Football

FOOTBALL. The game of football, as played in the United States, is a sport much different from its two ancestors, soccer and rugby. Football is a game in which two teams of 11 players each try to move a ball, by running with it or passing it, across the other team's goal. The game has distinct English roots. Its oldest forerunner is soccer, which is called association football in England and in most other parts of the world. Soccer is based on the use of the feet--and sometimes the head, legs, and chest--to control the ball. Except for the goalkeeper, players are prohibited from touching the ball with their hands (see Soccer).

Various games resembling soccer have been played for more than 2,000 years, probably starting in China, but the modern game developed in England. Rugby developed from soccer in England in the 1820s, and it is from rugby that the American brand of football evolved. Running with the ball in hand, throwing it, and kicking it are allowed in both rugby and football, but forward passing, or throwing the ball toward an opponent's goal, is not permitted in rugby. Strategies based on the running of set plays are an important part of football, but are not featured in rugby.

The principal type of football is tackle football, in which one or more defensive players attempt to bring the ballcarrier down to the ground by tackling. Two popular variations of the game, touch football and flag football, do not involve so much roughness. In touch football, the player with the ball is "tackled" simply by being touched by an opponent. Some teams play one-hand touch football and others play a two-handed version. In flag football, all the players wear belts with plastic or cloth flags, or streamers, attached. The ballcarrier is considered stopped when an opponent grabs one of his flags. Flag football is somewhat more challenging than touch football and less open to disagreements about "tackling."

Tackle football is played in high school and college leagues and on the professional level. It is also played in numerous youth leagues by players who have not yet reached high school. Touch and flag football are popular intramural sports and are also played by many adult teams and leagues.

Levels of Competition

On each level of football, from youth through professional, the game becomes more involved and the intensity of the competition increases. Each level has groupings of teams into leagues, and an effort is made to keep the teams as equal in ability as possible.

High school football. Most states have various levels of football competition in their high schools so that schools with similar numbers of students compete only against one another. For example, Texas has five levels of high school football competition, each with its own state championship.

College football. The schools in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) are grouped into three divisions. Division I, which includes the major football powers, is further divided into two levels--I-A and I-AA. Most schools that meet Division I-A criteria belong to a conference made up of eight to ten teams. Major I-A schools that are not in a conference are called independents.

As part of the intercollegiate reform movement to achieve a balance between athletics and academics, the independents may play a large role in a sweeping realignment of the conferences. Other objectives of realignment are the buildup of other team sports through new affiliations and the chance for more teams to share in lucrative TV contracts. The Metro Conference, which competes in NCAA basketball, has considered expansion into football with a Division I-A independent. A new Big East league made up wholly of independents is also under consideration. Thus, though Miami already has a strong football program, its NCAA basketball team can benefit from affiliation with a conference--either the existing Southeast or an expanded Metro, or even a newly established Eastern. In June 1990 Penn State was the first of the independents to make an official move: despite its distant location from the Midwest, it was admitted to the Big Ten for mid-1990s action. The 11-member Big Ten conference decided to keep its name, and there was some discussion of further expansion.

Below the Division I-A level of college football are Divisions I-AA, II, and III. Division I-AA members are slightly below I-A colleges in size and the number of scholarships awarded. Schools in Division II grant a minimum number of athletic scholarships, and institutions on the Division III level do not award any.

Bowl games. During the Christmas-New Year's Day holiday period, postseason bowl games take the place of a Division I-A championship tournament. Under a bowl format instituted in 1995, the Big Ten and Pacific Ten champions meet in the Rose Bowl in Pasadena, Calif., on New Year's Day. For the rest of Division 1-A, the fourth- and sixth-ranked teams in the nation play on New Year's Eve, the number three and five teams on January 1, and the number one and two teams on January 2. These three pairs of teams alternate playing in the Fiesta Bowl in Tempe, Ariz., the Orange Bowl in Miami, Fla., and the Sugar Bowl in New Orleans, La. Other popular bowl games include the Cotton Bowl in Dallas, Tex.; the Independence Bowl in Shreveport, La.; the Holiday Bowl in San Diego, Calif.; the Florida Citrus Bowl in Orlando; the Sun Bowl in El Paso, Tex.; the Gator Bowl in Jacksonville, Fla.; the Liberty Bowl in Memphis, Tenn.; the Aloha Bowl in Honolulu, Hawaii; and the Peach Bowl in Atlanta, Ga.

Professional football. The United States and Canada have professional leagues, and they play similar football games. The American Professional Football Association (APFA) was organized in 1920. After one year it was reorganized, and in 1922 it was renamed the National Football League (NFL). The NFL consists of two conferences, the American and the National, and at the end of each season the winners of the conferences play each other in the Super Bowl to determine the national champion.

Among the competing leagues that failed have been the All-America Football Conference (AAFC), 1946-49; the American Football League (AFL), 1960-69; and the World Football League (WFL), 1974-75. Two AAFC teams joined the NFL in 1950, and the AFL merger with the NFL was completed in 1970. The United States Football League (USFL) was launched in 1983 but was forced to end play after two seasons. The Arena Football League, an indoor spring league with eight-man teams, debuted in 1987. Despite these expensive failures, the NFL contracted for an international league to play in the 1991-93 seasons. At first the World League of American Football (WLAF) had 12 teams in six United States cities and six