Celebrating the Very First American Football Game

The two teams that played the first football game haven’t played each other in 40-plus years.

Every fall weekend, many Americans forget what’s going on in the rest of their lives and cheer on their favorite football teams. As Howie Long put it in his ori Hall of Fame speech, “Football is America’s passion.” That said, how did the game start?

Illustration of the first-ever football game, 1869, courtesy Rutgers University

Football evolved from soccer and rugby, and the game was first played as an amateur sport at the college level. The first game was played in New Brunswick, NJ, between nearby schools, The College of New Jersey (now Rutgers) v. Princeton, on November 6, 1869. The Rutgers and Princeton game consisted of 25 players per team, and players used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. The ball could be kicked or batted with the feet. The player could use his hands, head, or side to position the ball into the goal. Walter Camp, known as the “Father of American Football,” established the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. More and other rules would be added and amended over the decades. Rutgers won the game, 6-4.

But what many football fans don’t know is that the two teams played again a week later, and Princeton shut out Rutgers 8-0. Hardly a one-off, Princeton had RU’s number for years–make those decades–as Princeton won every game played (33 straight) until 1938. The two schools went different ways in the years that followed–Princeton to the Ivy League in the 1950s and Rutgers to the Big Ten today–and the once fierce football rivals haven’t played each other since 1980.

Today, we would be hard-pressed to recognize the game as it was played back then. And who could have possibly thought that football–today’s game–would become a billion-dollar, widely followed sport, “America’s sport”?