Talk:1890 Washington football team

Game date, location, and score

There appear to be inconsistencies in date, location, and score of the one game that Washington played this season. The UW media guide shows a road game on November 27, 1890 that ended in a 0-0 tie (2019 UW FB Media Guide (PDF) - University of Washington Athletics (gohuskies.com)). The other citation on this page is to a 4-0 win by "Tacoma" over "Seattle" at Madison Street Field in Seattle on November 27, 1890 (Exciting football, the Tacoma boys beat the home team at Madison Street - Newspapers.com). Based on contemporary newspaper articles, both of these citations appear inaccurate.

First, a contemporary article indicates Washington was apparently scheduled to play a road game against Washington College on November 27, 1890 ("The college teams of Seattle and Tacoma will play at the latter place on Thanksgiving day..." The Seattle post-intelligencer. [volume] (Seattle, Wash. Terr. [Wash.]) 1888-1914, November 18, 1890, Page 3, Image 3 « Chronicling America « Library of Congress (loc.gov)) (Newspapers.com). However, there is no indication that this game was actually played.

Second, the November 27, 1890 game at Madison Street Field in Seattle was between Seattle and Tacoma club teams (The Seattle Post-intelligencer 24 November 1890 — Washington Digital Newspapers) and even the language of the game story cited on this page suggests that it was a soccer football match, not a rugby or American football match.

Third, a contemporary article indicates that Washington was scheduled to play a home game against Washington College on December 20, 1890 ("Tacoma and Seattle colleges will meet on Madison Street Grounds... probably on Saturday, Dec. 20." The Seattle Post-intelligencer 11 December 1890 — Washington Digital Newspapers) (Newspapers.com) However, there is no indication that this game was actually played.

Washington and Washington College did play on January 24, 1891 at Tacoma Baseball Park and played to a 6-6 tie. The game was scheduled ("The Seattle university boys and the Washington College eleven... will indulge in a game of football..." The Seattle Post-intelligencer 24 January 1891 — Washington Digital Newspapers) (Newspapers.com) and played ("State University and Washington College Play a Tie at Football" The Seattle Post-intelligencer 25 January 1891 — Washington Digital Newspapers) (Newspapers.com).

Additionally, an 1893 article on the history of the UW athletic association notes "In January, 1891, enough interest was aroused to bring about a football game with Washington College at Tacoma." (The Seattle Post-intelligencer 13 March 1893 — Washington Digital Newspapers) (Newspapers.com). Cfsdb (talk) 02:16, 26 March 2023 (UTC)

Great catch @Cfsdb. The UW media guide has it right that it was a tie with Washington College on the road, but has the date and the score wrong. The 0-4 loss on Thanksgiving was a separate match between city association football clubs, not the Universities. I've updated the table and will work on expanding the prose to explain the Thanksgiving game.

I too could sense something was wrong here, per contemporary sources, and brought up a similar topic at Talk:1889 Washington football team#1889 second game played in Tacoma? PK-WIKI (talk) 05:15, 2 December 2024 (UTC)

Here are some additional January 21, 1891 pregame notes that aren't discussed above.

Lists the Captain as Right Half-Back "Mr. Lynder", AKA "George Linder", not Captain Griffith.

The Right End is "Mr. Grif Hastie", different than Captain Frank S. Griffith listed elsewhere as the Right End. Similar names though...

Also note that W. B. Goodwin, Yale 1888, and listed as the first UW football coach in 1892, is playing right half-back on this roster. He played against the university in 1889 on the Eastern Alumni team.

PK-WIKI (talk) 07:55, 4 January 2025 (UTC)