The early beginnings of football
Football didn’t really begin to take on any consistency of rules and boundaries until it was picked up as a sport in the seven major public schools of England in the early 1800’s. Six of the seven schools were largely playing the same game (including Eton, Harrow and Winchester) - while the seventh, Rugby School (founded in 1567) was playing a markedly different version of football.
Players were able to "touch down" the ball on their opponents side of the field.Then they were awarded a "try at goal." In a "try at goal" the player would line up at the goal line then back up, and with a place holder the player would try to kick the ball inbetween the goal-posts. There was also an "off your side" rule which allowed the teams to stat on their side. Passing the ball forward was not allowed.
Roots of football in America
The birth date of football in the United States is generally regarded by football historians as November 6, 1869, when teams from Rutgers and Princeton Universities met for the first intercollegiate football game. In those early games, there were 20 players to a team and football still more closely resembled rugby than modern football.
In 1873, representatives from; Colomba, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale University all met in New York City to create the first intercollegiate football rules for the very popular game. These four teams established that the number of players on a team was 15.
Soon the Intercollegiate Football Association (IFA) changed the number of players to 11, just like it is today. The IFA also changed the field length to 110 yards. IN 1882 a man named Walter Camp introduced the system of downs. After first allowing 3 attempts to gain 5 yards, in 1906 the distance was changed to 10 yards. The forth down was introduced in 1912.
Within a decade, concern over the increasing brutality of the game led to its ban by some colleges. Nearly 180 players had suffered serious injuries, and eighteen deaths had been reported from the brutal mass plays that had become common practice. So in 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt called upon Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to help save the sport from demise. In a meeting between the schools they agreed to set up what would later be known as the National Collegiate Athletic Association, The NCAA.
From this committee came the legalization of the forward pass, which resulted in a redesign of the ball and a more open style of play on the field. The rough mass plays, which once caused so many serious injuries, were prohibited by the committee. Also prohibited was the locking of arms by teammates in an effort to clear the way for their ball carriers. The length of the game was shortened, from seventy to sixty minutes, and the neutral zone, which separates the teams by the length of the ball before each play begins, was also established.
