Princeton-Yale 1903

[bulldog10jw]

Takes a little while to download, but it's interesting to see football from over 100 years ago.

http://alumni.princeton.edu/~class58/puyalefootball.html

[DFW HOYA]

Interesting piece of history, especially in the run-only days. The forward pass didn't emerge until 1906 (at St. Louis, not at Notre Dame as the Domers would like you to believe). Georgetown entered the passing age in 1909 with a QB named H.C. Byrd, the future president and stadium namesake at the University of Maryland.

Was that played at Yale Field (the forerunner to the Yale Bowl?)

[bulldog10jw]

Was that played at Yale Field (the forerunner to the Yale Bowl?)

I'm not 100% sure, but I think the game was in New Jersey. That's where Edison's lab was.

[DFW HOYA]

That makes sense. As many people know, most of the early motion picture studios were actually in New Jersey owing to its proximity to Edison and his labs.

[Pard4Life]

That was an excellent little film. If this was back in the day, I'm not sure I could sit through an entire game of..... that. It seems that the center would just put the ball in play and a back would just carry it into the pile... no real plays it seems... and no huddling (Lafayette invented that a few years later... darn Penn stole our play signals). The only 'exciting' thing seemed like the punts. But, I do like how the referee spotted the ball fast and play moved quickly. Good job Edison! :thumbsup:

Does anybody know if this is the earliest game ever caught on footage?

[bulldog10jw]

That makes sense. As many people know, most of the early motion picture studios were actually in New Jersey owing to its proximity to Edison and his labs.

I was wrong. The game was in New Haven.

http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/r?ammem/papr:@field(NUMBER+@band(awal+2164}))

SUMMARY
The camera was moved to many positions throughout the stadium, which contained an estimated 50,000 spectators. The opening scene was a complete pan around the locale, showing the crowd assembled to watch the game. The remaining scenes were photographed from various positions throughout the football field, showing the game in progress. There is line play shown as well as broken-field running.

NOTES
Copyright: Thomas A. Edison, Inc.; 19Nov03; H38332.

Cameraman, A. C. Abadie.

Cameraman credit from Niver's, Early motion pictures, p. 263.

Duration: 3:47 at 16 fps.

Filmed November 14, 1903 in New Haven, Conn.

Received: ca. 1991 from LC lab; ref print and dupe negs; preservation; Paper Print Collection.

[carney2]

I've lost track. Was this before or after Teddy Roosevelt made threats and forced some rules changes in college football?

[Go...gate]

'03 was before TR assembled Harvard, Yale and Princeton about changes in the rules of College Football to provide greater player safety. I believe it was 1905 or 06 when these meetings took place.

[RadMann]

That's before the Yale Bowl which was finished in 1914 I believe.

Below is a pic of the 1905 Yale Harvard game at Haarvard:

http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a29000/6a29100/6a29130r.jpg

[RadMann]

The yale stadium before the Yale Bowl was called Yale Field. Below is a pic of it from the 1905 Princeton - Yale game:

http://memory.loc.gov/pnp/pan/6a28000/6a28500/6a28560r.jpg

[Pard4Life]

Ah yes, the old gridiron... does anybody know what signifigance the horizontal lines played on the pre-modern field?

[biobengal]

I couldn't find anything about the horizontal lines, although the grids sure would help the freshman receiver run his routes.

From the word detective: "The original "gridirons" were just that: grids made of iron, used to cook fish or meat over an open fire. Early on in the history of football, someone in the cheap seats high in the stadium must have noticed that the parallel yardlines marking the field resembled a "gridiron," and so the metaphor was born. The first use of this sense of "gridiron" in print came in an account of the annual Harvard-Yale game carried in the Boston Herald."

[superbrett2000]

Ah yes, the old gridiron... does anybody know what signifigance the horizontal lines played on the pre-modern field?

Nope, but all I know is they sure make it easier for us in the marching band to learn and perform our drill!

[Marcus Garvey]

I couldn't find anything about the horizontal lines, although the grids sure would help the freshman receiver run his routes.



According to a wikipedia article, the ball used to be placed in a "gird" after a down and snapped there. Though frankly, I'm not sure where within the grid it was placed. The article also had a link to an old postcard of Syracuse's Archbold Stadium

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gridiron_football

http://archives.syr.edu/images/archstd1a.jpg