American Football can be traced back to rugby in Great Britain in the 19th century. The major difference between the sport of rugby and football are the first two rule changes; which were the development of the line of scrimmage and down and distance. These rules were implemented by who we consider the father of american football, Walter camp. Later a group of men implemented the forward pass, which changed the game drastically until this day. In 1892 was the first year football was considered a professional sport. In 1920 the National Football League was formed, and 40 years years later there was a merger between the NFL and the AFL which was a rival league of the NFL but with less popularity, and that is the reason we now how the super bowl.
Challenges and issues that have now been raised revolve mainly around player safety and sportsmanship. New rules have been added to protect players from concussions and other injuries. AS a result these rules have changed the game making it an even more difficult game to play. The list of things you can and cannot do get lengthier each and every year.
Below is a picture of football's earliest uniforms
Above is a picture of the 2014 pro bowl uniforms.
I like how you talked about how the new rules about player safety and sportsmanship. It's interesting to think with all the things that now make the game easier to play (high-tech helmets, sneakers, ease of travel, better understanding of the game, etc.) that new rules are actually making the game more difficult to play. It will be interesting to see how these changes to the game effect it moving forward. Ik know a lot of people are against changing the rules because it makes the game 'soft.' Below is a link to a NY Times article discussing some of the problems with the new targeting rule.
ReplyDeletehttp://www.nytimes.com/2013/10/07/sports/ncaafootball/despite-good-intentions-change-in-tackling-rule-creates-other-problems.html?_r=0
Taylor Murray
Nice blog post and interesting article Taylor (other comment). I agree that people are annoyed with many of the rule changes because it can de-value the game, but I am curious if at any point in the future there will be a rule that changes the game so much, that in fact a whole new sport is created behind this new rule. It would be interesting to see a modern, popular sport, such as American Football go through a phase in which many players/coaches agree to a rule change while other do not. If it is such a game changing request, we could see a new sport evolve from football.
ReplyDelete-Benji Delman