The History of the NFL Here you will find the complete history of American Football. You will travel from it's conception in 1869 when Rutgers and Princeton played a college soccer football game, the first ever, on November 6. The game used modified London Football Association rules. During the next seven years, rugby gained favor with the major eastern schools over soccer, and modern football began to develop from rugby. At the Massasoit convention, of 1876, the first …showed first 75 words of 932 total…

…showed last 75 words of 932 total…a combined Benwood-Moundsville team. Arch-rivals Canton and Massillon, the two best pro teams in America, played twice, with Canton winning the first game but Massillon winning the second and the Ohio League championship. A betting scandal and the financial disaster wrought upon the two clubs by paying huge salaries caused a temporary decline in interest in pro football in the two cities and, somewhat, throughout Ohio. 1909 A field goal dropped from four points to three.