American Football popularly known as the Rugby Football or Gridiron originated in United States resembling a union of Rugby and soccer; played in between two teams with each team of eleven players. American football gained fame as the people wanted to detach themselves from the English influence.
The father of this sport Walter Camp altered the shape and size of the ball to an oval-shaped ball called ovoid ball and drawn up some unique set of rules.
Objective
American Football is played on a four sided ground with goalposts at each end. The two opposing teams are named as the Offense and the Defense, The offensive team with control of the ovoid ball, tries to go ahead down the field by running and passing the ball, while the defensive team without control of the ball, targets to stop the offensive team’s advance and tries to take control of the ball for themselves.
The main objective of the sport is scoring a maximum number of goals by moving forward with the ball into the opposite team's end line for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the challenger's goalposts which are counted as a goal and the team gets points for the goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.
Team Size
American football is played in between two teams and each team consists of eleven players on the field and four players as substitutes with a total of fifteen players in each team. It is played in both men’s and women’s category.
Participating Countries
Many other western sports like baseball, rugby, soccer and Formula 1 Racing are being successful in branching to other nations and have gained hype in the international markets. American football has struggled in this regard and was more of American than any other sport. Just recently the game is gaining action worldwide with different championship league matches, out of which the most popular being the National Football League (NFL). There are two important federations viz European Federation of American Football (EFAF) and International Federation of American Football (IFAF).
Countries Participating in American Football
Around 40 countries are currently participating in this sport
United States of America (USA)
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United States of America
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American football, rightly known as the game of collision, is a battle of the teams for more points aiming for the win of their respective territories and the field predominantly serves as a way to measure the momentum of this sport. The game is played on large fields similar to that of Rugby and Soccer.
American Football Field Design
The rectangular green field measures 360 feet long by 160 feet wide and has end zones at each end. Based on the NFL rulebook, 30-foot deep scoring end zones, horizontal lines drawn every five yards, with yard lines numbered in multiples of 10 positioned accurately twelve yards in from the side-lines. All lines and field markings are painted in white on green grass.
The slingshot goalpost measuring 10 feet which were redesigned and relocated in the late 90’s, is now placed at the back of the end zone as shown in the image.
Timing of the Game
American football is played for 1 hour with four 15-minute quarters, divided by a 12- minute break at halftime. With 2-minute breaks at the finish of the first and third quarters, and the teams change ends of the field after every quarter of the game. But at the end of the first and third quarters, the team retaining the ball would be heading into the following quarter. The second half of the game starts with a kickoff similar to the beginning of the game in the first quarter.
Both the teams have 40 seconds to the end of a play and they must snap the ball for the start of the next play. The team which is not successful in snapping the ball gets penalized. The game clock stops at the end of every incomplete passing play, or a player goes out of boundary, or when a penalty is called. The clock starts again when the ball is re-spotted by the match referee.
In a tie game scenario, 15-minute overtime is given for the play and the team that first scores a point wins. A coin toss is made to determine the ball possession for the overtime.
Primarily, to have an American football match, the basic equipment required is the American football called the Ovoid ball.
Ovoid ball − The ball used for the play is an egg-shaped brown colored ball called the Ovoid ball. It is 11 inches or 35 centimeters in length from tip to tip and 22 inches or 55 centimeters in circumference at the center of the ball. The ball weighs about 450gms and inflated to a pressure of 0.6 to 1.1 atmospheres.
Apart from the ball, the players need to put on some protective equipment to compete in the game.
Helmet − Comprises of jaw pads, an integrated face mask, chin strap, mouth guard and particular shock absorbents to reduce the force of impacts of the ball.
Shoulder Pads − A key equipment with hard outer made of plastic and shock absorbing foam inside, gives the players a broad-shouldered look.
Arm Pads − Light and flexible arm pads help the players to be bruise free
Elbow Pads − Protect and deforms the impact with its skin-tight webbing.
Rib pads − Absorb and distribute the shock through the rib pad specially designed to normalize players body temperatures and protects against injuries.
Hip & tailbone pads − Are put into the pouches of the belt worn under the pants.
Thigh & knee Pads − Quilted pads made of plastic and foam and are put into the pockets stitched inside the pants
Gloves − Hand gloves are not mandatory for the players but the thick padding linen helps to protect fingers and hands.
Cleats (footgear) − Players need perfect sole footwear with spikes called “cleats” below the sole designed specifically for games on the grass.
Jersey − A nylon material loose colored shirt with colored side panels are worn by all the players. Usually, the player's name and number are mentioned by his team color.
Terms
It’s very important to get familiarized with the terms used in the game.
· Tee − a cone shaped platform which holds the ball
· Yard Space − Space gained by the player to measure the progress of the game.
· Line of Scrimmage − The lines parallel to the goal line and next to each team’s end, the two lines are termed as the offensive & defensive line of scrimmage.
· Offense − Team with the control of the ball.
· Defence − Team opposing the offense, without the possession of the ball.
· Center − Player in the offense, with the control of the ball
· Tackle player − Position of the players on both offense and defence lines.
· Tight end − Position of offensive team player also called as the Y receiver, placed next to the offensive tackle.
· Wide Receiver − Position of offensive team player 7 yards away from the formation.
· Quarterback − Position of offensive player right behind the center.
· Halfback − Position of the offensive player behind the wide receiver near to the goal line.
· Fullback − Position of offensive player placed behind the quarterback in forming a T-shape structure.
· End player − Position of defensive player placed on the defensive line of scrimmage exactly opposing the center.
· Nose tackle − Position of the defensive player opposing the center, effective in stopping the running and rushing the pass.
· Linebacker − Position of defensive player placed right behind the end players.
· Cornerback − Position of a defensive player positioned behind the linebackers to disrupt the passing.
· Safeties − Position of the defensive player behind the linebacker ready to take control of the ball from the offense.
· Dead ball − The ball not anymore in the play
· Kickoff − The ball is placed on a tee at the defense's 35-yard line, and a special kicker also kicks the ball to the offense.
· Placekick − It is a style of kicking the ball when putting on the tee.
· Dropkick − When the ball is being dropped to the ground and is being kicked before it hits the ground again.
· Free kick − It is a kicking form to place the ball in the play.
· Down − Time period in which the individual plays in a certain duration, outside of which the ball is dead or not in play.
· First Down − When the offensive team effectively passes and moves the ball 10 or more yards, they earn a first down.
· Run − A player advancing the ball gaining the necessary yard space.
· Pass − A player passes the control of the ball to other players of the same team.
· Forward pass − A player passing the ball, might touch an object, a person, or the ground nearer to the other team’s end line or is unintentionally lost in a forward throwing motion.
· Tackle − When the player holding the ball whose knee touches the ground the play comes to an end with a tackle.
· Touchdown − It is a scoring system worth 6 points ideally when a player carries the ball and touches the opponent’s end zone
· Point after touchdown (PAT) − After the touchdown the team will try for an extra 1 or 2 points by kicking the ball through the goal post or throwing it to the end zone.
· Field Goal − Worth of 3 points occurs if the ball is place kicked, drop kicked or free kicked in between the goal posts in the opponent’s end zone.
· Safety − Scoring system worth of 2 points occurs by making the player possessing the ball out of his own endzone and out of bounds, or driving the other team to fumble the ball to exit the end zone. A safety is also presented if the offensive team does a foul in its own end zone.
· Turnover − Happens when one team loses the ball the other team gains.
· Fumble − Occurs when the player drops the ball by chance.
· Interception − Takes place when a player regains the ownership of the ball from an opposing player.
How to Play?
Getting Ready
American Football starts with the toss of a coin, just 3 minutes before the game. The referee meets both team captains and calls for a toss. The winner of the toss has can choose from either receiving the kickoff or just kickoff to start the game. Apart from that, the winning team chooses an end of the field and the loser of the toss other ends of the field.
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