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American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as '''football'''In North America, the term "football" may refer to either American football or to the similar sport of Canadian Football , the meaning usually being clear from the context. This article describes the American variant., is a competitive Team Sport known for its physical roughness despite being a highly strategic game. The object of the game is to score points by advancing the pointed- Oval Shaped ball into the opposing team's End Zone . The ball can be advanced by carrying it (a running play) or by throwing it to a teammate (a passing play). Points can be scored in a variety of ways, including carrying the ball over the goal line, throwing the ball to another player past the goal line or Kicking it through the goal posts on the opposing side. The winner is the team with the most points when the time expires and the last play ends. In the United States and Canada, it is played collegiately and professionally. Outside the United States and Canada, the sport is referred to as American football (or a translation thereof) to differentiate it from other Football games. In Australia and New Zealand the game is known as '''Gridiron''' , although in America the word "gridiron" refers only to the playing field. POPULARITY player carries the ball as an Air Force Academy player lines up a tackle.]] The championship, the Super Bowl , is one of the biggest occasions for social gatherings in the U.S. and is sometimes referred to as an unofficial national holiday.National Football League, "Super Bowl Notes, Quotes and Anecdotes, http://www.coldhardfootballfacts.com/Documents/NFL_1-07_super_bowl_quotes_and_notes.pdf The 32-team National Football League (NFL) is currently the only Major professional American football League . College Football is also popular throughout North America. Four college football stadiums, The University Of Michigan 's Michigan Stadium , Penn State 's Beaver Stadium , The University Of Tennessee 's Neyland Stadium and Ohio State 's Ohio Stadium , seat more than 100,000 fans and almost always sell out. Even High School Football games can attract more than 10,000 people in some areas. The weekly autumn ritual of college and high-school football—which includes Marching Band s, Cheerleaders , Homecoming , and parties (including the ubiquitous Tailgate Party )—is an important part of the culture in much of Smalltown America . Football is generally the major source of revenue to the athletic programs of schools, public and private, in the United States. Some private Christian High Schools even play for 'national championships' with groups like the Federated Christian Athletic Association (FCAA). It is a long-standing tradition in the United States (though not universally observed) that high school football games are played on Friday night, college games on Saturday, and professional games on Sunday, with one NFL game played on Monday night. In recent years, however, nationally televised Thursday night college games have become a weekly fixture on ESPN . Certain fall and winter Holiday s—most notably Thanksgiving and New Year's Day —have traditional football games associated with them. Football is played recreationally by amateur and youth teams (e.g., the Pop Warner little-league programs). There are also many "semi-pro" teams in leagues where the players are paid to play but at a small enough salary that they generally must also hold a full-time job. Organized football is played almost exclusively by men and boys, although a few amateur and Semi-professional Women's Leagues have begun play in recent years. Outside the United States The NFL operated a developmental league, NFL Europa , with teams in five German cities and one in the Netherlands, but this league folded following the 2007 season. The professional Canadian Football League and collegiate Canadian Interuniversity Sport play under Canadian Rules . The sport is popular as an amateur activity in Mexico and American Samoa and to a lesser extent in Japan , Europe , Korea , The Bahamas , Chile , Brazil , Uruguay , Argentina , Australia ( Gridiron Australia ), Israel and the United Kingdom ( BAFL ). The International Federation Of American Football is the governing body for American football with 45 member associations from North and South America, Europe, Asia and Oceania. The IFAF also oversees the American Football World Cup , which is held every four years. Japan won the first two World Cups, held in 1999 and 2003. Team USA, which had not participated in the previous World Cups, won the title in 2007. Despite this, the game has been slow to catch on in most countries. RULES See Also: American football rules The object of American football is to score more points than the opposing team within the time limit. Field and players s to the nearest end zone.]] football games at s (91.4 M ) apart. A scoring area called an '' End Zone '' extends 10 yards (9.1 m) beyond each goal line to each end line. ''Yard lines'' cross the field every 5 yards, and are numbered from each goal line to the 50-yard line, or midfield (similar to a typical Rugby League field). Two rows of lines, known as inbounds lines or ''hash marks'', parallel the side lines near the middle of the field. All plays start with the ball on or between the hash marks. At the back of each end zone are two ''). The posts are connected by a crossbar 10 feet (305 cm) from the ground. Each team has 11 players on the field at a time. However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players, if time allows, during the break between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles, and almost all of the 46 active players on an NFL team will play in any given game. Thus, teams are divided into three separate units: the Offense , the Defense and the Special Teams . Game duration A standard football game consists of four 15-minute (typically 12 minutes in high-school football) quarters, with a Half-time intermission after the second quarter. The clock stops after certain plays; therefore, a game can last considerably longer (often more than three hours in real time), and if a game is broadcast on Television , TV Timeouts are taken at certain intervals of the game to broadcast Commercials outside of game action. If an NFL game is tied after four quarters, the teams play an additional period lasting up to 15 minutes. In an NFL overtime game, the first team that scores wins, even if the other team does not get a possession; this is referred to as Sudden Death . In a regular-season NFL game, if neither team scores in overtime, the game is a tie. In an NFL playoff game, additional overtime periods are played, as needed, to determine a winner. College overtime rules are more complicated and are described in Overtime (sport) . Advancing the ball ]] Advancing the ball in American football resembles the ''six-tackle rule'' and the ''play-the-ball'' in Rugby League . The team that takes possession of the ball (the offense) has four attempts, called ''' Downs ''', to advance the ball 10 yards towards their opponent's (the '''defense''' Except at the beginning of halves and after scores, the ball is always put into play by a Snap . Offensive players line up facing defensive players at the Line Of Scrimmage (the position on the field where the play begins). One offensive player, the Center , then passes (or "snaps") the ball between his legs to a teammate, usually the Quarterback . searching for opportunity to throw a pass]] being tackled when he tries to run with the ball]] Players can then advance the ball in two ways: #By running with the ball, also known as Rushing . One ball-carrier can hand the ball to another player or throw backwards to another player. These are known as as a '''handoff''' and a ''' Lateral ''' respectively. #By throwing the ball to a teammate, known as a Forward Pass or as passing the football. The forward pass is a key factor distinguishing American and Canadian football from other football sports. The offense can throw the ball forward only once on a play, only from behind the line of scrimmage and only before crossing the line of scrimmage. The ball can be thrown, pitched, handed-off, or tossed sideways or backwards at any time. A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following:
Officials blow a whistle to notify players that the down is over. Before each down, each team chooses a play, or coordinated movements and actions, that the players should follow on a down. Sometimes, downs themselves are referred to as "plays." Change of possession The offense maintains possession of the ball unless one of the following things occur:
Scoring A team scores points by the following plays:
Kickoffs and free kicks Each half begins with a Kickoff . Teams also kick off after scoring touchdowns and field goals. The ball is kicked using a kicking tee from the team's own 30-yard line in the NFL and college football (as of the 2007 season). The other team's kick returner tries to catch the ball and advance it as far as possible. Where he is stopped is the point where the offense will begin its drive, or series of offensive plays. If the kick returner catches the ball in his own end zone, he can either run with the ball, or elect for a ''' Touchback ''' by kneeling in the end zone, in which case the receiving team then starts its offensive drive from its own 20-yard line. A Touchback also occurs when the kick goes out-of-bounds in the end zone. A kickoff that goes out-of-bounds anywhere other than the end zone before being touched by the receiving team results in a penalty. Unlike with punts, once a kickoff goes 10 yards, it can be recovered by the kicking team. A team, especially one who is losing, can try to take advantage of this by attempting an Onside Kick . Punts and turnovers in the end zone can also end in a Touchback . After safeties, the team that gave up the 2 points puts the ball into play with a punt or placekick from its own 20-yard line. Penalties Rule violations are punished with penalties against the offending team. Most penalties result in moving the football towards the offending team's end zone. If the penalty would move the ball more than half the distance to the defense's end zone, the penalty becomes half the distance to the goal instead of its normal value. Most penalties result in replaying the down. Some defensive penalties give the offense an automatic first down. Conversely, some offensive penalties result in the automatic loss of a down. If a penalty gives the offensive team enough yardage to gain a first down, they get a first down, as usual. If a penalty occurs during a play, an official throws a yellow flag near the spot of the foul. When the play ends, the team that did not commit the penalty has the option of accepting the penalty, or declining the penalty and accepting the result of the play. A few of the most-common penalties include:
Variations Variations on these basic rules exist, particularly Touch and Flag Football , which are designed as non-contact or limited-contact alternatives to the relative Violence of regular American football. In touch and flag football, tackling is not permitted. Offensive players are "tackled" when a defender tags them or removes a flag from their body, respectively. Both of these varieties are played mainly in informal settings such as Intramural or youth games. Another variation is "wrap", where a player is "tackled" when another player wraps his arms around the ball carrier. Professional, intercollegiate, and varsity-level high school football invariably use the standard tackling rules. Another variation is with the number of players on the field. In sparsely populated areas, it is not uncommon to find high school football teams playing Nine-man Football , Eight-man Football or Six-man Football . Players often play on offense as well as defense. The Arena Football League is a league that plays eight-man football, but also plays indoors and on a much smaller playing surface. PLAYERS See Also: American football positions Most football players have highly specialized roles. At the college and NFL levels, most play only offense or only defense. Offense
At least seven players must line up on the line of scrimmage on every offensive play. The other players may line up anywhere behind the line. The exact number of running backs, wide receivers and tight ends may differ on any given play. For example, if the team needs only 1 yard, it may use three tight ends, two running backs and no wide receivers. On the other hand, if it needs 20 yards, it may replace all of its running backs and tight ends with wide receivers. Defense
Special teams The units of players who handle kicking plays are known as " Special Teams ". Two important special-teams players are the " Punter ", who handles punts, and the " Placekicker " or "kicker", who kicks off and attempts field goals and extra points. Uniform numbering In the NFL, ranges of uniform numbers are reserved for certain positions:
NCAA rules specify only that offensive linemen must have numbers in the 50-79 range, but the association "strongly recommends" that quarterbacks and running backs have numbers below 50 and wide receivers numbers above 79. This helps officials as it means that numbers 50 to 79 are ineligible receivers, or players that normally may not touch the ball. BASIC STRATEGY See Also: American football strategy Because the game stops after every down, giving teams a chance to call a new play, strategy plays a major role in football. Each team has a playbook of dozens to hundreds of plays. Ideally, each play is a scripted, strategically sound team-coordinated endeavor. Some plays are very safe; they are likely to get only a few yards. Other plays have the potential for long gains but at a greater risk of a loss of yardage or a turnover. Generally speaking, rushing plays are less risky than passing plays. However, there are relatively safe passing plays and risky running plays. To deceive the other team, some passing plays are designed to resemble running plays and vice versa. There are many trick or gadget plays, such as when a team lines up as if it intends to punt and then tries to run or pass for a first down. Such high-risk plays are a great thrill to the fans when they work. However, they can spell disaster if the opposing team realizes the deception and acts accordingly. The defense also plans plays in response to expectations of what the offense will do. For example, a "blitz" (using linebackers or defensive backs to charge the quarterback) is often attempted when the team on defense expects a pass. A blitz makes downfield passing more difficult but exposes the defense to big gains if the offensive line stems the rush. Many hours of preparation and strategizing, including film review by both players and coaches, go into the days between football games. This, along with the demanding physicality of football (see below), is why teams typically play at most one game per week. PHYSICALITY See Also: Issues in American football#Injuries American football is a collision sport. To stop the offense from advancing the ball, the defense must tackle the player with the ball by knocking him down. As such, defensive players must use some form of physical contact to bring the ball-carrier to the ground, within certain rules and guidelines. Tacklers cannot kick, punch or trip the runner. They also cannot grab the face mask of the runner's helmet or lead into a tackle with their own helmet. Despite these and other rules regarding unnecessary roughness, most other forms of tackling are legal. Blockers and defenders trying to evade them also have wide leeway in trying to force their opponents out of the way. Quarterbacks are regularly hit by defenders coming on full speed from outside the quarterback's field of vision. This is commonly known as a blindside. To compensate for this, players must wear special protective equipment, such as a padded plastic Helmet , Shoulder Pads , hip pads and knee pads. These protective pads were introduced decades ago and have improved ever since to help minimize lasting Injury to players. An Unintended Consequence of all the safety equipment has resulted in increasing levels of violence in the game. Players may now hurl themselves at one another at high speeds without a significant chance of injury. Unfortunately, the injuries that do result tend to be severe and often season or career-ending and sometimes fatal. In previous years with less padding, tackling more closely resembled tackles in Rugby Football . Better helmets have allowed players to use their helmets as weapons. All this has caused the various leagues, especially the NFL, to implement a complicated series of penalties for various types of contact. Most recently, virtually any contact with the helmet of a defensive player on the quarterback, or any contact to the quarterback's head, is now a foul. Despite protective equipment and rule changes to emphasize safety, injuries remain very common in football. It is increasingly rare, for example, for NFL quarterbacks or running backs (who take the most direct hits) to make it through an entire season without missing some time to injury. Additionally, twenty-eight football players, mostly high schoolers, died from , 2005 . Accessed October 31 , 2006 Extra and optional equipment such as neck rolls, spider pads, rib protectors, and Elbow Pads help against injury as well, though they do not tend to be used by majority of players because of their lack of requirement. The danger of football and the equipment required to reduce it make regulation football impractical for casual play. Flag Football and Touch Football are less violent variants of the game popular among recreational players. HISTORY See Also: History of American football and Captain W. Drinkwater of Canada , rival captains of the teams playing in the Canada-United States football game at White City Stadium , London , England , 14 February 1944]] Both American football and Soccer have their origins in Varieties Of Football played in the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. American football is directly descended from Rugby Football . The majority of the plays in a typical American football game involve handling the ball rather than kicking it. The origins of American football probably date to the early 1800s when teams from various colleges and secondary schools (necessarily from the Eastern part of the United States because established institutions of learning existed only in that region at the time) met to attempt to move an inflated ball past a line to gain points. This movement was usually achieved by kicking or batting at the ball, as in soccer. The number of men on each side was quite different from the eleven which characterizes the modern game. As to the 'first' game of American football, many "first" American football games have been claimed. However, such games were often played under rules that were so different from today's game as to call into question the veracity of the claims.>1 It is claimed that , Rutgers invited Columbia for a game, and the popularity of intercollegiate competition in football would spread throughout the country. Dartmouth College students played a football-like game now known as " Old Division Football ," to which they published rules in 1871. The "first" game of American football between two American teams is claimed to be the contest played between . In the Tufts/Harvard game participants were allowed to pick up the ball and run with it, each side fielded eleven men, the ball carrier was stopped by knocking him down or "tackling" him, and the inflated ball was egg-shaped - the combination of which far more closely resembles the modern American football game than the games of other "firsts". Thus, the Harvard/Tufts game may be regarded as the beginning of football between two American colleges. It should also be noted that a year prior to the Tufts/Harvard game, Harvard faced McGill University of Montreal , Canada on May 14, 1874 in a game under rules similar to the Tufts/Harvard game. This marks the Harvard/McGill game as the first game of football in "North" America. To this day, Harvard, McGill and Tufts continue to field football teams though they no longer play each other. Encouraged by Yale University 's Walter Camp , the schools began to adopt more standardized rules that would differentiate American football from rugby in the 1880s. The scrimmage was introduced in 1880 and the system of downs in 1882. By the turn of the 20th century, football had become notoriously dangerous; 18 college players died in 1905 alone. Colleges responded with a series of rule changes to open up the game, most importantly the forward pass, along with outlawing dangerous formations such as the " Flying Wedge ", and introducing and requiring better equipment such as Helmets . The game had achieved its modern form by 1912, when the field was changed to its current size, the value of a touchdown increased to 6 points, and a fourth down added to each possession. Originally dominated by the Ivy League , football soon captured the interest of colleges nationwide. By 1916, when the Rose Bowl Game matching eastern and western teams became an annual event, football had developed a national following second only to Baseball among team sports. To this day, college football continues to be highly popular and played by teams representing a wide variety of colleges and universities. Professional football developed in the mill towns of Pennsylvania and the American Midwest in the early years of the 20th century. The NFL was founded in 1920 in Canton, Ohio as the American Professional Football Association; it adopted its current name in 1922. Professional football remained a largely regional sport of secondary importance until after World War II , when television broadcasts boosted NFL football's national appeal. The pro game surpassed both college football and baseball in popularity in the 1960s.MacCambridge, Michael. ''America's Game'', Random House, 2004. The first Super Bowl—between the champions of the NFL and the rival American Football League —was played in 1967, and the leagues merged in 1970. SEE ALSO
NOTES REFERENCES FURTHER READING '' Sports Illustrated '' magazine dated December 4, 2005; "Football America", a series of articles attesting to the pervasive popularity of American football in America at all levels. EXTERNAL LINKS
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