A Brief History of Football

 A Brief History of Football

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American football has been played since the late 19th century.  Since its inception, it has grown from a rough and tumble rag-tag, game into a billion dollar enterprise.  Football is the the most popular sport in America by a wide margin1, but it wasn’t always this way.  In the beginning football was a dangerous and lawless sport.  It was even banned by many universities and colleges.2  The first collegiate football game was played by Rutgers and Princeton in 1869, and the first “professional” football game was played in 1892 when William Heffelfinger was paid $500($12,000 by today’s standard) to play in a game.2  Despite an attempt in the 20th century to ban football on college campuses the game has flourished.

Much of the credit for the early success of football is due to Walter Camp.  Camp worked to turn the dangerous and deadly game into the complex and organized game it is today.  He played a vital role in the creation of what would become the NCAA.2  Finally, his most well known and indelible mark on the game was the creation and implementation of the forward pass.2  Once, the forward pass was made legal it opened the game of football up and it began to resemble the modern game.

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As the game of football has grown so have the many different ways the game is played.  The NFL, NCAA, and most high schools participate in 11-man football, but due to its popularity numerous high schools across the nation have begun to play 8-man or 6-man football.  Canadians even have their own brand of football that is played with 12-men. These different forms of football have allowed the game to be played on a competitive level in towns both big and small all across this country.  Football has even begun to spread to other countries.  The NFL has played games overseas regularly since 1986 with two games a season being played in London.3

Football has grown from humble beginnings to become one of the most popular sports in the whole world.  Over the next few weeks we will look at several of the advances that have been made in the game of football.

1.       Murray: The past, present and future of America's 10 most popular sports. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://www.rgj.com/story/sports/2014/07/12/murray-past-present-future-americas-popular-sports/12587687/

2.       The History of Football in America. (n.d.). Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://www.understanding-american-football.com/history_of_football.html

3.       Sweetman, T. (n.d.). NFL International Series: Why American football loves London. Retrieved January 18, 2016, from http://edition.cnn.com/2014/09/26/sport/nfl-international-series-wembley/