The first person paid to play football was William Heffelfinger also called Pudge; he was paid 500 dollars in 1892 to play for Allegheny against Pittsburgh. Of course American Football started earlier than this. Football type games had been around for many years in Europe and in the Americas, but each area had its own set of rules as limited as they might be, often the rules and even the name of the game varied from school to school. In the early days it was often just called mob ball, because it was usually a lot of people on the field just trying to move the ball into the end zone. Because the game was so rife with injury many colleges began to ban it, but as they did so it gained popularity in prep schools. By the mid 1800s inflatable balls were being manufactured and in wide spread use. In those days it was more running or kicking, looking very similar to a rugby game. But the big change came from Walter Camp, also known as the Father of American Football, he helped create many rule changes to differentiate the game and make the rules uniform. Throughout his life he wrote books and articles and gave lectures about the game he loved so much. Football became one of the most popular sports drawing in large crowds where everyone could play and enjoy the game, even Santa Claus Playing Football.
NFL:
The NFL was formed in 1922; it was previously called the American Professional Football Association, which had been started in 1920. Then in 1959 a Texas oilman named Lamar Hunt tried to buy one of the Chicago teams and failed, after which he tried to get the NFL to create expansion teams and to start one of them in his city of Dallas, Texas. The NFL rejected this idea wanting to stay with the 12 teams they had in the league. After this failure Lamar came up with the idea of forming a new league. Having convinced other wealthy businessmen to start teams the new league was official in August 1959 and called the American Football League or AFL. Merger talks between the two leagues began in 1966, but they were not fully merged until 1970.
Sports Ornaments:
There are all kinds of football decorations and ornaments for the football fan to use and enjoy, from the Collegiate Football Star to Football Moms Sports Christmas Ornaments. Most people enjoy decorating their Christmas Trees Artificial with their favorite types of ornaments, whither Angel Ornaments or Sports Ornaments and everything in between. There are ornaments for children such as the African American Football Gifts For Boys or even for the child who will grow up to be Our Next Pro Quarterback.
Playing the Game:
As with most games the object is to finish with more points than your opponent. A game of football is broken up into 4 quarters each lasting 15 minutes, two quarters make a half, and at the end of the first half is the halftime break. So while the actual game play is roughly one hour, the game can take several hours to play. The football field where the game is played is 120 yards long, including ten yards for the end zone at either end. The end zone is where the scoring takes place, the object is to get the ball into the other teams end zone, either by running or throwing.
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