ALL ABOUT FOOTBALL
FOOTBALL INFORMATION AND ARTICLES
Football has been an American past-time for well over a hundred years now. Starting as contests between colleges and growing in popularity in leaps and bounds, it now comprises an entertainment market for television and in-person exhibitions numbering in the billions of dollars every year.
There are several versions of Football, and not only in the United States. Here in the US, there is one dominant style of football, found not only on TV every Sunday and Monday of the fall and winter in the form of the NFL, but all week long on a collegiate level, and in towns and cities all over the U.S. for High Schools, Middle Schools, and Pop Warner football.
Football is big business in America, and as such, the level of recruiting has never been more involved. Both NCAA-level schools and the NJCAA (Junior College) recruit heavily, and often give out scholarships to talented football players who can help their team compete at the top levels. These scholarships are almost always awarded to player who attend different college football camps. (Learn about the various positions in football)
Football finds its origins in the realm of collegiate competition, developing out of the colleges’ embracing of Rugby, which slowly transformed into American Football. On a November day in 1869, Rutgers and Princeton played the first intercollegiate game of Football. One of the biggest rivalries in college football is that between Michigan and Ohio State. The rivalry has extended to the fans where each year they have a competition to donate the most blood on behalf of their team. Through the years many changes would be brought about, but the basics survive. (Read More About College Football’s History Here)
Originally as many as twenty players would take the field for each team. Helmets were nowhere to be found. The field was longer and there was no such thing as the forward pass. These were all parts of Football that would fall to the wayside as the game picked up popularity and its original rules saw some changes. Nowadays there are only 11 men on the field for each team, helmets have never been safer or more secure, and of course there is plenty of forward passing to be found.
Throughout the years science has helped to further the progress of keeping players safe, with innovations in protective gear as well as thorough study into safer ways to tackle and the increased appearance of hefty fines to professionals for helmet-to-helmet hits and any other tackles deemed too dangerous by the NFL’s officials, including spearing.
The other area football has seen great improvements is in the area of weight training. Football players today are using professional trainers and debunking the myth that weight training will limit a players flexibility and agility. Great additions to an extensive training schedules can be dietary supplements. Be sure to know the value of different dietary supplements if you are going to be taking them.
Across the globe, Football finds many fans, even if the rules are a bit different. Down under, Australian Rules Football holds the attention of plenty of fans, as well as Football’s “cousin” of sorts, Rugby.
Australian Rules Football was developed as a distraction for Cricket players during the long winter off-season. Eventually it grew into a sport all of its own for Aussies to enjoy.
Australian Rules Football differs from the American version in several ways, the most obvious of which involves the complete lack of helmets or any type of protective coverings or pads. The players also may run with the ball, intermittently dribbling it on the ground, whereas this would constitute a fumble or loss of the ball in the American version. Players may also kick the ball to one another, as a way of furthering the ball down the field.
Whether played in America, Australia, Canada or anywhere else in the world, Football continues to be a wildly exciting and highly rewarding sport for both fans and players alike. Whether it’s in a farmer’s field, at your local school, in a stadium filled with thousands of fans, or anywhere between, both players and spectators can be sure of having a great time playing a game with a rich tradition, fair set of rules and regulations and an enduring history that continues to this day.
Learn about the benefits of football.
Read more about flag football and review some typical 7 on 7 flag football plays.