Growth and rise in popularity of American football within the sports world
Just about the most popular sports in America and Canada is American football. This contact team sport is really a combination of physical play in conjunction with strategic motion with the ultimate aim of scoring points by furthering the ball in the opponents goal line or reaching their end zone by either carrying the ball and running with it or passing it to a team member. The team which scores the maximum points in the stipulated time is declared the winner.
American football does have its origins in rugby football but has adapted itself with a few changes into the American and Canadian system. Though Canadian football and American football are predominantly quite similar there are some differences in the forms such as in the team size, playing area, number of downs, time rules etc. The differences are certainly not major and each may be adapted into another with a few degree of tuning.
There are two major types of American football played in the USA, namely, collegiate football and professional football. With the growth and the ever increasing popularity a number of football leagues were born in the nation. The two most powerful and prestigious leagues that are in existence in the United States presently are the National Football League as well as the United Football League.
American football games that see the participation of student athletes from the various colleges, military academies and universities across the country is called collegiate or college football. It had been through college football the American football got into the news and became as big a sport as it is today. Though football or rugby was played mostly in schools in England, the game was exported to America. The 1st American football game to get played in the United States was in 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University, Montreal. The 1st collegiate football competition occured the next year in 1875 in a match played between Tufts University and Harvard.
Modern day college football is in the sports news with the first kick off during the football season on the first Labor Day weekend a week ahead of the NFL games and continues till the beginning of December. The penultimate weekend in the college football season sees the majority of the rivalry matches and conference games being played.
The professional football players are teams that play American football at a professional level. These professional teams really are a section of the two leagues within the U . S known as the NFL as well as the UFL. The NFL enjoys the status for being the largest professional football league in the world. Formed with eleven teams this league has grown in strength and today includes 32 teams. The league is further divided into the American Football Conference and the National Football conference and the conferences contain four divisions made up of four teams each respectively.
The NFL season especially the Super Bowl, which is the final championship game is followed by sports enthusiasts and news providers equally as it is one of the biggest games amongst the Americans.