I'm looking for documented proof of the origins of the game Silent
Football.   Not just a set of rules, but its early origins.

Legend indicates this was originally a British drinking game, which
includes an imaginary football, a dictator (or commissioner), zooms,
fwaps (thwaps), schrodems, shrugs, and no pronouns.

(The above elements are enough to let you know if you are thinking of
the same game I'm thinking of.)

Anyway, variants of this game are played in YRUU communities, but who
invented Silent Football?

Thunderrabbit,

Without knowing wether following source is credible, it does claim to
know how the game of Silent Football came into being:

Something Old, Something Cthulhu (by Ooghe)
http://fargo.itp.tsoa.nyu.edu/~ro251/burningman/cthulhu.html
"For those of you who follow Silent Football, it may interest you to
note that [Sister Robin's Burning Man Camp "Cthulhu"] is what started
it all. One day, when I was off in Reno tryin to find materials to
repair Ishkabibble, Polenberg hooked up with these guys and played for
(probably) hours. As per the rules of Silent Football, I am not
allowed to discuss what this game entails, but, just remember, this is
where it came from."

The first newsgroup mentioning of Silent Football dates back to 1995:

Emily Schaeffer
Subject: Re: UU youth conferences Wink 
Newsgroups: soc.religion.unitarian-univ
http://groups.google.com/groups?selm=3kqddn%24oj2%40usenetw1.news.prodigy.com

Then again, to quote Cornelia Wigglebrow, "the first rule of silent
football is you will not talk about silent football" [1].


Good luck!


Footnotes:

[1] My thoughts
http://caedmon.blogspot.com/2002_05_01_caedmon_archive.html


Search terms:
creator "Silent Football"
first "Silent Football"
invented "Silent Football"
inventor "Silent Football"
Origins "Silent Football"

j_philipp:
I don't know if Google will tell you I've commented; I don't see a way
to contact you specifically.

I had found the .../burningman/cthulhu.html and have actually
contacted those folks.  But thank you for thinking of usenet as a
resource!

Even though some groups' rules include "don't talk about silent
football" there are some sets of rules online.

I'll try emailing the addresses listed in that usenet thread.

Hi Thunderrabbit,

No, I don't get a notification when you post a comment. Researchers
can get emails when a question clarification is answered, or when an
answer clarification is requested by the asker. Usually, whenever
there's something happening in the comments, other Researchers from
the community will be so friendly as to notify others.

Again good luck trying to find the origins of Silent Football! If you
dig up anything maybe you can come back here and add another comment.

HOw old can you date the game back to??
I know someone who I learned it from in 1996 that is the son of a
Unitarian Pastor in Maine. I dont know if that helps at all. But I
think that might pre date burning man?

I have received information from a man claiming to be "trained by a
mentor who himself was trained through the direct lineage of the
Creators of the game."   This person said the game started in 1929 in
Dartmouth, NH.

I haven't tried to pursue a second opinion on the veracity of this
claim, but it's a possible answer to your question.

I'm going to have to echo the Dartmouth, NH theory... when I was first
introduced to the game in 1996, Dartmouth was part of the brief
history we received prior to play.  Odd that 1996 seems to be a big
year for the game - perhaps silent football went not-so-silent at that
point.