1884-1894 - Mass Momentum Plays And Brutality Bring Football to Edge of Extinction -Football History

Summary

This video script delves into the formative years of American football, highlighting early plays like the V trick and the Flying Wedge, which emerged between 1884 and 1894. It discusses the evolution of the game, influenced by rule changes that distinguished it from rugby, such as the introduction of possession and the concept of downs. The script also touches on the brutality of these early plays, which led to significant injuries and public outcry, resulting in rule amendments aimed at reducing violence. The narrative captures the struggle to preserve and reform the sport amidst growing concerns over player safety and the game's future.

Takeaways

• 🏈 The script discusses the evolution of early football plays, focusing on the period from 1884 to 1894, which included the introduction of mass momentum plays like the V trick, Turtleback, and the Flying Wedge.
• 📚 It highlights the rule changes of American football in the 1890s to differentiate it from rugby, such as the establishment of possession and the concept of downs, as well as allowing tackling below the waist and blocking in front of the ball carrier.
• 🔍 The V trick, created by Princeton quarterback Richard Hodge in 1884, was a significant early play that utilized a V-shaped formation to gain yardage and became widely adopted by other teams.
• 🎖️ The Flying Wedge, introduced by Harvard in 1892, was a spectacular and dangerous mass momentum play that involved players running at full speed into a defense, causing public concern over the violence in the game.
• 👨‍🏫 The script credits Lauren F. DeLand, a chess player and war strategy enthusiast, as the inventor of the Flying Wedge, demonstrating the influence of military tactics on early football strategies.
• 📉 The public and some educational institutions, like Harvard's President Charles Elliot, began to criticize the brutality of football, leading to a crisis in the sport's reputation and the temporary cessation of the Harvard-Yale rivalry.
• ⚖️ In response to the violence and controversy, the Intercollegiate Football Association was replaced by the Intercollegiate Rules Committee, which made significant rule changes to reduce the violence in the game.
• 🚫 The 1893 rule changes included the outlawing of momentum mass plays, reducing the game length, prohibiting players from laying hands on opponents unless they had the ball, and introducing a modern kickoff rule.
• 👮‍♂️ An additional official, the linesman, was added to improve the enforcement of rules and reduce the occurrence of slugging and piling up on players.
• 📉 The script mentions the Hampton Park bloodbath, an 1894 game between Yale and Harvard that resulted in severe injuries and further highlighted the need for rule changes to protect players.
• 📚 Walter Camp, known as the father of American football, conducted a survey to support the continuation of the sport amidst the controversy, illustrating the efforts to save football from being abolished.

Q & A

What were some of the earliest football plays mentioned in the script?

The earliest football plays mentioned in the script include the V trick, the Princeton V, the Turtleback, and the Flying Wedge.

How did the establishment of possession and the system of downs differentiate American football from rugby in the 1890s?

The establishment of possession and the system of downs, where teams had four downs to gain five yards, made American football distinct from rugby, which did not have these concepts at the time.

What rule changes in 1890 made American football more distinctly American?

In 1890, two rule changes made American football more distinctly American: allowing tackling below the waist, which is not allowed in rugby, and allowing blocking in front of a ball carrier, which was originally called interference.

What was the significance of the V trick in the evolution of football plays?

The V trick, introduced in 1884, was the original wedge play and served as the forerunner of all mass plays that would come later, changing the offensive system for football.

How did the Flying Wedge play differ from the V trick and why was it significant?

The Flying Wedge play differed from the V trick in that it involved two groups of players running and converging on the ball carrier, creating tremendous momentum. It was significant because it was considered the most spectacular play in the history of football and led to further rule changes due to its dangerous nature.

Who introduced the Flying Wedge play and what was its origin?

The Flying Wedge play was introduced by Lauren F. DeLand, who was known for being a good chess player and had a background in studying the art and strategy of war.

What were the concerns about the mass momentum plays in the early days of football?

The concerns about mass momentum plays included their violent and dangerous nature, which often led to serious injuries, and the fact that they were seen as boring by the spectators due to the lack of open field play and constant collisions.

What rule changes occurred at the end of the 1893 season to address the issues with football?

The rule changes at the end of the 1893 season included outlawing momentum mass plays, reducing the game length from 90 to 70 minutes, prohibiting players from laying their hands on an opponent unless they had the ball, specifying that the ball must travel 10 yards on a kickoff, adding a linesman as a third official, and prohibiting piling up on the runner after he has cried down.

What was the impact of the 1894 game between Yale and Harvard on the perception of football?

The 1894 game between Yale and Harvard, known as the Hampton Park bloodbath, resulted in eight players being injured and brought significant public attention to the brutality of football, leading to calls for the sport to be abolished.

What was Walter Camp's role in the controversy surrounding football in the 1890s?

Walter Camp, known as the father of American football, issued a book called 'Football Facts and Figures' to survey football players about the game and its brutality, effectively acting as a propaganda piece to support the continuation of football amidst calls for its abolition.

Outlines

00:00

🏈 Early Football Plays and Formations

This paragraph discusses the evolution of early football plays and formations between 1884 and 1894. It highlights the introduction of the V trick, Princeton V, and the Flying Wedge, which were innovative mass momentum plays. The paragraph also covers the state of American football in 1890, emphasizing rule changes to differentiate it from rugby, such as the establishment of possession and the system of downs. The allowance of tackling below the waist and the introduction of blocking (originally called interference) are noted as significant changes that shaped the game.

05:02

💥 The V Trick and Its Impact on Football

The V trick, invented by Princeton quarterback Richard Hodge, is described as the original wedge play and a precursor to all mass plays. It was a spontaneous formation used against Pennsylvania Penn, which involved players arranging in a V-shape with the ball carrier at the apex. Despite its initial success, it was forgotten for a time before being reintroduced and practiced, eventually becoming a standard opening play across all football teams. The paragraph also describes the physicality and brutality of breaking the V trick formation, as well as its influence on the eventual acceptance of blocking in football.

10:02

🚀 The Introduction of the Flying Wedge

The flying wedge is introduced as the most spectacular play in football history, first used by Harvard against Yale in 1892. The play involved two groups of players running towards each other and converging on the ball carrier, creating a powerful and dangerous momentum. The paragraph explains the lack of rules at the time regarding the number of men in motion before the ball was put in play, which allowed for the development of such plays. The flying wedge's inventor, Lauren F. DeLand, is highlighted for his application of military strategy to football, despite never having played the game himself.

15:06

🤕 The Dangers of Momentum Plays and Public Reaction

This paragraph discusses the public's reaction to the violent nature of football during this period, particularly the mass momentum plays like the flying wedge. It mentions the creation of other plays such as the Turtleback and the Push Play, which further exemplified the brutality of the sport. The paragraph also draws comparisons between the style of play at the time and the modern game, noting how the violence and sameness of plays led to a decline in public interest. The paragraph concludes with the mention of the University Athletic Club of New York's efforts to address the violence in football.

20:09

🛑 Rule Changes and the Future of Football

The paragraph details the significant rule changes made at the end of the 1893 season to address the violence in football. These included the outlawing of momentum mass plays, reduction of game length, prohibition of players laying hands on opponents unless they had the ball, and the introduction of a modern kickoff rule. The establishment of the Intercollegiate Rules Committee and the addition of a third official to reduce violence are also mentioned. The paragraph concludes with the cancellation of the Army-Navy game in 1894 due to the violence in football and the subsequent rule changes aimed at making the sport safer.

25:11

🏟️ The Hampton Park Bloodbath and Football's Crisis

This paragraph recounts the infamous 1894 game between Yale and Harvard, known as the Hampton Park bloodbath, which resulted in numerous injuries and ejections due to excessive violence. It discusses the public outcry and the subsequent three-year hiatus between Yale and Harvard games. The paragraph also touches on the broader crisis facing football, with critics like Charles Elliot calling for the sport's abolition. The efforts of Walter Camp to save football through a survey and the publication of 'Football Fact and Figures' are highlighted, setting the stage for further controversies and changes in the sport.

Keywords

💡V trick

The 'V trick' refers to one of the earliest football plays, characterized by a V-shaped formation with the ball carrier at the apex. It was invented by Princeton quarterback Richard Hodge in 1884 and was instrumental in gaining yardage by creating a mass momentum play. The term is central to the video's theme of early football strategy and its evolution.

💡Turtleback

The 'Turtleback' is another early football play mentioned in the script, which involved 11 men forming a solid oval shape against a selected point on the line of scrimmage. The play aimed to roll the mass around the end, creating a clear field for the runner. It exemplifies the mass momentum plays that were prevalent in the late 19th century and is relevant to the video's discussion on the transformation of football tactics.

💡Flying Wedge

The 'Flying Wedge' is a significant term in the script, denoting a play introduced in 1892 that involved two groups of players converging on the ball carrier at full speed, creating a powerful and dangerous momentum. This play is highlighted in the video as a turning point in football's history, leading to widespread controversy and rule changes due to its violent nature.

💡Blocking

In the context of the video, 'blocking' refers to the act of offensive players positioning themselves in front of the ball carrier to clear a path, which was initially called 'interference.' The formal allowance of blocking in football changed the offensive system dramatically, as it enabled the development of mass plays like the V trick and the Flying Wedge.

💡Off-sides

The term 'off-sides' in early American football had a different meaning than in modern football. It was related to an offensive player being in front of the player with the ball, which was not allowed. The script explains how the allowance of blocking in front of the ball carrier changed the interpretation and enforcement of off-sides rules, impacting the game's strategy and dynamics.

💡Momentum Plays

Momentum plays, as discussed in the video, are football strategies where players run while the ball is put into play, creating a forceful impact on the defense. The script describes how these plays, such as the Flying Wedge, were both effective and controversial, leading to significant rule changes to reduce the risk of injury.

💡Intercollegiate Football Association

The 'Intercollegiate Football Association' was an early governing body for college football, which the script notes was breaking up due to disagreements on how the game should be played. Its dissolution and the subsequent formation of the Intercollegiate Rules Committee represent key moments in the organization and regulation of football.

💡Walter Camp

Walter Camp, known as the 'father of American football,' is a central figure in the script's narrative. He played a crucial role in shaping the game's rules and is depicted as a key advocate for football during a period of intense scrutiny and potential abolition. His efforts to survey players and produce propaganda supporting the sport reflect his influence on football's survival and development.

💡Hampton Park bloodbath

The 'Hampton Park bloodbath' refers to a particularly violent 1894 game between Yale and Harvard, which resulted in numerous injuries and ejections, causing public outcry. This event is a focal point in the script, illustrating the extreme brutality of early football and the urgent need for rule changes to protect players.

💡Mass Plays

Mass plays, as mentioned in the script, involve a large group of players forming a compact formation to advance the ball. Although the momentum aspect of these plays was outlawed, the mass component remained, leading to continued concerns about the safety and violence of the game. The term is integral to understanding the evolution of football strategy and the challenges faced by early rule makers.

💡Slugging

In the script, 'slugging' refers to the act of players physically attacking each other outside the rules of the game, which was a common occurrence in early football. The introduction of the no slugging rule was an attempt to reduce violence on the field, reflecting the video's broader theme of addressing safety concerns in the sport.

Highlights

Introduction of the earliest football plays such as the V trick, Turtleback, and Flying Wedge from 1884 to 1894.

The establishment of possession and the concept of downs in American football to differentiate it from rugby.

Tackling below the waist and blocking in front of a ball carrier were allowed, introducing new dynamics to the game.

The V trick, created by Princeton quarterback Richard Hodge, revolutionized offensive strategies in football.

The Flying Wedge, introduced in 1892 by Harvard, was a high-impact play that garnered significant attention and controversy.

Lauren F. DeLand, the inventor of the Flying Wedge, applied military strategy to football, marking a strategic evolution in the game.

The public and critics began to express concerns over the violence in football, leading to a call for rule changes.

The Intercollegiate Football Association faced disagreements, leading to the formation of the Intercollegiate Rules Committee.

Major rule changes in 1893 included the outlawing of momentum mass plays and reducing the game length to address safety concerns.

The 1894 game between Yale and Harvard, known as the Hampton Park bloodbath, highlighted the brutality of football and led to increased scrutiny.

President of Harvard, Charles Elliot, criticized football, contributing to the debate on its legitimacy as a sport.

Walter Camp's 'Football Fact and Figures' aimed to counteract the negative perception of football through a survey of players.

The controversy surrounding football in the 1890s raised questions about its future and led to significant rule reforms.

The early days of football saw a variety of issues, including the use of 'Tramp' players who were not students.

The video promises to explore further controversies in the next segment, indicating that the situation worsened before improvements were made.

Transcripts

Have you ever heard of the  V trick? The Princeton V?  

The Turtleback? No. Then you probably heard of  the Flying Wedge. The names I've just mentioned  

were amongst the earliest plays in football.  They came about in the years 1884 to 1894. And  

that's what we're going to talk about in this  video. The earliest formation football plays,  

mass momentum plays, and the rule changes  and the concerns they all brought about.

(upbeat music)

First, let's talk about the state  of American football in 1890.

Rules changes have come about to make sure  that the American game is different than  

rugby. Specifically, I'm talking about  the establishment of possession or the  

concept of possession in the American  game, where there is none in rugby,  

and the system of downs, the idea that we have  four downs at that time to gain five yards.

Both of these made the games distinct from  rugby and made it a truly American game.  

By 1890, two more rules were established  to make the game even more American.

Tackling below the waist was allowed,  which is not allowed in rugby,  

and blocking in front of a  ball carrier was allowed.

Blocking was originally called interference,  and it has kind of an odd history.

There was never a formal rule that stated a  blocker could be in front of the ball carrier,  

but there were rules against offsides. And when I  say offsides, you're probably thinking of American  

football where a defensive player comes across the  line of scrimmage, and therefore they're offsides.  

When they're talking about early American football  and they mention offsides, that's not what they  

mean. What they mean is the offsides in  like the concept of soccer or in rugby,

an offensive player cannot be in front of  the player with the ball. In other words,  

the ball has to proceed  everybody else down the field.

Obviously, that's not how it works with blocking.

So what happened was for a  while, they just kind of,  

they called it in some games illegal, being  offsides illegal, in some games they didn't.  

It was up to whatever the official or the teams  at the time the games decided or perhaps where  

they were playing. Like for example, if they  were playing at Cornell and Cornell didn't like  

offsides, then they didn't call it. And then  when they finally passed the rule, they said,  

yes, we can have blocking or interference in  front of a ball carrier, it changed the entire  

offensive system for football. So in 1884,  a play called the V trick was introduced.

The V trick was the original wedge play and  it was the forerunner of all the mass plays  

to come. That's a play that was made up on the fly  by Princeton quarterback Richard Hodge. His team  

wasn't making any headway or gaining any artage  against Pennsylvania Penn, which is one of the  

big teams at the time, with seven men running a  breast, on the words all on a line. So he decides  

to put them in a V, in the form of a V with the  ball carrier inside the V and the apex forward.

And it has amazing success gaining yardage from  midfield to the five yard line. And since it was  

made up on the fly, they just kind of forgot  about it and it's abandoned for a year or so.  

And then in 1886, it's used again by Princeton  after they practiced it. And by 1888,  

it is so well known that is used by  every football team in the country.

It was the standard opening play for everyone.  Much like we started game with a kickoff,  

they would start a game with the V trick.

Now keep in mind, there were no rules at that time  that required you to kick the ball on a kickoff 10  

years. So teams typically just kicked the ball  to themselves or put it in play to themselves,  

much like putting a ball in play in soccer.  You kicked the ball to yourself and your  

own teammate gets it and then you start  playing. By the time everyone is using it,  

it's become perfect in form. Park Davis, a  historian, describes it like this. "The V as  

finally perfected was formed by the 11 players  taking positions in a solid V-shaped mass,  

apex forward, the arms of the players encircling  the bodies of one another. The play formed 10  

yards back from the opponent's rush line," I  was the line of scrimmage. "The player with  

the ball stood at the apex of the V. When all  were ready, the ball was technically kicked  

off by being touched to the toe and ground  simultaneously, but without being released.

The mass then started heavily forward,  

the player with the ball disappeared  within it and the opponents charged.

Breaking one of these ponderous  machines was not gentle play,  

since this could only be accomplished  by throwing oneself directly in front  

of the mass and upsetting its apex while  the other players crushed in its flanks."

This sounds insane.

Alice and Dan Zigg in the history of American  football describes how teams would take on the  

V trick, the play. Walter Heffelfinger was a  really known large guy that played for Yale,  

and Dan Zigg describes his play against the V  like this. "Heffelfinger rushed at the mighty  

human engine, leapt high in the air, completely  clearing its forward ramparts and came down on top  

of the men inside the wedge, whom he flattened  to the ground, among them the ball carrier."

That gives you an idea what  football was like at that time,  

which is, well, it's kind of insane  compared to the football we watch.

And you can go through newspaper accounts and  find references to the V trick on both kickoffs  

and from normal scrimmage plays. And it was used  quite a bit, and it was obviously a recognized  

formation by everybody because there are so  many references to it in the newspaper accounts.  

And like I said earlier, it was the forerunner  of all the mass play that would come later.  

And it's because of the V trick  that everybody starts slowly kind  

of disregarding off-sides play as it pertains  to rugby. And since everybody is using it,  

then they come up with the blocking rule. They  pass the rule that formally allows blocking.

So onto the flying wedge.

1892 brings about the introduction  to the most spectacular play in the  

history of football. That's not an exaggeration.

Park Davis, who wrote the book, Football, The  American Collegiate Game, talks about how the  

play was introduced by Harvard against Yale.  Keep in mind, 1892. To the surprise of players  

and spectators, the Crimson, Harvard, did not form  a V, which again was the standard kickoff play.  

Instead, B.W. Trafford, holding the ball, took a  position at the center of Harvard's 45-yard line.  

The remaining 10 men divided into two sections  and fell back to the 25-yard line, each section  

grouping near the sideline, but at opposite sides  of the field. Without putting the ball in play,

Trafford waved his hand and the two sections came  swiftly forward in lockstep, converging towards  

Trafford and gathering tremendous momentum  as they ran. Just as they reached Trafford,  

the latter put the ball in play and  disappeared within the mass of men,  

then thus launching against the Yale men, standing  in their tracks, the famous flying wedge. So when  

you go out on the internet and you look up  flying wedge, you're likely gonna run into  

this photo. And when you look at it, it doesn't  really look that imposing. I mean, it honestly  

looks goofy. It just looks like a bunch of guys  kind of stuck together in a football formation,  

a really illegal and weird football formation.  But this is a still photo, and that's not what the  

flying wedge was. The flying wedge was men moving  in motion toward a point of attack on the defense.

And those men are moving before the ball is  put in play or snapped because there are no  

rules that state you have to be set on the line  before the ball is sapped. There are no rules  

that state how many men can be in the backfield.  And there are no rules that say how many men can  

be in motion at any one time before the ball is  put in play. So those rules would all come much,  

much later after mass momentum plays  proved to be incredibly dangerous.

And you look at the flying wedge  and think about it in motion. I  

wish I could animate this so that it would  actually show what it would have been like.

But I don't know how to do that. So if  anybody watches this and says, "Hey,  

I could animate a flying wedge play for you."  Please leave me a comment or a way to contact you.  

And we'll see what it did because I think this  play would be awesome for people to understand  

what momentum plays were really about. So keep in  mind what we're talking about here. We're talking  

about two groups. This is on a kickoff.  Two groups of men back away from the ball

and then they start running and they  converge basically on the ball carrier  

where he's going to pick the ball up.  And by the time they hit the defense,  

they're running at full speed into  a defense that's standing there.

And they didn't just run these plays  at kickoff. They ran these plays during  

scrimmage plays where basically  the offense would be in motion

and the defense would have to stand. So if  you're a guy that's like a defensive tackle  

or basically what we would consider a defensive  tackle, you're standing there and a whole mass of  

guys are running right at you. And the only thing  you can do is throw yourself at their feet and  

hope to knock the first of them down. That's  pretty much how it worked. The flying wedge

becomes not just a play in  the Harvard Yale game in 1992,

but it consumes public interest, at least the  people that were interested in football. And it  

remains the subject of football for a few years.  And it introduces the term flying wedge, which I'm  

sure had never been used before that, except maybe  in warfare with the concept of a flanks formation.  

But sooner or later, everybody is using the  flying wedge, much like they're using the V trick.

So the flying wedge was invented  by a guy named Lauren F. DeLand.

And he never played football himself. He  was known for being a good chess player.  

But here's an article about DeLand from  the Kansas City Star on November 30th,  

1892 that I thought you would find interesting.  I certainly did. Mr. DeLand's entrance into the  

football world is going to throw the  old heroes, camp, stag, heffelfinger,

and the other famous coaches into the shade.  It marks an era in the evolution of the game,  

a step forward in strategic progress. Mr.  DeLand's principle is the application of the  

art of war to football. For years, it had been  his hobby to study the art and strategy of war.  

He made himself thoroughly familiar with all the  details of the great battles recorded in history,  

and had worked out on maps and drawings,  the decisive battles of the world.

Then one day a friend took him to a football  game. He was immediately interested. It was  

war. Two armies in miniature were  being hurled at each other and he  

saw the ideal scientific combats of  his imagination wage and reality.

Struck by the similarities between a  scientifically played game of football and the  

art of war, he began a long study of strategy as  seen in war and applied to the game of football.  

He constructed a miniature football field five  feet long and drawn to a scale with mathematical  

nicety. On this he studied out his momentum play  as he calls the flying wedge and several other  

moves which had yet to be tried. According to him,  it is nothing more or less than the application of  

football of one of Napoleon's favorite methods for  turning the enemy's flank. The two advantageous  

points in the play are the tremendous momentum  gained by the 11, starting a way back of the  

line and being on a dead run when the ball is  put into play. And secondly, the confusion it  

creates of the minds of the players on the  other side. What an article. It's wonderful.  

If you go back and look through history, you  realize that you need articles like this written  

about yourselves to become legend or myth. They  have to have a certain level of embellishment.

And I was Billie Kidd really the  fastest gun in the West. Well,  

it sold a lot of dime store  novels. So yes, he was.  

But what you find is a lot of bovine scatatology  being used in these articles. And it's fun to read  

some of them. Delann's invention goes on to create  all sorts of new offensive schemes in plays.

So let's look at some of the other plays  that came out of the Flying Wedge and the  

concept of momentum plays, which is when  you're running when you hit the line. The  

story in Park Davis describes for  us a play called the Turtleback.

And it was a play executed by forming 11 men  in the shape of a solid oval against a selected  

point in the rush line. In other words, the  line of scrimmage, usually the tackle and at  

the snap of the ball into the interior of the  oval, rolling the mass of around the end, thus  

unwinding the runner into a clear field. And he  also described for us another play that was called  

the Push Play, which basically a formation  similar to the Turtleback. But the runner was  

lifted on top of the mast and pushed over  the opposing rush line. In other words,  

they all got back and they basically lifted  this guy up, I don't know, like a dancer,  

and just pushed him over the top of  everybody. These people are insane,  

they really are. This is nuts, looking at some of  these plays. But the Turtleback sounds like a play  

diagrammed in a book by Imo Salonzo Stagg called  "A Scientific and Practical Treatise on American  

Football for Schools and Colleges" published  in 1894. The play is number 40. Stagg calls it  

"Revolving Wedge from a Down." And he describes  it. Here's the key to the description. The ball  

is put in play immediately and the entire wedge  plunges straight forward into a closely compacted  

body. After a few seconds when the opposing sides  have massed themselves in front of the wedge so  

that its forward progress is nearly blocked, the  entire formation throws its weight to one side,  

each man turning slightly in order to face  the direction in which he is to proceed,  

and attempts to revolve around the opposing  team turning upon the center as a pivot. The  

very fact that the opponents are pushing with  the utmost force any direction exactly contrary  

to the original line of advancing the wedge is  a great assistance in performing the evolution,  

in other words, turning. When this wedge has  swung sufficiently around, the rear men may  

break away and dash down the field with the  ball. This is actual football people watched.  

Play 47 from Stagg's book is called "Running Mass  Wedge through the Center." The play description  

includes, "The vital point in the play is that  all strike the line as nearly as possible at the  

same instant and form a tightly massed wedge which  is driven directly through the line." It's pretty  

clear from reading old newspaper accounts that  people are not really thrilled with the momentum  

plays. They're thrilled that their team wins, but  the violence and the viciousness of the games are  

taking their toll on people. Previously to these  rule changes, you had a wide open game where  

people were completely across the field, like in  rugby, where they were spread out, and these plays  

are just, you know, they're condensed, and they're  just basically bodies smashing into each other,  

and the crowds don't like them. The one  comparison I thought about this was,

think about the Big Ten's old motto, or  what they used to say about the Big Ten,  

three yards and a cloud of dust.  Another comparison would be the  

NFL, what we're seeing right now compared  to the NFL probably 10 to 15 years ago.

And I'm using the NFL as a comparison because  the NFL is uniform across. Everybody has  

the same rules, everybody plays with the same  amount of money, they get a draft, everything's  

consistent across the board. College, you have  some schools that have massive amounts of money,

you have small schools, you have three divisions,  four divisions really, and you have, I don't know  

how many hundreds of schools there are across  those four divisions. You have every offense  

imaginable. But if you look at the NFL like 10  to 15 years ago, everybody ran the same off. It  

was the same statuesque quarterback standing in a  pocket, everybody ran the same formations. I wanna  

say everything was like a variety of the West  Coast offense, that's probably not really true,  

but it was boring. I mean, it was really boring  compared to now. And you look at the NFL now,  

and you have quarterbacks like Josh Allen and  Jalen Hurts and Patrick Mahomes, and they can  

do so many different things. They're mobile and  they're part of the offense. They don't just stand  

in the pocket and throw the ball to somebody  or hand it off. They're actually an active  

participant in the offense. And that is so much  more fun to watch than the NFL was 10 to 15 years  

ago. And I'd like to think that that's kind of the  comparison of what the crowds were used to seeing,  

what the rugby style play where the teams were  stretched across the field and now they're just  

mass momentum. They're just masses packing,  smashing into each other. And I think the  

other thing they get frustrated with is, like  I said earlier, you have these mass plays,  

they start forward. The only way for the defense  to stop them is to throw themselves at them.  

And it just, it becomes boring. Another problem at  the time is the rules bodies. The Intercollegiate  

Football Association is breaking up because of  disagreements between the schools on how the  

game should be played. So the University Athletic  Club of New York decided they'd do something about  

it. And they invite Harvard, Yale, Princeton,  and Penn, which were the big four at the time.  

They also invited the leading official of football  from the US Navy to join them. So it was the Army  

Navy game was not played in 1894 because of the  level of violence in the sport. Now you can go  

out on the internet and find articles that state  it was because of the feud between officers. I  

didn't really find that when I looked through the  history of it. What I found was that the service  

academies basically said, we're not going to allow  this kind of football. And therefore they really,  

they didn't abolish the game, but they stated  that their teams would only play home games,  

which meant the Army and Navy couldn't  play each other. So the Intercollegiate  

Football Association is replaced by  the Intercollegiate Rules Committee.

And note that the whole idea of an  NCAA is still like a decade away. So  

it's way out there. So at the end of the 1893  seasons, there's major changes to the rules.  

First of all, they outlawed  the momentum mass play.

And a momentum mass play is one more than  three men start before the ball is put in play.

In the rule states, North Shell, more  than three men group for that purpose,  

more than five yards back at the point where the  ball is put in play. In other words, they get rid  

of the momentum part of the plays, but they  don't get rid of the mass part of the plays.

Another rule change, they reduced the  length of the game from 90 to 70 minutes,  

divided into two halves of 35 minutes each.

If you can imagine being run over for 90  minutes by mass plays and momentum plays,  

just the reduction of the game to 70 minutes has  to at least mean something. And number three, they  

prohibited their players from laying their hands  on an opponent unless the opponent had the ball.  

Players of the side in possession with the  ball may be obstructed with the body only.  

So basically what this did was stop blocking  by grabbing somebody with their hands. The  

other way this can be translated is as the no  slugging rule. And we'll get to that in a minute.  

And here's a big one. Number four, specifying  that the ball must travel 10 yards on a kickoff  

to be put in play unless touched by an opponent.  So it brings into existence our modern kickoff  

rules. Basically can't just kick the ball to  yourself or touch it and keep it. You have to  

actually kick it to the other opponent. And then  number five, adding a linesman to the referee and  

umpire as a third official. There's three  officials now. And then number six, there should  

be no piling up upon the runner after he has cried  down, and keep that mind in mind, cried down.  

In other words, he's yelled down, called himself  down. Or the referee has blown his whistle.

Infraction of this rule should be penalized  by advancing the ball 10 yards for the  

offended side. So rule number one, like  I said, it outlaws the momentum plays  

but not the mass plays. You bring  into existence the modern kickoff.

And then there's this idea of adding another  official. Well, why do we need another official?  

And the idea is that it's going to cut  down on the amount of slugging, quote,  

slugging on the field. Players would regularly  slug each other and then the officials would not  

do anything about it. And they're reluctant,  according to one newspaper account I'd read,  

they're reluctant to take action because if  they do, the team they took action against,  

for example, kicking a player out of  the game, will be angry with them and  

then won't let them be an official anymore. So  there is tons of looking the other way by the  

umpires and the referees. And mostly they're like,  oh, I didn't see it. You know, that kind of stuff.

You have a lot of stuff going on with football.  And around the same time that the rules changes  

come out, the president of Harvard, Charles  Elliot, releases a scathing report about football.  

And all of this comes to a head in 1894 game  between Yale and Harvard, in which eight players  

are injured, four for each side out of the 22 on  the field. It's so bad that it becomes known as  

the Hampton Park bloodbath because of the level of  viciousness and injuries that occur on the field.

And I looked around for some description of  the injuries and actually what I found was a  

post from the Yale News on November 18th, 2011,  which detailed the injuries. Yale tackle Fred  

Murphy hit Harvard tackle Bob Halliwell during  an officials conference and broke the Crimson  

players nose. Murphy would later take a hard  hit to the head, which left him unconscious  

for five hours in a Springfield hospital  as rumors of his death circulated,  

but he recovered from the concussion. Al  Gerams and Frank Butterworth also received  

head injuries. Yale captain and four time  all American Frank Hinky broke Harvard's  

Edgar writing tons collarbone following a  fair catch and Charles Brewer's broken leg  

only added to the list of Harvard casualties.  Harvard's Johnny Hayes and yields Richard  

Armstrong were ejected from the competition  for excessive violence. Following Yale's 12  

to four victory, rivaling fans took the pattern of  violence into the street. The biggest thing about  

this is there's a huge uproar about writing tons  broken collarbone. The idea is that he's down on  

the field and Hinky comes across the field and  hits and basically jumps on him with his knees  

when he's down. There's a big dispute about that.  There's an investigation in the newspaper accounts

and testimonies from official and some players  that say this never happened the way people  

think it did. And one player says, I was on the  field and Hinky was a far like 10 yards away from  

the play when this supposedly happened. Hinky  gets attacked in the papers and he subsequently  

defended. And all of this, what the result is,  is that all of this brings more attention to  

the brutality of the sport of football. And it  presents football as a vicious, brutal sport,  

which is exactly what many of its critics are  saying, like Charles Elliot. The result of the  

1894 game is that Yale and Harvard don't  play each other for another three years.  

And this would be like the equivalent of Ohio  State and Michigan not playing because that's  

the level of rivalry this is, not just for Yale  Harvard, but for college football fans across the  

nation. Football is clearly under attack and  it's in danger of being abolished completely.

So what happens is Walter Camp,  the father of American football,  

issues a book called "Football Fact and Figures"  in which he surveys like 1200 football players  

from across the nation about what they think  about the game of football, about the game,  

if it's too vicious, is it too brutal? And it's  like asking people who like M&Ms if they like  

M&Ms. The book is clearly a propaganda piece  for the sport of football. Heading into 1895,

college football is under heavy attack.  You've got Charles Elliot, the biggest  

critic in football and his influence amongst all  the people that agree with him. And then you've  

got Walter Camp at the other side who's doing the  propaganda pieces for football and people that are  

on his side. And the public is outraged at all  the violence and they don't care for the mass  

plays. They got rid of the momentum plays, but  then they still don't care for the mass plays.

And Walter Camp is doing his best to  save football. There is no central  

rules authority because the University Athletic  Club became the Intercollegiate Rules Committee  

and they've kind of fallen apart. So at  the end of the year, going into 1895,  

it's complete chaos for football. And there's  doubts that the game is gonna persist. I mean,  

obviously we know that the game persists  because it's the game that we all love today.

But what happens next? Maybe I should title  this, you won't believe what happens next.  

Be a nice click bait title. But that's where  I'm gonna stop for this video because there's  

just so much that went on. Honestly, I had a  hard time keeping track of all of it. There's  

actually issues in here that I didn't touch in  this segment, such as the use of Tramp players,  

which are players that are not students or the  idea that football teams, college football teams  

are playing like town football teams that are  full of fully grown mature men who then beat  

the holy hell out of them. There's a lot going on  in the early days of football that really I don't  

see reported on in a lot of places unless  you go out and dig through history books.  

This is John Johnston, founder of Corn Nation. I  hope you enjoyed this. I plan on doing more. We've  

got the next controversies coming up and it's  going to get much worse before it gets better.

So please let me know what you think  of this video. Please give me some  

feedback. If you like this format, if  you don't, thank you for listening.