American Football

What is American Football?

Known in the United States simply as football, this is a sport played between two groups of 11 players each. Each team tries to score points by moving forward the ball into the end zone of the opposing team through some techniques like running with the ball or throwing it to a teammate. In the US, American Football takes the forms of a high school football, college football, and professional football. The high school football is governed by the National Federation of State High School Associations, while the college football by the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) and the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA). The professional football, as the American Football, is under the governing authority of the National Football League (NFL).

The origin of American Football can be traced to 1892 during a match between the Alleghemy Athletic Association and the Pittsburg Athletic Club, which the latter won. When Pittsburg became professional, the National Football League was organized in 1902 to become as the first professional football league in the US. Records show that American Football is the result of many changes in the rules governing rugby football, especially those developed by Walter Camp, an American football player, coach and sports writer, who is known today as the Father of American Football.

Using a ball that is pointed on both ends, the sport is played on a flat grassy field measuring 360 feet by 160 feet or 120 by 53.3 yards (109.7 x 48.8m) with boundary lines  and opposite goal lines near each end of the field. Beyond each goal line is the end zone, which is a scoring area that extends 10 yards (9.1m) apart. The field has two goal posts called uprights built at the back of each end zone and connected by a crossbar 10 feet (3.05m) above the ground. The game starts with a coin toss that determines which team kicks off to begin the game or which goal each team will defend. The team that wins the coin toss will have three options, that is, to choose to either kick or receive the opening kickoff, to choose which goal to defend, and choose to defer its first choice or have the choice to start the game’s second half portion. As in the start of the first half, the options to kick, receive or choose a goal to defend are again brought out by the referee with the team captains, one of whom gets the first choice of options if his team did not choose first to start the first half.

It may interest you to know that the players of American Football have highly specialized roles in the game for both the offense and the defense lines. The offense has the offensive line consisting of five players who are tasked to protect the passer and clear the way for its runners by blocking the defense players. Also playing for the offense are the quarterback, running back, a wide receiver and a tiger end. The defense, on the other hand, has the defensive line consisting of three to six players positioned immediately across the offensive line, to try to occupy the offensive linemen in order to clear the way for its linebackers.For more details click here.