If Rugby Football was invented at Rugby School...

[angmo]

...Why isn't American Football called Rutgers Football or simply Rutgers?

 

[Source]

The secondary schools in 19th century England each had their own "brand" of playing football. There was football at the Rugby School, football at the Eton school, Charterhouse, Forest, Harrow, Shrewsbury, Westminster, Winchester, etc. Football at Rugby and Eton were representative of the two main Football codes. The schools were happy playing within their walls so there was no college or high school level matches. That's why Rutgers and Princeton played the first intercollegiate football game in the world despite the basic rules being developed at those school mentioned above decades earlier. England didn't have their first intercollegiate match until Oxford defeated Cambridge 1-0 on February 10, 1872.

Rutgers and Princeton played by rules of both the Association (favored at Eton) and Rugby (favored at Rugby) Football codes. But it was Football (not Soccer and not Rugby -- at least not yet). Walter Camp of Yale lobbied to put in a line of scrimmage in 1880 and down and distance rules in 1882 forever giving American Football its distinct features apart from the two main codes of football at the time. Given enough time and development, Association Football (known as soccer to Americans) and Rugby Football (known as rugby) emerged as their own stand-alone sports in Europe and transported back to America nearing the turn of the 20th century.

American Football (or just plain football to Americans) grew out of established football codes that added a few American ingredients that are distinctly different from an Association Football or Rugby Union Football game today.

 

[ashokan]

"Rutball" is something that might work under current circumstances

 

[angmo]

The secondary schools in 19th century England each had their own "brand" of playing football. There was football at the Rugby School, football at the Eton school, Charterhouse, Forest, Harrow, Shrewsbury, Westminster, Winchester, etc. Football at Rugby and Eton were representative of the two main Football codes. The schools were happy playing within their walls so there was no college or high school level matches. That's why Rutgers and Princeton played the first intercollegiate football game in the world despite the basic rules being developed at those school mentioned above decades earlier. England didn't have their first intercollegiate match until Oxford defeated Cambridge 1-0 on February 10, 1872.

Rutgers and Princeton played by rules of both the Association (favored at Eton) and Rugby (favored at Rugby) Football codes. But it was Football (not Soccer and not Rugby -- at least not yet). Walter Camp of Yale lobbied to put in a line of scrimmage in 1880 and down and distance rules in 1882 forever giving American Football its distinct features apart from the two main codes of football at the time. Given enough time and development, Association Football (known as soccer to Americans) and Rugby Football (known as rugby) emerged as their own stand-alone sports in Europe and transported back to America nearing the turn of the 20th century.

American Football (or just plain football to Americans) grew out of established football codes that added a few American ingredients that are distinctly different from an Association Football or Rugby Union Football game today.

Thanks Source. Didn't know that RU v Princeton was first intercollegiate football match in the world. Good ammo against my Brit friends.

Imagine playing a sport called "Eton" or "Shrewsberry"...

 

[Source]

Thanks Source. Didn't know that RU v Princeton was first intercollegiate football match in the world. Good ammo against my Brit friends.

Imagine playing a sport called "Eton" or "Shrewsberry"...

Eton vs. Yale December 6, 1873 Program

 

[angmo]

Eton is a high school. What was the score?

 

[Source]

Eton is a high school. What was the score?

From: http://www.yalerfc.com/new-page/

Remember when you read below "soccer-style match" still means the sport of Football. There is no recognized sport of soccer.... yet.

"...In addition to the two 1873 collegiate games Yale, captained by Bill Halsted, played a unique game, against former players from the British public school Eton. From the Yale Record:

In 1873, Yale played the first “international” soccer-style match in America with players originally from England. Played in New Haven, the game had graduates and old students from the English school Eton. There were only 11 men to a side, but Yale liked the open play very much. They would continue to push this open style of play into the next decade. Yale won the game by a score of 2 goals to 1.

This game was to have an impact on a future Yale captain, Eugene Baker. Tim Cohane writes:

The Etons followed the tradition of the game at Eton school by playing 11 men and persuaded Yale to play with 11 instead of 20. The resultant more open game impressed Yale, especially a freshman back named Eugene V. Baker. Gene Baker’s enthusiasm for eleven-man football was to have a marked influence on the development of the intercollegiate game..."

Later the American colleges debated whether to go to 11 or 15 man teams after the 1876 season. They went with 15. In 1880, they went to 11 permanently.

 

[angmo]

Thanks a lot. Interesting stuff.

 

[Source]

Thanks a lot. Interesting stuff.

You're welcome.

In May of 1874, McGill University of Montreal came down to Cambridge. MA. They played two games with Harvard. The first with Harvard rules and the second with McGill's. The second was with rugby football rules and Harvard loved it so much they went with rugby rules football that allowed limited handling of the ball, in addition to kicking it, and a second way to kick a goal -- by touching the ball down across the goal line and rewarded with an unhindered goal-after-touchdown kick from where you crossed the goal line.