In the early years of
football, each team used twenty-five players at a
time. In 1873, it was reduced to twenty players,
in 1876 to fifteen players, and in 1880 to eleven
players, where it has remained. The modern game of
football is played on a field 100 yards longs and
53.5 yards wide. Each team defends on end of the
field, which is known as an end zone. The end zone
is another ten yards added on to the length of the
field on each side.
The object of the game is to
carry, pass, or kick the ball into the opposing
end zone and to score. In the middle of the back
of each endzone are goalposts, through where the
ball is kicked to score points. This is known as a
field goal, which is worth three points. Carrying
or passing the ball successfully into the endzone
is called a touchdown, which is worth six points.
Then, the team has the option to kick for one
extra point or to try for a two-point conversion,
where the ball is placed three yards from the goal
line (two yards in the NFL) and is either carried
or passed. If this is accomplished, two more
points are added to the team's score.
On defense,
turnovers, which include interceptions (when a
defensive player catches a pass thrown by the
quarterback) and fumble recoveries (when an
offensive player drops the ball and it is
recovered by a defensive player), can occur and a
player runs it back for a touchdown. Also if the
defense can stop the offense behind its own goal
line, this is known as a safety and is worth two
points for the defense. When football is played,
the team in possession of the ball is the offense
and the team defending its goal against the
offense is the defense. Players involved in plays
when the ball is being kicked are known as the
special teams (this includes punt, punt return,
kickoff, kickoff return, field goal, field goal
block, and point after touchdown). The eleven
players on offense are put into two groups, the
seven linemen (offensive line) and four players in
the backfield (also known as backs).
The offensive
line always consists of five or more players, the
center (the person in the middle of the line that
hikes the ball to the quarterback) the right
guard, the left guard, the right tackle, and the
left tackle. The offensive line blocks defenders
for passes and runs. There is also usually a tight
end or two, but this is optional. There is a
quarterback, who either hands of the ball to a
halfback of fullback to run with the ball, or
passes the to a wide receiver, the player that
catches passes (wide receivers are usually in
instead of other players such as halfbacks,
fullbacks, tight ends, etc.). On defense, there is
the defensive line (usually three or four players,
the left defensive end, the right defensive end,
the left defensive tackle, and the right defensive
tackle) that is responsible for stopping the run,
but on passing plays they put pressure on the
quarterback.
Also on defense, there are three or
four linebackers (two outside and one middle), who
line up behind the defensive line and stop runs,
rush the quarterback, and cover wide receivers. Of
course, what the linebackers do depends on the
situation at hand. Finally we have the secondary
(the group of players who cover receivers)
composed of cornerbacks, who cover wide receivers,
and safeties, who also cover receivers, but also
help to stop the run and rush the quarterback when
needed. Usually, the secondary is composed of two
cornerbacks and two safeties. To protect
themselves from harm, players wear protective
equipment on their bodies and heads.
The
protective equipment used today differs greatly
from the equipment used in the beginning of
football. Equipment offers much more protection
now than it did a long time ago. In the beginning
of the game, football players wore close to
nothing for equipment, the shoulder pads were very
small along with all the other pads and the helmet
was made of leather and it was open faced. Today,
helmets have evolved to hard plastic and are
equipped with a protective face mask. The shoulder
pads are much larger and are also made of plastic
and foam, which absorbs much more of the impact.
The thigh, hip knee, and tail (commonly known as
butt pads) pads are made of foam and prevent the
player from injured while being hit in the lower
body.
The equipment used today is much more safe
than it was in the early days of football and has
evolved for the better over the years. Football
players today have much less to worry about as far
as hurting while getting hit. Football is one of
the most popular sports today, and for good
reasons. The intensity involved is football is
unlike any other sport, and this attracts people
to football. The way the game has evolved over the
years also intrigues audiences to gather around to
watch.
The sports industry today has become a
great part of entertainment in the world. Because
football is a very large portion of the sports
industry, it is very important to many people.
Large groups of people dedicate their entire lives
to the game of football and without it, the world
would be a completely different place. SourcesNew
World Encyclopedia 1991.
