NEW YORK—In 1870, Rutgers challenged Columbia to a game, and on November 12, 1870, 20 men journeyed to New Brunswick and there played what has been called the fourth game of intercollegiate football. Rutgers won, 6-3.
 
The game was played with 20 men on each side; each team had two goalkeepers. Three men were supposed to play in the center of the field, three down each side and two at the enemy's goal. That left seven rushers to follow the ball.
 
It was no gentle game these gentlemen played. No man left the field except to be carried off, since no substitutions were permitted. They kicked each other at random. Jumping on an opponent's stomach with both feet was not uncommon. Injuries, of course, were frequent, but nobody was killed.
 
Shins were covered only with a colored sock, and these were expected to distinguish the teams. Body protection was unknown; they played bareheaded. No training schedule was observed; a banquet followed the game and the boys ate a big meal just before they played.
 
During a tedious part of the game at Rutgers, when the action was at the other end of the field, one of the Columbia goalkeepers lit a cigar; when the Rutgers team suddenly broke through and came down on him, he shoved the lighted cigar effectively into his opponents' faces."
 
FIRST GAME NOTES
 
Information from a variety of other sources including the 1935 Columbia Football Blue Book.
 
*Columbia's first football game on Nov. 12, 1870, was actually the fourth collegiate game ever played. The first three games were played by Princeton and Rutgers.
 
*The game marked football's first-ever interstate football contest.
 
*The rules were changed occasionally during the game and when the battle was over after many hours of struggle, Rutgers won 6-3.
 
*After refreshments were served by the Rutgers hosts, the Rutgers and Columbia baseball teams engaged in a two-inning baseball game with the Lions winning a 7-5 victory.
 
*Columbia was issued a "challenge" by Rutgers to meet in the then one-year-old game of football. Columbia student Stuyvesant Fish, son of Hamilton Fish, the 16^th Governor of New York, put together a group of 20 students to travel to New Brunswick. Fish was elected team captain and is recognized as the Lions' first-ever team captain.
 
*Two weeks before the game, Columbia's student body of 125 turned out to watch their "heroes" practice on a little patch of lawn that skirted the north side of 49th Street.
 
*It was the invariable custom in those days or the opposing teams to fraternize to an extent, the home team entertaining the visitors at dinner before the game and at a banquet after the battle. There was no training for the game.
 
*There was no football in 1871. Football games started back up again in 1872, as five teams were competing including Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, Stevens, and Yale.
 
*Columbia and Rutgers met for the second time on Nov. 2, 1872 at Tremont Grounds near Mott Haven in New York. The game was declared a 0-0 tie. A group of Yale students witnessed the tussle mainly to see what this new-fangled game was all about, and two weeks later, Columbia's 20 accompanied by the student body traveled to New Haven to introduce Yale to the sport of intercollegiate football.
 
*By 1879, there were seven teams playing football in the East: Columbia, Princeton, Yale, Harvard, Stevens, Rutgers, and Penn. Also, Michigan, Racine College and Navy all played their first games in 1879.
 
COLUMBIA'S FIRST TEAM
Stuyvesant Fish '71 (Team Captain)
Denning Duer '71
Moses H. Epstein '71
J. Herrick Henry '71
Chester C. Munroe '71
John Watts Russell '71
Wm. E. Fales '71
Arthur D. Weekes '72
Robert Arnold '72
Valentine Mott '72
T.C. Van Buren '72
H. W. Webb 73
C. de Rham Moore '73
Percy H. McMahon '73
Alex B. Simonds '73
Gilbert M. Speir, Jr. '73
David Thompson '73
Robert C. Cornel '74
E.I. Frost '74
One player's name is missing.