World Series of Football (1902–1903)
| Sport | Football |
|---|---|
| Founded | 1902 |
| Founder | Tom O'Rourke |
| Ceased | 1903 |
| Claim to fame | First indoor pro football games First attempt at a national professional championship |
| No. of teams | 5 (1902) 6 (1903) |
| Country | United States |
| Last champion(s) |
Franklin Athletic Club (1903) Syracuse Athletic Club (1902) |
The World Series of Football was a series of football games played indoors at New York City's Madison Square Garden in 1902 and 1903. It originally comprised five teams, four from the state of New York and one from New Jersey. While none of the teams was really considered the best in the country, historians refer to the affair as a "World Series". However, it was hardly a series in the sense of two strong teams playing each other over several games. In fact, no team played another more than once and the team pairings were also considered odd. Under the 1902 system, the anticipated second-place team was automatically swept into the championship game without even playing a down while the expected first-place finisher had to fight its way through the brackets, effectively creating a cross between a traditional tournament and a "gauntlet-style" tournament for the first-place team.
The series is best remembered for showcasing the first indoor professional football game in 1902.
The event was the idea of Tom O'Rourke, who was the manager of the Gardens at the time. He needed an event to draw people to the Gardens in late December, which was a slow time of the year for sporting events. Basketball and hockey were not yet major sports in New York, so O'Rourke decided to play host a series of indoor football games. He decided to invite several professional and college teams to the Gardens for the series. Tom O'Rourke envisioned a series of games, showcasing the best in college and pro teams, eventually leading to one climactic game, crowning the "champion of the world."
O'Rourke had a tough time finding teams to play in the tournament. The colleges refused due to increased pressure from the Amateur Athletic Association to stop participating in professional games. Also the Pittsburgh Stars, Philadelphia Phillies and Philadelphia Athletics, along with the first National Football League, had all disbanded. The Watertown Red and Blacks, who were the top team in New York state at the time (and one of the few teams of the era that still exists today) also refused the series. For reasons not fully known, the best team in the nascent Ohio League, the Akron East Ends, were not invited. This left four teams to compete in the tournament: the Syracuse Athletic Club, the Knickerbocker Athletic Club, the Warslow Athletic Club and the Orange Athletic Club. O'Rourke did finally get a fifth team to join the series when some players from the Phillies and Athletics got together and formed was called the "New York" team. In calling them the "New York" team, O'Rourke expected to give his patrons the pleasure of watching a "home team" win. The team was made up of eight Phillies and four Athletics that included A's coach Charles "Blondy" Wallace and Phillies coach Ben Roller.
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