Oneida Football Club Monument

Last updated
Oneida Football Club Monument
Oneida fc memorial.jpg
The monument photographed in 2017
Oneida Football Club Monument
42°21′22.5″N71°4′1.8″W / 42.356250°N 71.067167°W / 42.356250; -71.067167
Location Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.
DesignerJoseph Arthur Coletti
TypeMonument
MaterialMarble
Length2.5 ft
Width7 in
Height6.5 ft
Opening dateNovember 1925;98 years ago (1925-11)
Dedicated to Oneida Football Club

The Oneida Football Club Monument, sometimes called Football Tablet, is a monument made by Joseph Coletti; which was installed on the Boston Common, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

Contents

It was built as a remembrance to the Oneida Football Club, the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States. [1] The game played by the club, known as the "Boston game", was an informal local variant that predated the codification of rules for association football, rugby football, or American football. [2] [3] The team, made up of students of Boston's elite preparatory schools, played on Boston Common from 1862 to 1865, during which time they reportedly never lost a game or even gave up a single point. [4] [5]

Description and history

The six surviving members of the Oneida Football Club at the monument's inauguration; from left to right: Winthrop Scudder, James Lovett, Gerritt Miller, Francis Peabody, Robert Lawrence, Edward Arnold. Insert: Edward Bowditch Oneida fc orig members.jpg
The six surviving members of the Oneida Football Club at the monument's inauguration; from left to right: Winthrop Scudder, James Lovett, Gerritt Miller, Francis Peabody, Robert Lawrence, Edward Arnold. Insert: Edward Bowditch

The marble table was donated by seven members of the Oneida Football Club and installed in 1925. It measures approximately 6.5 ft. × 2.5 ft. × 7 in.

An inscription on the front reads:

ON THIS FIELD THE ONEIDA
FOOTBALL CLUB OF BOSTON
THE FIRST ORGANIZED FOOTBALL
CLUB IN THE UNITED STATES
PLAYED AGAINST ALL COMERS
from 1862 to 1865. THE ONEIDA
GOAL WAS NEVER CROSSED

This monument is placed on Boston Common
November 1925 by the seven surviving members of the Team"

An inscription on the back can also be found which reads, "MEMBERS OF THE ONEIDA TEAM", under this was the list of the 16 members of the original team. [6] [4]

The monument was unveiled on Saturday November 21, 1925, and was attended by the six surviving members of the team including its founder and captain Gerritt Smith Miller. [4]

It was surveyed by the Smithsonian Institution's "Save Outdoor Sculpture!" program in 1997. [6]

See also

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dayton Triangles</span> American football team in Dayton, Ohio, USA

The Dayton Triangles were an original franchise of the American Professional Football Association in 1920. The Triangles were based in Dayton, Ohio, and took their nickname from their home field, Triangle Park, which was located at the confluence of the Great Miami and Stillwater Rivers in north Dayton. They were the longest-lasting traveling team in the NFL (1920–1929), and the last such "road team" until the Dallas Texans in 1952, who, coincidentally, descended from the Dayton franchise.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston Common</span> Public park in Boston, Massachusetts

The Boston Common is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of 50 acres (20 ha) of land bounded by five major Boston streets: Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charles Street, and Boylston Street.

The Oneida Football Club, founded and captained by Gerrit Smith Miller in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1862, was the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States. The game played by the club, known as the "Boston game", was an informal local variant that combined association and rugby football and predated the codification of rules for American football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oldest football clubs</span> The worlds oldest clubs playing various codes of football

The oldest football clubs trace their origins to the mid-19th century, a period when football evolved from being a casual pastime to an organised mainstream sport.

Donald Harcourt De Lue was an American sculptor, best known for his public monuments.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sports in Boston</span> Historically prominent sports teams in Boston and the Greater Boston area

Boston, Massachusetts, is home to several major professional sports franchises. They include the Red Sox (baseball), the Celtics, and the Bruins. The New England Patriots and the New England Revolution play at Gillette Stadium in nearby Foxborough, Massachusetts. Boston is one of eleven U.S. cities to have teams from the five major American professional team sports.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard rugby</span> Rugby team

The Harvard Rugby Football Club is the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Division I rugby union program that represents Harvard University in the Ivy Rugby Conference. Having been established in December 1872, Harvard has the oldest rugby college program in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Harvard Crimson football</span> Football team of Harvard University

The Harvard Crimson football program represents Harvard University in college football at the NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision. Harvard's football program is one of the oldest in the world, having begun competing in the sport in 1873. The Crimson has a legacy that includes 13 national championships and 20 College Football Hall of Fame inductees, including the first African-American college football player William H. Lewis, Huntington "Tack" Hardwick, Barry Wood, Percy Haughton, and Eddie Mahan. Harvard is the tenth winningest team in NCAA Division I football history.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Oneida FC</span> Football club

Oneida FC is a soccer club based in East Boston. The organisation was established in 2011 and plays its home games at East Boston Memorial Stadium, owned by the city of Boston. The field also hosts American football and baseball games.

Soccer in the United States has a varied history. Research indicates that the modern game entered the country during the 1850s with New Orleans' Scottish, Irish, German and Italian immigrants. Some of the first organized games, using modern English rules, were played in that city.

The following article is about notable events in American soccer during the 1860s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Statue of William the Silent</span> Statue at Rutgers University, New Jersey

A bronze statue of William the Silent was installed in 1928 on the Voorhees Mall section of Rutgers University's College Avenue Campus in New Brunswick, New Jersey. It is along Seminary Place, a street at the western end of the Voorhees Mall, and near several academic buildings, including the university's Graduate School of Education, Van Dyke Hall, and Milledoler Hall.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game</span> Football game

The 1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game was a two-game series between the Harvard Crimson and the McGill Redmen held in Cambridge, Massachusetts, on May 14 and 15, 1874.

<i>Boston Common Tablet</i> Sculpture in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Boston Common Tablet is a 1913 sculpture by R. Clipston Sturgis, installed at Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<i>Declaration of Independence Tablet</i> Sculpture in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

Declaration of Independence Tablet is a 1925 sculpture by John Francis Paramino, installed at Boston Common, in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<i>John Barry Tablet</i> Sculpture in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

John Barry Tablet is a tablet with a portrait bust in relief of naval officer John Barry by John Francis Paramino, installed in Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Pope John Paul II Memorial (Boston)</span> Sculpture in Boston, Massachusetts, U.S.

A memorial placard of Pope John Paul II, sometimes called Papal Mass Plaque, is installed in Boston Common in Boston, Massachusetts, United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Confederate Memorial (Jacksonville, Florida)</span> Monument in Jacksonville, Florida, U.S.

The Confederate Memorial, was installed in Jacksonville, Florida's Hemming Park, in the United States. The monument was removed in June 2020.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gerrit Smith Miller</span>

Gerrit Smith Miller, commonly called Gat, was an American businessman, farmer, sportsman and politician regarded as "the father of football in the United States" as the founder of Oneida Football Club, considered the first organized team to play any form of football in the country. The Oneida Club established informal rules which came to be known as the "Boston game" and are considered the first step to the codification of rules for association football, rugby football, or American football.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Boston game</span>

The Boston game, also known as the Boston rules, was an early code of football developed by the Oneida Football Club, formed in 1862 and considered by some historians as the first formal "football" club in the United States. Rules allowed carrying and kicking and is considered the first step to the codification of rules for association football, rugby football, or American football. After Oneida disbanded, former members established the Harvard University Football Club, which continued to play football under those rules.

References

  1. No Christian End! The Beginnings of Football in America Archived 2015-04-02 at the Wayback Machine By PFRA Research (Originally Published in The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 (PFRA Books)
  2. THE BOSTON GAME Archived 2022-11-28 at the Wayback Machine article by Michael T. Geary at academia.edu
  3. Were the Oneidas playing soccer or not? by Roger Allaway at sover.net (archived)
  4. 1 2 3 An Historical Sketch of the Oneida Football Club of Boston: 1862-1865 Archived 2022-12-02 at the Wayback Machine by Winthrop S. Scudder - Library of the University of Wisconsin
  5. Remembering the first high school football games By Bob Holmes on The Boston Globe, 21 Nov 2012
  6. 1 2 "Football Tablet, (sculpture)". Smithsonian Institution . Retrieved November 14, 2019.