American Football
American Football is a popular outdoor game played by two teams. The object is to score points with touchdowns and field goals.
The game evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on the rules of soccer at the time; by 1875, the sport had adopted rules similar to rugby union. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1880 onward by Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", established concepts that would define the sport, among them the snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the concept of downs. Later rule changes legalized the forward pass, created the neutral zone, and specified the size and shape of the football. The modern sport is closely related to Canadian football, which evolved in parallel with and at the same time as the American game; the two sports are considered the primary variants of gridiron football.
American football is the most popular sport in the United States; the most popular forms of the game are professional and college football, with the other major levels being high school and youth football. Over a million Americans played college or high school football in 2022, and the National Football League (NFL) has one of the highest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. Its championship game, the Super Bowl, ranks among the most-watched club sporting events globally. Other professional and amateur leagues exist worldwide, but the sport does not have the international popularity of other American sports like baseball or basketball; the sport maintains a growing following in the rest of North America, Europe, Brazil, and Japan. Flag football, a variant of the sport, will be played at the 2028 Summer Olympics.
Etymology and names[change | change source]
Main article: Football (word)
In the United States, American football is referred to as "football". The term "football" was officially established in the rulebook for the 1876 college football season, when the sport first shifted from soccer-style rules to rugby-style rules. Although it could easily have been called "rugby" at this point, Harvard, one of the primary proponents of the rugby-style game, compromised and did not request the name of the sport be changed to "rugby". The terms "gridiron" or "American football" are favored in English-speaking countries where other types of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia.
Rules and regulations[change | change source]
American football is an outdoor game played by two teams of eleven men each. It is played on a field 120 yards long by 53.33 yards wide with end zones and goalposts at each end.
The team in possession of the ball must move it a certain distance down the field or surrender the ball to the opposing team. Points are scored by putting the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.
Scoring[change | change source]
In football, the winner is the team that has scored more points at the end of the game. There are multiple ways to score in a football game. The touchdown (TD), worth six points, is the most valuable scoring play. A touchdown is scored when a live ball is advanced into, caught, or recovered in the opposing team's end zone. The scoring team then attempts a try, more commonly known as the point(s)-after-touchdown (PAT) or conversion, which is a single scoring opportunity. If the PAT is scored by a place kick or drop kick through the goal posts, it is worth one point, typically called the extra point. If the PAT is scored by what would normally be a touchdown, it is worth two points; this is known as a two-point conversion. In general, the extra point is almost always successful, while the two-point conversion is a much riskier play with a higher probability of failure; accordingly, extra point attempts are far more common than two-point conversion attempts.
A field goal (FG), worth three points, is scored when the ball is place kicked or drop kicked through the uprights and over the crossbars of the defense's goalposts. Almost all field goal attempts are done via place kick. While drop kicks were common in the early days of the sport, the shape of modern footballs makes it difficult to reliably drop kick the ball. The last successful scoring play by drop kick in the NFL was accomplished in 2006; prior to that, the last successful drop kick had been made in 1941. After a PAT attempt or successful field goal, the scoring team must kick the ball off to the other team.
A safety is scored when the ball carrier is tackled in the carrier's own end zone. Safeties are worth two points, which are awarded to the defense. In addition, the team that conceded the safety must kick the ball to the scoring team via a free kick. Safeties are the least common method of scoring in football.
Super Bowl[change | change source]
Professional football and college football are the most popular forms of football in America. High school and youth football are also popular. The annual professional championship Super Bowl is the most popular single-day sporting event in the United States.
The two professional teams with the best seasons and playoff championships battle each other in the biggest football game of the year. It is always played on a Sunday in February in a stadium pre-chosen annually.
The day is a festive one for fans. Families gather at home around the television set to celebrate the day with buffets. Some fans gather in crowded bars and restaurants to watch the game.
History[change | change source]
American football had its origins in rugby football. The first game of American football was played on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton universities. Walter Camp, the "Father of American Football", developed the rules of the game beginning in 1880.
Modern times[change | change source]
Professional and college games are played and televised from August to January. There are various positions on a team with the quarterback being the most important. Other positions include the centers, the wide receivers, the tight ends, the tackles, the linebackers, and others. The Pro Football Hall of Fame is in Canton, Ohio.
As the fall football season approaches in America, many novels are published with football settings for teen boys. These novels focus on the timeless themes of courage and honor as well as contemporary issues such as drug use, cheating, and being gay. Novels for adults are published with themes of drug use in the football world and the personal lives of professional players that touch on sexuality, substance abuse, and moral corruption. Movies with football settings like The Longest Yard, North Dallas Forty, Rudy, and Invincible take an adult view of football.
Variations[change | change source]
Indoor football leagues constitute what The New York Times writer Mike Tanier described as the "most minor of minor leagues." Leagues are unstable, with franchises regularly moving from one league to another or merging with other teams, and teams or entire leagues dissolving completely; games are only attended by a small number of fans, and most players are semi-professional athletes. The Indoor Football League is an example of a prominent indoor league. The Arena Football League, which was founded in 1987 and ceased operations in 2019, was one of the longest-lived indoor football leagues. In 2004, the league was called "America's fifth major sport" by ESPN The Magazine.
Some schools that lack the enrollment numbers to run a competitive 11-man team choose to play nine-man, eight-man, or six-man football, which utilize modified rules to account for smaller team sizes. Another variation played at some universities, sprint football, limits the maximum weight of players; as of 2022, the maximum weight allowed is 178 pounds (81 kg)