alternatehistory.com

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[FONT=&quot]EARLY DAYS[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot]Organised sport in the United States began as it did in the United Kingdom, during the nineteenth century. Whilst at the turn of the 1800s games existed and were played regularly, they differed drastically in rules which often changed game by game. The games themselves were often impromptu, lacking organisation or established teams. The attitude of the times often prevented the development of sports. In New England sport was associated with the sinful pleasures of gambling and drinking. In the southern states, there was a more relaxed attitude towards these, though other pursuits such as Horse Racing were preferred. Despite this, games of Football in America had been recorded as early as 1685 when an English visitor described a game taking place on a beach in Massachusetts. According to accounts of the time, George Washington encouraged his troops to partake in Football games for both ‘exercise and amusement.’ Early American games appear to have much in common with those taking place in England. They were ‘mob’ games, commonly known as ‘folk football’ and often took place on high days and holidays such as Shrove Tuesday.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] By the middle of the nineteenth century these ‘folk’ games began to become more organised on both sides of the Atlantic, on the campuses of England’s elite public schools and America’s prestigious colleges. Each school and college though had its own rules. In America, Princeton had a game known as ‘Ballown’ dating from 1820, whilst in 1827 Harvard began the tradition of ‘Bloody Monday’ a violent initiation for freshmen which took place on the first day of the autumn term.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] A change in attitudes also allowed sport to flourish as the notion of ‘Muscular Christianity’ developed on both sides of the Atlantic. In an era when the Britain was at the head of the most powerful empire on earth and the meteoric rise of the United States the need developed to unite wholesome Christian (protestant) values with attributes such as physical and mental strength, teamwork and fair play. The public schools and universities of England and America educated the governors, empire builders and administrators of the future and they would require such skills to maintain and build upon Britain and the United States status in the world. As the influential American politician Henry Cabot Lodge once stated: ‘the time given to athletic contests and the injuries incurred... are part of the price which the English-speaking race has paid for being world conquerors.’[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] Sport and Football in particular was now looked upon much more favourably than earlier in the century as the sport grew in colleges throughout England and America, though there were huge differences between the two countries. Although the English institutions actively and keenly encouraged their students in these games, they were seen purely as fun and a hobby and past time for gentlemen. American colleges however placed a much higher emphasis on sport, building new gymnasiums and awarding physical education with an academic status.[/FONT]
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[FONT=&quot] Yet each school and college continued to play by its own rules, making inter-college contests difficult and the cause of much debate and friction. By the 1860s, clubs began to form allowing students to play outside of a college environment and also for ex-students to continue with the game after graduating. In 1862, the Oneida Football Club was formed in Boston, becoming the first football club outside of England. The Oneidas perfected ‘The Boston Game’ which can be considered a hybrid of modern Football and Rugby rules, and this was soon adopted by Harvard. This form differed from the majority of rules played in America at this time as it allowed the ball to be handled and carried regularly.[/FONT]
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