American Football
SUMMARY
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada, and also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or passing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense’s advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing 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. The offense must gain at least 10 yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, the ball is turned over to the defense; if they succeed, a new set of four downs is provided to continue the drive. A touchdown is scored by pushing the ball into the other team’s end zone, or a field goal is achieved by kicking the ball through the opponent’s goalposts. At the end of a game, the team with the most points wins.
American football is a sport that originated in the United States and evolved from soccer and rugby. On November 6, 1869, the first American football game was played between two college teams, Rutgers and Princeton, using rules based on soccer rules at the time. The snap, the line of scrimmage, eleven-player teams, and the notion of downs were all established through a succession of rule revisions drafted by Walter Camp, the “Father of American Football,” beginning in 1880. Later rule modifications allowed the forward pass, established the neutral zone, and defined the football’s size and shape. The sport is closely connected to Canadian football, which emerged alongside and about the same time as American football, however its rules were devised separately of Camp’s.
In the United States, American football is the most popular sport. Professional and college football are the most popular forms of the game, with high school and youth football as the other major levels. In the United States, about 1.1 million high school players and 70,000 college athletes participated in the sport in 2012. The most popular American professional football league, the National Football League, has the greatest average attendance of any professional sports league in the world. The Super Bowl, the league’s championship game, is one of the most-watched club athletic events in the world. The league is the most valuable sports league in the world, with an annual revenue of roughly US$15 billion.
History Of AMERICAN FOOTBALL
The English sports of association football (soccer) and rugby were the forerunners of American football. Elite Northeastern colleges took up the sport in the late 1800s, playing a soccer-like game with regulations adapted from the London Football Association. Universities such as Rutgers, Princeton, Harvard, and McGill University began to host intercollegiate matches. Players and fans alike preferred rugby-style regulations.
Walter Camp, widely referred to as the “Father of American Football,” converted a rugby-style game into what we now know as American football. Camp included two significant changes to the game. The opening “scrummage” was abolished, and a regulation was enacted that obliged a side to surrender the ball if it failed to advance a certain distance down the field. The quarterback position, the lines of scrimmage, and the scoring scale used in football today were all devised at Camp.
Because of the high rate of injury in the early games, they were divisive. President Theodore Roosevelt even intervened, requesting that collegiate teams alter their rules to make the game less severe. The National Collegiate Athletic Association would later be named after the commission that oversaw the regulations.
Professional football began to gain traction with the general public, thanks in part to the success of college football. In 1920, the American Professional Football Association (APFA) was founded. The National Football League was born out of the league. In 1939, the first NFL game was broadcast on television. The popularity of American football will eventually skyrocket.
Rules Of AMERICAN FOOTBALL
SCORING
In football, the team with the most points at the end of the game is the winner. In a football game, there are numerous methods to score. In American football, the touchdown (TD) is the most valued scoring play, worth six points. When a live ball is advanced into, caught in, or recovered in the other team’s end zone, a touchdown is scored. The scoring team then attempts a try or conversion, which is a single scoring opportunity known as point(s)-after-touchdown (PAT). Depending on the level of play, a PAT is usually attempted from the two- or three-yard line. When a PAT is made with a place kick or drop kick through the goal posts, it is worth one point, which is commonly referred to as the extra point. It is worth two points if it is scored by what would ordinarily be a touchdown. This is known as a two-point conversion. Extra point attempts are significantly more common than two-point conversion efforts because the extra point is virtually always successful, whereas the two-point conversion is a much riskier play with a larger chance of failure.
The ball is placed or dropped between the uprights and over the crossbars of the defense’s goalposts to score a field goal (FG), which is worth three points. The scoring team must kick the ball to the opposing team after a successful PAT attempt or field goal.
When the ball carrier is tackled in his own end zone, a safety is scored. A safetie is worth two points and is awarded to the defense. In addition, the team that conceded the safety must kick a free kick to the scoring team.
FIELD AND EQUIPMENT
Football games are played on a rectangular field that is 120 yards long (110 meters) and 53+1⁄3 yards (48.8 m) wide. The end lines and sidelines are the lines that go along the field’s ends and sides. Goal lines are marked 10 yards (9.1 m) inward from each end line.
Weighted pylons are placed the sidelines on the inside corner of the intersections with the goal lines and end lines. The distance from the end zone is indicated by white markings on the field. Hash markings, also known as inbound lines, are short parallel lines that mark off 1-yard (0.91 m) intervals. Every 5 yards, yard lines, which can run the length of the field, are marked (4.6 m). In each end of the field, a one-yard wide line is designated; in professional play, this line is located at the middle of the two-yard line, while in collegiate play, it is marked at the three-yard line. Every ten yards, numerals displaying the distance from the closest goal line in yards are posted on both sides of the field. The goalposts are in the middle of the plane formed by the two end lines. For professional and university play, the crossbar is 10 feet (3.0 m) above the ground, with vertical uprights at the end of the crossbar 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m) apart, and 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m) apart for high school play. On professional fields, the uprights extend 35 feet (11 meters) vertically, a minimum of 10 yards (9.1 meters) on college fields, and a minimum of 10 feet (3.0 meters) on high school fields. The bottoms of goal posts are padded, and orange ribbons are usually tied to the tops of each upright to indicate wind speed and direction.
The football itself is an oval ball, similar to the balls used in rugby or Australian rules football. At all levels of play, the football is inflated to 12+1⁄2 to 13+1⁄2 pounds per square inch (86 to 93 kPa) and weighs 14 to 15 ounces (400 to 430 g); beyond that, the exact dimensions vary slightly. In professional play the ball has a long axis of 11 to 11+1⁄4 inches (28 to 29 cm), a long circumference of 28 to 28+1⁄2 inches (71 to 72 cm), and a short circumference of 21 to 21+1⁄4 inches (53 to 54 cm). In college and high school play the ball has a long axis of 10+7⁄8 to 11+7⁄16 inches (27.6 to 29.1 cm), a long circumference of 27+3⁄4 to 28+1⁄2 inches (70 to 72 cm), and a short circumference of 20+3⁄4 to 21+1⁄4 inches (53 to 54 cm).
DURATION AND TIME STOPPAGES
In professional and college football, games last 60 minutes and are broken into two halves of 30 minutes and four quarters of 15 minutes. High school football games go 48 minutes, with two 24-minute halves and four 12-minute quarters. A halfway period separates the two halves, and the first and third quarters are separated by a short break. The referee and each team’s captain gather at midfield for a coin toss before the game begins. The visiting team can call “heads” or “tails,” and the toss winner decides whether to receive or kick off the ball, as well as which goal to defend.
After the first and third quarters, the teams trade goals. When a quarter expires with a down in progress, play continues until the down is completed.
Due to play stoppages, games last slightly longer than their scheduled length—the average NFL game lasts slightly more than three hours. The game clock is used to keep track of time in football games. On the order of the competent official, an operator is in charge of beginning, stopping, and operating the game clock. A separate play clock is used to indicate how much time the offense has to commence a play. When there are specific administrative stoppages in play, the play clock is set to 25 seconds, and it is set to 40 seconds when there are no such stoppages.
ADVANCING THE BALL AND DOWNS
The offense has two primary options for moving the ball forward: running and passing. In a typical play, the center tosses the ball to the quarterback backwards and between their legs, a move known as the snap. After then, the quarterback either passes the ball to a running back, throws it, or runs with it. When the player with the ball is tackled or goes out-of-bounds, or when a pass hits the ground without being caught, the play is over. Only behind the line of scrimmage may a forward pass be attempted legally, and only one forward pass can be attempted every down. Players can pass the ball backwards at any moment during a play, just like in rugby.
Downs are a series of four plays given to the offense. A new set of four downs is provided if the offense gains ten yards or more throughout the four downs. If they fail to make a ten-yard gain, the defense takes possession of the ball. If the offense reaches fourth down, they will most likely punt the ball to the opposing side, forcing them to start their drive from further down the field; if they are in field goal range, they may try to score a field goal instead. The chain crew, a squad of officials, maintains track of both the downs and the distance measurements.
KICKING
In football, there are two types of kicks: scrimmage kicks and free kicks. Scrimmage kicks can be accomplished by the offensive team on any down from behind or on the line of scrimmage. The kickoff begins the first and third quarters, as well as overtime, and follows a successful field goal or a try attempt; the safety kick follows a safety.
In professional and college play the ball is placed at the 35-yard line of the kicking team, but in high school football, it is placed at the 40-yard line. The ball can be dropped or booted in a specific location. The ball can be placed on the ground or on a tee if a place kick is requested; a holder can be utilized in either scenario. The kicking team kicks the ball from their own 20-yard line on a safety kick. They can punt, drop kick, or place kick the ball, but they are not permitted to use a tee in professional football. The ball can be caught or advanced by any member of the receiving team. Once the ball has traveled at least ten yards and has reached the ground or been touched by any member of the receiving team, the kicking team may recover it.
Place kicks, drop kicks, and punts are the three forms of scrimmage kicks. Place kicks and drop kicks are the only kicks that can score points. Because the sharp nature of the football makes it impossible to accurately drop kick, the place kick has become the usual way of scoring points. After a scrimmage kick, the ball can only be advanced by the kicking team if it is caught or recovered behind the line of scrimmage. If the kicking team touches it or recovers it beyond this line, it becomes dead at the location where it was touched. The kicking team is not allowed to obstruct the receiver’s ability to catch the ball. The receiving team can signal for a fair catch, which prevents the defense from blocking or tackling the receiver. When the ball is caught, the game is over and the ball cannot be advanced.