1891 Manhattan Athletic Club football team

American college football season

1891 Manhattan Athletic Club football

Conference| American Football Union
Record| – (– AFU)
Home stadium| Manhattan Field

Seasons

<- 1890

1892 ->

The 1891 Manhattan Athletic Club football team was an American football team that represented the Manhattan Athletic Club (MAC) in the American Football Union (AFU) during the 1891 college football season.[1]

Before the season began, MAC signed some of the best football players in the country, including former Princeton stars Snake Ames and Sport Donnelly. One newspaper wrote: "Never before was an amateur athletic organization able to get together such a crack eleven as the Manhattans turned out this fall, and some football authorities even went so far as to predict that, with a little practice, it woulld beat any team in the country."[2] However, the AFU adopted a rule on the day before the opening game prohibiting MAC's best players (including Ames and Donnelly) from playing because they did not live within 100 miles of the club they represented.[2] According to a newspaper account, the new rule was adopted by MAC's opponents and "apparently was designed expressly to prevent Ames and Donnelly from playing with the Manhattans."[3] MAC withdrew from the AFU in protest of the ruling.[3]

A further controversy arose in late November 1891 as to whether MAC should be deemed a professional club for hosting a game between Yale and Princeton that generated receipts of $50,000.[4]

## Schedule[edit]

Date| Time| Opponent| Site| Result| Attendance| Source

|
|
|
|
|
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October 14| 4:30 p.m.| Columbia|

* Columbia Grounds
* Bronx, NY

| W 28–0| | [5]
October 28| | Princeton| Princeton, NJ| L 0–78| | [6]
October 31| | at Crescent Athletic Club|

* Eastern Park
* Brooklyn, NY

| L 0–10| 3,000| [7]
November 14| | Orange Athletic Club|

* Manhattan Field
* Manhattan, NY

| Cancelled | |
November 24| | Rutgers| New Brunswick, NJ| L 0–34| |

## References[edit]

1. ^ "Team Records Game by Game". September 13, 2015. Archived from the original on September 13, 2015. Retrieved August 25, 2020.
2. ^ a b "Broke Up Their Team: Manhattan's Famous Football Eleven Retire From the Field". Pittsburg Dispatch. November 11, 1891. p. 8 - via Newspapers.com.
3. ^ a b "A Big Football Row: Manhattans Resign from the American Union". The Brooklyn Citizen. October 31, 1891. p. 3 - via Newspapers.com.
4. ^ "Are They Amateurs? Status of the Players in the Great Football Match: Does That M.A.C. Contract Make Them Professionals?". The Evening World. November 27, 1891. p. 1 - via Newspapers.com.
5. ^ "A Bad Defeat for Columbia". The Sun. October 15, 1891. p. 4 - via Newspapers.com.
6. ^ "Princeton's Top Score: They Roll Up 78 Points Against the Manhattan Team". The Times (Philadelphia). October 29, 1891. p. 3 - via Newspapers.com.
7. ^ "The Police Interfere And Stop a Lively "Mill" on the Ball Field". The Brookly Daily Eagle. November 1, 1891. p. 1 - via Newspapers.com.