Film Room: 1903 Princeton @ Yale

(‘Capt. De Witt Wins Brilliant Victory for Princeton; Yale Giants Outclassed in Mighty Football Struggle,’ St. Louis Globe-Democrat, November 15, 1903.)

Using available images and illustrations is helpful when describing football's early days. Since the game has evolved substantially, certain concepts are challenging to get across despite using images, diagrams, and text. Some concepts, such as the early game's rapid pace of play, are easier to recognize when seen on film, and this becomes evident by reviewing the earliest known football film. Taken by Thomas Edison's company at the 1903 Princeton-Yale game played at Yale Field on November 14, 1903, the Library of Congress' YouTube version is four minutes and six seconds long, but the first minute and fifty-two seconds show only shots of the teams running onto the field and a slow pan of the stadium and crowd.

We skip that portion of the video and go directly to the football action. The two-plus minutes of activity are shown below, broken into nine clips with accompanying explanations of the events on the field. Hopefully, the descriptions improve your understanding of what is happening even if you have watched this video before.

Note: I could not embed YouTube clips into Substack. You can watch each sequence by clicking the link in the captions. Each clip runs repeatedly until you close the window. 

Drop Kicking Practice

As the camera pans to the end of the field, players practice the snap and dropkicking a field goal. The snapper and kicker then move to the right for a second attempt but fall out of view as the camera continues panning to the right.