American Football Tutorial

American Football popularly known as the Rugby Football or Gridiron originated in United States resembling a union of Rugby and soccer; played in between two teams with each team of eleven players. American football gained fame as the people wanted to detach themselves from the English influence.

The information here is meant to supplement your knowledge on the sport. However, it is not a comprehensive guide on how to play the sport.

American Football popularly known as the Rugby Football or Gridiron originated in United States resembling a union of Rugby and soccer; played in between two teams with each team of eleven players. American football gained fame as the people wanted to detach themselves from the English influence. The father of this sport Walter Camp altered the shape and size of the ball to an oval-shaped ball called ovoid ball and drawn up some unique set of rules.

• Objective

American Football is played on a four sided ground with goalposts at each end. The two opposing teams are named as the Offense and the Defense, The offensive team with control of the ovoid ball, tries to go ahead down the field by running and passing the ball, while the defensive team without control of the ball, targets to stop the offensive team’s advance and tries to take control of the ball for themselves.

The main objective of the sport is scoring maximum number of goals by moving forward with the ball into the opposite team's end line for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the challenger's goalposts which is counted as a goal and the team gets points for the goal. The team with the most points at the end of a game wins.

• Team Size

American football is played in between two teams and each team consists of eleven players on the field and four players as substitutes with total of fifteen players in each team. It is played in both men’s and women’s category.

• Participating Countries

Many other western sports like baseball, rugby, soccer and Formula 1 Racing are being successful in branching to other nations and have gained hype in the international markets. American football has struggled in this regard and was more of American than any other sport. Just recently the game is gaining action worldwide with different championship league matches, out of which the most popular being the National Football League (NFL). There are two important federations viz European Federation of American Football (EFAF) and International Federation of American Football (IFAF).

Countries Participating in American Football

Around 40 countries are currently participating in this sport listed below alphabetically

American Football Participating Countries and  their Championship Leagues

• Australia 

Australian Gridiron League

Down Under Bowl

• Austria

IFAF World Championship

EFAF European Championship

• Bahamas

Bahamas Bowl

• Belgium

Belgian Football League (BFL)

The Belgian Bowl

Flemish American Football League (FAFL)

• Belgium

Belgian Football League (BFL)

The Belgian Bowl

Flemish American Football League (FAFL)

• Brazil

Carioca Bowl (beach American football league)

Torneio Touchdown Tournament

• Canada

Amateur Gridiron Football League

Bills Toronto Series

International Bowl

• Canada

Amateur Gridiron Football League

Bills Toronto Series

International Bowl

• China

China American Football League

• Cuba

Bacardi Bowl

• Denmark

National Ligaen

• Egypt

Egyptian League of American football

• Finland

Vaahtera Liiga season

• France

Ligue Élite de Football Américain (LEFA)

• Germany

German Football League (GFL)

• India

Elite Football League of India (EFLI)

• Ireland

Irish American Football League (IAFL)

Shamrock Bowl

• Israel

Israeli Football League

• Italy

Italian Football League (IFL)

Spaghetti Bow

• Japan

Atomic Bowl

Koshien Bowl

Rice Bowl

• Mexico

Organización Nacional Estudiantil de Futbol Americano (ONEFA)

Global Kilimanjaro Bowl

• Netherlands

AFBN Division One

Tulip Bowl

Roots indoor American football tournament

• New Zealand

Capital Bowl

Haka Bowl

American Football Wellington

• Poland

Polish American Football League

Polish Bowl

• Portugal

Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Americano (LPFA)

• Puerto Rico

ArenaCup Championship

• Romania

Campionatul Naţional de Fotbal American (CNFA)

• Russia

Russian American Football Championship

• Serbia

Serbian National League

• South Korea

Kimchi Bowl

• Spain

Spain's American Football Cup

Liga Nacional de Fútbol Americano (LNFA)

• Sweden

Superserien

• Swizerland

Nationalliga A

Non Professional Swiss Romande Americain Football 

League (NSFL)

Swiss Bowl

• United Kingdom (UK)

British American Football League (BAFL)

British Gridiron Football League (BGFL)

British Collegiate American Football League

Capital League

BritBowl

• United States  (USA)

National Football League (NFL)

Super Bow

United Football League (UFL)

Ohio League

Anthracite League

Regional Football League (RFL)

World Series of Football

American Football Women's League (AFWL)

American Indoor Football League

Arena Football League (AFL)

Champions Indoor Football (CIF)

Continental Indoor Football League (CIFL)

Champions Professional Indoor Football League (CPIFL)

Indoor Football League

Legends Football League (LFL)

Lone Star Football League (LSFL)

National Indoor Football League

Professional Indoor Football League (PIFL)

Southern Indoor Football League (SIFL)

Supreme Indoor Football

Ultimate Indoor Football League (UIFL)

United Indoor Football

X-League Indoor Football (X-League)

All American Football League

Mid Continental Football League

Minor League Football Association

North American Soccer Football League

United National Gridiron League (UNGL)

World Football League

Stars Football League (SFL)

American football, rightly known as the game of collision, is a battle of the teams for more points aiming for the win of their respective territories and the field predominantly serves as a way to measure the momentum of this sport. The game is played on large fields similar to that of Rugby and Soccer.

• American Football Field Design

The rectangular green field measures 360 feet long by 160 feet wide and has end zones at each end. Based on the NFL rulebook, 30-foot deep scoring end zones, horizontal lines drawn every five yards, with yard lines numbered in multiples of 10 positioned accurately twelve yards in from the side-lines. All lines and field markings are painted in white on green grass. The slingshot goalpost measuring 10 feet which was redesigned and relocated in the late 90’s, is now placed at the back of the end zone as shown in the below layout

The two vertical lines in the centre of field are known as the line of scrimmage, the offensive & defensive teams with 11 players take the possession of the ovoid ball at their line of scrimmage. The line marked with 50 is the centre of the field and that is where the ball is first placed before the start of the match. The players position themselves in their own yard spaces to start the game.

• Timing of the Game

American football is played for 1 hour with four 15-minute quarters, divided by a 12- minute break at halftime. With 2-minute breaks at the finish of the first and third quarters, and the teams change ends of the field after every quarter of the game. But at the end of the first and third quarters, the team retaining the ball would be heading into the following quarter. The second half of the game starts with a kick off similar to the beginning of the game in the first quarter.

Both the teams have 40 seconds after the end of a play and they must snap of the ball for the start of the next play. The team which is not successful in snapping the ball gets penalized. The game clock stops at the end of every incomplete passing plays, or a player goes out of boundary, or when a penalty is called. The clock starts again when the ball is re-spotted by the match referee.

In a tie game scenario, 15-minute overtime is given for the play and the team that first scores a point wins. A coin toss is made to determine the ball possession for the overtime.

•  How to Play American Football 

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