American football is the number-one spectator team sport in the U.S.A. Outside of the U.S. and Canada it is called American football, to distinguish it from other football games like soccer or rugby football. American football evolved from rugby football in the late nineteenth century. The game is a team sport. The object of the game is to manipulate the football into the opponents end zone and score points. The ball can be advanced by carrying it or passing it to a teammate. Points are scored by carrying the ball into the end zone, passing it to a teammate past the goal line or kicking it between the goal posts. The team that has scored the highest points when the time expires is declared the winner. English Colonial settlers brought the game of football to the Americas at the turn of the seventeenth century. Some 200 years later, football was introduced to American colleges, and in 1867 the first set of rules of American football were drawn up in Princeton College. They were very similar to the rules of soccer. The game was picked up by other colleges, such as Rutgers, Columbia, Yale and Harvard. In 1876, the Intercollegiate Football Association was formed to draw up rules that were similar to the rugby union. Some changes were introduced to the game after it was found that it was dangerous and causing high fatalities. It was not until 1920s that professional league games were started. The American Professional Football Association (APFA) was started in 1921. It was renamed the NFL (National Football League) in 1922. The first championship was between the Chicago Bears and New York Giants. In 1960, another league was formed, called the American Football League (AFL). At the end of the 1966 season, the NFL champions played the AFL champions for the first-ever Super Bowl, the world cup of American football. Football is played at a number of levels in the U.S. and elsewhere. The major leagues are as follows: National Football League (top level mens professional league), NFL Europe, College Football, Mexican College Football, British Collegiate American Football League, German Football League, North American Football League and Womens American Football. Football trophies are commonly made of metals or plastic, depicting scenes of players kicking or battling. |
