Robyn Millard, age 12, of Colorado Springs, Colo., for her question:
HOW DID FOOTBALL ORIGINATE?
Touch football is played informally in almost every schoolyard and neighborhood this time of the year. It's just about like the regular game except there is no tackling. To stop a runner, it is only necessary to touch him. Blocking is usually done from an upright position, and any number of players can be on each side. The game is also called pass ball or flag ball.
Today just about every high school and college fields a football team. The game of football is enthusiastically
enjoyed by millions who watch the game in person and many millions more who watch the competition on television. Professional football expands the national and international interest in the game.
The exciting game of football started in the mid-1800s when college students in the Eastern United States played a game similar to soccer. A round ball was kicked by opposing members as each side tried to get it across different goal lines. Thirty or more players were often used on each team.
Stricter rules were later adopted and schools began organizing teams. On Nov. 6, 1869, the first official college football game was played in New Brunswick, N.J., between Rutgers and the College of New Jersey, which is now Princeton University. Rutgers won 6 to 4.
In an 1874 game between Harvard and McGill University of Montreal, the visiting Canadians picked up the ball at one point and ran with it, instead of simply kicking it. Everybody liked the innovation and running, blocking and tackling were added to the kicking.
A first down rule, allowing a team to keep possession of the ball while continuing to advance, was adopted in 1880. At the same time the size of the team was reduced from 15 players to 11.
Although kicking continued to be an important part of the game, by 1900 running and blocking was used mostly.
Football was an extremely rough game in its early days. In 1905 President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban the game because of the violence. Some schools went as far as prohibiting the game because of the frequent injuries.
In 9906 coaches and faculty members changed the rules to take some of the stress away from running and blocking.
The forward pass was added to the game.
Football's first forward pass was thrown for an 18-yard gain by Wesleyan University in its game against Yale in 1906. Coach Knute Rockne made the pass a national favorite when his lightweight Notre Dame team beat a stronger and heavier Army team 35 to 13 in 1913 with the addition of senational passing. Passing made it possible for lighter, smaller and faster players to compete successfully in the exciting game of football.