"Today I will do what others won't, so tomorrow I can accomplish what others can't." Jerry Rice, former American football player.
American football is the most popular sport in the United States, with the highest figures for live attendance and TV viewership. During American football season, millions of football fans around the US schedule their weekends around the nation’s favourite sport.
📜 History of American Football
Known in the US and Canada simply as “football,” American football evolved from adaptations to soccer and rugby. The first American football game was played in 1869 between students from Princeton and Rutgers, with 25 players on each team. After years of divided opinions on how to structure the sport, in 1880 the Yale player Walter Camp argued successfully for a series of changes, bringing the number of players on a team down to 11 and instituting the now-iconic snap to replace the rugby-style scrum.
The rules of the game continued to be adapted well into the 20th century, with an increased emphasis on safety after the 1905 season saw 19 American football players killed on the field and 137 seriously injured. Although the sport was originally entirely collegiate, professional teams started to develop after the turn of the century, with the National Football League (NFL) cementing itself as the premier professional American football league by 1922. As television sets became more and more prevalent in American households in the 1950s, both the NFL and college football garnered huge TV followings. Weekends would never be the same again!
💯 American Football Rules & Scoring
American football is contested between 2 teams of 11 players. These players can be changed via unlimited substitutions, resulting in totally different line-ups for offensive and defensive play that rotate throughout a game.
The objective of the sport is to move the ball into the opposition team’s end zone, either by running with it or by throwing it to a player who is already in the end zone. This is called a touchdown and is the highest scoring move in American football, earning the team 6 points.
On offense, a team has 4 plays, or “downs,” during which they can attempt to move the ball towards their opponent’s end zone. The play ends when a player is tackled, when the ball goes out of play, or when a pass hits the ground without being caught. If the team does not advance 10 yards after 4 downs, possession of the ball switches to the opposing team. During each down, only 1 forward pass can be played. The leader of the offense is the quarterback, a throwing specialist who can carry the ball themselves or use that forward pass to pick out runs from other players.
