On a Saturday morning in 1869, Princeton students arrived by train in New Brunswick for a football match against Rutgers.

The visitors arrived on the 10 a.m. train. Before the competition, students ate, strolled through town and played billiards, according to an account published in The Targum, Rutgers' student newspaper.

By midafternoon, 50 players were preparing to compete on a field stretching from College Avenue to Sicard Street.

It was Nov. 6, 1869: the day Rutgers and the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University, played what is widely recognized as the first college football game.

Rutgers won 6-4, but the contest bore little resemblance to modern football.

There were no helmets, forward passes or touchdowns.

Each college fielded 25 players with a round ball under rules closer to soccer than modern American football. Players advanced the ball by kicking or batting it, but could not carry it.

Even the two schools were accustomed to different rules.

Rutgers captain William J. Leggett and Princeton captain William S. Gummere agreed to restrictions on free kicks. Under Princeton's customary rules, a player who caught the ball on the fly or first bounce could take an unhindered kick.

Princeton's student publication, the Nassau Literary Magazine, acknowledged that the unfamiliar style of play caused confusion among its players.

The game began around 3 p.m. on College Field. Rutgers players wore scarlet headwear to distinguish themselves from their opponents, according to later historical accounts.

Princeton's contemporary account described a very cold afternoon with few spectators.

The Targum described players racing across the field, shouting and kicking as the ball repeatedly went out of bounds.

Princeton had greater physical strength, the Rutgers student reporter wrote, but the home team made better use of its kicking and organization.

The reporter credited Leggett with positioning his players effectively, helping Rutgers overcome its opponents' size advantage.

The teams changed direction after scores, and Rutgers won by six goals to four.

Despite the rivalry, the players gathered for a meal afterward, according to contemporary accounts.

The Daily Fredonian, a New Brunswick newspaper, reported Nov. 9, 1869, that Rutgers students hosted their visitors for supper at Northrop's on Church Street, according to an excerpt preserved by Rutgers.

The Targum described the gathering as friendly and reported that Princeton's visitors departed at 8 p.m., eager for a rematch.

They got one a week later.

On Nov. 13, Princeton defeated Rutgers 8-0 under rules that included its customary free kicks.

A third game was planned but never played. Later historical accounts attribute the cancellation to concerns that football was interfering with students' studies.

The Nov. 6 contest is recognized as the beginning of intercollegiate football in the United States, though Americans had played other versions of football for decades.

The sport gradually developed its modern characteristics as colleges adopted rugby-style rules and standardized competition in the years that followed.

The 50 students who gathered in New Brunswick weren't playing football as Americans know it today. They were competing in an early version of a sport still taking shape.

Their afternoon on a New Brunswick field would become the starting point for one of America's biggest sporting traditions.

(An account published in Rutgers' student newspaper, The Targum, in November 1869 describes the school's 6-4 victory over Princeton in what is recognized as the first intercollegiate football game. (Rutgers University Libraries/Wikimedia Commons))