![thedailyfeed:
Let’s get this party started! Just in time for the game: the history of tailgating.
On Nov. 6, 1869, the two teams met on a field where the [Rutgers] gymnasium now stands in New Brunswick, N.J. There were 50 players — 25 to each team playing a game with rules more akin to rugby than modern football — and 100 spectators. Apparently, the Rutgers supporters, seeking to set themselves apart, wound scarlet-colored scarves around their heads. This may have been the one of the first times that college sports fans adorned themselves with their school colors, but it wouldn’t be the last.
Tailgating websites — yes, they exist, along with entire businesses devoted to making products designed for an event that some fans consider to be more important than the game itself — like to presume that spectators at the Princeton-Rutgers game may have tailgated on the back of wagons at that first game. But the official history has them sitting on a low wooden fence. There’s no mention of food or drink, critical elements to modern tailgating. But we can assume that the spectators may at least have brought a flask or two of strong liquor to keep warm on what was likely a chilly fall day. The game started at 3 p.m. and after it was finished the teams had an “amicable feed together,” according to a report in the Rutgers’ college newspaper: “At 8 o’clock our guests went home, in high good spirits, thirsting to beat us next time, if they can.”
DID YOU KNOW?
They meant for the team color to be orange, but after searching New Brunswick and the neighboring towns the closest they could find was scarlet.
Also, our guests did beat us next time, and almost every time after that for something like 60 years.](http://25.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_lyxx8sxuxi1qf5y35o1_500.jpg)
Let’s get this party started! Just in time for the game: the history of tailgating.
On Nov. 6, 1869, the two teams met on a field where the [Rutgers] gymnasium now stands in New Brunswick, N.J. There were 50 players — 25 to each team playing a game with rules more akin to rugby than modern football — and 100 spectators. Apparently, the Rutgers supporters, seeking to set themselves apart, wound scarlet-colored scarves around their heads. This may have been the one of the first times that college sports fans adorned themselves with their school colors, but it wouldn’t be the last.
Tailgating websites — yes, they exist, along with entire businesses devoted to making products designed for an event that some fans consider to be more important than the game itself — like to presume that spectators at the Princeton-Rutgers game may have tailgated on the back of wagons at that first game. But the official history has them sitting on a low wooden fence. There’s no mention of food or drink, critical elements to modern tailgating. But we can assume that the spectators may at least have brought a flask or two of strong liquor to keep warm on what was likely a chilly fall day. The game started at 3 p.m. and after it was finished the teams had an “amicable feed together,” according to a report in the Rutgers’ college newspaper: “At 8 o’clock our guests went home, in high good spirits, thirsting to beat us next time, if they can.”
DID YOU KNOW?
They meant for the team color to be orange, but after searching New Brunswick and the neighboring towns the closest they could find was scarlet.
Also, our guests did beat us next time, and almost every time after that for something like 60 years.
