...en professional teams were created. In 1920, the National Football League was born. With a tough start without pads, to the game it is today, football has grown into one the most popular sports ever created.
Danzig, Allison. The History of American Football. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall,
1956.
Rugby and soccer were games played only with the foot, running with the ball was not allowed. In 1823, and incident happened with a player where it was a last second deal. A boy by the name of William Webb Ellis, had picked up the ball and ran with it to score before time was up. This was thought of as unfair and improper. It was shocking to everyone and they all had thought it was degrading to the game. Everyone was outraged. But it wasn’t too long before a lot of the players like the idea of running with the ball. From that day forward, there were two typed of rugby played in England. In one the ball was kicked; in the other it was acceptable to carry the ball. William Webb is, in a way, the founder of American football today.
“Football History.” 10 Nov. 1999. .
Football developed in the United States in the 1800’s from soccer (association football) and rugby football. It is played by youth all the way up to professionals, mainly males, and is one of the most popular sports. It has thousands of participants and brings millions of viewers. It comes from a game called harpaston that the ancient Greeks played. The most modern types of football were actually various types of English football. By the middle of the 1800’s, football split into two very individual sports; soccer and rugby. The modern, or American football, came from these two sports.
Fox, Larry. Football Basics. Englewood Cliffs: Prentice-Hall, 1981.
Football has come a long way from the days when football was played in an open field or even an empty lot. Football now is carefully laid out and rules are enforced by officials. The field is one hundred yards long and fifty three and a third yards wide. At the end of each side is the end zone which is ten yards deep. Teams pass and carry the ball to the opposing teams’ end zone to score points. There are a certain number of players that can be on a field at once. The way to start each game is to have a coin toss and a kick-off. Scores can be made by touchdowns that are worth six or field goals that are worth three. There are penalties during the games in which yards are taken away from the team with the ball, also known as the offense. The team without the ball is known as the defense. There are a lot of different positions in football and every position has a specific duty.
Grabowski, John F. The History of Sports. Football. San Diego: Lucent, 2001.
Football is a collision sport. It has turned into the most popular sport because of television. There are many things going on during each play because there are twenty two total players on the field at once. There are so many players hitting other players that it has become fun to watch and entertaining to see all the spectacular plays and hits.
Leckie, Robert. The Story of Football. New York: Random House, 1965.
Football goes way back. It goes far back as the ancient Greeks. They play a game called harpaston. It was played on a rectangular field with goal lines at both ends, just as in football today. The game started by throwing the harpaston, or handball, up in the air. The object of the game was very similar to today’s football. The teams tried to pass, kick, or run the ball to the opposing teams’ goal. Over the years, that sport came to America and was known as football. The first known game of football was played between the Rutgers and Princeton in 1869. From that point on, football was being introduced to all the colleges. In 1906, the forward pass was created and it was deemed as legal. Although it was legal, a lot of teams didn’t like the idea because it would easily get intercepted. The ball was more round like a basketball and harder to throw.
Nelson, Colin. Play the Game. American Football. Strand: Blandford, 1993.
Football was brought to the United States by English settlers. Back then it was more of a game of soccer. It wasn’t until 1867 when the first rules were drawn up. Because the rules were made at Princeton, the rules were known as the Princeton rules. In those rules, each team had twenty five players on the field. Around the same time, Rutgers also made their own rules. When the two teams played each other, they used the Rutgers’ rules. The first team to score six...