Sports

Will Historic Rivalry Continue?

There is a rumor going around that Lower Merion will not have a football squad next year.

There is a rumor going around that Lower Merion High School announced that they will not have enough football players to field a team for next year, that would end, among other things, the 117 year rivalry between LM and Radnor.

Is it true?

"Not true," said Doug Young, spokesperson for the Lower Merion School District.

On Saturday Radnor beat LM 33 to 14.

According to the Radnor Historical Society:

The first game was played on October 26, 1897, on the North Wayne field in Radnor. The field was then used as the Merryvale Country Club grounds. The players did not wear uniforms, and they cut the grass and painted lines before the game. Several hundred spectators watched the game, which was won by Lower Merion 10-4. This began Lower Merion's overall winning streak through the entire series.

Crowds grew steadily each year, as did the festivities surrounding the game. Parading to the game down Lancaster Avenue has happened many years. Even before the schools had bands, neighborhood bands from Ardmore and Radnor (even the Anthony Wayne Drum & Bugle Corps) provided music.

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Admission to the game was free until 1915, when Lower Merion charged 25 cents admission to the game. Radnor principal Amos Chamberlain protested, but to no avail. Admission has been charged since.

As the crowds grew, the game was moved to the Villanova College Stadium (built 1927) starting in 1930. Beginning in this era elaborate programs were published as game souvenirs.

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In 1943, Life magazine published a photograph of forlorn Radnor players watching as the winning Lower Merion touchdown was scored.


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