Antedating of American "Football"

Thu Apr 14 20:24:43 UTC 2011

        We had our foot ball on the Green today and were just beginning to enjoy some good sport with it, when the old Praeses put his veto on it and knocked up our sport tetotaciously.
        George Templeton Strong, Diary, ed. Allan Nevins & Milton Halsey Thomas. New York: Macmillan, 1952, I:65, entry of May 23, 1837.  [scene is Columbia College, then near NY City Hall]

There are quite a number of references to "playing ball", "ball games", &c, in the U. S. from the early 19th c, and indeed the 18th c, but, irresponsibly, most do not give enough detail to show whether the ball was being hit with a bat, kicked or thrown.

GAT

George A. Thompson
Author of A Documentary History of "The African Theatre", Northwestern Univ. Pr., 1998, but nothing much lately.  Working on a new edition, though.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Joel S. Berson" <Berson at ATT.NET>
Date: Thursday, April 14, 2011 12:09 pm
Subject: Re: Antedating of American "Football"
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU

> 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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