History of American football

History of American football

The history of American football, the most popular spectator sport in the United States,[1] can be traced to early versions of rugby football. Both games have their origin in varieties of football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century, in which a ball is kicked at a goal and/or run over a line.
American football resulted from several major divergences from rugby football, most notably the rule changes instituted by Walter Camp, considered the "Father of American Football". Among these important changes were the introduction of the line of scrimmage and of down-and-distance rules.[2][3][4] In the late 19th and early 20th centuries, gameplay developments by college coaches such as Amos Alonzo Stagg, Knute Rockne, and Glenn "Pop" Warner helped take advantage of the newly introduced forward pass. The popularity of collegiate football grew as it became the dominant version of the sport for the first half of the twentieth century. Bowl games, a college football tradition, attracted a national audience for collegiate teams. Bolstered by fierce rivalries, college football still holds widespread appeal in the US.
The origin of professional football can be traced back to 1892, with William "Pudge" Heffelfinger's $500 contract to play in a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. In 1920 the American Professional Football Association was formed. This league changed its name to the National Football League (NFL) two years later, and eventually became the major league of American football. Primarily a sport of Midwestern, industrial towns in the United States, professional football eventually became a national phenomenon. Football's increasing popularity is usually traced to the 1958 NFL Championship Game, a contest that has been dubbed the "Greatest Game Ever Played". A rival league to the NFL, the American Football League (AFL), began play in 1960; the pressure it put on the senior league led to a merger between the two leagues and the creation of the Super Bowl, which has become the most watched television event in the United States on an annual basis

Early years

First games
Although there are mentions of Native Americans playing ball games, modern American football has its origins in traditional ball games played at villages and schools in Europe for many centuries before America was settled by Europeans. There are reports of early settlers at Jamestown, Virginia playing games with inflated balls in the early 17th century.
As is the case with many sports, football-like games were popularized in the USA by students at and/or from elite schools and universities. These appear to have had much in common with the traditional "mob football" played in England, especially on Shrove Tuesday. The games remained largely unorganized until the 19th century, when intramural games of football began to be played on college campuses. Each school played its own variety of football. Princeton students played a game called "ballown" as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as "Bloody Monday" began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes. Dartmouth played its own version called "Old division football", the rules of which were first published in 1871, though the game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain commonalities. They remained largely "mob" style games, with huge numbers of players attempting to advance the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. Rules were simple and violence and injury were common.[5][6] The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale, under pressure from the city of New Haven, banned the play of all forms of football in 1860, while Harvard followed suit in 1861.[5]

"Boston game"

While the game was being banned in colleges, it was growing in popularity in various New England prep schools. In 1855, manufactured inflatable balls were introduced. These were much more regular in shape than the handmade balls of earlier times, making kicking and carrying easier. Two general types of football had evolved by this time: "kicking" games and "running" (or "carrying") games. A hybrid of the two, known as the "Boston game", was played by a group known as the Oneida Football Club. The club, considered by some historians as the first formal football club in the United States, was formed in 1862 by schoolboys who played the "Boston game" on Boston Common. They played mostly among themselves, though they organized a team of non-members to play a game in November 1863, which the Oneidas won easily. The game caught the attention of the press, and the "Boston game" continued to spread throughout the 1860s.[5][7]
The game began to return to college campuses by the late 1860s. Yale, Princeton, Rutgers, and Brown all began playing "kicking" game during this time. In 1867, Princeton used rules based on those of the English Football Association.[5] A "running game", resembling rugby, was taken up by the Montreal Football Club in Canada in 1868.[3]

Rutgers v. Princeton (1869)

On November 6, 1869, Rutgers University faced Princeton University in a game that is often regarded as the first game of intercollegiate football.[3][4][5][8] The game was played at a Rutgers field under Rutgers rules. Two teams of 25 players attempted to score by kicking the ball into the opposing team's goal. Throwing or carrying the ball was not allowed. The first team to reach six goals was declared the winner. Rutgers crossed the line first and went on to win by a score of six to four. A rematch was played at Princeton a week later under Princeton rules (one notable difference was the awarding of a "free kick" to any player that caught the ball on the fly). Princeton won that game by a score of eight to zero. Columbia joined the series in 1870, and by 1872 several schools were fielding intercollegiate teams, including Yale and Stevens Institute of Technology.[5]

Rules standardization (1873–1880)

On October 19, 1873, representatives from Yale, Columbia, Princeton, and Rutgers met at the Fifth Avenue Hotel in New York City to codify the first set of intercollegiate football rules. Prior to this meeting, each school had its own set of rules and games were usually played using the home team's own particular code. At this meeting, a list of rules, based more on soccer than on rugby, was drawn up for intercollegiate football games.[5]
Harvard, which played the "Boston game", a version of football that allowed carrying, refused to attend this rules conference and continued to play under its own code. Harvard's voluntary absence from the meeting made it hard for them to schedule games against other American universities, so it agreed to play McGill University, from Montréal, in a two-game series. The McGill team traveled to Cambridge to meet Harvard in a game played under "Boston" rules, followed by a game of rugby. On May 14, 1874, the "Boston"-style game, was won easily by Harvard. The next day, the two teams played rugby to a scoreless tie, quite a feat considering that the Harvard team was unfamiliar with the game Harvard quickly took a liking to the rugby game, and its use of the touchdown which, until that time, was not used in American football. In late 1874, the Harvard team traveled to Montréal to play McGill in rugby, and won by three touchdowns. A year later, on June 4, 1875, Harvard faced Tufts University in the first game between two American colleges played under rules similar to the McGill/Harvard contest.[9] The first edition of The Game—the annual contest between Harvard and Yale—was played on November 13, 1875, under a modified set of rugby rules known as "The Concessionary Rules". Yale lost 4 to 0, but found that it too preferred the rugby style game. Spectators from Princeton carried the game back home, where it also became popular.[5]
On November 23, 1876, representatives from Harvard, Yale, Princeton, and Columbia met at the Massasoit House in Springfield, Massachusetts to standardize a new code of rules based on the rugby game first introduced to Harvard by McGill University in 1874. The rules were based largely on the Rugby Union Code from England, though one important difference was the replacement of a kicked goal with a touchdown as the primary means of scoring. Three of the schools—Harvard, Columbia, and Princeton—formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, as a result of the meeting. Yale did not join the group until 1879, due to an early disagreement about the number of players per team

Walter Camp: Father of American football

Walter Camp is widely considered to be the most important figure in the development of American football.[2][3][4] As a youth, he excelled in sports like track, baseball, and soccer, and after enrolling at Yale in 1876, he earned varsity honors in every sport the school offered.[2]
Camp became a fixture at the Massasoit House conventions where rules were debated and changed. He proposed his first rule change at the first meeting he attended in 1878: a reduction from fifteen players to eleven. The motion was rejected at that time but passed in 1880. The effect was to open up the game and emphasize speed over strength. Camp's most famous change, the establishment of the line of scrimmage and the snap from center to quarterback, was also passed in 1880. Originally, the snap was executed with the foot of the center. Later changes made it possible to snap the ball with the hands, either through the air or by a direct hand-to-hand pass.[2]
Camp's new scrimmage rules revolutionized the game, though not always as intended. Princeton, in particular, used scrimmage play to slow the game, making incremental progress towards the end zone during each down. Rather than increase scoring, which had been Camp's original intent, the rule was exploited to maintain control of the ball for the entire game, resulting in slow, unexciting contests. At the 1882 rules meeting, Camp proposed that a team be required to advance the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby or soccer into the distinct sport of American football.[2]
Camp was central to several more significant rule changes that came to define American football. In 1881, the field was reduced in size to its modern dimensions of 120 by 53 1/3 yards (109.7 by 48.8 meters). Several times in 1883, Camp tinkered with the scoring rules, finally arriving at four points for a touchdown, two points for kicks after touchdowns, two points for safeties, and five for field goals. In 1887, gametime was set at two halves of 45 minutes each. Also in 1887, two paid officials—a referee and an umpire—were mandated for each game. A year later, the rules were changed to allow tackling below the waist, and in 1889, the officials were given whistles and stopwatches.[2]
After leaving Yale in 1882, Camp was employed by the New Haven Clock Company until his death in 1925. Though no longer a player, he remained a fixture at annual rules meetings for most of his life, and he personally selected an annual All-American team every year from 1898 through 1924. The Walter Camp Foundation continues to select All-American teams in his honor.[10]

Expansion (1880–1904)

College football expanded greatly during the last two decades of the nineteenth century. In 1880, only eight universities fielded intercollegiate teams,[11] but by 1900, the number had expanded to 43.[12] Several major rivalries date from this time period, including Army-Navy (1890), Minnesota-Wisconsin (1890), the Border Showdown between Kansas-Missouri (1891), California-Stanford's Big Game (football) (1892), the Iron Bowl between Alabama-Auburn (1893), Michigan-Ohio State (1897). In 1879, the University of Michigan became the first team west of Pennsylvania to establish a college football team. Other Midwestern schools soon followed suit, including the University of Chicago, Northwestern University, and the University of Minnesota. The nation's first college football league, the Intercollegiate Conference of Faculty Representatives (also known as the Western Conference), a precursor to the Big Ten Conference, was founded in 1895.[13]
Led by legendary coach Fielding Yost, Michigan became the first "western" national power. From 1901 to 1905, Michigan had a 56-game undefeated streak that included a 1902 trip to play in the first college football post-season game, the Rose Bowl. During this streak, Michigan scored 2,831 points while allowing only 40.[14] Another legendary coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg of the University of Chicago, spent most of his career in the Western Conference. He coached first at the Springfield International YMCA Training School, then Chicago, and later at the University of the Pacific for a record total of 57 years. As of 2007, he still ranked seventh on the list of winningest football coaches of all time, with 314 wins

Violence and controversy (1905)

From its earliest days as a mob game, football was a violent sport.[5] The 1894 Harvard-Yale game, known as the "Hampden Park Blood Bath", resulted in crippling injuries for four players; the contest was suspended until 1897. The annual Army-Navy game was suspended from 1894–1898 for similar reasons.[16] One of the major problems was the popularity of mass-formations like the flying wedge, in which a large number of offensive players charged as a unit against a similarly arranged defense. The resultant collisions often led to serious injuries and sometimes even death.[17]
The situation came to a head in 1905 when there were 19 fatalities nationwide. President Theodore Roosevelt threatened to shut the game down if drastic changes were not made. One rule change introduced in 1905, devised to open up the game and reduce injury, was the introduction of the legal forward pass. Though it was underutilized for years, this proved to be the last—and one of the most important—rule changes in the establishment of the modern game.[18] On December 28, 1905, 62 schools met in New York City to discuss rule changes to make the game safer. As a result of this meeting, the Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later named the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA), was formed.

Modernization and innovation (1906–1930)

After the 1905–1906 reforms, which made mass formation plays illegal and forward passes legal, several coaches emerged who took advantage of these sweeping changes. Amos Alonzo Stagg introduced such innovations as the huddle, the tackling dummy, and the pre-snap shift.[20] Other coaches, such as Pop Warner and Knute Rockne, introduced new strategies that still remain part of the game.
Besides these coaching innovations, several rules changes during the first third of the twentieth century had a profound impact on the game, mostly in opening up the passing game. In 1914, the first roughing-the-passer penalty was implemented. In 1918, the rules on eligible receivers were loosened to allow eligible players to catch the ball anywhere on the field—previously strict rules were in place only allowing passes to certain areas of the field.[21] Scoring rules also changed during this time: field goals were lowered to three points in 1909[4] and touchdowns raised to six points in 1912.[22]
Star players that emerged in the early twentieth century include Jim Thorpe, Red Grange, and Bronko Nagurski; these three made the transition to the fledgling NFL and helped turn it into a successful league. Sportswriter Grantland Rice helped popularize the sport with his poetic descriptions of games and colorful nicknames for the game's biggest players, including Grange, whom he dubbed "The Galloping Ghost," Notre Dame's "Four Horsemen" backfield, and Fordham University's linemen, known as the "Seven Blocks of Granite".[23]

Pop Warner

Glenn "Pop" Warner coached at several schools throughout his career, including the University of Georgia, Cornell University, University of Pittsburgh, Stanford University, and the Temple University.[24] One of his most famous stints was at the Carlisle Indian Industrial School, where he coached Jim Thorpe, who went on to become the first president of the National Football League, an Olympic Gold Medalist, and is widely considered one of the best overall athletes in history.[25][26] Warner wrote one of the first important books of football strategy, Football for Coaches and Players, published in 1927.[27] Though the shift was invented by Stagg, Warner's single wing and double wing formations greatly improved upon it; for almost 40 years, these were among the most important formations in football. As part of his single and double wing formations, Warner was one of the first coaches to effectively utilize the forward pass. Among his other innovations are modern blocking schemes, the three-point stance, and the reverse play

Attempts to ban football games

Attempts to ban football games

Numerous attempts have been made throughout history to ban various kinds of football games, particularly the most rowdy and disruptive forms. These attempts were most common in Medieval and early modern Europe, especially in England, where a multitude of forms of folk or mob football were popular, among and between villages and urban districts.
Between 1314 and 1667, football was officially banned in England alone by more than 30 royal and local laws. King Edward II was so troubled by the unruliness of football in London that on April 13, 1314 he issued a proclamation banning it:
Forasmuch as there is great noise in the city caused by hustling over large balls (grosses pelotes de pee} from which many evils may arise which God forbid; we command and forbid, on behalf of the King, on pain of imprisonment, such game to be used in the city in the future.
The reasons for the ban by Edward III, on June 12, 1349, were explicit: football and other recreations distracted the populace from practicing archery, which was necessary for war, and after the great loss of life that had occurred during the Black Death, England needed as many archers as possible.
Football featured in similar attempts by monarchs to ban recreational sport across Europe. In France it was banned by Phillippe V in 1319, and again by Charles V in 1369. In England, the outlawing of sport was attempted by Richard II in 1389 and Henry IV in 1401. In Scotland, football was banned by James I in 1424 and by James II in 1457. Despite evidence that Henry VIII of England played the game — in 1526, he ordered the first known pair of football boots — in 1540 Henry also attempted a ban. All of these attempts failed to curb the people's desire to play the game.
By 1608, the local authorities in Manchester were complaining that:
With the ffotebale...[there] hath beene greate disorder in our towne of Manchester we are told, and glasse windowes broken yearlye and spoyled by a companie of lewd and disordered persons using that unlawful exercise of playing with the ffotebale in ye streets of the said towne, breaking many men's windows and glasse at their pleasure and other great inormyties.[1]
That same year, the modern spelling of the word "football" is first recorded, when it was used disapprovingly by William Shakespeare. Shakespeare's play King Lear (which was first published in 1608) contains the line: "Nor tripped neither, you base football player" (Act I Scene 4). Shakespeare also mentions the game in A Comedy of Errors (Act II Scene 1):
Am I so round with you as you with me,
That like a football you do spurn me thus?
You spurn me hence, and he will spurn me hither:
If I last in this service, you must case me in leather.
("Spurn" literally means to kick away, thus implying that the game involved kicking a ball between players.)
In the period following the English Civil War, Oliver Cromwell had some success in suppressing football games, although they became even more popular following the Restoration, in 1660. Charles II of England gave the game royal approval in 1681 when he attended a fixture between the Royal Household and the Duke of Albemarle's servants.
During the 18th century, football was used as a political weapon by the lower classes. In 1740, "a match of futtball was cried at Kettering, of 500 men a side, but the design was to Pull Down Lady Betey Jesmaine's Mill's." And when a landowner enclosed the communal lands of peasants, they could retaliate by playing football on the enclosed lands. In 1764, 2,000 acres (8.1 km²) of land was enclosed at West Haddon, Northamptonshire. A game of football was called and after the kick off the mob set about tearing down and burning the fences amounting to £1,500 worth of damage. Dragoons drafted to halt the match were helpless.
Even in England's early modern era, efforts were made to ban football at a local level, and force it off the streets. In 1827, the annual Alnwick Shrove Tuesday game proceeded only after the Duke of Northumberland provided a field for the game to be played on. (The Duke also presented the ball before the match — a ritual that continues to this day.) In 1835, the British Highways Act banned the playing of football on public highways, with a maximum penalty of forty shillings. The very popular English women's football matches began in 1895 and were banned from FA grounds in 1921, stifling the game there for the following 40 years.

The Game (Harvard-Yale)

The Game (Harvard-Yale)

The Game (always capitalized) is a title given to several U.S. college football rivalry games, but most particularly the annual contest between Harvard and Yale. As of 2007, the Harvard Crimson and Yale Bulldogs have met 124 times beginning in 1875 – at a time when American football was evolving out of rugby. The Harvard-Yale game is played in November at the end of the football season, and the venue alternates between Harvard Stadium and the Yale Bowl. As of 2007, Yale leads the series 65-51-8. (For a list of games and results, see List of Harvard-Yale football games.)
The Game is the oldest and third-most-played college football rivalry, after The Rivalry between Lehigh-Lafayette and the Princeton-Yale game. In 2003, the rivalry was rated the sixth-best in college athletics by Sports Illustrated On Campus, after Army-Navy, Alabama-Auburn, Duke-North Carolina, UCLA-USC, and Cal-Stanford.

History

The first meeting of the teams occurred on November 13, 1875 at Hamilton Field in New Haven; Harvard won 4-0 by scoring four touchdowns and four field goals (at the time, a touchdown merely gave the scoring team the opportunity to gain one point by converting the field goal). This was the first intercollegiate football match between two U.S. teams (Harvard had played McGill University of Montreal the previous year, and acquired the rules of the game from that team; previous intercollegiate matches were played under the rules of soccer.) The rules that governed the early years of The Game were a modified version of the rules of rugby and made the game particularly brutal. In the second half of The Game of 1892, Harvard introduced the flying wedge formation, devised by chess master Lorin F. Deland, which so devastated Yale players that it was outlawed the following season (nevertheless, Yale won 6-0). After The Game of 1894, about which newspapers reported seven players carried off the field "in dying condition," the two schools broke off all official contact including athletic competition for two years. Since resuming in 1897, The Game has been played annually except during the First and Second World Wars. The first known reference to "The Game" occurs in an 1898 letter by former Harvard captain A. F. Holden (class of 1888) to Harvard coach Cam Forbes on the occasion of The Game being permanently moved to the end of the season ("it also makes the Yale-Harvard game the game of the season"). But capitalized reference to The Game appears to have been first made by columnist Red Smith in the late 1940s, and it first appeared on the cover of The Game program in 1960.
Yale ended its five-game losing streak against Harvard in 2006, winning 34-13 in the largest Eli victory of the last decade. Harvard's winning streak was third longest in the history of the series, after Yale's 1902-1907 six-game winning streak and Yale's 1880-1889 eight-game winning streak. Harvard's offense was held to 13 points, the lowest of its season, and Harvard's running back Clifton Dawson gained only 60 rushing yards. Yale tied with Princeton University for the 2006 Ivy League title.
In 2007, in a match-up of teams undefeated in the Ivy League, Harvard outplayed Yale to a 37-6 victory.

Significance

For many students and alumni of Harvard and Yale, The Game is an important event. The schools are located only a few hours' travel from one another; and, perhaps because they are among the nation's most prestigious (as well as being two of the three oldest), the rivalry is intense. Beating the rival is often considered more important than the team's season record. Furthermore, since Ivy League schools rarely participate in post-season football games, The Game is usually the final game of the season (except for 1919, when Harvard beat Yale 3-0 and went on to the Rose Bowl, where they defeated Oregon 7-6); since most Ivy League football players do not go on to professional careers in the sport (the league does not offer athletic scholarships), it is almost always the graduating seniors' final organized game.
The Game is significant for historical reasons as one of the first football games played between U.S. colleges. The rules of The Game soon were adopted by other schools, such as Rutgers and Princeton, which had been playing soccer (i.e. Association Football) since 1869, making football the archetypal college sport. The schools that would become the Ivy League played a large part in the development of American football in the late 19th century; football's rules, conventions, and equipment, as well as elements of "atmosphere" such as the mascot and fight song, include many elements pioneered or nurtured at Harvard and Yale. For many years, The Game was also likely to determine the Ivy League championship, although recently it has been rare to find both schools enjoying a strong season simultaneously. The Game receives relatively little national attention today; most college football fans are more interested in games between larger institutions whose teams are made up of scholarship athletes, many of them bound for professional careers. The huge seating capacities of Harvard Stadium and the Yale Bowl, however, testify to the vast crowds that The Game still attracts although attendance at other games is much lower. Tickets for The Game generally sell out even in modern times when The Game is played at Harvard, as Harvard Stadium's seating capacity is less than half that of the Yale Bowl.

Trivia

In what is usually considered the best Game, in 1968, the Harvard team made a miraculous last-moment comeback, scoring 16 points in the final 42 seconds to tie a highly touted Yale squad. Yale was coming off a 16-game winning streak and its quarterback, Brian Dowling, had not lost a game he had started since the sixth grade. (Dowling was the inspiration for the character BD in Yale graduate Garry Trudeau's comic strip Doonesbury.) The tie left both teams 8-0-1 for the season, inspiring the Harvard Crimson to print the headline "Harvard Beats Yale, 29-29". [1] One of Harvard's offensive tackles was Tommy Lee Jones, later to find fame in Hollywood.
The Game is an inviting target for pranksters. The most famous exploit was carried out at Harvard Stadium during the second quarter in 1982, when a Harvard score was immediately followed by a huge black weather balloon, previously installed under the 45 yard line by students from MIT as the letters painted on its side proclaimed, slowly inflating until it exploded, spraying talcum powder over the field (Harvard won, 45-7). On November 18, 1990, during the third quarter of The Game, MIT students carried out a less surreptitious assault by firing a rocket which hung an MIT banner over the goal post (Yale won, 34-19). During the pregame show in 1992, the Harvard marching band attempted to "X-out" the Yale Precision Marching Band while the Yale band stood in its traditional Y formation; however, the Yale band caught wind of this plan and, as the Harvard band marched onto the field, shifted its formation into a large H, thus making Harvard X itself out. In 2004, some Yale students impersonated the (non-existent) Harvard pep squad, handed out placards to some 1,800 adult Harvard fans, and alleged that by holding up the placards they would be spelling out "GO HARVARD." Instead, the signs spelled out "WE SUCK"[2]. Harvard won the game 35-3. In 2006, two streakers with MIT painted on their bodies attempted to run around the field during the game. One made it the length of the field before being caught and dragged off the field; the other was tackled by security about ten steps out of the stands.
The Game has also become known for the large, joint Harvard-Yale tailgate parties that run throughout The Game in the fields next to the host stadium every year. The tailgate party was even televised by ESPN in 2004. While most alumni who travel to The Game actually watch it in the stadium, most students and recent alumni treat the tailgate as their primary destination. The tailgate attracts thousands of students and has recently roused the concern of the Boston Police Department, who have cracked down on underage drinking at the student tailgates, as well as moving it further away from the stadium and reducing the space available [3]. This is significant, since, for many students, The Game is the social apex of the year. Considering the cost of getting up to The Game at Harvard, which is no longer subsidized by Yale, some Yale students are considering responding by boycotting Harvard-hosted Games in favor of the season's Yale-Princeton game [4].
The Little Red Flag is a Harvard pennant which, since 1884, has been waved by Harvard's "most loyal fan" after each score by Harvard during The Game. As of 2005, the honorary position is held by William Markus of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, who attends every Harvard football game.
Counterfeit tickets for The Game were first discovered in 1891 when it was played in Hampden Park in Springfield, Massachusetts (Yale winning, 10-0).
Apocryphal tales assert that before the 1908 Game, Harvard coach Percy Haughton strangled a bulldog to death in the locker room to motivate his players. Whether this is true or not, Harvard did win 4-0, the culmination of a 9-0-1 season.
Harvard's 1875 victory marked its first national championship. Since then Harvard has also won titles in 1890, 1898, 1899, 1910, 1912, 1913, and 1919, while Yale has won 18 national championships: 1874, 1876, 1877, 1880, 1881, 1882, 1883, 1884, 1886, 1887, 1888, 1891, 1892, 1894, 1900, 1907, 1909, and 1927.

English public school football games

English public school football games

During the early modern era students, former students and teachers at English public schools developed many unique codes of football. The most well-known of these is Rugby football. British public school football also influenced directly the rules of Association football.
Private schools ("public schools" in the United Kingdom) are widely credited with three key achievements in the creation of modern codes of football. First, the evidence suggests that, during the 16th century, they transformed the violent and chaotic, but popular "mob football" into organised team sports that were beneficial to schoolboys. Second, many early references to football in literature were recorded by people who had studied at these schools, showing they were familiar with the game. Finally, in the 19th century, former English public school students were the first to write down formal codes of rules in order to enable matches to be played between different schools. These versions of football rules were the basis of both the Cambridge Rules and subsequent rules of The Football Association

History

14th century
That ball games were probably played at English public schools from earliest times is suggested by early references to such games being played by students at University. In later centuries there is no doubt that football games played at school were taken by former students to university. The earliest reference to ball games at English Universities comes from 1303 when "Thomas of Salisbury, a student of Oxford University, found his brother Adam dead, and it was alleged that he was killed by Irish students, whilst playing the ball in the High Street towards Eastgate".[1] The earliest specific reference to football (pila pedalis) at university comes in 1555 when it was outlawed at St John's College, Oxford. Similar decrees followed shortly after at Cambridge University

15th and 16th centuries

The first direct evidence that games probably resembling football were being played at English public schools—mainly attended by boys from the upper, upper-middle and professional classes—comes from the Vulgaria by William Horman in 1519. Horman had been headmaster at Eton (1485/6–1494/5) and Winchester College. His Latin textbook includes a translation exercise with the phrase "We wyll playe with a ball full of wynde". Even as early as 1519, Horman shows us that he was well aware of the value of sports to children's education and the need to temper their enthusiasm in order not to affect their studies: "There muste be a measure in gyuynge of remedies or sportynge to chyldren, leste they be wery of goynge to theyr boke if they haue none, or waxe slacke if they haue to many".[2]
This conflict was discussed further by Christopher Johnson who was headmaster at Winchester in the 1560s, but clearly remained a dilemma for public school masters right up to modern times. Christopher Johnson mentions the activities which he enjoyed when a scholar at Winchester himself between 1549 and 1553. He says that he: `cared much more for balls, quoits and tops than he did for books and school".[2]
Sir Henry Wotton who was at Winchester in the 1560s under Christopher Johnson makes reference to the English word "football" in one of his poems.
Richard Mulcaster, a former student at Eton College and later headmaster at Merchant Taylors' School (1561) and St Paul's School (1596) has been described as "the greatest sixteenth Century advocate of football".[3] He tells us that towards the end of the sixteenth century football in England had grown to "greatnes. .. [and was] much used ... in all places". Mulcaster's unique contribution is not only referring to "footeball" by its correct English name but also providing the earliest evidence of organised team football. Mulcaster confirms that his was a game closer to modern football by differentiating it from games involving other parts of the body, namely "the hand ball" and "the armeball". He referred to the many benefits of his "footeball" in his personal publication of 1581 in English entitled ‘Positions Wherein Those Primitive Circumstances Be Examined, Which Are Necessarie for the Training up of Children’.[4] He states that football had positive educational value and it promoted health and strength. Mulcaster's discussion on the merits of football was the first to refer to teams ("sides" and "parties"), positions ("standings"), the benefits of a referee ("judge over the parties") and a coach "(trayning maister)". Although it is not explicitly mentioned, passing of the ball is strongly implied by the reference to different positions on the field. Mulcaster describes a game for small teams that is organised under the auspices of a referee (and is therefore clear evidence that his game had evolved from disordered and violent "mob" football): "Some smaller number with such overlooking, sorted into sides and standings, not meeting with their bodies so boisterously to trie their strength: nor shouldring or shuffing one another so barbarously ... may use footeball for as much good to the body, by the chiefe use of the legges". As a result of his enthusiasm for the sport and his accurate description of the modern game Richard Mulcaster is considered the father of early modern football.
In 1591 it is clear that ball games were being played at Lyon's Free Grammar School in Harrow'. He says that "...upon Thursday only sometimes when the weather is fine, and upon Saturday, or half-holidays after evening prayer. And their play shall be to drive a top, to toss a handball, to run, or to shoot

17th century

There is evidence that team kicking games were being played in schools in other parts of Britain by the mid 17th century. In 1633 (cited in other references as 1636) David Wedderburn, a teacher from Aberdeen, mentioned elements of football games in a short Latin textbook called the "Vocabula". Wedderburn cites phrases that school boys might use during their game. The text below is given in two forms: Francis Peabody Magoun's 1938 original (and more literal) translation and then Marples 1956 version. It is noteworthy that Magoun does not use the word to "pass".
Let us choose sides//Let’s pick sides.
pick your man first//You have first choice.
Those on our side come here//Those who are on our side, come over here.
How many are against us?/How many are there in the other team?
Kick out the ball so that we may begin the game/Kick off, so that we can begin the match.
Come, kick it here/Pass it here.
You keep the goal/You keep goal.
Snatch the ball from that fellow if you can/Get hold of the ball before he does, if you can manage it.
Come, throw yourself against him/Go on, intercept him.
Run at him/Charge him.
Kick the ball back/Pass the ball back.
Well done. You aren't doing anything/Well done! You’re slacking.
To make a goal/To score a goal.
This is the first goal, this the second, this the third/This is the second, this the third goal.
Drive that man back/Keep him out, otherwise the other side wins.
The opponents are, moreover, coming out on top, If you don't look out, he will make a goal/If you’re not careful, he’ll score in a minute.
Unless we play better, we'll be done for/If we don’t play better, we’re done for.
Ah, victory is in your hands/Hi! You’re the winners.
Ha, hurrah. He is a very skilled ball player/Hurrah! He’s a very good player.
Had it not been for him, we should have brought back the victory/If it has been for him we should have won.
Come, help me. We still have the better chance/Come on, help me. We still have a better side?"
(The original Latin is cited by Magoun (1938): Sortiamur partes; tu primum socium dilige; Qui sunt nostrarum partium huc se recipient; Quot nobis adversantur; Excute pilam ut ineamus certamen; Age, huc percute; Tu tuere metum; Praeripe illi pilam si possis agere; Age objice te illi; Occurre illi; Repercute pilam; Egregie. Nihil agis; Transmittere metum pila; Hic primus est transmissus. Hic secundus, hic tertius est transmissus; Repelle eum, alioqui, adversarii evadunt superiores; Nisi cavesjam occupabit metam; Ni melius a nobis ludatur, de nobis actum est. Eia penes vos victoria est; Io triumphe. Est pilae doctissimus; Asque eo fuisset, reportassimus vicoriam; Age, subservi mihi; Adhuc potiores habemus, scilicet partes)
Wedderburn's Latin book is an early reference to what has been rendered in the second version of the translation as "passing" the ball. The word "passing" is not used explicitly: the original Latin states "huc percute" (strike it here) and "repercute pilam" (strike it back - or again). The original word translated as "goal" is "metum", literally meaning the "pillar at each end of the circus course" in a Roman chariot race. The sentence given as "intercept him" in the second translation above is translated in the original as "Throw yourself against him" (Age, objice te illi). There is a reference to "get hold of the ball before [another player] does" or to "snatch" it (Praeripe illi pilam si possis agere) suggesting that handling of the ball was allowed. It is clear that the tackles allowed included the "charging" and pushing/holding of opposing players ("Keep him out" above, "drive that man back" in the original, "repelle eum" in original Latin). This game is likely to have been similar to rugby football. Contrary to press reports in 2006 there is no reference to game rules, marking players, team formations, or forward passing. This text was described in 2006 as "an amazing new discovery" but has actually been well documented in football history literature since the early twentieth century and available on the internet since at least 2000. It confirms that organised football games in the seventeenth century were not confined to English Schools. (An earlier description of goals, defending goals and passing the ball comes from Carew's account of Cornish Hurling).
The next specific mention of football at public schools can be found in a Latin poem by Robert Matthew, a Winchester scholar from 1643 to 1647. He describes how "...we may play quoits, or hand-ball, or bat-and-ball, or football; these games are innocent and lawful. ..". That football at winchester was "innocent and lawful" at this time is very noteworthy.[5] This is strongly supportive of the fact that by the mid-seventeenth century football and other ball games in English public schools had been tamed. Nugae Etonenses (1766) by T. Frankland also mentions the "Football Fields" at Eton.
A more detailed description of football is given in Francis Willughby's Book of Sports[6], written in about 1660. This account is particularly noteworthy as he refers to football by its correct name and is the first to describe the following: goals and a pitch ("a close that has a gate at either end. The gates are called Goals"), tactics ("leaving some of their best players to guard the goal"), scoring ("they that can strike the ball through their opponents' goal first win") and the way teams were selected ("the players being equally divided according to their strength and nimbleness"). He is the first to describe a law of football: "They often break one another's shins when two meet and strike both together against the ball, and therefore there is a law that they must not strike higher than the ball". His account of the ball itself is also very informative: "They blow a strong bladder and tie the neck of it as fast as they can, and then put it into the skin of a bull's cod and sew it fast in". He adds: "The harder the ball is blown, the better it flies. They used to put quicksilver into it sometimes to keep it from lying still". His book includes the first (basic) diagram illustrating a football pitch. Willughby's link with the public school system was that he had studied at sutton coldfield school, was a student at Cambridge university and frequented the Bodleian library at Oxford university

19th century

By the early 19th century, (before the Factory Act of 1850), most working class people in Britain had to work six days a week, often for over twelve hours a day. They had neither the time nor the inclination to engage in sport for recreation and, at the time, many children were part of the labour force. Feast day football on the public highway was at an end. Thus the public school boys, who were free from constant toil, became the inventors of organised football games with formal codes of rules. These gradually evolved into the modern soccer and rugby games that we know today.
The boom in rail transport in Britain during the 1840s meant that people were able to travel further and with less inconvenience than they ever had before. Inter-school sporting competitions became possible. While local rules for athletics could be easily understood by visiting schools, it was nearly impossible for schools to play each other at football, as each school played by its own rules.

Rugby football

William Webb Ellis, a pupil at Rugby school, is said to have "showed a fine disregard for the rules of football, as played in his time" by picking up the ball and running to the opponents' goal in 1823. This act is popularly said to be the beginnings of Rugby football, but the evidence for this bold act does not stand up to close examination and most sports historians believe the story to be apocryphal. In older forms of football, handling the ball was allowed, or even compulsory; for example, the English writer William Hone, writing in 1825 or 1826, quotes the social commentator Sir Frederick Morton Eden, regarding "Foot-Ball", as played at Scone, Scotland:
The game was this: he who at any time got the ball into his hands, run [sic] with it till overtaken by one of the opposite part; and then, if he could shake himself loose from those on the opposite side who seized him, he run on; if not, he threw the ball from him, unless it was wrested from him by the other party, but no person was allowed to kick it.[7]
In 1845, three boys at Rugby school were tasked with codifying the rules then being used at the school. These were the first set of written rules (or code) for any form of football.[8] This further assisted the spread of the Rugby game.
During the early nineteenth century the Rugby school rules appear to have spread at least as far, perhaps further, than the other schools' games. For example, two clubs which claim to be the world's first and/or oldest football club, in the sense of one which is not part of a school or university, are both strongholds of rugby football: the Barnes Club, said to have been founded in 1839, and Guy's Hospital Football Club, reportedly founded in 1843. Neither date nor the variety of football played is well-documented, but such claims nevertheless allude to the popularity of rugby before other modern codes emerged.
The first inter-school match was played between Cheltenham College and Rugby school, surprisingly the victors being Cheltenham College, still a prolific rugby school. First played in 1864 the Clifton v Marlborough game lays claim to being the first inter-school Rugby fixture. The fixture continues today and the winning side is presented with the Governor's Cup. The Cup was once a polo trophy of the Governor of Jamaica.

Association football

Football had come to be adopted by a number of public schools as a way of encouraging esprit de corps, competitiveness and keeping youths fit. Each school drafted their own rules to suit the dimensions of their playing field. The rules varied widely between different schools and were changed over time with each new intake of pupils. Soon, a number of schools of thought about how football should be played emerged. Some schools favoured a game in which the ball could be carried (as at Rugby, Marlborough and Cheltenham). Others preferred a game where dribbling the ball was promoted (in particular Eton College and Harrow. This kind of dribbling foot ball with a tight off-side rule is still played today as the Eton field game. A third group including Westminster and Charterhouse pursued a game that excludeds handling the ball.[9] There is some evidence that this also became a passing game which importantly allowed the forward pass known as "passing on".[citation needed] The division into these camps was partly the result of circumstances in which the games were played. At Charterhouse and Westminster, both schools at the time played on restricted sites in London, the boys were confined to playing their ball game within the cloisters making the rough and tumble of the handling game difficult. Most of the founding members of The Football Association in 1863 were former schoolboys at these public schools. This led to a conflict in the way that Association Football should be played. Some committee members favoured the rules of Charterhouse and Westminster School and pushed for a passing game, in particular rules that allowed forward passing ("passing on"). Other schools (in particular Eton College and Harrow) favoured a dribbling game with a tight off-side rule (such that all players must remain behind the ball). By 1867 the Football Association had chosen in favour of the Charterhouse and Westminster game and adopted an off-side rule that permitted forward passing.[1] The modern forward-passing soccer game was thus born, as a direct consequence of Charterhouse and Westminster Football.

Contributions to the rules

[edit] Offside
Each of the English public school games had its own offside rule. Many of these completely prevented forward passing. The 1847 rules of Eton College, however, were probably the first to resemble the modern game, stating:
"A player is considered 'sneaking' when only three or less than three of the opposite side are before him and the ball behind him, and in such a case, he may not kick the ball."
This is noteworthy as it allowed players to receive a forward pass if more than three opponents were between them and the opponents' goal line.

Dribbling and passing

Dribbling and passing of the ball (including forward passing) are all parts of public school games. In addition, the introduction of the FA rules that allowed both dribbling and forward passing of the ball were instigated by former public school boys. These key elements of modern Association Football were taken from the various versions of public school football. Dribbling was a key part of the Eton game and passing, in particular forward passing ("passing on") was argued for by representatives of Charterhouse during the establishment of the Football Association rules in the 1860s[1]. These features of modern soccer had been integrated into the Football Association rules by 1867 and were the consequence of English public school games. Certain football historians correctly point out that the forward pass is not permitted in rugby football and therefore see the emergence of the forward pass as a critical development in the evolution of Soccer (and for this reason do not acknowledge the role of the public school games) They forget, however, that passing the ball forward by kicking is not only completely legal in Rugby but is a regular tactic employed in most matches particularly in open, running play. For this reason the public school games can claim to be origin of the forward passing game. Passing the ball continues to this day in surviving traditional public school football games. Even in Harrow Football, which is essentially a dribbling game, the ball may be chipped into the hands of a teammate [2]
Most notably the "Combination game" (the predecessor of the modern style of football involving a lot of player to player passing) is believed to have been invented by the Royal Engineers A.F.C. in the early 1870s.[10][11] Nearly all of these players were from English public schools.

The football season

Evidence for the establishment of the football season at English public schools comes in "Bentley's miscellany" (1844).[12] In a chapter entitled "Eton Scenes and Eton Men" the seasonal sports cycle is described thus: "Tamer boys play at cricket in the Summer and Hockey in the Winter; but the manlier youths pull in the boats during the Summer and play at Football in the winter". See also the quotation below which confirms that the football season began in Autumn. This is noteworthy because traditionally football had been played in England during Shrovetide.

Games between clubs

School football clubs (and other sports) were a central part of life at nineteenth century English public schools. In "Five years at an English University" (1852), American Charles Bristed describes his time at Cambridge University in the 1840s. During a discussion on Eton and Rugby School (drawn upon letters from former students there) he states: "[A boy is] proud of the house he belongs to as a man of his college; though in cricket and football clubs, in regular "long boats" and aquatic sweepstakes, in running and leaping races, he competes with the whole school, yet he belongs to a football club in the autumn, which includes the twenty or thirty boys boarding in his own house and thus matches are made between houses as between colleges".[13] Significantly this shows evidence of the first organised competitions between football teams not just within schools but between them. For competitions to take place between colleges it would clearly require some agreement over rules of the game. This necessity, combined with the availability of sufficient time and money to pursue the sport, was the driving force that led to the creation of modern football rules by people who had studied or taught at English public schools and universities. This quotation also points to the establishment in English public schools of the "football season" which to this day begins without fail in Autumn.

Football requires rethink

Football requires rethink

Only the high-ups of the Bangladesh Football Federation (BFF) would be able to tell how much impact its extravagant experiment of sending two different 'national' teams to India and Malaysia this month will have in the near future.
With the SAFF Championship due this December, the footballers will get just four months to prepare in a bid to regain the regional trophy they gave up to India in December 2005. Lack of preparation, however, was evident in Bangladesh's games in the Nehru Cup where they even failed to beat Cambodia, whose last-gasp equaliser forced a 1-1 draw -- the only point Bangladesh earned in the five-team round robin league.
While hosts India began their preparation months ago and played five warm-up matches in Portugal, the Bangladeshi footballers did not even get the chance to know their teammates properly as they camped for less than two weeks after playing the inaugural professional league for six months.
The last time Bangladesh played in the SAFF Championship, under Argentine coach Diego Cruciani, they got four months to unite and reached the final. To be one of the final pairing again in Sri Lanka and Maldives, who host the eight-nation meet jointly, the BFF must start implementing its plans now. And football's governing body must only not concentrate on the only plan it had shown in the past: Long-term camp and no preparation matches

A great way to get you updated with latest Soccer Scores!

As a dedicated soccer fan I always watch TV to get the latest soccer news. However, with ever growing internet dominance I have found a much better way to get my favorite teams results online. Service provider ScommesseOnline is an excellent place to get the latest match results and updates.
With ScommesseOnline you can find all the odds of European bookmakers and take the bonus when you open a new account. With such added advantages I personally believe ScommesseOnline is the ultimate place for soccer score updates

Akavar 20/50 Weight Loss Tablets - Ideal for Sports personals


Sports such as football, volleyball, soccer, etc. requires players to stay fit all the time. For those who had left the game after being rated overweight, there is good news for you. The new introduction of Akavar 20/50 by European scientists is the news many of the sports personals have been waiting for.
Akavar Weight Loss Pill is developed to help people lose weight in a safe and controlled manner. It is a small and easy to swallow tablet recommended to take daily. The good thing about Akavar is people can eat any food they want while taking the tablets. After seeing many positive reviews about the product I am convinced that this will be ideal for any person who wants to have a beautiful body free from excess fat.

England wins comfortably

Buoyant England coach Steve McClaren has roared out a warning to the rest of Europe - there is more to come from us.
England backed up their three-goal triumph over Israel at the weekend by dismantling major group E rivals Russia at Wembley to take a massive stride towards Euro 2008. Michael Owen's first-half double, plus a late strike from Rio Ferdinand - his first England goal in over five years - secured a comfortable win which leaves McClaren's men requiring just five points from their remaining three games to qualify, providing one of them comes in Russia next month.
The result was more remarkable given England were without Wayne Rooney, Owen Hargreaves, Frank Lampard and David Beckham. And the absence of that illustrious quartet, plus veteran defender Gary Neville, is one of the major reasons why McClaren is so bullish about the improvement still to come

Professional online golf clubs

Away from football, I will this time looking to the worlds fastest growing sport golf. As gold become more popular globally with many golf clubs, everyone is wondering how an online golf club can help the rest of the online community. Many such clubs do offer vital information about golf and the oppertunity to do wonderful online courses to their community. One other great advantage is the oppertunity to have your own Golf Handicap Calculator which gives members the oppertunity to manage thier own handicap online.
With many such communities growing globally it is vital to join a community that has excellent golf reward scheme for its members. It is true that many golf Clubs are looking for keen golfers that would be interested in adding information to the clubs listed on thier site and keeping them up-to-date.
Golf is one of the most popular sport in Europe and of course globally. The interest for the game has been growing rapidly. It is one of the few ball games that does not use a fixed, standardised playing field or area which makes it unique from other ball games

EPL Review - Tottenham Hotspurs

English Premier League is undoubtedly one of the best football league in the world. Great football clubs such as Tottenham Hotspurs, Chelsea, Man United, etc have contributed to the success of the league. This time I will provide more details about Tottenham Hotspurs.
Tottenham Hotspurs commonly known as Spurs is the first ever team in 20th century to win both the league and FA Cup double. It is also one of the oldest football club is English football. They are also the first ever English team to win the European Cup Winners Cup. Founded in 1882, Supers has won all the major titles in English football and is regarded as one of the greatest club in the world currently.
Tottenham has many supporters from around world. Most of their own fans refer the club as Lilywhites because of their traditional white shirts. Tottenham Forum is a place where fans discuss about the club, players, transfers, etc. I found the discussions very impressive. It is of course one way that you can show your loyalty to your favorite football club.

Premier League is interesting


I love football since I was a kid. Diego Maradona, Klinsmann, and Van Basten are my favorite players. Now football is one big industry, especially, Premier League. Football is popular everywhere, and no doubt football is the most popular sport in all around the world. However, in America, football is called soccer and it’s not very popular among them.
Football Transfer are very important for most football fans. They are searching everywhere, from newspapers to internet. I still remember when I was watching the game between Liverpool and Manchester United in Anfield, so many fanatics Liverpool fans there.
Speaking about Liverpool, now it is my favorite team (since 1998). I love them when they finally won the Champions League (in 2005). Now, they have brought Ryan Babel and Yossi Benayoun, just make me love them more than ever. One thing that attracted me to Premier League is WAGs (Footballer’s Wife and Girlfriends). Their movements in transfer market are awesome and when I am searching for any Football Transfer, I always found at least one news about Liverpool every 2 days.

Soccer in Asia


Soccer is of course the most popular sport in the world. I myself watch soccer regularly. Many popular tournaments such as EPL, Italian Seri A, SPL, European champions leagues are very polular in many parts of the world. Soccer fixtures between top international teams and clubs are available to see in many top soccer dedicated websites.
The popularity of the game is increasing rapidly. It is believed that soccer (also know as football) was introduced to Asia in the latter half of the 19th century. Although it was not received warmly early on, the game has pick up its rhythm recently. Many Asian clubs have performed very well in recent world cup in Korea & Japan. Some memorable international moments have indicated the potential of football Asia and in Oceania. Asia's first notable success was North Korea's stunning defeat of Italy at the 1966 World Cup finals.
Unlike earlier days, Asia will represent 05 teams in Worlds biggest sports competition (World Cup). Meanwhile, domestic club competitions across Asia and Oceania have been weakened by the need for top national players to join better clubs in Europe or South America to test and improve their talents at a markedly higher level.

Football News

San Jose Mercury: Tedford: Jackson should play in bowl

Cal Coach Jeff Tedford said he expects receiver DeSean Jackson to play in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31. Jackson sat out the Big Game against Stanford with a thigh contusion. "I would think so," Tedford said when asked if Jackson will play. "The game is a long way away." Tedford also said Jackson has maintained a positive attitude during the team's struggles. Jackson has more catches (60) than last year (59) despite missing the past 1 1/2 games because with the injury. But his 681 yards receiving is well off the pace of his 1,060 a year ago, and he's failed to match his production on punt returns from a year ago.
Many expect Jackson, a junior, to turn pro after the season. Tedford said he and Jackson have yet to discuss his future.
"He still has a great attitude," Tedford said. "He's not a malcontent by any means." In other injury news, Tedford said he still doesn't have an official diagnosis for running back Jahvid Best's hip injury. The team still is waiting to gather multiple evaluations of MRIs from experts across the country. Best is out for the season, and the team wants to make sure the injury doesn't have any long-term ramifications. The Bears will hold 13 practices before the Armed Forces Bowl. Tedford said the Bears won't start putting in the game plan for Air Force until next week. Cal leaves for Forth Worth on Dec. 27.

Daily Cal: Cal Meets High-Flying Air Force in Texas Tilt


BY Gerald Nicdao
Tailback Justin Forsett was probably the most excited member of the Cal football team when he heard that the Bears were going to go bowling in Fort Worth, Texas. The senior hails from Arlington, Texas, a mere 10 minutes away from Amon G. Carter Stadium on the campus of TCU. That’s where Cal will play Air Force in the Armed Forced Bowl on New Year’s Eve at 9:30 a.m. PST. But Forsett wasn’t the only one who will be welcoming his homecoming. “They were excited,” said Forsett of his parents. “They didn’t know if we were going to make it to a bowl either. It’s right in our backyard, so we’re going to get a lot of people together to come out and enjoy my last game.” Forsett’s parents were right to be concerned that their son may not have had a chance to play in the postseason. The Bears (6-6) finished the year losing six of their last seven games—most of them nail-biters, losing only two games by double-digit margins. The team needed Arizona State to defeat Arizona to ensure a bowl bid.
The losing skid coupled with losing the Big Game to Stanford for the first time in his four-year career with Cal, Forsett is ready to at least leave his college career on a high note. “We definitely want to go out get another opportunity,” Forsett said. “We deserve to be as high as we were in the beginning of the season. We had a lot of ups and downs, it hasn’t worked out as well.” Air Force has seen a resurgence under first-year coach Troy Calhoun. The Falcons (9-3) have won six of their last seven games after going 4-8 in 2006. Calhoun was able to lead his new team to five more wins and a second place finish in the Mountain West Conference—second only to perennial conference power BYU. Calhoun said he will not be underestimating his reeling opponent in the bowl game. He expects the Cal team that defeated Tennessee and Oregon at the beginning of the year to be the squad that shows up in Fort Worth.
“From a national standpoint, it absolutely does that,” said Calhoun of getting tested by the Bears. “You’re talking about a team talent-wise that was a top-five team in the country. We’re going to get big-time tested. “We’re going to get a great team to play against. Certainly one that played quite well against us three years ago and a team earlier this year that was the best team in all of college football.” That option scheme is the same one that the Falcons still employ today, and they have used it to obtain a winning record this year. Air Force is ranked second only to Navy in the country in rushing yards per game, averaging about 298.5 on the ground during the regular season. The quarterback running the option is the same gunslinger that played against Cal three years ago. Senior Shaun Carney has thrown for just 1,423 yards and eight touchdowns. The Falcons’ passing attack ranks near the bottom of the MWC. But Carney has rushed for 529 yards and five touchdowns, as part of that efficient Air Force ground game.
The Falcons’ leading rusher—Chad Hall—has 1,414 yards and has scored 14 touchdowns. This may pose a problem for Cal, which has given up 175 yards per game on the ground in its last seven matches and is ranked seventh in the Pac-10 in rush defense. “In our experience with Air Force, they’re always a disciplined football team,” Tedford said. “They work very hard. With the option that they used to run, it was very difficult to stop. Going 9-3, they’ve obviously done something right.” Tedford said that his team will use the extra time of practice to get younger players more reps. It will also allow players like quarterback Nate Longshore—who has been suffering from a bone chip in his ankle the last seven weeks of the season—to rest. All of this is in hopes of giving the program a boost, especially after the kind of stretch the Bears underwent in the second half of the season. “I definitely think that it would give a little bit of momentum going into the offseason,” Tedford said. “Either way, there’s going to be a real strong evaluation of everything we do in the program. Obviously, you’d feel better if you won, mainly for the seniors to leave here to feel good about their last game.”

Star Telegram: ARMED FORCES BOWL NOTES

By TROY PHILLIPS
Star-Telegram Staff Writer
Bowls are notorious for matching head coaches, by chance, with deep ties in the coaching community. Often, they coached under the same head coaches, worked together or played against each other in college. Cal's Jeff Tedford and Air Force's Troy Calhoun have little connecting them. Calhoun spent one season (2006) as the Houston Texans' offensive coordinator, working with then-quarterback David Carr, now with the Carolina Panthers. For a brief time, Tedford worked with Carr (1997) at Fresno State as offensive coordinator before moving on to Oregon. "I'm pretty sure that's all there is," Calhoun said of the connection. "I've never met him until today," Tedford said.
Opposite momentum
Cal enters the Armed Forces Bowl having lost six of its last seven games. Air Force (9-3) comes in having won six of seven, including a momentum-turner at Colorado State on Oct. 13. Cal, ranked No. 2 in the country as of Oct. 12, slid out of the rankings and finished 6-6. "We didn't do a very good job late in games," Tedford said. Calhoun said his team can't deceive itself into a false sense of security. "We're playing a team that was No. 2 and can recruit a very different caliber of athlete than we can," Calhoun said. "Even though they struggled to finish the season, I expect them to be heavily favored."

Contra Costa Times: Tedford promises program evaluation


By Jonathan Okanes
BERKELEY — Cal got the extra game it wanted, but no matter what happens Dec. 31 when the Bears play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl, coach Jeff Tedford said there is going to be some serious evaluation of the program. "A bowl win would give a little bit of momentum going into the offseason," Tedford said. "Either way, there's going to be a really strong evaluation of everything we do in the program. We'll take a strong look at it. Obviously, you feel better if you win and send the seniors out the right way." Immediately after Cal lost to Stanford on Saturday, the Bears didn't know if they were going to be playing in a bowl game at all. The Arizona-Arizona State game was still going, and Cal needed ASU to win.
Cal's players and coaches obviously were rooting for the Sun Devils, to give them yet one more chance to break their second-half slide that has reached six losses in the past seven games. "It's a great opportunity to go play another game, and I've heard great things about the Armed Forces Bowl," Tedford said. "We're excited about the opportunity."
CHIPPING AWAY: Tedford said quarterback Nate Longshore has a chip in the back of his right ankle, which he sprained midway through the season. Longshore has been battling the injury all season but has missed just one game. Tedford admitted the ailment has affected Longshore's mobility but said the intangibles the quarterback brings as a result of his experience makes up for it. "When you talk about the education of a quarterback, it's much more than X's and O's," Tedford said. "It has to do with leadership and handling media and criticism because the position is such a focal point. There's no question there has been some adversity there, and I've been impressed with how he's been able to handle it. It hasn't been easy for him, but he comes out every week and tries to practice harder and prepare himself in the meeting rooms."
GREGORY CONTACTED: Cal defensive coordinator Bob Gregory has been contacted by Washington State about its head coach vacancy, according to a source. He has not been interviewed. Gregory is a former Washington State linebacker and defensive back and hails from nearby Spokane. Many believe Gregory is a leading candidate to replace Bill Doba, fired last week.
FULL CIRCLE: Air Force quarterback Shaun Carney played his first college game against Cal. Now, he's going to play Cal in his last. Carney was a true freshman for the Falcons when they opened the 2004 season by getting blown out by the Bears, 56-14. Carney had respectable numbers that day, rushing for 75 yards on 18 carries and completing 9-for-15 passes for 89 yards. Carney and the Falcons have improved a lot since then. Their 9-3 record this season is their first winning year since 2003. "You always remember your first game," Carney said. "I'm a little different mentally and physically, and we have a much stronger team. It'll be good to have another chance at them. It puts a little more meaning behind the game."
EXTRA POINTS: Tedford and Barbour will appear at a "Team Announcement Party" for the Armed Forces Bowl on Thursday in Fort Worth. They will be joined by Air Force coach Troy Calhoun and athletic director Dr. Hans Mueh, as well as representatives from the bowl and each school's respective conference. ... Along with running back Justin Forsett, center Alex Mack and special teamer Jahvid Best's first team recognition, Cal had nine other players earn some type of All-Pac-10 honor. Wide receivers Lavelle Hawkins and DeSean Jackson and linebacker Zack Follett were second-team picks, while free safety Thomas DeCoud, guard Brian De La Puente, linebacker Anthony Felder, left tackle Mike Gibson, wide receiver Robert Jordan and tight end Craig Stevens earned honorable mention. ... At the team's annual year-end banquet, Forsett was named the offensive most valuable player, and DeCoud was tabbed as the MVP on defense.

San Jose Mercury: Cal lied about Longshore's injury: Did Tedford's loyalty derail the season


Jon Wilner
Turns out that Cal quarterback Nate Longshore had more than a “high” ankle sprain — he also had a bone chip in the ankle, according to a report in the Daily Cal. The Bears never said a word about the bone chip, even though Coach Jeff Tedford knew about it all along. (Maybe the headline should say: “Cal did not disclose the full extent of Longshore’s injury.”) This is hardly breaking news. Watching Longshore struggle in the second half of the season — he got hurt Sept. 29 at Oregon — it was fairly obvious that something was up. Either he had the worst ankle sprain in the history of mankind, or that wasn’t the only source of his trouble. The question was raised on the Hotline a few weeks ago (here’s the link to the full post):
I can’t help but wonder if his ankle injury is worse than Longshore and/or Cal is letting on — maybe it’s a break and not a sprain? — and I say this because of how Longshore looks in the fourth quarter. Now that we know the truth, a couple thoughts:
* It would be nice if coaches and teams were honest about injuries, but that’s not reality, and I’m not about to rip the Bears for keeping the bone chip quiet. Tedford was protecting his player and his team, and that’s his responsibility. My assumption is that he felt making the bone chip public would have put Longshore at greater risk — opponents would have been going after his lower leg viciously. Asked by the Daily Cal if the bone chip affected Longshore’s performance, Tedford said: “There’s no doubt about that. There’s no question that it’s hindered his ability to step up or to move around. He just hasn’t been able to do that.”
* But you do have to seriously question Tedford’s decision to stick with Longshore for all these weeks when it was obvious that his quarterback was not close to 100 percent. An already-immobile QB with a sprained ankle and a bone chip — that’s a recipe for six losses in seven games. The Daily Cal asked Tedford that very question, and his response should make Old and Young Blues cringe. Tedford said that he left the decision up to Longshore — that he asked Longshore if the bone chip was affecting his play in the fourth quarter, Longshore said it wasn’t, so Tedford stuck with the junior. “I think it’s more a case of a guy trying to be too perfect,” Tedford explained. “A guy trying to get things done and maybe trying too hard.”
My reaction:
OF COURSE LONGSHORE SAID THE BONE CHIP WASN’T A PROBLEM! Longshore wanted to play — like any player worth his scholarship — and wasn’t going to admit anything that might land him on the bench. (And maybe he believed what he was saying. Maybe he thought the pain wasn’t a problem, or shouldn’t have been a problem.) But that’s where the head coach/offensive coordinator/quarterback guru with the seven-figure contract has to step in and use his best judgement — not defer to the player. It was obvious that Longshore was hurting in the fourth quarter of games (sometimes even the third quarter). Tedford admitted that himself … that’s why he asked Longshore about it numerous times, and that’s what he told the Daily Cal: “There’s no question that it’s hindered his ability to step up or to move around.” Do you believe your eyes and the stat sheet, or what the gutsy but struggling junior tells you? Tedford should have yanked Longshore numerous times, both because of the ankle and because of his performance. But he stuck by his man. Loyalty (to players and coaches) is Tedford’s greatest attribute and possibly his greatest failing. I can’t believe I’m writing this about a college football coach, but sometimes Tedford is too loyal, too empathetic. So Longshore has a sprained ankle and a bone chip and he’s struggling mightily in the second half of games and it’s obvious that he can’t move … Maybe some time on the bench would have prevented Longshore from making mistakes, thus avoiding the loss of confidence that also derailed the quarterback. Not only did Tedford’s decision to stick by Longshore undermine Cal’s chances for success this season, it jeopardized next year, too. Because all that time Longshore was on the field struggling, leading Cal to defeat after defeat, backup Kevin Riley was sitting on the bench not getting any experience for next year. There’s a good chance the Bears will need Riley next year, either because 1) Longshore won’t be good enough, or 2) because Longshore will get hurt again. Remember, this is the seocnd time in three years that he’s had a serious injury in that area of his lower leg.
Isn’t there a decent chance that an immobile quarterback with two injuries in the same area will get hurt a third time? And then what will Cal have in ‘08? The inexperienced Riley leading the way.

San Jose Mercury: A look ahead: Is Cal doomed in '08?

Jon Wilner
OK, doomed might be a bit strong — that headline was a visceral response when the topic of next season popped into my head driving home from Big Game on Saturday night. But I sure don’t see a Pac-10 title contender when I look at the roster. And that’s if DeSean Jackson comes back for his senior year. Frankly, I think Jackson wants to bolt and will bolt if he gets assurances of being a first-day pick. When you have an older brother who played in the NFL, the NFL is just about all you’re thinking about once your junior year rolls around. On that topic: I can’t help but wonder what the coaches thought privately of Jackson not playing in Big Game because of a bruised thigh. Isn’t that something you at least try to play through? Is it, unless you’re saving yourself … Anyhow, the defense should be decent, if for no other reason than many of the two-deepers are returning. (The Bears have to find an answer at middle linebacker, however. Worrell Williams is not it.)
But there are serious, serious questions at the skill positions, of all places. Justin Forsett departs, and Jahvid Best’s hip injury could be serious. If Best can’t play, then James Montgomery is the guy. (Could be worse, but it could be a lot better, too.) Lavelle Hawkins and Robert Jordan depart, and Jackson might join them. If he does, the Bears will be totally rebuilding at receiver. If he doesn’t, he’ll be double-teammed every step of the way. And — here’s the biggie — what are the Bears going to do at quarterback? I believe Jeff Tedford put the 2008 season at risk by not playing Kevin Riley down the stretch in ‘07 — not full time, but for portions of each game, minimum. And I’m not saying that based on how Nate Longshore played in Big Game. I was saying that weeks ago (here’s the link) (and there’s a link within that link to an even earlier post on Longshore). What I saw in Big Game only made me more convinced that Longshore is not the guy to lead Cal to a conference title. He’s so vulnerable against first-rate pass rushes and blitzes, as we saw against UCLA, USC, Stanford … just about everyone who beat Cal down the stretch forced Longshore to make bad decisions/throws in the second half. His ankle was a factor, but it wasn’t the factor. And it’s not like he’s going to get more mobile in the next nine months. But because Tedford stuck with Longshore in November and kept Riley on the bench, the Bears are faced with what could be a very serious problem:
Their choice at the most important position is a somewhat-accurate, easily-disruptable, injury-prone, immobile senior … or a sophomore with virtually no experience. So if Longshore can’t get it done, or gets hurt, then the Bears will basically be starting all over with a rookie QB. And they’ll be doing it with (probably) a rebuilt receiving corps and (possibly) Montgomery, not Best, at tailback. (I haven’t even addressed to prospect of Alex Mack bolting for the pros.) Let’s just say, the defense had better be ready to play.

SF Chronicle: Bears looking to end season with win in Armed Forces Bowl

Cal will have one more chance to put a happy ending on its horror film of a season, getting a berth to play Air Force in the Armed Forces Bowl on Dec. 31 in Fort Worth, Texas. "You know how, in a scary movie, you start out with like 10 people in a house?" senior cornerback Brandon Hampton said last week. "One guy branches off, doing his own thing, and dies. One guy gets caught behind and dies. It keeps going and keeps getting worse until there's like three people left.
"That's been our season. I get sick when I think about it. Hopefully, I won't be scared by this for the rest of my life." Despite falling from the pinnacle of the college football world to the Pac-10's sixth-place bowl tie-in, a victory in Fort Worth would secure a sixth consecutive winning season for the first time in half a century and could go a long way toward setting the tone for next year. Cal had its season-ending banquet Sunday, so the players and coaches were not available for comment, but coach Jeff Tedford and athletic director Sandy Barbour released statements in an e-mail. "I've heard great things about the bowl, and we have always had a lot of respect for Air Force," Tedford said. "This should be a great experience for our players and our fans."
After Arizona lost to Arizona State on Saturday, Cal knew it secured a bowl berth, but whether it would land in San Francisco's Emerald Bowl or in Fort Worth was sketchy. When the Fiesta Bowl snubbed hometown Arizona State, the Bears were slotted in the conference's final bowl game. "We're very excited to be playing in our fifth bowl in a row," Barbour said. "Texas and the Armed Forces Bowl (representatives) are known for their hospitality, and we're looking forward to a great experience." This will be Cal's first trip to Texas since 1997, when it beat Houston 35-3. The Bears dominated Texas A&M 45-10 in last season's Holiday Bowl. "I've been in this business a long time, and I can tell those who plan to attend this year's (game) are in for a treat ... because these two teams are fun to watch," bowl executive director Tom Starr said. Air Force (9-3) accepted an invitation last week. Cal (6-6) has lost six of seven after moving to No. 2 in the nation after Week 6.

SF Chronicle: CAL: Now the wait for a low-tier bowl


Minutes after his final regular-season game, Saturday's 20-13 Big Game loss on The Farm, Cal senior receiver Lavelle Hawkins had a single thought."I'll never forget this game and my drops," Hawkins said. "I really want to apologize to Cal fans and everyone who has supported us. I'm really sorry about this game." Trailing 20-13 in the game's final three minutes, Hawkins beat Nick Sanchez to the corner of the end zone, and quarterback Nate Longshore lofted a pass right over his shoulder. Hawkins, who had seven catches for 63 yards, couldn't catch No. 8 for the potential game-tying score. "It shouldn't have gotten to that point," Longshore said. "After the plays he made throughout the game, there's no way he can take the blame for that." For the third consecutive game, a Cal player or coach has emerged from the losing locker room and tried to take the blame. Longshore did it after throwing a late interception against USC, and coach Jeff Tedford did it after an uninspired showing at Washington. Now Hawkins was taking a turn.
The Bears finished the regular season by losing six of their final seven games. Once ranked No. 2 in the nation, the Bears now wait for an invite to low-tier bowl. "It's time to get ready for next season," junior middle linebacker Worrell Williams said. "It's just unfortunate that we haven't been taking advantage of opportunities. We're just killing ourselves over and over and over." Cal (6-6, 3-6) committed 10 penalties for 118 yards, turned the ball over three times and allowed consistent pressure on Longshore. "The penalties are a concern, but it came down to the pass rush," Tedford said. "They got too much pressure. We had some guys open deep, but we didn't have time to get them the ball." With Arizona State's win over Arizona late Saturday, Cal still secured a school-record six bowl berth. Depending on whether the Pac-10 gets one or two BCS invites, the Bears could go to San Francisco's Emerald Bowl or the Armed Forces Bowl in Fort Worth, Texas.
“It's out of our control now," Tedford said. "Ending a year like this is not what you want. It would be a great opportunity to get to coach these guys one more time and have them get to play together one more time." For the most part, Cal played like a team that didn't realize it controlled its own bowl destiny Saturday. The Cardinal confused the Bears with an alternating-quarterback system, and both T.C. Ostrander and Tavita Prichard led drives resulting in 10 points. Stanford's defense limited Cal to 6 yards and zero first downs on its first five second-half possessions to extend a 3-point halftime lead to 20-10. "This season is definitely a new low for us, but I'd like the chance to bounce back in a bowl game," senior free safety Thomas DeCoud said. "We could find some redemption and finish the season the right way." The new low includes Cal's first Big Game loss since 2001, the inability to have yet locked up a sixth consecutive winning season and confusion about why it can't close out games. "We've had an opportunity to win every game we've played," Tedford said. "That's probably the most frustrating thing. We haven't been able to find a way to win. That's something that needs to be addressed." It's a season that is very reminiscent of the 1996 season, which was Steve Mariucci's only year in Berkeley. Cal started that year 5-0 and lost six of the final seven, including a , 42-38 loss to Navy in the Aloha Bowl. "It hurts that there is nothing I can do about it anymore," Hawkins said.

Football hooligans beware! Frattini Force is coming

With an eye to stop violence and arson being part of every game around Europe, Franco Frattini, the European Commissioner for justice, proposed launching a pilot police training project next year. Addressing journalists at a joint press conference with Michel Platini, president of European football’s governing body UEFA and Rui Pereira, Portuguese Interior Minister Frattini outlined his vision of a European force which should be in place before the 2008 tournament. Frattini said, “We want to build specialised European units ready to intervene in case of need on the occasion of international sporting events. This is a step forward towards the creation, one day, of a true European police (force) for sport.”Answering a question, the commissioner stressed joint initiatives would focus on improving training and cooperation rather than wearing the same uniform. “I prefer to talk about responsibility and cooperation rather than uniforms,” he said. The idea is a brain child of Platini as he told journalists, saying Frattini “jumped on this idea and I thank him for making it happen.”When asked if the behaviour of the players, coaches and managers had any impact on the behaviour of the fans, Platini said that, as violence was society’s problem and football was at the centre of people’s social lives, it was natural that perpetrators of violence would try to take over the game. “We must therefore act to protect sport and give judges the means to enforce the law,” he said.Frattini told journalists, “Although we need concrete assessing, we have funds something like 10 million Euro to start with under Europol but will depend on how much and when.”Frattini’s proposals got immediate support from the European Parliament as Manolis Mavrommatis, vice chairman of the parliamentary committee on education and culture, told New Europe, “The proposal of the Commissioner and Vice President of the European Commission Mr Franco Frattini to finance the efforts against violence inside sport fields is a very good start for European Union’s countries. This proposal shows real interest, sensibility and at the same time determination to fight hooliganism inside and outside the sport fields.However, problems related to violence and its tackling, have their pre-eminent place on the ‘White Paper on Sport’ report, and it is absolutely sure that the majority of the Members of the European Parliament will support and approve the related provisions in the Plenary Session in Strasbourg, next April.”Mavrommatis added, “Violence on and off the fields could be tackled with a more qualitative football, with good arbitration, with the help of the media, with the effective cooperation between the state and the sport clubs, with the presentation of TV shows and spots on the results of violence and finally with the education that schools provide

Russia-bypass pipelines: More hope than gas?


Ever since the beginning of 2006, when that whole episode between Russia and Ukraine led to gas shortages in Europe, bringing the issue of energy security to the forefront, the European Union has been trying to find new sources of gas in order to reduce its reliance on Russia and to promote new routes to lessen its vulnerability to the pipelines transiting Ukraine and Belarus. But, in fact, analysts say, Europe has only made progress on the question of pipelines.
Turkey and Greece opened a 285-kilometre pipeline on November 18 from Karacabey to Komotini, creating an energy corridor that connects the Caspian gas fields to Europe. The new pipeline, which will eventually have a 12 billion cubic metre per year capacity, is intended to serve as the first part of a Turkey-Greece-Italy Interconnector.
"They (the EU) have been pushing this Interconnector pipeline and they have been pushing the Nabucco pipeline but, while these projects are moving ahead, there is a great deal of hope there will be gas to fill these pipelines once they are completed, but right now the evidence is there won’t be enough gas from Azerbaijan or even from Central Asia to fill them," Chris Weafer, the chief strategist with UralSib Bank in Moscow, told New Europe.
Azerbaijan has already stretched itself thin in terms of promising gas supplies to Turkey and Georgia, he said.
An Azeri official said Azerbaijan is ready to sell gas to Europe. "If we don’t have enough gas why the companies and the Azerbaijani government have invested a lot of money to build such pipelines like Baku-Tbilisi-Erzerum? In the oil industry there are no philanthropists. Everybody counts his money. Without profit nobody will do it. Such kind of talks is just speculation to say that... Azerbaijan cannot supply gas to Europe," he told New Europe.
Greece will buy part of the gas supplied from Phase I of Azerbaijan’s Shah Deniz field from Turkey. But once production from Phase II kicks in, there will be enough gas to supply not only Greece and Turkey, but other European countries, the official said.
Moreover, BP said it made a new discovery two weeks ago while drilling in Phase II of the Shah Deniz field. "We drew a well, appraised the existing reservoir we knew about and confirmed the size which will support the second phase of development of Shah Deniz. But while we were drilling that well, we decided to drill considerably deeper than the existing structures ... where we found an underlying structure and that’s the new discovery," BP spokesman David Nicholas told New Europe. "We’re talking many years away from potentially developing this new discovery. The second phase in the existing structure Shah Deniz is scheduled for supply in 2013. Any development in this deeper structure would be subsequent to that, so we are talking many years away," he said.
The Turkmen president has also been very active in trying to do energy deals and also, like the Azerbaijanis, promising a lot of gas to different partners. "There is a big question mark whether or not there is enough gas to fulfil those promises. In May they signed a deal with Russia to increase the capacity of a pipeline going north, but at the same time they signed a deal with Beijing to increase exports to China over the next few years and now they are talking actively with the EU about supplying gas to the Nabucco pipeline," Weafer said.
The question is how they are going to get it across the Caspian to Azerbaijan or the Black Sea, because they cannot build a pipeline across the Caspian as long as there is no agreement on the status of the Caspian Sea. They will either have to build this pipeline through Russia or not at all, as the alternative is through Iran and that can’t happen as long as Iran is subject to sanctions. There is also plenty of gas in Iran for Europe. The European Commission hopes the political problems would be resolved as quickly as possible in order to consider Iranian gas for Nabucco.
Meanwhile, US Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman, on hand for the inauguration ceremonies for the Turkey-Greece Interconnector, tried to discourage any plans to fill it from Russia’s Blue Stream pipeline, especially once the Interconnector is extended to Italy. But as UralSib’s Weafer pointedly said, "Of course the Americans don’t like that, but frankly they are the problem. They are the ones who are blocking a resolution with Iran."