The History of American Football

American Football is a great sport that sadly is for the most part only enjoyed by the people of the United States. Although it is descended from the United Kingdom they have not adopted it as one of their own. American football in a sense in one of the less brutal of full contact sports that there are. For example Rugby, which is sort of the father of American Football, is much more violent. However there are plenty of injuries and good tackles that happen despite the amount of protection the players use.

Football is actually not a very old sport compared to Soccer and many others, starting somewhere in the 1800's by different schools in the UK. However back then the rules were completely different than we have now, so much so that perhaps it could not even be called Football. There was a rather large mixing of Rugby and Football for a while, since they were so similar it was difficult to tell the difference. However eventually it was decided that rules should be made that would separate the two and thus form two different sports. In the beginning football was still played with very little protective equipment, and that which they did have did not protect very well. It was such a dangerous and brutal sport that many people died playing it every year.

Finally, when the directors of the sport decided that it was too dangerous and too many people were dying, they began adding rules for more safety on the field. They also brought in helmets and other equipment to protect the players as much as possible. In 1912 the rules were finally finished, giving the modern field size and point system. It was then that the popularity really began to take off. People everywhere began to become interested, especially college teams began to form and try to go play in the newly formed Rose Bowl. The NFL was formed in Canton, Ohio in 1920, however until 1922 it was known as the American Professional Football Association.