HISTORY OF FOOTBALL The history of football is interesting as well as exciting, from the first forms of the game ever played, to the multi million dollar organizations of today. The game continues to evolve and change with the times. Football is a sport that evolved from many different games. Football is mainly known as a different form of rugby or soccer, but there is more to the origin of the game than just those two sports. Football games were played around the world before the game was actually called football. " Football is believed to have descended from a Greek game called Harpaston " (Source C). The rules in Harpaston were not very strict. Running, kicking, or passing the ball across the goal line could earn points. " It …show more content…
The first professional games took place between athletic clubs. The first player to play for money was William W. "Pudge" Heffelinger. "Heffelinger played at Yale University where he made the Walter Camp All American team for three straight years. Heffelinger was paid five hundred dollars to play a game for the Allegheny Athletic Association of Pittsburgh. Heffelinger is known as the first professional football player" (Source H). The first professional to sign a contract was Grant Dilbert who signed with the Pittsburgh Athletic Club. Soon after this, many teams started paying money for the best players. "On September 17 1920 representatives met to form the American Professional Football Association (APFA)" (Source H). In 1922 the APFA was renamed the National Football League (NFL). During this time, any town that could fund the money was forming a football team, even two Philadelphia baseball teams established professional football teams. During this time, professional football was not as popular as college football. Due to betting and recruiting scandals, Americans were not as interested in the NFL as they were in the collegiate games. The league reached an all time low in 1932 when it had a membership of eight teams. However, over time the formation of legendary teams like the Decatur Staleys, later renamed the Chicago Bears, and the small town Green Bay Packers, and also due to the emergence of heroic players, this new league would win
There has always been a controversy of the first American football team, but most analysts say it was a Boston Club founded in 1861, called Oneida Football Club. Even though no one knows the rules or regulations they followed. It’s not until Rutgers versus Princeton game in 1869, that we are given a glimpse of the sports early years. At this time there were 25 players on a team. Each team was made up of 11 “fielders”, 12 “bulldogs”, and 2 “planters” whose job was to wait by the other teams unguarded
The National Football League (NFL) is an example of the incredibly successful industry generated by the sport. This business has been, and continues to be, the highest earning sports league in the United States. Average revenue that a franchise earns in the NFL is 286 million dollars, with the closest industry trailing behind being Major League Baseball (MLB) averaging almost 50 million dollars less (Gaines). Another aspect to observe with this comparison is putting in proportion how much more is made per game since football has significantly fewer games. The NFL creates its leading revenue in only a 16 game regular season, whereas the MLB falls short after playing 162 entire games. Putting this into perspective, an NFL team generates an average 17.8 million dollars a game, but an MLB team generates only 1.4 million dollars a game. Revenue
To understand the dangers of football, I believe it is important to know the history of the sport. Versions of American football have been played for centuries, but modern day American football really began to take shape in 1878 by a man named Walter Camp (www.understanding-american-football.com).
Lombardi revolutionized the game with his leadership, and maybe the most famous play drawn up in NFL history, the “Packers Sweep”. The NFL was growing to be something huge in America then, a new league came along. The American Football League began in 1959, looking to become a rival league to the NFL(Pro Football HOF).
So Columbia joined, they were the third team to play college football, their first game was on November 12, 1872, when they went to Rutgers and got beat six to three. It got to the point when it was so disorganized and brutal that there were no games played in 1971. But it came back in 1872 when Columbia played Yale for the first time ever. The coach for Yale’s team was David Schley Schaff, he learned the rules and how to play football at Rutgers where he graduated from. Yale won that game three to zero. In 1873 changes to the sport came. They were trying to make it more organized, they made the team’s now twenty, and the game was played in two forty-five minute halves on fields hundred forty yards long and seventy yards wide. On October 20, 1873, Yale, Rutgers, Columbia and Princeton all sent a representative to meet in a Hotel in New York to make the standard rules. Harvard’s football team started back up again in 1983. They played football a differently, they were much more physical they called it “the Boston Game” where you were able to pass, run, kick or dribble the ball. There was also no limit to the amount you could have on your team and you could only run the ball when being pursued by the opposing team. Harvard refused to the attended the meeting in New York with the other football teams, they wanted to play it with their rules. Because Harvard would not play by the rules they had to play against rugby clubs. Playing against McGill Harvard would start using trys. Eventually trys would end up turning into touchdowns. On November 13, 1875, Yale and Harvard played each other for the first, over two thousand people had shown up to watch the match between the two. Harvard had prevailed they won the game four to zero. On November 23, 1876, they meet again but this time it was just Princeton, Harvard, Yale, and Columbia who met
American football originated with its earlier form of play that derived from a variation of
Since the introduction of organized team sports into American culture, numerous sports have stepped into the limelight for certain periods of time but none have stuck around as long as football has. Just as with everything else in life, football has had it’s fair share of drawbacks since its invention in the mid-19th century. Despite the drawbacks and criticism football has faced, its role and influence on American culture between the 1890’s and 1930’s far outweigh the negative aspects of its past.
A cow has only a 1 in 17,420,000 chance of becoming an NFL football that is used in the super bowl. Only two players have caught, rushed, and throw a touchdown against the same team in the same game; Walter Payton in 2001. While football originally was popular in Midwestern industrial towns, its growth in popularity around the U.S. is typically traced to the 1958 NFL. Championship game, which has been called the “greatest game ever played. Dallas Cowboys running back Tony Dorset is the only player to a 99-yard touchdown, in 1983. In 1892, former Yale star William “Pudge” Heffelfinger became the first recognized pro player when he accepted $500 to play for the Allegheny Athletic Association. Though football games usually last around 3 hours, the ball is typically in play for only 11 minutes. Around 56% of the game on TV is devoted to replays. In an NFL game, as many as 75 minutes, or about 60% of total TV air time (excluding commercial), is shots of players standing on the line of scrimmage, huddling, or just walking around between snaps. Injured football players in televised NFL games get six more seconds of camera time than celebrating payers. NFL cheerleaders typically make $50-$75 a
7 years after the game with Rutgers and Princeton, the Massasoit convention took place, and there, the first ever American football rules were written. Walter Camp, who would become known as the father of American football, first became involved with the game. Nothing of serious magnitude happened after this for quite a few years, but in 1892, which was an era in which football was a major attraction of local athletic clubs, a very intense competition took place between two Pittsburgh-area clubs, the Allegheny Athletic Association, or AAA, and the Pittsburgh Athletic Club, or PAC. And this game proved to be a very historic game. This game led to the first ever professional football player. Former Yale All-American guard
Who created football? What are the health advantages for football? When was the NFL created? Football is a very fun active sport to keep young teens and adults in shape.Many people can play football. There are many different levels of football, you have junior pro, middle school, high school , college, NFL. Football is a very good sport.
Football started November 6, 1869. The first game was played by Rutgers and Princeton. Over 200 million people now play the sport. A professional football player has to have many skills, some education, and has the potential to make a lot of money.
The history of football started in the mid-18th century in Britain by the “Father of Football,” Walter Camp. As time passed by, these sports became a thing at the collegiate level, then followed by a professional level. Basketball proceeded from college to the
Football was created by a rugby player named Walter Camp (Gorn and Goldstein 153). He combined the sports soccer and rugby, then later came up with the rules (Stelzer 1). “Walter Camp has been widely and accurately acknowledged as the father of American football” (Gorn and Goldstein 153). Camp explained how football should be played and the way to win a game. The sport involves teamwork, not
Most modern versions of football are believed to have originated from England in the twelfth century. The game became so popular in England that the kings of that time (Henry
How did football evolve? Did you know that football used to be rugby.When Walter Camp made football he started changing rules and transformed rugby to football. Football has been a sport since 1869.football has been in America for 148 years.