The Oneida Football Club Monument, sometimes called ''Football Tablet'', is a monument made by

Joseph Coletti Joseph Arthur Coletti (November 5, 1898 – May 5, 1973) was an Italian-born American sculptor. Life Coletti was born in San Donato, Italy, on November 5, 1898. He was brought to the United States by his parents when he was two years old, and he ...

; which was installed on the

Boston Common The Boston Common is a public park in downtown Boston, Massachusetts. It is the oldest city park in the United States. Boston Common consists of of land bounded by five major Boston streets: Tremont Street, Park Street, Beacon Street, Charl ...

, in

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

Massachusetts Massachusetts ( ; ), officially the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Maine to its east, Connecticut and Rhode ...

, United States. It was built as a remembrance to the

Oneida Football Club The Oneida Football Club, founded and captained by Gerrit Smith Miller in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1862, was the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States.football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

in the

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

.No Christian End! The Beginnings of Football in America
By PFRA Research (Originally Published in The Journey to Camp: The Origins of American Football to 1889 (PFRA Books) The game played by the club, known as the " Boston game", was an informal local variant that predated the codification of rules for

association football Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

rugby football Rugby football is the collective name for the team sports of rugby union or rugby league. Rugby football started at Rugby School in Rugby, Warwickshire, England, where the rules were first codified in 1845. Forms of football in which the ball ...

, or

American football American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular American football field, field with goalposts at e ...

.''THE BOSTON GAME''
article by Michael T. Geary at academia.edu
by Roger Allaway at sover.net (archived) The team, made up of students of Boston's elite preparatory schools, played on

from 1862 to 1865, during which time they reportedly never lost a game or even gave up a single point.Historical Sketch of the Oneida Football Club of Boston: 1862-1865''
by Winthrop S. Scudder - Library of the University of Wisconsin
By Bob Holmes on ''The Boston Globe'', 21 Nov 2012

Description and history

The marble tablet was donated by seven members of the

Oneida Football Club The Oneida Football Club, founded and captained by Gerrit Smith Miller in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1862, was the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States. An inscription on the back can also be found which reads, "MEMBERS OF THE ONEIDA TEAM", under this was the list of the 16 members of the original team. The monument was unveiled on Saturday November 21, 1925, and was attended by the six surviving members of the team including its founder and captain Gerritt Smith Miller. It was designed by architects Robert Day Andrews and Howland Jones of the Boston architecture firm Andrews, Jones, Biscoe & Whitmore and executed by sculptor

."Monument to Oneida Football Team to be placed on the Common," ''Boston Globe'', October 30, 1925. It was surveyed by the

Smithsonian Institution The Smithsonian Institution ( ), or simply the Smithsonian, is a group of museums, Education center, education and Research institute, research centers, created by the Federal government of the United States, U.S. government "for the increase a ...

's "

Save Outdoor Sculpture! Save Outdoor Sculpture! (SOS!) was a community-based effort to identify, document, and conserve outdoor sculpture in the United States. The program was initiated in 1989 and ended in 1999. History Save Outdoor Sculpture! was initiated by Heri ...

" program in 1997.

References

External links

* 1925 establishments in Massachusetts 1925 sculptures Boston Common Marble sculptures in Massachusetts Monuments and memorials in Boston Outdoor sculptures in Boston {{Massachusetts-sculpture-stub

Description and history

See also

References

External links