1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game
| 1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game | ||||||||||
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| First "Boston rules" football game played in the United States | ||||||||||
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| Date | May 14, 1874 | |||||||||
| Season | 1873 | |||||||||
| Stadium | Jarvis Field | |||||||||
| Location | Cambridge | |||||||||
| 1874 Harvard vs. McGill rugby game | ||||||||||||||||
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| First rugby football game played in the United States | ||||||||||||||||
The second game, played under the rugby rules. Harvard players at left, in white shirts | ||||||||||||||||
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| Date | May 15, 1874 | |||||||||||||||
| Season | 1873 | |||||||||||||||
| Stadium | Jarvis Field | |||||||||||||||
| Location | Cambridge | |||||||||||||||
The 1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game was a two-game series between the Harvard Crimson and the McGill Redmen held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 14 and 15, 1874.
With the first game being played under the Harvard's "Boston game", the second one was the first rugby-style football game played in the United States. It used three periods or "games" and ended in a scoreless tie.
A Princeton vs. Rutgers football game had been played five years earlier (in 1869), but under a variation of England's The Football Association rules, closer to contemporary soccer than American football.
The Boston game rules were developed by the first organized football team, the Oneida Football Club, founded in 1862. Many of its members went on to found, and play for, the Harvard team.