One of the most popular sports in America and Canada is American football. This contact team sport is a combination of physical play in conjunction with strategic motion with the ultimate objective of scoring points by furthering the ball in the opponents goal line or reaching their end zone by either carrying the ball and running with it or passing it to a team member. The team which scores the most points in the stipulated time is declared the winner.
American football does have its origins in rugby football but has adapted itself with a few changes into the American and Canadian system. Though Canadian football and American football are predominantly quite similar there are a few differences in the forms like in the team size, playing area, number of downs, time rules etc. The differences are not major and each may be adapted into another with a few degree of tuning.
There are 2 major forms of American football played in the USA, namely, collegiate football and professional football. Together with the growth as well as the ever increasing popularity quite a few football leagues were born in the nation. The two most powerful and prestigious leagues which are around in the United States presently include the National Football League as well as the United Football League.
American football games that see the participation of student athletes from the various colleges, military academies and universities across the nation is known as collegiate or college football. It was through college football the American football came into the news and became as big a sport as it is today. Though football or rugby was played mostly in schools in England, the sport was exported to America. The first American football game to get played in the United States was in 1874 between Harvard University and McGill University, Montreal. The first collegiate football competition was held the following year in 1875 in a match played between Tufts University and Harvard.
Modern day college football is in the sports news from the first kick off during the football season on the first Labor Day weekend a week ahead of the NFL games and continues till the beginning of December. The penultimate weekend of the college football season sees most of the rivalry matches and conference games being played.
The professional football players are teams that play American football at a professional level. These professional teams are a section of the two leagues within the Unites States called the NFL and the UFL. The NFL enjoys the status of being the biggest professional football league in the world. Formed with eleven teams this league has now grown in strength and today consists of 32 teams. The league is further divided into the American Football Conference plus the National Football conference and these conferences contain four divisions consisting of four teams each respectively.
The NFL season particularly the Super Bowl, which is the final championship game is followed by sports enthusiasts and news providers equally as it truly is the most significant games among the Americans.
