The Original Rules of College Foot Ball

On Nov. 6, 1869, the first-ever college football game was played between the College of New Jersey (now Princeton) and Rutgers College. The game bore little resemblance to college football as we know it today, with a far different set of rules designed to minimize scoring and maximize the bone-crushing -- and often deadly -- violence that characterized the sport's early years. A century and a half later, we've uncovered the original rulebook that was used for that first game, which provides a fascinating glimpse into the sport's rudimentary beginnings and reveals just how dramatically it has changed over the past 150 years.--SE

With another season of my favorite American game straight ahead and barreling at us like a berserk fullback (a seldom used position player of long ago) bent on annihilation, it is past time to review the original game's rules and purpose.

As Law Two Sec. D reads: "The main point of Foot Ball is maiming."

There you have it, the once written--and now secret--rule of the modern game, which many fans today refer to as "war."


TS