American Football is almost as old as the Civil War
Here is a fun fact: American Football is almost as old as the Civil War. In 1865, Confederate general Robert E. Lee surrendered to the Union Armies’ commanding general Ulysses S. Grant, putting an official end to the American Civil War.
Seen from another perspective, the first varsity American Football match was held in 1869 between Rutgers and New Jersey, later known as Princeton. In truth, soccer (or European football) is even older, given that it has been played unofficially since Medieval times.