as Played by American Students.  [By Edward
Bunnell Phelps.]

["American football organization" appears in the first column.  The
article goes on with a lengthy discussion of the playing field and
rules, calling it "a rough description of the American game of
football".  The description has Camp's eleven players, scrimmage
line, and "quarter back" to whom the ball is passed; and [like
rugby?] running, handing off, and kicking.  There is no mention of 10
yards in 4 downs; play is continuous until a goal is
scored.  (Strangely, the article seems not to say what constitutes a
"goal"!) The article ends by listing the members of the
Intercollegiate Football association, and praising Yale's success.]

Bismarck Daily Tribune, (Bismarck, ND) Saturday, September 14, 1889;
pg. 4; col A

1)  1808 -- Football, n., sense 3., figurative,  interdates OED2 1711 - 1879

Perish the wretch who would tamely submit to be the football of
George and Napoleon, to furnish sport for these ambitious despots!

Raleigh Register, and North-Carolina Weekly Advertiser, (Raleigh, NC)
Thursday, February 04, 1808; Issue [437]; [page apparently the last;
contains colophon]; col B.

2)  1873 Oct. 9 -- perhaps/perhaps not sense 2.b [same year as Fred's
quotation, slightly earlier, but before the convention and the
Rutgers--Yale game]

Another curious illustration of the way that games rise and fall in
Yale College has just been afforded. Three years ago football was
unknown; last year the football ground was crowded every afternoon;
this year nobody takes the slightest interest in it.

Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, MA) Thursday, October 09, 1873;
Issue 87; [page not given]; col G

[What rules were used at Yale in 1873, when no-one took the slightest
interest in it?  At least in *early* October!  :-) ]

3)  1873 Nov. 6 -- the "Boston game"?  [this is chronologically the
next hit in 1873 after Oct. 9]

Cambridge, Wednesday, Nov. 5---The regular meeting of the board of
alderman was held this evening ... The committee on public property,
which had under consideration the petition of the Harvard students
for leave to play football on the Public Common, reported leave to withdraw.

Boston Daily Advertiser (Boston, MA) Thursday, November 06, 1873;
Issue 111; [apparently page 1]; col C

Joel

At 4/14/2011 06:38 AM, Shapiro, Fred wrote:
>I posted this citation some years ago, but let me do so again in
>response to Victor's recent post about the word "football."  The
>following antedates the OED for the American sense of the word "football":
>
>
>football (OED, 2.b., 1881)
>
>1873 _Forest and Stream_ 30 Oct. 189  The game of Foot Ball is truly
>pleasing, not only for the spirit and amusement which it affords to
>the mind, but the good results which the constitution derives from
>such active exercise.  There is no game, not even base ball, which
>combines so much bustle, so much "hurrying to and fro," or heathful
>[sic] pastime for the young men of our Universities and Colleges, as
>foot ball. ... The Foot Ball season opened on October 18th.  The
>following Colleges sent delegates to the convention which was held
>in this city, namely -- Rutgers, Yale and Princeton.  Harvard
>College having adopted rules of their own, it was useless for them
>to send any members to the convention.  Columbia College was not
>represented.  The first match of the season was played on October
>25th at Hamilton Park between Rutgers and Yale.
>
>
>Fred Shapiro
>Editor
>YALE BOOK OF QUOTATIONS (Yale University Press)

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