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The game of football holds a
fascination for many Americans as well as others around the world. We have
learned that American Football has its "roots" in a combination of soccer
and rugby. According to SportsKnowHow.com - History of American Football "A
form of soccer was played as early as 206 BC in the Han Dynasty of China
where teams competed in a game called Tsu Chu to celebrate the emperor's
birthday." In November, 1869 Rutgers and Princeton met to play the first
college football game in America. The result was a 6 - 4 victory for
Rutgers.
Co-incidentally Alderson and Hinton met on or about September 3, 1906 to
play what I believe to be the first organized football game played in
Alderson. Unfortunately at this writing there is no evidence as to where the
field was located or who participated in the game. The final score was 6 - 4
in favor of Alderson - identical score to the aforementioned college game.
As in most sports the rules have evolved throughout history. Most of the
time the rules are as result of "fan" interest in one or more particular
situation and in other cases it is a matter of perceived "safety" for the
participants. In 1905 Theodore Roosevelt threatened to ban football if
safety was not introduced. This admonition came after 18 players died and
159 were critically injured in 1905. These deaths and injuries were a result
of the so called "flying wedge." (See SportsKnowHow.com - History of
football page 2). Scoring in football has also evolved over time. The scores
for the Alderson-Hinton game and the Rutgers-Princeton were identical
however the method of the scoring was quite different. In 1883 the rule was
2 points for a touchdown and 4 points for the extra point or point(s) after.
The rules were modified in 1897 wherein a touchdown was worth 5 points and 1
for the point after. In 1904 a field goal was scored as 4 points from the
previous 5 points in 1883.
The result of the rule changes in 1897 and 1904 would suggest that Alderson
scored a touchdown and extra point and that Hinton scored a field goal. The
result in the Rutgers-Princeton match up were quite different. It is
possible that there were 5 touchdowns scored in that game with no extra
points; however it is uncertain what scoring method was used as early as
1869. The result described here would only be applicable if the rule was the
same in 1869 as it was in 1883. Regardless of the method by which scores are
tallied Alderson may be included along with Rutgers as a first in "sports
trivia."
The Alderson Advertiser in its September 6, 1906 edition reported the
following:
"The Hinton delegation of kickers came
up Monday afternoon and played a game of ball with the local team. The
Hinton team did considerable more kicking than they did playing, and after
their own umpire allowed them everything for which they contended, Alderson
won by a score of 6 to 4.
The gate receipts were not enough to pay expenses but several gentlemen
contributed liberally and made up the deficiency for which the ball team
desires to express its thanks."
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