American football Wikipedia. American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron football or simply gridiron, is a sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with control of the oval shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with or passing the ball, while the team without control of the ball, the defense, aims to stop their advance and take control of the ball for themselves. BSoftball_vs_Colby_2016-17_-__1447_web_thumb.jpg?max_width=400' alt='Ncaa Softball Umpire Mechanics Manual 2008' title='Ncaa Softball Umpire Mechanics Manual 2008' />The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs, or plays, or else they turn over the football to the opposing team if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs. Points are primarily scored by advancing the ball into the opposing teams end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponents goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins. American football evolved in the United States, originating from the sports of association football and rugby football. Enjoy the videos and music you love, upload original content, and share it all with friends, family, and the world on YouTube. Thank you for your continued support of Deadspin. Get that summer sunshine while you still can. Even more Account Options. Sign in Search settings. American football, referred to as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron football or simply gridiron, is a sport played by two teams. The Jim Rome Show, as with other radio shows, has a number of unique facets to its content. In. To learn about our efforts to improve the accessibility and usability of our website, please visit our. The first game of American football was played on November 6, 1. Rutgers and Princeton, under rules based on the association football rules of the time. During the latter half of the 1. Rugby Union code, which allowed carrying the ball. A set of rule changes drawn up from 1. Walter Camp, the Father of American Football, established the snap, 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. American football as a whole 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. As of 2. 01. 2update, nearly 1. United States annually, almost all of them men, with a few exceptions. The National Football League, the most popular American football league, has 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 in the world, and the league has an annual revenue of around US1. Etymology and nameseditIn the United States, American football is usually referred to as football. The terms gridiron or American football are favored in English speaking countries where other codes of football are popular, such as the United Kingdom, Ireland, New Zealand, and Australia. HistoryeditEarly historyeditAmerican football evolved from the sports of association football soccer and rugby football. Rugby football, like American football, is a sport where two competing teams vie for control of a ball, which can be kicked through a set of goalposts or run into the opponents goal area to score points. What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1. Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams. The game was played between two teams of 2. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, with the ultimate goal being to advance it into the opponents goal. Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4. Collegiate play continued for several years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 1. Teams were set at 2. Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby style game that allowed running with the ball. An 1. Harvard Yale game played under rugby style rules was observed by two impressed Princeton athletes. These players introduced the sport to Princeton, a feat the Professional Football Researchers Association compared to selling refrigerators to Eskimos. Princeton, Harvard, Yale and Columbia then agreed to intercollegiate play using a form of rugby union rules with a modified scoring system. These schools formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, although Yale did not join until 1. Reign Of Fire Ost Rar Files here. Yale player Walter Camp, now regarded as the Father of American Football,91. Evolution of the gameedit. A photograph of Walter Camp, the Father of American Football, taken in 1. Camp was captain of Yales football team. The introduction of the snap resulted in unexpected consequences. Prior to the snap, the strategy had been to punt if a scrum resulted in bad field position. However, a group of Princeton players realized that, as the snap was uncontested, they now could hold the ball indefinitely to prevent their opponent from scoring. In 1. 88. 1, both teams in a game between Yale Princeton used this strategy to maintain their undefeated records. Each team held the ball, gaining no ground, for an entire half, resulting in a 00 tie. This block game proved extremely unpopular with the spectators and fans of both teams. A rule change was necessary to prevent this strategy from taking hold, and a reversion to the scrum was considered. However, Camp successfully proposed a rule in 1. Failure to advance the ball the required distance within those three downs would result in control of the ball being forfeited to the other team. This change effectively made American football a separate sport from rugby, and the resulting five yard lines added to the field to measure distances made it resemble a gridiron in appearance. Other major rule changes included a reduction of the field size to 1. The last, and arguably most important innovation, which would at last make American football uniquely American, was the legalization of interference, or blocking, a tactic which was highly illegal under the rugby style rules. Despite these new rules, football remained a violent sport. Dangerous mass formations, which involved interlocking interference, like the flying wedge resulted in serious injuries and deaths. A 1. 90. 5 peak of 1. President Theodore Roosevelt to abolish the game unless major changes were made. In response, sixty two colleges and universities met in New York City to discuss rule changes on December 2. Intercollegiate Athletic Association of the United States, later named the National Collegiate Athletic Association NCAA. The legal forward pass was introduced in 1. Other rule changes introduced that year included the reduction of the time of play from 7. To reduce infighting and dirty play between teams, the neutral zone was created along the width of the football. Scoring was also adjusted field goals were lowered to three points in 1. The field was also reduced to 1. The roughing the passer penalty was implemented in 1. The professional eraeditOn November 1. William Pudge Heffelfinger was paid 5. Allegheny Athletic Association in a match against the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. This is the first recorded instance of a player being paid to participate in a game of American football, although many athletic clubs in the 1. Despite these extra benefits, the game had a strict sense of amateurism at the time, and direct payment to players was frowned upon, if not outright prohibited. Over time, professional play became increasingly common, and with it came rising salaries and unpredictable player movement, as well as the illegal payment of college players who were still in school. The National Football League NFL, a group of professional teams that was originally established in 1. American Professional Football Association, aimed to solve these problems. This new leagues stated goals included an end to bidding wars over players, prevention of the use of college players, and abolition of the practice of paying players to leave another team. By 1. 92. 2, the NFL had established itself as the premier professional football league. The dominant form of football at the time was played at the collegiate level, but the upstart NFL received a boost to its legitimacy in 1. NFL team, the Pottsville Maroons, defeated a team of Notre Dame all stars in an exhibition game.