The Oneida Football Club, founded and captained by Gerrit Smith Miller in Boston, Massachusetts, in 1862, was the first organized team to play any kind of football in the United States. The game played by the club, known as the "Boston game", was an informal local variant that combined association and rugby football and predated the codification of rules for American football.

The team, made up of students of Boston's elite preparatory schools, played on Boston Common from 1862 to 1865, during which time they reportedly never lost a game or even gave up a single point.

After Oneida disbanded, former members established the Harvard University Football Club, which continued to play under the Boston game rules.

Gerrit Smith Miller started his sports career playing baseball. In 1859, while 14 years old, Miller organized the "Bobolink B.B.C. (Base-Ball Club)" of Peterboro, N. Y., where he was elected president, captain and pitcher. In 1861, he joined the Lowell BBC of Boston, where he was also captain and pitcher. Miller then attended Harvard University, where he was part of its baseball team.

Miller then entered Epes S. Dixwell's school, a private college preparatory school, where football was played as a fun and exercise for students. At the time there were no formal rules for football games, with different schools and areas playing their own variations. This informal style of play was often chaotic and very violent, and Miller had been a star of the game while attending Dixwell. However, he grew tired of these disorganized games so in 1862 he organised the "Oneida Football Club of Boston", choosing players from not only Dixwell's but from other schools in order to form a strong and competitive team. The name was suggested by R. Clifford Watson, after the lake of that name in New York State, not far from Miller's home. The full club had fifty-two players. Among the players were the following: Edward L. Arnold, Robert A. Boit, Edward Bowditch, Walter Brooks, George Davis, Robert M. Lawrence, Gerrit S. Miller (captain), Francis G. Peabody, Winthrop S. Scudder, Louis Thies, Alanson Tucker, R. Clifford Watson, Huntington F. Wolcott (Dixwell); J. Malcolm Forbes, and John P. Hall (Boston English High School); and James D'Wolf Lovett (Boston Latin School). Miller was elected president and Clifford Watson secretary and treasurer, and their only uniform was a red silk handkerchief tied around the head, knotted behind.

In the 1862 and 1863 seasons the Oneidas played matches with the Boston Latin and the English High schools and one with the combined teams of the Roxbury and Dorchester High Schools, all of which they won. On 7 November 1863 Oneida played vs the combined English High and Boston Public Latin Schools. In that match, the Oneidas allowed their opponents sixteen men, they, themselves, playing their usual fifteen.

In 1864, J. Huntington Wolcott, older brother of future Governor of Massachusetts Roger Wolcott, was elected President of the Oneida Club and in this same year, a challenge was sent to the Harvard freshmen for a match. Although it was accepted, the match was never carried out. Some sources stated that the Harvard upper classes, fearing a defeat, suggested the freshmen not to play.

The game played by the Oneida Football Club is known as the "Boston game". Although it has been claimed by much later followers of both association and American football, the club predated formal rules of any football variant. The Boston game was a more complex form of mob football and is described in period newspapers and diaries as being played in alleyways and empty lots. The Oneidas restricted their activity to Boston Common where it was possible to define goal lines and the edges of the playing field. It is also known that the Oneidas had time limits, multiple twelve-member teams, and some sort of guidelines for fair and foul play.