Women's gridiron football

[1] However, sports historian Katie Taylor questions the veracity of these accounts, and suggests that any games that did take place at Seven Sisters schools during these years were informal rather than competitive.

[1] On November 21, 1896, a men's social club in New York set up a scrimmage between two teams of five women each, wearing the colors of Yale and Princeton, outside the casino at Sulzer's Harlem River Park, as entertainment before a masked ball.

[2][6] The Sun reported that after only a few plays, the local police captain had to step in to halt the event, after the crowd of men watching the women tackling each other started pushing, and it looked like someone could get crushed.

[8] The Maui News described it as "a game which afforded much amusement to the masculine element", but also noted that "The Hi girls proved that when it comes to grit, they're there with the goods.

"[8] In 1925, a woman's football game played at San Jose State Teachers' College between two teams drawn from the school's gymnasium classes was covered by the Associated Press and The New York Times.

[3][10] Although the NFL connection has led many to pinpoint this event as the start of women's football,[11] a detailed account in the Philadelphia Public Ledger makes it clear that it was nothing more than a comedy act.

Of the women who have seen action in men's college and pro football, almost all have been in special teams positions that are protected from physical contact.

[15] On October 18, 1997, Liz Heaston became the first woman to play and score in a college football game, kicking two extra points.

By kicking five field goals that season, she earned the title of special teams player of the year, leading all kickers in the league in scoring; with a career spanning seven seasons, Harshbarger's career was the longest documented of any woman playing in a predominantly men's professional league.

[22]) Jennifer Welter became the first female skill position player at the male professional level by playing as a running back in the Texas Revolution in 2014.

[26][27] Silberman tried out for the NFL after playing club soccer in college and taking up kicking footballs as a hobby several months before the tryout.