History of Football (American)

Pre 1900

At the turn of the seventeenth century, English colonial settlers brought the game of soccer (more commonly known as football around the world) to the United States.

The game was introduced to colleges some 200 years after the game first came to the United States, and in 1867, the first set of rules for American football were drawn up at Princeton College.

The Princeton rules, as they were called, specified twenty-five players to a team, with the rules the same as football (soccer).

About the same time, Rutgers also formulated a set of rules, and Rutgers and Princeton met for a game on 6 November 1869 at New Brunswick. Rutgers' rules were a modified version of the London Association Football rules. The game was essentially the same as football (soccer), but the ball could be batted with the hand, but running with the ball and throwing it was not allowed.

The goals were the same width as football (soccer), 7.3 metres (24 feet) and the pitch measured 110 metres by 69 metres (360 feet by 225 feet).

The winner was the first team to score six goals. Rutgers won 6-4. The teams met again two weeks later, using Princeton's rules, with the first team to eight goals winning. Princeton's rules also allowed for a free kick to be given when a clean catch was made. Princeton won 8-0.

The game became popular in other colleges, especially Columbia and Yale. Harvard revived football in 1871 and they played what was known as the 'Boston Game'. That was again very similar to football (soccer), but the ball, which was at that time still round, could be picked up and players could run with it. By then, the game was beginning to resemble rugby.

In fact, rugby had a big influence on American football. Harvard played the McGill University Football Club of Montreal twice in 1874. McGill played rugby, and Harvard were interested in the game. They discussed the possibility of drawing up a new set of rules with Yale.

Princeton and Columbia were invited to the meeting and in 1876 the Intercollegiate Football Association was formed, with the rules being very similar to Rugby Union.

Walter Chauncey Camp

In 1880, Walter Chauncey Camp of Yale revised the game. The number of players were reduced from fifteen to eleven, and the scrummage was dropped in favour of the scrimmage.

The standard team line-up was put in place, seven linemen, a quarterback, two halfbacks and a fullback. Two years later Camp introduced the downs and yardage rules.

Originally it was 5 yards in three downs. As it became essential to know how far a player had moved up the field, parallel lines were drawn onto the pitch at five yard intervals. This is where the word 'gridiron' comes from.

The scoring system of points for touchdowns, field goals, 'points after' touchdowns, and safeties was introduced in 1883, and in 1888 Camp got the rules changed to allow tackling below the waist.

In 1894, representatives of the leading college teams met to outlaw certain dangerous mass plays, which involved groups of players putting opposing players out of the game. The playing time was also cut from ninety to seventy minutes.

After 1900

Despite changes in the rules, the game was still very rough and dangerous. In 1905 there were eighteen deaths in American football games throughout the United States. President Roosevelt called together representatives of Yale, Harvard and Princeton, and told them that the brutality within the sport had to stop.

In December 1905, more than sixty representatives from college teams met to try and solve the problems facing the game. Captain Pierce of West Point sat at the head of the meeting. The Intercollegiate College Athletic Association was formed. In 1910 it became the NCAA, the National Collegiate Athletic Association.

In 1906 major changes were made to the rules. Playing time was cut to sixty minutes, the forward pass was allowed, a neutral zone was made for the gap between the lines of scrimmage, and the number of yards to gain was increased to ten.

In 1910, the biggest problem, interlocked interference, was banned, along with pushing and pulling of the ball carrier. The game immediately became safer, but also more defensive, so in 1912, the number of downs was increased from three to four.

The length of the field was also reduced to 91.4 metres (100 feet) and end zones were added. The limit on the distance the ball could be thrown forward was scrapped, and the points awarded for a touchdown were increased from five to six. That was in 1912, and there have been few major changes since then.

The League game

In 1945, Michigan started using entire teams for offensive and defensive lines, but this was stopped in 1953, when only one player at a time was allowed to be substituted. In 1965, large scale substitutions were legalised, which is where the special teams are utilised.

The college football teams are watched by the professional teams, and eligible players are selected by the professional teams. This is called the draft. The weaker teams have first pick of the players.

The first recorded professional game in the United States was on 31 August, 1895, when teams from Jeanette and Latrobe met at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. However, it was not until 1920 when a professional league system was created.

Before then, the college game was the most popular, and players mainly turned professional to play the game further, as the financial incentives were not so significant.

The APFA (American Professional Football Association) was formed at Canton, and was presided over by Tom Thorpe. In 1921 it was restructured after a poor first year with Joseph Carr of Columbus, Ohio as president.

The first league season in 1921 had thirteen teams involved. The teams were: Akron Pros, Buffalo All-Americans, Canton Bulldogs, Chicago Cardinals, Cincinatti Celts, Cleveland Indians, Columbia Panhandles, Dayton Triangles, Detroit Heralds, Green Bay Packers, and Rock Island Independents.

In 1922, the APFA was renamed the NFL (National Football League). In 1933 the NFL was split into two leagues, the Eastern and Western Divisions, with the winners from each division meeting each other at the end of the season for the World Championship.

The first Championships was between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants. The Bears won 23-21.

In 1946, another league was formed, the All-American Conference. At the end of 1949 the two leagues merged and for the next three seasons, they were known as American and National Conferences.

The two Conferences became known as the Eastern and Western Conferences in 1953. In 1960, another league was formed, the American Football League (AFL) with eight teams.

The NFL was extended to thirteen teams in 1960, and the two leagues each had two divisons/conferences. The winners of each division/conference met to decide the champions of the AFL and the NFL, but the two champions did not meet until...

The Superbowl

At the end of the 1966 season, the AFL champions played the NFL champions for the Superbowl. Green Bay (NFL) beat Kansas City (AFL) 35-10 to win the inaugural Superbowl.

There are 28 teams in the National Football League, with fourteen in the National Football Conference (NFC) and fourteen in the American Football Conference (AFC).

Each Conference is split into three divisions known as the Central, Eastern, and Western Divisions.

At the end of the season, the top five teams take part in playoffs to decide the Conference winners, and the AFC and NFC champions meet in the Superbowl.

The European game

Great Britain has had an organised league since March 1984. The American Football League (AFL) of the United Kingdom with fourteen teams, and the British American Football Federation (BAFF) with seven teams were formed.

The United Kingdom American Football Association was formed, as well as the Budweiser League. By 1988, these were the main leagues.

In Italy, the first team, called Gladiatori Roma was formed back in 1973 (one of the first teams in Europe), and then came the Milan Rhinos in 1976. In Finland the first team was formed in 1979. There are thirty-two teams in eighteen Finnish cities.

In Germany, the first American football team, the Dusseldorf Panthers, was formed in 1979, and the German league was organised in 1980.

The European American Football League was formed in 1985. The sport has spread in popularity across the rest of Europe, but it takes a backseat to football.

Most of the world knows soccer as football, and American football not as football, but specifically American football.

American Football

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