Have you ever thought of how football came to be? Many people think that football was invented recently, but you would be surprised to hear that it was invented a long time ago. Did you know that football was not invented in America. Many people think that as well. Football is believed to come from the Greek game of harpaston. Harpaston was known to be very rough like football. To score in harpaston, you had to get the ball across a goal line. More modern football came from England. It was so popular, the king of England banned the game to protect more traditional sports like soccer.
Football didn’t start to have any rules until it was played in England in the early 1800’s. One school in England played football differently, Rugby school. They ran with the ball and inserted goal posts into the game. You could not pass the ball forward though.
The first ever American football game was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton. The game was still more like rugby. In 1873 the Intercollegiate football Association was made between the teams of Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale. Walter Camp, who was the head coach at Yale, wanted an 11-man team and a system of downs. Football was becoming too brutal of a game. In one decade, 18 players died of injury. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt went to the universities of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to make the sport less painful. Those schools formed the NCAA. This committee legalized the forward pass, and shortened the game times. On November 12, 1892, William (Pudge) Heffelfinger became the first player paid to play game. …show more content…
He was payed $500 to play one game for the Allegheny Athletic Association. Nobody was happy that Heffelfinger was paid to play. Football was not considered to be a professional job.
By the late 1890’s there were 5 professional football teams in Pennsylvania alone. A team in Massillion, Ohio had a payroll of $1,000 by 1904. (Crepeau 4) The first African American, Charles Follis, to be payed in football was paid in 1904. American football had spread all the way to the west coast now.
On August 20, 1920, four teams from Canton, Akron, Dayton, and Cleveland, formed the American Professional Football Association. (Crepeau 6) In the next meeting, eleven more teams joined this association. This league did not succeed. Any of the teams struggled to make money or draw any fan interest.
In June of 1922, owners renamed the league the National Football League. (Crepeau 8) Then in 1925, C.C. Pyle established the American Football League. The AFL became a rival of the NFL trying to compete with them on all levels. During the Great Depression, many franchises failed to make money and were no longer in the league. The Green Bay Packers survived the depression, and won three championships during the 1930’s. In 1934 the first thanksgiving game was played in Detroit. This started an NFL tradition that still lasts today. (Crepeau 21) Somehow though, the NFL survived and flourished during the Great Depression. By 1940, the league was in the best condition ever. But then World War 2 hit. Thirty-two percent of players joined the military. Twenty-three players were killed in action. League attendance went down during the war. After the war, the NFL had some competition. The AAFC,
Football didn’t start to have any rules until it was played in England in the early 1800’s. One school in England played football differently, Rugby school. They ran with the ball and inserted goal posts into the game. You could not pass the ball forward though.
The first ever American football game was played on November 6, 1869 between Rutgers and Princeton. The game was still more like rugby. In 1873 the Intercollegiate football Association was made between the teams of Columbia, Rutgers, Princeton, and Yale. Walter Camp, who was the head coach at Yale, wanted an 11-man team and a system of downs. Football was becoming too brutal of a game. In one decade, 18 players died of injury. In 1905, President Theodore Roosevelt went to the universities of Harvard, Princeton, and Yale to make the sport less painful. Those schools formed the NCAA. This committee legalized the forward pass, and shortened the game times. On November 12, 1892, William (Pudge) Heffelfinger became the first player paid to play game. …show more content…
He was payed $500 to play one game for the Allegheny Athletic Association. Nobody was happy that Heffelfinger was paid to play. Football was not considered to be a professional job.
By the late 1890’s there were 5 professional football teams in Pennsylvania alone. A team in Massillion, Ohio had a payroll of $1,000 by 1904. (Crepeau 4) The first African American, Charles Follis, to be payed in football was paid in 1904. American football had spread all the way to the west coast now.
On August 20, 1920, four teams from Canton, Akron, Dayton, and Cleveland, formed the American Professional Football Association. (Crepeau 6) In the next meeting, eleven more teams joined this association. This league did not succeed. Any of the teams struggled to make money or draw any fan interest.
In June of 1922, owners renamed the league the National Football League. (Crepeau 8) Then in 1925, C.C. Pyle established the American Football League. The AFL became a rival of the NFL trying to compete with them on all levels. During the Great Depression, many franchises failed to make money and were no longer in the league. The Green Bay Packers survived the depression, and won three championships during the 1930’s. In 1934 the first thanksgiving game was played in Detroit. This started an NFL tradition that still lasts today. (Crepeau 21) Somehow though, the NFL survived and flourished during the Great Depression. By 1940, the league was in the best condition ever. But then World War 2 hit. Thirty-two percent of players joined the military. Twenty-three players were killed in action. League attendance went down during the war. After the war, the NFL had some competition. The AAFC,