By PublicDomain101 via Universal Newsreels
“Newsreel footage from November 15, 1933. Chicago, IL: Exclusive pictures of a hectic pushball game in which the Freshmen of Loyola University defeat the Sophomores in a wild battle for a prize beer keg, after many players suffer bumps and bruises.”
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“The Push Ball contest started in 1930 as a contest between Loyola freshmen and sophomores,” according to the university. “It occurred on the football field, now Halas field, and students had to push a ball 8 feet in diameter to the opponent’s goal line to score. If neither team scored, then the team with the most total yards gained was declared the winner. The winner of the contest would receive the ‘little red barrel’ as a trophy to display in the student lounge and the losers would have to jump into Lake Michigan. The Push Ball contest was held annually until the late 1960s.”
See also: Loyola Pushball Match, 1932
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From Wikipedia:
“Pushball is a game played by two sides on a field usually 140 yards (128 m) long and 50 yd (45.7 m) wide, with a ball 6 feet (1.83 m) in diameter and 50 lb (22.7 kg) in weight. The sides usually number eleven each, there being five forwards, two left-wings, two right-wings and two goal-keepers. The goals consist of two upright posts 18 ft (5.5 m) high and 20 ft (6.1 m) apart with a crossbar 7 feet from the ground. The game lasts for two periods with an intermission. Pushing the ball under the bar counts 5 points; lifting or throwing it over the bar counts 8. A touchdown behind goal for safety counts 2 to the attacking side.
“The game was invented by M. G. Crane of Newton, Massachusetts, in 1891, and was taken up at Harvard University the next year, but never attained any considerable vogue. Emory University students played pushball from 1923 to 1955 before the game was retired due to its increasingly rough nature.”
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Comments welcome.
Posted on November 14, 2011