Wikipedia:Articles for deletion/1873 Harvard Crimson football team

The following discussion is an archived debate of the proposed deletion of the article below. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.

The result was speedy keep. NORTH AMERICA¹⁰⁰⁰ 22:56, 27 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

1873 Harvard Crimson football team[edit]

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Harvard played no football in 1873, the 1873 dates were confused for 1874. Its own sources betray the article. See 1874 Harvard vs. McGill football game. Cake (talk) 19:30, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Football-related deletion discussions. Lakun.patra (talk) 12:13, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Massachusetts-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 16:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Events-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 16:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of American football-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 16:24, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note: This debate has been included in the list of Schools-related deletion discussions. • Gene93k (talk) 16:25, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Comment regarding notice @MisterCake: Cake, you need to add your signature to your AfD nomination above, and then notify the article creator, User:Cbl62, per the AfD instructions. Thanks. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 19:30, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Done. Pardon. Cake (talk) 19:35, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]
Keep as renamed. Although football games were often played in the spring in the early years of the game, college football is IMO properly treated by academic, rather than calendar, year. The teams are assembled in this manner, i.e., by academic year, and the players who participated in game during the 1873-74 academic year are different from those who participated during the 1874-75 academic year. Accordingly, and since all games were played in the spring during the 1873-74 academic year, I have renamed the article as "1873-74 Harvard Crimson football team." I believe this is the correct solution rather than deletion. Cbl62 (talk) 19:53, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Note also that the sources treat the 1873-74 team as being distinct from the 1874-75 team. See College Football Data Warehouse and Harvard Athletics web site. Cbl62 (talk) 19:56, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I have likewise renamed the 1874–75, 1875–76 and 1876–77 Harvard Crimson football team, each of which has games played in both the fall and spring of the applicable academic year. Cbl62 (talk) 20:08, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

I did notice one source using 1873-1874. The page as listed before implied the games occurred in the year of 1873, which was my main concern, and this seems a fine solution. Anything to say when this practice stops? Cake (talk) 20:15, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The practice was common in the 1870s, but occasional spring games continued into the 1880s. See, e.g., 1887 Michigan Wolverines football team. Cbl62 (talk) 20:31, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Thank you. Where's the button to keep the article you just nominated for deletion and not look silly? Cake (talk) 21:06, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Cake, you don't look silly at all. These seasons predated the modern practice of fall-only college football seasons. These article titles needed to be clarified. You did not do anything wrong. But you could have discussed it with Cbl62 first. Cheers. Dirtlawyer1 (talk) 21:25, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

No need to apologize, Cake. The article had some patent errors that have now been fixed as a result of the AfD. Cbl62 (talk) 21:52, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

If you want to, you could simply note that the nomination is withdrawn. Cbl62 (talk) 21:53, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

Withdrawn on the condition that it's kept as renamed. Someone more in tune with Eastern football should use his efforts to look at teams such as these – the Harvard games with McGill and Tufts are arguably as significant as the original Princeton-Rutgers match. Cake (talk) 23:46, 26 March 2015 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of the debate. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made on the appropriate discussion page (such as the article's talk page or in a deletion review). No further edits should be made to this page.