December 4th, 2008 | Army | Posted by Mike Hoffman
In a game older than the Rose Bowl, the 103rd Goat-Engineer football game was played Wednesday night on Michie Field at West Point with the Engineers upending the Goats in both the men’s and women’s games.
The game was traditionally played between the second-class cadets who were split up by their cumulative grade point average with the Goats owning the lower GPAs and the Engineers owning the top grades. Last night, the game included the first- and second-class cadets, which has been a development over the last three years, West Point officials said.
It was first played on the Thanksgiving morning of 1905 by the class of 1907. Before, the Corps was not allowed to go home for Thanksgiving so the cadets “decided to play ball,” West Point officials said. It had become tradition to play the Goat-Engineer game prior to the serving of Thanksgiving dinner.
The program for the first game listed the rules for the game that have survived over the years. They include:
1. No subs allowed
2. Game wil be played, rain or shine
3. When you see a head, hit it
4. Only one practice allowed
5. Signals are used only to frighten the enemy
6. Any man not caught slugging will be put out of the game
7. Can’t slug the same man twice in succession, that would be rude.
8. The Goats’ ten yard line is off limits for all Engineers. Any one crossing it will be give a 5 and 10, i.e., will be thrown back with a Emr2 of 5 f/s and will serve 10 days in the hospital.
No records have been kept of the series between the Goats and Engineers, but one game did end in a riot that caused $7,000 in damage to the parade field. The corps was docked a portion of their salary to pay for the repairs. No exact win-loss record exists for the series, but West Point officials claim the series remains close much like the Army-Navy rivalry.
An extra bonus for this year’s game. Beer was served to spectators.
Photo courtesy of Sgt. Vincent Fusco, Army photographer.
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