First College Football Game

November 6, 2009

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Profile America — Friday, November 6th. The first intercollegiate football game was played on this date in 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton in New Brunswick, New Jersey. The game, which resembled soccer more closely than today’s college football, was won by Rutgers, 6 goals to 4. A few years later, representatives from Rutgers, Princeton, Columbia and Yale met to formulate the first intercollegiate rules for the increasingly popular game, including the number of players and the size of the field. Today, there are 619 college football teams across the country, and their games are attended by nearly 49 million people annually. Additional, millions watch the games of their favorite teams on television. You can find these and more facts about America from the U.S. Census Bureau online at <www.census.gov>.

Sources: Kane's Famous First Facts, 7315
440 International Calendar of Events
Statistical Abstract of the United States 2009, t. 1204
http://www.census.gov/compendia/statab/2009edition.html