Football" before the 19th century referred to any multitude of ball games enjoyed on foot. The rules of these games were different from one another, some using the use of hands "running games", others forbidding it "kicking games". One tradition has it that the football game rugby, American football's ancestor, was created when an Englishman grew bored of the no hands containment, picked the ball up, and ran. Out of an enthusiasm to administrate the rules of the game the other players tackled the player. So much pleasure was this change that running football games were birthed. Whether this is authentic or not is little known, but what is known is that football does have its origins in the games played by pre-colonial European common folds.
The first traces of what would be American football are found in the 19th century in the games played by students at the aristocratic schools and colleges of the United States. A distinctly cruel running game was played at Princeton University in1820, and around this time a kicking game was also being played by students of Dartmouth College. Rules for the Dartmouth game, known as "Old Division Football", were circulated in 1871. The first running game to adjust its rules was the popular English sport, rugby, and it did so in 1845.
While there is some kind of discussion of issues over what constitutes the first American football team, most sports historians look to the Oneida Football Club, a Boston club founded in 1861. Nobody knows what regulations this club used; whether they played a running, kicking, or hybrid version of the game. It is also known that rugby was advancing in Canada about this time. The Montreal Football club started in 1868 and is said to have played a variant of English rugby. This became the basis of Canadian football, which is important here for it later had a huge influence on American football's maturity.
It is not notable what the rules and regulations most of these early football games followed. However, the atrocious Rutgers v. Princeton game in 1869 opens a window to the history. The game was played by two teams of 25 people each. Each team was composed of 11 "fielders", 12 "bulldogs", and 2 "peanutters" whose job was to syay near the competing team's goal so as to score from unguarded positions. This fact suggests there was no "offside" rule at this time. American football at this point closely resembled soccer in the perception that a team scored goals instead of touchdowns and throwing or running with the ball was not legal.
While the NFL states that this early game was indeed based on soccer and not rugby, it did begin intercollegiate football games. Four years later, Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers codified the first ever set of intercollegiate rules for football. However, these rules forbade players from throwing the ball or running with it.
It is Harvard we have to thank for American football. Harvard representatives knew in advance that the four schools above directed on codifying rules forbidding tough physical contact and the carrying of the ball, so they declined to attend. Harvard's obstinacy on behalf of rugby led thereafter to the McGill v. Harvard match of 1874 and the Harvard v. Yale game of 1875. Due to the popularity of these matches other US universities began to field rugby teams. Finally, in 1876 a gathering was held between Harvard, Columbia, Princeton, and Yale where England's Rugby Union rules were adopted by all four schools, but with two key changes. No longer would the scoring of a touch down be voided if the opposing team kicked a field goal
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