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You Think Football Is Changing Today? Check Out How It Used To Be Played

Updated on Feb 04, 2018. Originally added on Feb 04, 2017 by Daniel Pinna

The first Super Bowl was played between the Green Bay Packers and Kansas City Chiefs in 1967, but American football began nearly 100 years earlier.

The first football game was played between two college teams Rutgers and Princeton on November 6th 1869. This game was very different from what we consider football today.

The sport has evolved over the years to become a combination of soccer and rugby. It wasn’t until 1880 when the “Father of American Football", Walter Camp, created the set of rules we know today that the game was created.

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Football Photos from over the Years

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Vince Lombardi lead the Green Bay Packers to an impressive three NFL Championships and two Super Bowls

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New York Giants star Francis Newton "Frank" Gifford

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Leather helmets were all that protected the players of this 1924 Cal Poly football team

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The George Washington Colonials. Is that a cheerleader in the top hat?

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The Big Game rivalry between the California Golden Bears and the Stanford Cardinals began in 1892.

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This must be what it’s like to be in the center of a huddle

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This 1947 helmet doesn’t look like it’ll protect much!

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Katherine Regan
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shared on 04/03/2012
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The Chesapeake and Potomac Telephone company had it’s own football team around 1920

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Football has never drawn a more fashionable and put together crowd as it did for this Georgetown game in 1911

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Not much padding to protect this Georgetown University player in 1911

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The Harvard 1912 varsity football team looked like a hardened squad of soldiers

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What is a football game without cheerleaders? Taken at the 1908 Yale v. West Point game.

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1899 Native American football team representing the Carlisle Indian school

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I bet this early 1900s Detroit football team had a hard time finding teams to play against

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Harvard and Yale have gone head-to-head since 1875. As you can tell

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You don’t have to be a professional to have fun! This group of friends formed an informal football team in 1906.

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Football players make great heros

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Mark McCullough
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shared on 12/15/2012

Taken less than 20 years after the rules of the game were created

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The 1925 San Jose High School team

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WWII interrupted a number of football careers like it did for Joseph Coomer. He left football to enter the war from 1942-1945, but he went right back to the field after finishing his enlistment.

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The helmets in 1941 are certainly different than they are today

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Are they ready for football or a game of Quidditch?

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As a parent I just cringe when I see this

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The 1953 Michigan state undefeated champion team from Flint Dye high school

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Update 02/04/2018: Super Bowl LII is upon us - amazing, for those of us who remember the controversy surrounding the establishment of the first Super Bowl. Having a champion of the NFC and the AFC was good enough before that. There have been plenty of controversies since then, mainly surrounding ads and halftime shows - "wardrobe malfunction" - but also about some calls and plays on the field. Sit back, surround yourself with lots of good food, and watch your favorite part of the Super Bowl today.

Update 02/05/2017:Super Bowl 51 is fast approaching and football is all around us. Literally, it is. Our offices are located only a few miles from Levi’s Stadium in Santa Clara where Super Bowl 50 was held.

Have photos that you'd like to see included? Share your photos or click "next page" below to see funny photos of our ancestors.

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