Football is not quite the same after 135 years

"On Saturday November 6th, Princeton sent twenty-five picked men to play our twenty-five a match game of football."

So began the account of the first intercollegiate football game in the Rutgers Targum of November, 1869, and so began intercollegiate football as we know it.

Not really as we know it, actually. The game that Princeton played against Rutgers that day 135 years ago looked very little like today's game of football.

There were no pads, and the "grim-looking players" prepared for the game by "silently stripping, surrounded by sympathizing friends, while around each of the captains was a little crowd, intent upon giving advice, and saying as much as possible."

The only thing that distinguished the two teams was an accessory the Rutgers men added to their dress. They all had scarlet scarves, which they wrapped around their heads like turbans. This would eventually lead to the school's maskot, the Scarlet Knight.

And the game itself didn't look much like what people think of as even the oldest forms of football.

What seems like the most elementary part of the game to many observers — carrying the ball — did not even exist. The oblong ball had to be moved down the field by batting at it, kicking it, or any other means one could muster. It is often described as having "rugby-like" rules, but the game was more like soccer.

In order to score a goal, the ball had to be forced into a goal that was very similar to a modern soccer goal, crossbar and all. Rutgers was able to accomplish the feat six times on the day, while Princeton could only score four goals.

That was just about the last time Princeton had a losing record, as the 135-year record is now at 752-339-50. Princeton may have lost because its captain, William Stryker Gunmere '70, conceded every point while the teams set up the rules, according to the Targum. The Rutgers style did not allow for stoppages in play, making it even more like soccer than what Princeton played, which allowed "free kicks."

While the Princetonians "were almost without exception tall and muscular," Rutgers' "small and light" squad had the advantage in New Brunswick.

Every time a goal was scored, a new "match" or "game" began. They all seemed to be about the same.

"There was the same headlong running, wild shouting, and frantic kicking. In every game the cool goaltenders saved the Rutgers goal half a dozen times; in every game the heavy charger of the Princeton side overthrew everything he came in contact with; and in every game, just when the interest in one of those delightful rushes at the fence was culminating, the persecuted ball would fly for refuge into the next lot."

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With 50 men on the field and about twice that number in the crowd watching, the event was a sight to behold.

The contest was close until the end. The first four scores alternated between the schools until Rutgers took a two-goal lead at 4-2, essentially breaking Princeton's chance to tie. The visitors were nonetheless able to battle back to knot the game at four, thanks in part to their third goal being scored by a man in a scarlet turban who kicked the wrong way "in his ardor." Rutgers shut the door, however, winning the ninth and tenth "games."

The blame for the loss was put at Princeton's feet: the team "didn't kick very well." The Princeton side also "wanted organization." Rutgers' captain, William J. Leggett, '72, on the other hand, was given credit for his team's "great organization . . . The right men were always in the right place."

Rutgers had suggested the game mostly because Princeton had been beating them soundly recently. The Revolutionary cannon over which the two schools had battled for years had recently been sunk into the ground by Princetonians, and a 40-2 win in a baseball game left Rutgers' men thirsting for revenge.

Princeton's men were just as unable to accept defeat as the Rutgers men were, and just one week after the first-game loss, the second game of college football commenced when Rutgers' 25 took a trip to Princeton. On its home field, roughly where the E-Quad now stands, Princeton dominated the best-of-15 match by taking the first eight games and calling it a day. Of course, the home team's rules were accepted in both matches, and the author of the Targum article was not happy with Princeton's rules, which allowed for that "free kick." He thought Rutgers' style of batting the ball without stopping was "more as Foot Ball should be."

College football didn't turn out like he or Princeton thought it should, but carrying the ball seems to have been a good idea, and kicking is no longer practiced by the "tall and muscular" men on the team.