[Ads-l] Further Antedating of American Sense of the Word "Football"

[Peter Reitan]

There are references to the “American Rules” football in newspapers.com (modified Rugby football rules), from as early as 1877.

The big change in 1880 was the invention of the line of scrimmage and set downs after each play.

The “line of gain” was added a few years later (at first five yards, later ten), because of the so-called “block game” famously played by Princeton.

In 1880, Princeton took advantage of the new rules, and refused to move the ball – thereby securing a 0-0 tie against Yale, allowing them to claim the “championship” because they had won it in 1879, and didn’t lose it in 1880.

In 1881, Princeton refused to move the ball the entire first half versus Yale, and Yale refused to move the ball the entire second half.  But, since Yale had won two games, and Princeton had won one and tied twice, Yale was voted champion.

It’s not so much the word or sense of the word that changed, as the rules of the game, which still change every year, so I don’t see the sense of the word changing with rules changes every year.

But yes, 1880, is generally considered the year the game became something closer to American Football than Rugby Football; but 1882 is ever closer to American football, since there was a requirement to move the ball downfield to keep possession.

But the introduction of the forward pass is even more like American Football we know today, and when they made it legal to catch touchdown passes, and catch the ball further than ten or fifteen yards downfield, the game was even more like American Football, but the sense of the word didn’t really change – just the rules.

Sent from Mail<https://go.microsoft.com/fwlink/?LinkId=550986> for Windows

From: Dan Goncharoff<mailto:thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
Sent: Monday, March 21, 2022 10:47 AM
To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU<mailto:ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Subject: Re: Further Antedating of American Sense of the Word "Football"

---------------------- Information from the mail header -----------------------
Sender:       American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
Poster:       Dan Goncharoff <thegonch at GMAIL.COM>
Subject:      Re: Further Antedating of American Sense of the Word "Football"
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Just wondering -- what was the "annual football convention" called in 1879?

On Mon, Mar 21, 2022, 1:45 PM Bill Mullins <amcombill at hotmail.com> wrote:

> 1880 New York Times=E2=80=8B 15 Oct.  2/1
> CHANGING FOOT-BALL RULES.
> SPRINGFIELD, Mass., Oct. 14. -- The Foot-ball Convention was held here
> yesterday.  Yale, Harvard and Princeton have been hitherto the only
> colleges represented, although Columbia and Amherst have both applied for
> two years to be admitted.
>
> 1880 Boston Daily Globe=E2=80=8B 17 Oct.  5/2
> Yale, Harvard and Princeton held their annual football convention at
> Springfield, Mass., on Wednesday last.
>
> 1880 Boston Daily Globe=E2=80=8B 17 Oct. 9/4
> While the cricket game was in progress, two foot-ball elevens from Harvar=
d
> college, the one captained by George P. Keith and the other by W. H.
> Manning, played a very interesting and exciting match, the side of the
> former gentlemen winning by two goals, and a touch down to one goal for M=
r.
> Manning's eleven.
>
> [this cite is especially relevant in that one of the rules that was
> codified was that teams would have eleven players as opposed to fifteen;
> thus this game was played under the "new" rules]
>
>
>
> [and the sense being antedated is OED, 2.d., 1881, not OED, 2.b., 1881.]
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: American Dialect Society <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU> on behalf of
> Shapiro, Fred <fred.shapiro at YALE.EDU>
> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2022 6:34 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject:  Further Antedating of American Sense of the Word "Football"
>
>
> ----
>
> football (OED, 2.b., 1881)
>
> 1880 _Yale Daily News_ 1 Nov. 4/1 (Yale Daily News Historical Archive)
> The foot ball team did not go to Amherst Saturday.
>
> NOTE:  See below for delineation of this sense in the OED.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
>
> ________________________________
> From: Shapiro, Fred
> Sent: Sunday, March 20, 2022 7:21 AM
> To: ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU <ADS-L at LISTSERV.UGA.EDU>
> Subject: Antedating of American Sense of the Word "Football"
>
> football (OED, 2.b., 1881)
>
> 1880 _Sun_ (N.Y.) 14 Nov. 5/5 (Newspapers.com)  The American Association
> game, under the new rules of 1880, was exemplified yesterday afternoon on
> the field of the Manhattan Polo Association ... It was the first match of
> the series for the championship of the College Football Association.
>
> NOTE: There are earlier uses of the word "football" in the context of U.S=
.
> intercollegiate games, but the OED clearly is restricting this sense to t=
he
> sport subsequent to the rules changes that were completed on 12 Oct. 1880=
.
>
> Fred Shapiro
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------
> The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org
>

------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org


------------------------------------------------------------
The American Dialect Society - http://www.americandialect.org