From the game of soccer comes the game of football.

The 19th Century
As nearly everyone knows today, the game of football came from Rugby.  Rugby was a small city of 27,000 people in England. As everywhere else, they played soccer here.

A player by the name of William Webb Ellis in the year 1823 started a revolution.  During a soccer game he got frustrated and tucked the ball under his arm and ran to the goal line. From this came the game of Rugby.  A game whose popularity climbed so fast that in the year 1863, the organizing body of the soccer association decided they needed to protect themselves against the game of Rugby.  At this time only soccer was being played in America.

The Dark Ages
In aprox. 1870 Harvard University developed a game from the uncultivated premises of Rugby called the “Boston Game.” This game allowed the ball to be thrown. Because all other American Universities (ie. Princeton and Yale) were locked into the Football (Soccer) Association, they had no opponents. Harvard solved this problem by playing against McGill University of Montreal.  Although they only played rugby here, they found a compromise that had them playing one game of rugby and then another game using the rules of the Boston Game. This game took place on the 15th of March, 1874 and the Americans quickly discovered their fascination with the then still relatively round leather ball.  The Boston Game convinced the leading colleges and there was a league soon to follow.

In 1880 the total number of players on the field was reduced from 15 to 11. This was one of the first clear separations from the original game of Rugby. Additionally, the possession of the ball wasn’t traded until the very moment when the ball was given between the legs of the center. The measurements of the field were set at 110x53.3 yards, which coincidentally were the exact measurements of the field at Harvard.  In 1882 true “downs” were instituted. They had three chances to win 5 yards. They continued to separate themselves by making the value of a touchdown 4 times that of a field goal, the traditional main objective of soccer. Two safeties were worth as much as a touchdown. It wasn’t until 1912 that the rules were established as they are more or less known today. After 1880 the rise of football was unstoppable, however only in the collegiate realm. Only students at that time had enough spare time for sports. The large working class had entirely different problems due to the fact that the majority, who managed to make it over the big pond, were the very poorest of the poor.

In spite of the growing popularity, the start of the 20th century was the most challenging chapter of the game.  Cruelty, violence and even deaths rose considerably. Sadly even to this day, football is often connected with this period of time.  At the time, the players on the line of scrimmage lined up eye to eye and mauled each other by kicking and hitting. In wasn’t until 1903 that a neutral zone was established by the length of the ball and ensured that there was the necessary distance between one another.  As for clothing articles, there were leather strips attached to the clothes to impede the opponent’s ability to grab hold of the other player. The ball carriers had the absolute least to celebrate at the time as 18 reported deaths surfaced as well as 159 seriously injured players in the year 1905. A New York Newspaper encouraged the abolishment of the “most brutal, dangerous and unnecessary sport that came from some hole in the earth.”  Many teachers, clergymen, and parents agreed with this assertion.  The picture in the paper of a bloody and beaten player led the president, Theodore Roosevelt, to call the heads of college football to report to the White House. He threatened them with a ban of the sport if the violence of the game was not halted. In an immediate meeting of selected guests, the game’s rules were changed. For example the distance needed for a first down was increased to 10 yards and the forward pass was instituted.  With this change, a new understanding of the game of football came forth. Now it was no longer a game of strength and body superiority, rather a game that called on strategy and tactics.

The First Pros
In 1913 quarterback, Gus Dawns, proved with his passes to Nute Rocknee that his considerably weaker Notre Dame University team, that they could beat the then unstopable military academy powerhouse. Dawns and Rocknee practiced daily their passes and surprised the military men so much that they beat them 39-13. This was the beginning of the legend of Notre Dame Football. In comparison to the college leagues, the pro leagues existed in their shadows at this time.

At this point only professional football, most specifically the NFL, will be discussed. The oldest NFL team, the Phoenix Cardinals, whose original home was in Canton and Massillon, dates all the way back to 1898. The first pro football player was William (Pudge) Heffelfinger, when he appeared for the Allegheny Athletic Association (AAA) in a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club (PAC) for a $500 payment and $25 allowance. That was on Nov. 13th, 1892. Heffelfinger was the deciding player in the game. He took a team mate’s fumble and ran it 25 yards for the sole points in a game that ended with a 4 -0 victory for AAA.