Post by Coach Campbell on Mar 11, 2009 20:11:26 GMT
Football's Early History - Rules Changed
Yale against Princeton - 1877
When Eugene Baker, captain of Yale football team, put up a pen-written note for football players in 1877, Walter Camp was the first to sign up. Camp stated, "I can play halfback." And so he did. A fine athlete, Camp was fast, strong and a great, accurate kicker. Playing in his first game for Yale against rival Princeton, Camp returned one punt back eighty yards for a touchdown. On another play he sped down the side-lines for fifty yards and another touchdown.
As a junior at Yale, he was instrumental in setting down rules that changed the game forever. In early October of 1878, Camp attended a meeting held at the Massassoit House in Springfield and pushed through the rule to keep teams limited to 11 players on a side and to count safeties. He changed the style of play forever - elimination of the rugby scrum - a form of arm-locking and heeling the ball backwards, which took several minutes. In its place he proposed a 'scrimmage' - whichever team had possession of the ball would now place it on the ground and only one man, called a center, would snap it back with his hands or kick it backwards with his heel.
It is written in the books of-the-day that Walter Camp said, 'If this rule is adopted, it will guarantee possession of the ball and there will be a rapid development of strategic plays designed to advance the ball."
However, it wasn't until October of 1882, that 'scrimmage' was adopted when Camp came up with the idea of yards and downs. He wrote in the new rules set-forth, "If on three consecutive fair tries or downs a team shall not have advanced the ball five yards, nor lost ten, they must give up the ball to opponents at the spot of the fourth down. When a team advances five yards, it will receive a first down and have as many tries as is required to progress the ball another five yards."
Scoring System - Most school during this era counted touchdowns, field goals and safeties equally - one point for each - like soccer. Walter Camp challenged this essence - "It is my thinking that the future of football lies in running the ball rather than kicking..... We shall have to award more points for a touchdown and less for field goals." After much debate by the rules committee it was decided to count one point for safeties, two for a touchdown, four for conversions and five for field goals. Footballhistorian.com Archives - The History of Football
Yale against Princeton - 1877
When Eugene Baker, captain of Yale football team, put up a pen-written note for football players in 1877, Walter Camp was the first to sign up. Camp stated, "I can play halfback." And so he did. A fine athlete, Camp was fast, strong and a great, accurate kicker. Playing in his first game for Yale against rival Princeton, Camp returned one punt back eighty yards for a touchdown. On another play he sped down the side-lines for fifty yards and another touchdown.
As a junior at Yale, he was instrumental in setting down rules that changed the game forever. In early October of 1878, Camp attended a meeting held at the Massassoit House in Springfield and pushed through the rule to keep teams limited to 11 players on a side and to count safeties. He changed the style of play forever - elimination of the rugby scrum - a form of arm-locking and heeling the ball backwards, which took several minutes. In its place he proposed a 'scrimmage' - whichever team had possession of the ball would now place it on the ground and only one man, called a center, would snap it back with his hands or kick it backwards with his heel.
It is written in the books of-the-day that Walter Camp said, 'If this rule is adopted, it will guarantee possession of the ball and there will be a rapid development of strategic plays designed to advance the ball."
However, it wasn't until October of 1882, that 'scrimmage' was adopted when Camp came up with the idea of yards and downs. He wrote in the new rules set-forth, "If on three consecutive fair tries or downs a team shall not have advanced the ball five yards, nor lost ten, they must give up the ball to opponents at the spot of the fourth down. When a team advances five yards, it will receive a first down and have as many tries as is required to progress the ball another five yards."
Scoring System - Most school during this era counted touchdowns, field goals and safeties equally - one point for each - like soccer. Walter Camp challenged this essence - "It is my thinking that the future of football lies in running the ball rather than kicking..... We shall have to award more points for a touchdown and less for field goals." After much debate by the rules committee it was decided to count one point for safeties, two for a touchdown, four for conversions and five for field goals. Footballhistorian.com Archives - The History of Football