At the end of the 19th century, Americans mixed soccer and rugby, and got American football. It is currently the most popular sport in the United States.
Shelley Lipton / Icon Sportswire via Getty Images
Today you can play online casino in Australia and win with the Pittsburgh Steelers. Australian gambling clubs offer favorable odds for matches with this football club, and in addition, you will have welcome bonuses.
How it all started
American football, as a sport, originated in a unique "family." His "father" can be considered football, and his "mother" rugby, or vice versa, if it's more convenient for you. It was the combination of these two sports that made it possible for Americans to create a completely new game. The date of birth of American football is considered to be November 6, 1869, when the teams of Rutgers and Princeton Universities played a match according to the combined rules of European football and rugby. This game was significantly different from modern analogs, but marked the beginning of the development of a new sport. In 1873, representatives of four American universities in New York founded the Intercollegiate Football Association and began working on standardizing the rules of the new game based on the rules of soccer.
Harvard representatives were also supposed to be present at that meeting, seeking to lay the foundations not for soccer, but for rugby. By not appearing in New York, they attracted attention, as well as to the match between Harvard and the University of Montreal, which was held according to the rules of the organizers. It was after this meeting that the game was defined as an independent sport and received its official name American football, while remaining one of the forms of rugby. An important step towards separation was taken in 1880 by the coach of the Yale University team, Walter Kemp, who proposed several innovations that have survived to this day. The size of the football field has been reduced, and the number of players in the team has been reduced to 11 people. The main innovation was the introduction of a down system, according to which the team was given three attempts to advance to the opponent's scoring zone.
Joseph Maiorana / USA TODAY Sports
How the sport developed
American football began to develop rapidly, and the number of players across the country grew. New teams appeared at universities and colleges, and the number of matches constantly increased. Unfortunately, injuries often occurred in these games, which led even the hard-core sports supporter Theodore Roosevelt, who was president of the United States at the time, to threaten a complete ban on the game if the safety of the players could not be ensured. In the process of solving these problems, the National University Athletic Association was founded, and the rules of American football have undergone significant changes. In 1906, the forward pass was allowed, a neutral zone was introduced, the playing time was reduced to 60 minutes, and the protective equipment was improved. American football began to resemble the game we know today, and Roosevelt's main task was accomplished: the injury rate in American football now does not exceed that in other contact sports.
Professional American football began to take shape at the end of the 19th century, when players first began to receive rewards for their performances. However, these payments were more symbolic of thanks for successful matches than a full-fledged salary. The first professional teams appeared only at the beginning of the 20th century. In 1920, several of them merged, which became the basis for the creation of the American Professional Football Association, which later transformed into the National Football League, which is successfully functioning to this day.
Over the course of almost a hundred years, numerous attempts have been made to create alternative leagues and associations, but all of them have failed, with the exception of one. In 1959, millionaire Lamar Hunt founded the American Football League, which quickly gained popularity and was able to compete with the NFL. However, the Americans have come to the conclusion that having two leagues is not the optimal solution. After long negotiations, it was decided to merge, while retaining the element of sports rivalry in the form of the final match between the leagues, which was named the Super Bowl thanks to Lamar Hunt.
