Contents

• Introduction

• The history of football

• The field and equipment

• The players and coaches

• How football is played

• Football competition

• Canadian football

• Resources

Football is an exciting team sport played chiefly in the United States and Canada. It is played by elementary school, high school, college, and professional teams. Millions of people crowd stadiums each football season to watch their favorite teams. Millions of people also watch games on television between college football teams as well as televised competition in the two major professional leagues, the National Football League (NFL) of the United States and the Canadian Football League (CFL).

In the United States, football is played by two teams of 11 players each. Canadian teams have 12 players. Each team tries to score points, mainly by running or passing plays (maneuvers) that move an oval ball across the opposing team's goal line. Such a run or pass scores a touchdown. During a game, possession of the ball shifts from team to team. The team with the ball is the offensive team. The other team is the defensive team. It tries to prevent the offense from scoring.

A good football team combines strength and speed. Physical contact, especially involving blocking and tackling, is a basic part of football. The sport also requires quick reactions and thorough preparation for each game. In addition, split-second teamwork is essential. All the players on a team must work together to defeat their opponents.

There are several variations of football. Two of these variations--touch football and flag football--eliminate much of the physical contact. In touch football, a play ends when a defensive player merely touches, rather than tackles, the ball carrier. In flag football, a play ends when a defensive player pulls a piece of cloth, called a flag, from the belt or from the back pocket of the ball carrier.

Touch and flag football are popular in high school and college intramural programs. In such programs, teams from the same school compete against one another. Some high schools with small enrollments have football teams with six, eight, or nine players. A few professional women's football teams have formed leagues, and a few high schools have teams for girls. However, the game is played almost entirely by men and boys, and this article concerns male football only.

Football originated in the United States. It began to develop during the mid-1800's. The sport grew out of soccer and Rugby, two kicking games that were developed in England. Soccer is called football in many countries, but the game differs considerably from American football.

This article deals chiefly with football as played in the United States. The game differs somewhat in Canada. The section Canadian football describes some of the differences.

The history of football

Beginnings. Football began to develop during the mid-1800's, when a game similar to soccer was played in the Eastern United States. The object of the game was simply to kick a round ball across the other team's goal line. The teams sometimes had 30 or more players.

As the soccerlike game became popular, stricter rules were adopted and schools began to organize teams. The first college game was played on Nov. 6, 1869, in New Brunswick, New Jersey. In that game, Rutgers defeated the College of New Jersey (now Princeton University), 6-4.

The first game resembling present-day football was played in 1874, when a team from McGill University in Montreal, Canada, visited Harvard University. The Canadian team wanted to play the English game of rugby, which permitted running with the ball and tackling. Harvard preferred to play its soccerlike game, in which players advanced the ball mainly by kicking. The teams agreed to play two games, the first under Harvard rules and the second under McGill rules. Harvard liked McGill's rugby game so much that it introduced the sport to other Eastern colleges. Running and tackling soon became as important as kicking in the U.S. game.

Shortly after the Eastern colleges began to play rugby-style football, they began to change and improve the game. The most influential figure in modernizing football was Walter Camp, who had played for Yale University from 1876 to 1882. Under Camp's leadership, rules were adopted during the 1880's that increased the action and competition of the game. Camp was largely responsible for establishing the system of downs and yards to gain and for introducing the center snap to the quarterback. He also helped set up the scoring system in which touchdowns, conversions, field goals, and safeties were worth different amounts of points. In 1889, he and sportswriter Caspar Whitney began the tradition of picking an annual all-American team to honor the best college players in the country.

During the 1880's, football gained in popularity. More colleges played the sport, and many high schools formed teams. Numerous towns organized teams consisting of players who were not in high school or college. Rivalries grew between teams from neighboring towns.

Changes in the game. By 1900, football consisted mostly of running, blocking, and tackling. The blocking and tackling became increasingly violent, and many players suffered serious injuries. The uniforms provided little protection. Players did not even wear helmets. Many games were organized fights rather than athletic contests. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt urged changes in the rules to make the game safer.

In 1906, college coaches and faculty members tried to find ways to eliminate some of the violence in football. One new rule permitted a back to throw the ball forward to another back or to one of the ends. According to many historians, the first forward pass was thrown in 1906 by Wesleyan University in a game against Yale.

At first, teams ignored the forward pass. They did not consider it a logical way to advance the ball. Passing finally became popular in 1913 as a result of a game that year between Notre Dame and Army. The stronger, heavier Army team was favored to defeat the Notre Dame team. But Notre Dame quarterback Gus Dorais led his team to a 35-13 victory by throwing the ball several times to his end Knute Rockne. Rockne later became a famous head coach at Notre Dame. By the 1920's, the forward pass had become a basic part of football and helped make the game more exciting. Meanwhile, most other basic rules had been adopted. In 1912, for example, a touchdown's value was set at six points, and the number of downs was set at four.

The rise of professional football. On Nov. 12, 1892, William "Pudge" Heffelfinger was paid $500 to play football for the Allegheny Athletic Association in a game against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Sports historians mark this game as the start of professional football. In the early days of football, many college players played with their school teams on Saturdays and with professional teams on Sundays. They usually performed professionally under assumed names because of rules permitting only amateurs in college football.

Professional football had little organization until 1920, when the American Professional Football Association was founded. In 1922, the organization was renamed the National Football League (NFL).

Professional football began to win wide support in 1925. That year, Red Grange, a famous all-American halfback from the University of Illinois, signed to play with the Chicago Bears. He played in a series of games that drew over 350,000 fans.

In 1933, the NFL split into two divisions. Later that year, the Chicago Bears, champions of the Western Division, defeated the New York Giants, champions of the Eastern Division, for the first world professional football title. The league held its first draft in 1936.

In 1944, an eight-team league called the All-America Football Conference was formed. The league began competition in 1946. The All-America Football Confer-ence and the NFL merged in 1950 into a 13-team league.

During the 1950's, professional football began to gain great popularity throughout the United States. TV networks paid millions of dollars to televise the games. In 1960, another professional league, the American Foot-ball League (AFL), was formed. The eight-team AFL competed with the NFL for fans and college players. It even tried to sign up star NFL players. In 1966, after six years of rivalry, the two leagues agreed to merge in 1970 into one league consisting of the American Football Conference and the National Football Conference. A new professional league, the World Football League (WFL), began play in 1974. Midway through the 1975 season, it ceased operations because of severe financial losses.

Football today. During the 1970's and 1980's, TV continued to play a major role in the popularity of football. The Super Bowl became the most popular annual televised sports event in the United States.

After the first two games of the 1982-1983 season, the NFL players went on strike. This was the first regular-season strike in NFL history. Play resumed eight weeks later with plans for a shortened regular season and a revised play-off schedule. Another professional league, the United States Football League, was organized in 1982. It began playing in 1983. The league suspended play after the 1985 season.

In 1989, Pete Rozelle resigned as NFL commissioner, a position he had held since 1960. Under Rozelle's leadership, the NFL and AFL merged in 1966, the league added several teams, and it enormously increased its income from television. In 1991, competition began in the 10-team World League of American Football (WLAF), an international professional league sponsored by the NFL. The league consists of three European teams, one in Canada, and six in the United States.