Touchdown: The Power and Precision of Football's Perfect Play

Touchdown: The Power and Precision of Football's Perfect Play — page 5
TOUCHDOWN make for a fine new game If a player was allowed to carry the ball then it only seemed fair that his opponents should be allowed to pull him to the ground And since the ballcarrier had little chance of outrunning an entire team shouldn t his teammates be allowed to protect him These rules formed the foundation of tackling and blocking The old game of foot ball soon became two new sports The kicking game turned into what we know as soccer Outside of the United States and Canada it is still called football The carrying game was called rugby after the school where it started In North America a third game developed that was a little bit of both Some called it American football American football was played mostly in boarding schools and universities During the 1800s travel could be very difficult and expensive School teams did not play against one another as they do now As a result each school made up its own rules for football At some schools it was a very violent sport At others penalties were given for rough play Two schools in New Jersey played by very similar rules Princeton University and Rutgers University were only a few miles apart For many years their students had competed over an enormous cannon left over from the American Revolution 1775 1783 The strongest boys from Princeton would sneak onto the Rutgers campus and steal the cannon The strongest boys from Rutgers would then steal it back Many injuries occurred during these pranks Princeton stopped this dangerous game by sinking the cannon into concrete Looking for a new way to compete the boys decided to hold a football contest On November 6 1869 the first football game took place between two colleges A modern football fan would barely recognize the Princeton Rutgers game There were twenty five players to a side on the field at the same time A point could be scored only by kicking the ball which was round between two posts at either end of the field A team moved the ball forward by dribbling it with the feet A player was