Sunday, March 11, 2012

Growth and popularity of American football within the sports world

By John Mac


Just about the most popular sports in America and Canada is American football. This contact team sport is a blend of physical play in conjunction with strategic motion together with the ultimate aim of scoring points by furthering the ball into the opponents goal line or reaching their end zone by either carrying the ball and running along with it or passing it to some team member. The team which scores the maximum points within the stipulated time is declared the winner.

American football does have its origins in rugby football but has adapted itself with a few changes to the American and Canadian system. Though Canadian football and American football are predominantly quite similar there are a few variations in the forms such as in the team size, playing area, number of downs, time rules etc. The differences are certainly not major and each can be adapted into another with some amount of tuning.

There are two major types of American football played in the USA, namely, collegiate football and professional football. With the growth as well as the ever increasing popularity a number of football leagues were born in the country. Two of the most powerful and prestigious leagues that are around in the United States presently include the National Football League as well as the United Football League.

American football games that see the participation of student athletes through the various colleges, military academies and universities across the country is called collegiate or college football. It was through college football the American football got into the news and became as big a sports activity as it is today. Though football or rugby was played mostly in schools in England, the game was exported to America. The 1st American football game to be played in America was in 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University, Montreal. The first collegiate football competition occured the next year in 1875 in the match played between Tufts University and Harvard.

Present day college football is in the sports news from the first kick off in the football season on the first Labor Day weekend a week ahead of the NFL games and continues till the beginning of December. The penultimate weekend in the college football season sees the majority of the rivalry matches and conference games being played.

The professional football players are teams that play American football at a professional level. These professional teams are a section of the two leagues within the U . S called the NFL as well as the UFL. The NFL enjoys the status for being the biggest professional football league in the world. Formed with eleven teams this league has now grown in strength and today includes thirty two teams. The league is further split up into the American Football Conference plus the National Football conference and these conferences contain four divisions consisting of four teams each respectively.

The NFL season particularly the Super Bowl, which is the final championship game is followed by sports enthusiasts and news providers equally as it is one of the biggest games among the Americans.




About the Author:



No comments:

Post a Comment

Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...