It was briefly mentioned in advance but not celebrated, not even noted actually, after it happened because no one involved had any idea where it would eventually lead.

Hamilton's first formal game of foot ball — always two words please; in those days recreation for its own sake was a pursuit of the well-spoken class — was played on Dec. 18, 1869. But, for an event which led to something so sturdy, and often so rabid over the next century and a half, there is remarkably little known about that first match.

We do know that the founding of the Hamilton Foot Ball Club seven weeks earlier drew more attention than its first actually game, which was announced in a one-sentence brief in the Hamilton Spectator of Dec. 11, the day the game was originally supposed to be held.

"A match game of foot ball will be played this afternoon, on the Base Ball ground, Upper James Street, between the 13th Battalion and non-Volunteers."

That match was postponed because of inclement weather, and rescheduled for a week later. A similar notification of the impending game appeared a couple of times leading up to Dec. 18, but in the daily papers of the following week, absolutely nothing. Nary a mention. Game played, game not recorded for posterity. No score, no lineups, no descriptions of the action. And none have since been found, anywhere.

Football historians say it was common practice until the introduction of formal leagues in the 1880s for games, scores and playing personnel not to be reported, despite a thriving and heavily competitive newspaper environment.

That's an enormous loss, considering that even as early the mid-1870s, foot ball had taken a firm grip on the imagination of the Hamilton populace. By the time the HFBC had become known colloquially as "The Tigers" in 1873 and officially changed their colours from black and orange to black and yellow to reflect the adoption of the yellow chrysanthemum as the official city flower, local papers were celebrating the team and its players. They played their inaugural game against the Toronto Argonauts in 1873, and we certainly know what that first game evolved into. See "Labour Day" and "Classic" and "Argos Suck."

But on Dec. 18, 1869, on that long-gone base ball diamond located near today's downtown Go Station, nobody guessed they were about to make durable sports history, even with the heavy history present all around them.

As the Hamilton Foot Ball club was the direct ancestor of the current Tiger-Cats, so the current Royal Hamilton Light Infantry (Wentworth Regiment) tracks its lineage to the 13th Battalion, the men who provided the loyal opposition in the first foot ball game here. The exhibition game was seen as the Non-Volunteers (the foot ball club) vs. The Volunteers (13th Battalion).

The battalion was formed out of volunteers in 1862 and was called into active duty from March 8 to June 22, 1866 to fight against the Fenian Raids, losing four men in the Battle of Ridgeway.

It would seem logical that some of the men who took part in that battle also played against the new foot ball club just three years later, but because there's no formal record of the members of either side, that cannot be accurately confirmed. Repeat: a huge historical loss.

The volunteers and civilians were playing a 15-aside version of what is now referred to as the old Canadian Game, which dated back to the War of 1812. It was an amalgam of soccer and rugby, in which players could punch the ball forward with their fist, catch and drop-kick the ball to teammates, and use the feet to dribble the ball ... and to kick opponents from behind. Running with the ball was not allowed, although that was soon modified if a ball was caught "fairly" in full flight.

At its earliest meetings the 100-member Hamilton Foot Ball Club noted that a goal (today's convert) would be scored by kicking the ball over the crossbar, not under it as in soccer.

Although by the time the game was played the HFBC had over 100 registered members, only 15 of them could be on the field.

Unfortunately, unless evidence turns up in the form of previously-lost correspondence or diaries, we'll never know the identities of the 30 men who started such enduring athletic history in this town.

smilton@thespec.com

905-526-3268 | @miltonatthespec

Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading... Loading...

- PHOTOS: 150 years of football in Hamilton

- Hamilton football began as social pastime for city's gentlemen

- Steve Milton: The money has grown exponentially since legend Gary Lautens wrote about the Ticats, but the city's feel for its team is the same, again