Growth and rise in popularity of American football within the sports world
Just about the most popular sports in the United States and Canada is American football. This contact team sport is really a combination of physical play in conjunction with strategic motion with the ultimate objective 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 some team member. The team which scores the most points within 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 variations in the forms like in the team size, playing area, number of downs, time rules etc. The differences are not major and each may be adapted into another with some degree of tuning.
There are 2 major forms of American football played in the United States, namely, collegiate football and professional football. With the growth and the ever increasing popularity a number of football leagues were born in the country. The two most powerful and prestigious leagues that are in existence in the country presently include the National Football League and the United Football League.
American football games that see the participation of student athletes through 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 came into the news and became as big a sports activity as it is today. Though football or rugby was played mostly in schools in England, the sport was exported to America. The first American football game to be played in America was in 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University, Montreal. The 1st collegiate football competition occured the next year in 1875 in the match played between Tufts University and Harvard.
Modern day college football is in the sports news with the first kick off in the football season on the first Labor Day weekend a week ahead of the NFL games and continues until 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 are a part of the two leagues in the U . S known as the NFL as well as the UFL. The NFL enjoys the status of being the largest professional football league on the globe. Formed with eleven teams this league has now grown in strength and today includes thirty two teams. The league is further split up into the American Football Conference plus 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 truly is the most significant games amongst the Americans.