History Behind the National Football League
History Behind the National Football League
The founding of the National Football League vastly impacted the social culture of Americans. It achieved this because of the Americans love and pride for games and competition, the rise of popularity of football throughout America, especially in colleges and high school, the works of the television, the rise of talent of athletes, commencement of paying athletes, and splitting of the NFL into two divisions. (A rivalry within a rivalry separated by regions of the United States.)
In the Eastern United States, a game very similar to soccer was invented and played during the mid 1800’s. It consisted of 30 or more players. The object of game was to kick a ball across the other teams goal line. This game was becoming extraordinarily popular, and additional stricter rules were being applied to this game. This game was called football. In this game two teams played, and both teams had different rules on playing it. One by McGill’s rule, and the other by Harvard’s rule. Harvard’s rules were more like soccer, and McGill’s rules were more like rugby. Running with the ball and tackling were the prime reasons why this game was introduced to, not just Harvard, but other Eastern Colleges all over the United States.
Improving the game was the first priority at this time. As this rugby style football became popular, Walter Camp played a major role in developing rules that increased action and competition for this game.
“ Camp was largely responsible for establishing the system of downs and yards to gain and for introducing the center snap to the quarterback. He also helped set up the scoring system in which touchdowns, conversions, field goals, and safeties were worth different amounts of points.” (365) The love and pride for the game developed and so did competition. High schools and Colleges organized teams, and competition increased. As a matter of fact competition was getting so large that the sport was turning violent and dangerous due to the lack of protection from tackling and blocking. Since players suffered severe injuries due to the lack of adequate equipment and no helmets, Theodore Roosevelt stressed that changes had to be made in order to make this a safer game.
The founding of the game “football” was developed...