Someone has to say it. The 1869 Rutgers vs Princeton story is a complete fable.
Harvard vs McGill (x2) in 1874, Harvard vs Tufts in 1875, then Harvard vs Yale ( rivalry now referred to as "The Game") in 1875 was the beginning of gridiron football.
http://dl.tufts.edu/catalog/tei/tufts:UA069.005.DO.00001/chapter/F00006
Nice to see we have the third largest alumni base in NYC.
Please don't put down the Rutgers /Princeton game .
It certainly wasn't anything resembling football but it certainly was a an intercollegiate game of modified Association Rules football ( the kicking game or soccer).
When I started coaching and establishing a soccer league in the 1970s. There was a lot of opposition from the football establishment ,accusing soccer of being somehow UN-American . I always used this game to show that soccer has a history in America deeper than Football.
Tufts ,Harvard,McGill, were predecessors of American football.
But in reality they were all playing variations of Rugby ( or the running game)
American football was born in Ct by a Connecticut man Walter Camp.
When he took the Contested rugby Scrum and replaced it with an uncontested line of scrimmage. There is clear possession of the ball. That is a huge departure .Also adding 4 downs ,with a first down available every ten yards.
The Gridiron was born. He also was its first PR guy ,his magazine articles created the football mythology which fueled its rapid expansion.Who else could conceive of an All-American
He created a uniquely American game and then popularized it.
