# Origin of the sports team **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [December 22, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115 "2010-12-22T20:21:07Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Frylock](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/ce7236/32.png) [@Frylock](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Frylock)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:21pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/1 "2010-12-22T20:21:07Z")
Who was the earliest sports team, and what sport did they play? And if the answer to the following question is different, then: Who was the earliest sports team from which in some way the current practice of maintaining sports teams in America somehow derives? ---
**Author:** ![MarcusF](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/67e7ee/32.png) [@MarcusF](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MarcusF)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/2 "2010-12-22T20:41:52Z")
Can’t answer the second part but I’d suggest some of the earliest documented sports teams would be the [chariot racing](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chariot_racing) teams of Ancient Greece and Rome. The wiki article refers to a team at the Olympics in 416BC. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 8:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/3 "2010-12-22T20:47:35Z")
> [@Frylock](#): > > Who was the earliest sports team from which in some way the current practice of maintaining sports teams in America somehow derives? In the United States, sports clubs arose from gentlemen’s clubs, which often fielded sporting sides, and I’m guessing that such a thing is related to school athletics, which probably developed in England and America more or less concurrently. Gentlemen’s clubs were strictly amateur originally, but over time, as they became more interested in competition and earning ticket sales, they started paying ringers under the table. Once clubs started traveling around to play clubs in other cities, it became very difficult to maintain even a facade of amateurism. The “current practice of maintaining sports teams” could be said to have originated with the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, which was the first _openly all-professional_ baseball club. ---
**Author:** ![anson2995](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@anson2995](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/anson2995)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/4 "2010-12-22T21:25:06Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > The “current practice of maintaining sports teams” could be said to have originated with the 1869 Cincinnati Red Stockings, which was the first _openly all-professional_ baseball club. Of course there were amateur (or allegedly amateur) baseball teams at least 25 years before that. You are right in tracing the evolution of formal teams back to the athletic clubs of the mid 19th century and early college teams. The origins of both can be traced to the 1840s. Other have suggested chariot racing in ancient greece as a candidate for the oldest team sport (circa 680 BC). To that I say “Bah!” Thea earliest known team sport dates to around 1700 BC, [a rubber ball game played in ancient Mesoamerica](http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=2&sub_section=4). ---
**Author:** ![robert\_columbia](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e79b87/32.png) [@robert\_columbia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/robert_columbia)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 9:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/5 "2010-12-22T21:29:30Z")
> [@anson2995](#): > > Thea earliest known team sport dates to around 1700 BC, [a rubber ball game played in ancient Mesoamerica](http://www.ballgame.org/sub_section.asp?section=2&sub_section=4). Yes, but were the teams professionally organized over a significant period of time, or did they just scour town square looking for players whenever people wanted a game, organizing ad-hoc teams for that day depending on who was available? ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/6 "2010-12-22T22:32:11Z")
> [@robert\_columbia](#): > > Yes, but were the teams professionally organized over a significant period of time, or did they just scour town square looking for players whenever people wanted a game, organizing ad-hoc teams for that day depending on who was available? The games were not casual affairs, but important ritually. In some cases the losing team was sacrificed. ---
**Author:** ![Acsenray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/acsenray/32/4519_2.png) [@Acsenray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Acsenray)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/7 "2010-12-22T22:45:18Z")
> [@Colibri](#): > > The games were not casual affairs, but important ritually. In some cases the losing team was sacrificed. My understanding: In some cases the losing team was sacrificed. In some cases the winning team was sacrificed. In some cases both teams were sacrificed. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [December 22, 2010, 11:00pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/8 "2010-12-22T23:00:32Z")
> [@acsenray](#): > > My understanding: > > In some cases the losing team was sacrificed. > > In some cases the winning team was sacrificed. > > In some cases both teams were sacrificed. In any case, it would be a tough sport to merchandise player jerseys. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Bijou\_Drains](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bijou_drains/32/2814_2.png) [@Bijou\_Drains](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Bijou_Drains)\ **Post date:** [December 23, 2010, 12:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/origin-of-the-sports-team/565115/9 "2010-12-23T00:47:58Z")
American college FB also started in 1869 with Princeton-Rutgers [History of American football - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_American_football)