| American football is a team sport with a ball. The objective of the game is to advance the ball towards the end zone on the opponent's side of the field and earn points. The ball can be carried in the hands, and thrown and passed to team-mates. Points can be earned in various methods including carrying the ball into the end zone, a successful pass into the end zone or kicking the ball between the goal posts (over horizontal bar). The team that wins the game is the one which accumulates the most number of points at the end of allotted time.
American football became an independent sport in the late 19th century. Several other variants of American Football also exist - Canadian football and Arena Football.
Since the 1960's, American football became the most popular sport in the U.S. The National Football League (NFL) is the only professional league of American football. Every year, the finals of the NFL the "Super Bowl" are viewed by nearly half of America as well as citizens of other countries.
Previously, the NFL was managed by the European League "NFL Europa", consisting of 6 teams. The European League ceased to exist in 2007.
The history of American football is inseparably connected with the development of European football and rugby. On April 7, 1823, in Rugby, Yorkshire, during a football match, sixteen-year old William Webb Ellis grabbed the ball and ran towards the opponents. Many years later, a statue was installed in his name and a board was hung on the walls of his college: "May this plate recalls the glorious acts of William Webb Ellis, the first who dared to break the rules, grabbing the ball with his hands and running with it." This is how the game Rugby appeared in 1823. It was decided to name the game by the name of the city, in which it originated.
On November 6, 1869, teams from Pittsburgh and Princeton Universities met on the football field and played something between football and rugby in New Brunswick (NJ). Since then, this date is considered as the official date of the birth of American Football. Then, the ball was advanced by the legs; points were awarded for goals, but no talk about "touchdowns". Only since 1875, was one point awarded for carrying the ball into the opponent's end zone.
The father of American football is Walter Camp, who played for the Yale University team. He suggested to hand-out advantage to one of the teams by giving the possession of the ball and introduced a new position - the quarterback, the player who receives the ball from the snap-back. The following are the innovations of Camp: the introduction of "five yards - for three downs", the increase of the number of points for a touchdown and the permission to pass forward and grab the opponent around his knees. Injuries to players significantly increased due to grabbing the opponent players around the knees.
In 1905, "The Chicago Tribune" published a front page headline - "18 players were killed and 159 seriously injured". U.S. President Theodore Roosevelt stated: "Either the players have to change the rules or we ban football altogether. Brutality and foul play should be punished. Change the game or refuse from it". Rules, relating to penalties for rough play, were amended. Football players also had to come up with special protective clothing - breeches with shields appeared. Players were recommended to wear leather helmets during the game (since 1939, the use of a helmet became mandatory).
In the beginning of the 20th century, the rules were similar to the present day rules. In 1912, 6 points were awarded for a touchdown, the length of the playing field was a hundred yards but the playing time was shortened from seventy to sixty minutes. Private teams and professional players started appearing. Eight years later, the first football trade union - the four teams "Acron Pros", "Canton Bulldogs", Cleveland Indians" and "Dayton Triangles" founded American Professional Football Conference (APFC). Later on, the National Football League (NFL) separated from the APFC. Presently, the NFL is the richest sport's organization in the world.
The first African-American football player appeared in 1904. He played in the team from Ohio. Since then, the number of black players only increased. Despite this, the first African-American referee appeared only in the NFL in 1988. In 1939, the first televised match was played. Around 1000 citizens of New York watched the telecast of the match between the "Brooklyn Dodgers" and the "Philadelphia Eagles".
In 1960, the American Football League was founded to counterbalance an already existing NFL. The fight of teams for players and fans as well as for the television rights led to a series of negotiations between the two leagues to merge in 1966. One of the conditions of the merger between the AFL and NFL was the game to be called "World Champion", played between champions of the league. The first game was played on January 15, 1967 under the title "World Championship AFL-NFL". After the merger of the two leagues in 1970, the final game between the champions of the conference of the merged league was named "The Super Bowl" and the first game, played in 1967, was called "The Super Bowl I". Presently, it is one of the most spectacular, prestigious and most expensive sports events in the world. |
