Football History —Just What Sport are We Talking About Anyway?
Mention the term “football” and depending on just where you are one of two entirely different games might come to mind. In North America, people will picture a smash-mouth game played by large men wearing pads and helmets on a field with goal posts at each end. The ball is moved down the field by running and passing. In most of the rest of the world “football” means a sport played by shorts-clad men and women on a pitch, or field, with netted goals at each end. It is a game that primarily involves the feet as the ball is kicked up and down the pitch. For the purpose of this article, we will focus on the history of football, american style, the first type mentioned. Association football, or soccer as it’s commonly called, is addressed on a different page on this website.