Editor’s note: This story was originally published Nov. 24, 2016.
Playing football on Thanksgiving is a tradition almost as old as the holiday itself.
The first recorded football game played on Thanksgiving was a Nov. 18 battle in 1869 that pitted the “Young American Cricket Club” against the “Germantown Cricket Club” in Philadelphia, according to the Nov. 17 edition of the Philadelphia newspaper, The Evening Telegraph.
The game was played only two weeks after what is believed to be the first American football game and only six years after Thanksgiving was declared an American holiday.
Fourteen of the 50 states traditionally play high school games on Thanksgiving. Utah is not one of them; football season typically ends a couple weeks before Thanksgiving.
Several college teams have also played on Thanksgiving over the years.
The first college football game played on Turkey Day was on Nov. 29, 1876, between Princeton and Yale, according to the New-York Tribune.
NFL teams have played on Thanksgiving since Nov. 25, 1920, according to the pro football Hall of Fame website. The Detroit Lions and Dallas Cowboys have each played at home on Thanksgiving since 1934.
How to avoid getting hurt
Some people’s turkey bowl tradition is getting injured. Most of us want to avoid injuries.
Here are a few tips to help prevent them:
1. Prepare: Making sure you are hydrated, nourished and to start training months before you play are all important in avoiding injury, according to active.com.
2. Avoid contact and falling: A 10-year Air Force study of flag football found that 42 percent of injuries resulted from contact with another player, according to the Armed Forces Flag Football League. The second most common was tripping, slipping and falling.
3. Stretch and warm up: “Stretching can help improve flexibility and, consequently, range of motion in your joints. Better flexibility may improve your performance in physical activities or decrease your risk of injuries by helping your joints move through their full range of motion and enabling your muscles to work most effectively,” according to the Mayo Clinic. “Stretching also increases blood flow to the muscle.”
4. Wear protective gear: "A 2014 study published in the Journal of Knee Surgery, Sports Traumatology and Arthroscopy conducted for the International Football Federation on how to make the game safer, titled 'Injuries can be prevented in contact flag football,' concluded the best way to do so was by '(using) soft headgear, comfortable-fitting ankle braces and mouth guards,'" according to liverocksolid.com.