Michigan Football game......on roller skates
Thought this was really hilarious & needed to be brought to people's attention. Michigan played a football game in 1885....on roller skates. From the Michigan Argonaut
In March 1885, the Princess football team of Detroit challenged Michigan to a football game on roller skates to be played at a roller rink in Ann Arbor. In mid-March 1885, The Michigan Argonaut reported: "The Rugby team is now practicing foot-ball on rollers. The University foot-ball team defeated the Princess team of Detroit in two straight innings.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:13 AM ^
Roller skates, Rugby team, innings? That can't be football.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:16 AM ^
Wow they beat them in only 2 innings!
December 6th, 2013 at 11:38 AM ^
I wonder how they played in the 3rd period and the 2nd half?
December 6th, 2013 at 11:17 AM ^
God people were on some good drugs in those days. And it probably wasn't even illegal!
December 6th, 2013 at 11:29 AM ^
One can only imagine what "uptempo offense" might have looked like in this game, or indeed, what things such as zone stretch concepts would look like on skates.
Actually, where is Horace Prettyman? He - or someone with his photo as an avatar - visits this site from time to time, and I believe this was one of his teams. We could get an excellent account of the experience.
December 6th, 2013 at 11:33 AM ^
Nineteenth century sports are fun. Baseball played on ice skates. Indoor baseball, too.
December 6th, 2013 at 12:20 PM ^
Would you describe the style of offense in this game as basketball-on-grass, or... well... football-on-ice?
December 6th, 2013 at 7:01 PM ^
needs to happen again!!!