Who Invented American Football? Part Three: Kicking Cousins–Anglo and American Football Ties
Who Invented This Sport? is part of the Sports History Network - The Headquarters For Sports Yesteryear [https://sportshistorynetwork.com/].
EPISODE SUMMARY
You’re a freshman at Harvard in 1827. It’s Bloody Monday. You’re out on the commons field and the upperclassmen bellow a chant: “Football, Freshie—Football, Freshie,” and before you and your fellow first-year classmates know it, you are all standing on a field, pitted against a sea of sophomores amassed at the opposite end of the expanse. A ball is set down in the middle. Some charge like bores and others like rams while some are skittish and run with hesitant gaits. But all advance to clash at mid-field. At the point of collision, the sport of football is exchanged for the sport of may lay.
You spot a long wiry boy who has spotted you. He charges, lowers his shoulder, and hammers you to the turf. Winded and dazed you roll to your feet. A sophomore is kicking your Boston Latin chum in the shins. He howls and crumbles to the ground. You tackle the assailant and jab his nose until it gushes crimson red.
Along with guns and rum, British colonists brought mob football and other folk football traditions from Britain to North America.
Yale and a few New England high schools start playing mass forms of football in the 1790s. By the second decade of the 1800s, educated young men on both sides of the pond are playing different versions of football. Some schools allow running with the ball in addition to kicking it. Some allow batting, throwing, or passing the ball. Even though rules and methods vary within England and New England there are transatlantic constancies: one, kicking a ball through goal posts or over a goal line; two, violence.
In part three of our series, football historian Timothy Brown, a.k.a. The Football Archeologist, joins us to discuss the import-export world of early scholastic football.
WHO INVENTED THIS SPORT? BACKGROUND
Who Invented This Sport? is a sports time machine invented by two lifelong friends who are obsessed with the origins of sports as diverse as basketball and bobsledding and beyond. Each episode, we travel back through time and share with you a particular sport’s sources and evolution. The heroes of these treasure hunts are the sports inventors, innovators, and pioneers. And since history is not only the past but also the present and future, we interview sports experts, who will discuss their sport’s yesterday, today, and tomorrow.
The Who Invented This Sport? podcast spans the sports globe and travels through time to report on gems from the fascinating and ingenious world of sports origins history.
HOST BIOS (ROGER HARB AND DAVID DREWS)
Roger Harb and David Drews are the creators and producers of Who Invented This Sport, a podcast that spans the world of sports origins stories.
Roger and David’s life-long friendship began in college, where one summer they started their first business adventure together–a window washing partnership. Under a scorching Tennessee sun, the two washed windows and further bonded while discussing sports and other important matters.
Later collaborating on numerous media projects, including documentaries, these two sports enthusiasts dreamed of one day finding a means to share unique, intriguing sports stories with fellow students of sports history. The advent and popularity of podcasts opened the door for Roger and David to create and launch Who Invented This Sport.
Roger has 30 years experience in radio and television marketing, broadcasting, and production. Over the past 40 years, David has transitioned from being a commercial banker to a high school English teacher to a filmmaker and novelist. David is the author of the recently released Iron Tigers–a novel inspired by the team that conquered Dixie and launched Southern football.
Roger and David are grateful for the opportunity to explore and share a variety of sports origin stories and how each evolved.
