The 1872 Yale Bulldogs football team was an
American football
American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...
team that represented
Yale University
Yale University is a Private university, private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Sta ...
in the
1872 college football season
The 1872 college football season is considered to be the third season ever played of intercollegiate football competition, due to no season taking place (no games played) in 1871. Much like in the first and second years, 1869 and 1870, the rules ...
. The team finished with a 1–0 record and was retroactively named co-
national champion by
Parke H. Davis.
They played
Columbia at
Hamilton Park and won 3–0.
Each team had 20 players and the field was 400 feet long and 250 wide (134 by 83 yards). Tommy Sherman scored the first goal and Lew Irwin the other two.
The team's captain was
David Schley Schaff, who attended the
Rugby School
Rugby School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13–18) in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Founded in 1567 as a free grammar school for local boys, it is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain. ...
in England where he learned to play football.
Schedule
See also
*
List of the first college football game in each US state
The following is a list of the first college football game in each U.S. state and the Washington, D. C., District of Columbia. Games included on this list are the earliest recorded single college football, intercollegiate football games in each mem ...
References
Yale
Yale University is a private research university in New Haven, Connecticut. Established in 1701 as the Collegiate School, it is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States and among the most prestigious in the wor ...
Yale Bulldogs football seasons
College football national champions
College football undefeated seasons
Yale Bulldogs football
The Yale Bulldogs football program represents Yale University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (formerly Division I-AA). Yale's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competi ...
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