GREAT ADVANCE IN FORTY YEARS

The game today in the new Yale Bowl represents the very latest development in intercollegiate football--the clash between the advocates of the double and triple lateral pass and those of the rushing and punting tactics. This is a great advance in the forty years since the introduction of the game among college sports. Forty years ago Harvard played McGill University in the first intercollegiate game under Rugby rules. The game was played on Jarvis Field, May 15, 1874, resulting in a scoreless tie. Henry R. Grant '74, the first captain of a Harvard football team was the leader. Although the two teams had met the day before, the game on the 15th was the first to arouse any interest, as it was played under the Canadian code of rules. The principal differences between these rules and the rules then in force in the University was, to quote a daily paper of that date, that "under the Harvard rules the ball must be kicked over a rope extending across the entire field, while accordingly to the McGill plan, the ball must be kicked over a wooden bar 10 feet from the ground."

The University team had been drilled for some time previous to this game and had been practising by night on Jarvis Field. In the game, however, the team experienced considerable difficulty in handling the oval ball, to which they were unaccustomed. Despite this handicap combined with McGill's experience they were able to hold the Canadians scoreless by superior tackling and general defensive work.

This game received little support from the public, but it served to arose great enthuiasm among the colleges in the new Rugby rules, the outcome of the whole affair being the Harvard-Yale series which was begun the following year, 1875, and has continued for nearly forty years.