WELCOME TO FOOTBALL 101

As we patiently wait the start of the 2024 season, we’re going to spend some time in Football 101 learning the basics about football.  This will be an ongoing series where we bring you quick tutorials on a wide range of football topics.

For the first Football 101 we are tackling History of Football, and class is in session!

A History of Football

We have put together a 5(ish) minute video on the History of Football you can check out here:

 

If you are not the video-watching type we do a full run down here too.

The Early Days

NFL football as we know it started at universities primarily across the United States in the mid-1800’s. Initially the game developed as a mix of rugby and soccer. Eventually, the players preferred a more rugby style type of play.  According to History.com, the first intercollegiate football game was played on November 6, 1869, between Princeton and Rutgers and it was closer to a soccer style game.

In 1938 a group of universities formed the Intercollegiate Football Association, or IFA, to work on rules for the developing sport.  Walter Camp, a Yale University undergrad, football player, and eventual coach was instrumental in developing many rules and concepts of play.  Rules and concepts which to this day the sport still uses, such as:

• the line of scrimmage
• the number of players on the field
• the quarterback position and the snap
• the system of downs
• the points system

Just to name a few! And that is why Walter Camp is called the “Father of American Football“.

The Early Professional Football Scene

Early NFL

As the college football scene was taking off, the professional side was trying to get itself together. The first national professional Football League was developed in 1920, known as the American Professional Football Association, or APFA, based out of Canton, Ohio.

FUN FACT:     Canton, Ohio is the home of the Pro Football Hall of Fame

In 1921 the APFA changed its name to the National Football League or NFL.  At this point the teams were smaller town teams that lacked national interest. So during the 1930s they made changes to the league to increase popularity.  Then, for the next roughly 25/30 years the NFL was the only name in the game as far as professional football was concerned. There were attempt during the years to establish a rival league to the NFL, but none were too successful.

FUN FACT: Two of today’s teams were charter members of the APFA in 1920: Chicago Bears (originally the Decatur Staleys) and Arizona Cardinals (originally the Chicago Cardinals)

The third oldest team – the Green Bay Packers -joined the league in 1921.

Early AFL

But all of that changed in 1960 with the development of the American Football League or AFL. Several owners who had been refused expansion franchises under the NFL created the AFL. The original 8 teams of the AFL:

• New York Titans
• Boston Patriots
• Buffalo Bills
• Houston Oilers
• Los Angeles Chargers
• Denver Broncos
• Oakland Raiders
• Dallas Texans.

The AFL was known as the more offensive oriented Football League nationwide and earned television contracts with ABC and NBC for the 1965 season.

NFL and AFL Merger

As the NFL and the AFL competed for players and commercial time, the leagues finally agreed to a merger in 1966. While interleague play wouldn’t start until 1970, in 1967 they held the first common draft and the first Super Bowl on January 15, 1967 pitting the AFL winner – the Kansas City Chiefs against the NFL leader – the Green Bay Packers. The Packers won 35 – 10

The NFL and AFL completed the merger in 1970. The two leagues would combine to form an expanded league with 26 teams. Three teams joined the AFL to become the American Football Conference (AFC) while the other 13 NFL teams became the National Football Conference (NFC). The new league divided each conference into 3 divisions – East, Central and West.

Since the merger, a number of teams moved cities and changed names and the NFL added six new teams:

• 1976 saw the additions of 2 franchises – the Seattle Seahawks and the Tampa Bay Buccaneers.
• 1995 saw the additions of 2 additional franchises – the Jacksonville Jaguars and the Carolina Panthers.
• 1996 the Baltimore Ravens received a franchise
• 2002 the Houston Texans received a franchise

2002 also saw the NFL realign the conferences into 4 divisions – the divisions we know today – East, North, South, and West.

 

And that is it, that is the short and quick history of football in roughly 5 minutes. Don’t forget to leave a comment and visit here for more Football 101 topics. Let us know if you learned anything new or what other topics we can cover.