Close up of the game
Postponed twice, on both October 16th and again
on October 26th, the second match of the year between Harvard and Tufts was
played on Wednesday, October 27. The College Elevens met at College Hill in
Medford (the first match having been played on Jarvis Field at Harvard in June,
won by Tufts) late on a very windy fall day, the game starting at 3:30. The
game consisted of three thirty minute periods; however the game ended early due
to darkness in the last half hour.
The Crimson were dressed in dark trousers and white shirts,
the Tufts men dressed in their “broad-striped” long sleeved jerseys and white
trousers. This stereoview is the companion view to the Tufts team stereoview in our blog entry dated March 23, 2014. This match was played
in the rugby-style football manner as was their earlier match, therefore this game was only the second rugby-style football game played between American colleges, the June match being the first.
In 1875 Harvard played four games, two against Tufts, one
against All-Canada and one against Yale. Tufts played only the two games against Harvard in
1875. Apparently their win in June against Harvard dissuaded teams from playing
against them and was the reason the Boston YMCA forfeited their scheduled game.
Playing for Harvard: Faucon, ’75, Hall, ’76, Seamans, Herrick,
Cushing , Cate, Curtis, Keys, ’77, Wetherbee, Lombard, ’78 and Blanchard, ’79.
Playing for Tufts: Aldrich
(Captain), Headle, Dwinnell, Fletcher, Eddy, ’76, Whithead, Harrington, Branch,
’77, Campbell, ’78, Perry, Fuller, ’79.
This is a significant and historic photograph. Football photographs from this period are scarce and this stereoview is an incredibly rare example. This is the earliest photo of a game in
progress known to our hobby.
