There's no question America has borrowed traditions from the British. Even the melody to the national anthem “The Star Spangled Banner” derives from an old British tune called “To Anacreon In Heaven.” While America's most popular sport is football, the game evolved from 19th century British rugby.
Roots of Rugby
Rugby is much older than football, going back to the Romans, over 2,000 years ago. Back then the game was called harpastum, meaning “seize” in Greek. During England's Tudor era of royalty, the game was considered a “devilish pastime” and forbidden due to fatalities and injuries. Monarchs were concerned the game was depleting its workforce.
The game had variations on rules and objectives, depending on where it was played. Modern standardization of rugby began to take shape in 1749 in the English town of Warwickshire, where the Rugby School originated. The game still had very few rules, even as touchlines were added to give rugby more structure. It was still mostly a kicking game, since running with the ball was not allowed until 1823.
Oxford and Cambridge Universities made huge contributions to rugby rulemaking by 1872, when the first university competition was played. The first international game in Edinburgh between Scotland and England was held the previous year. The Home Nations Championship began in 1883 that involved England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales. France joined the competition in 1910.
In 1900 rugby was introduced in the Summer Olympic Games in Paris. The modern Rugby World Cup started in 1987. Today 20 teams compete each year in this international competition.
Evolution of American Football
American football gained popularity at major universities such as Yale and Harvard. It started in the mid-nineteenth century as a running and kicking game without passing. But its approach to mirroring a mob scene was considered too violent by President Theodore Roosevelt. So in 1905 he called on schools to consider introducing passing in the game to reduce injuries.
In December 1905 representatives from 62 schools met to decide on rules to make football safer. One of the new rules was to prohibit the “flying wedge,” which was a crowd formation that led to many serious injuries. They also created a neutral zone between the teams at the line of scrimmage. Another new rule required the offense to move to ball ten instead of five yards to be awarded a first down.
The most significant change made by the conference was following through on Roosevelt's request for a forward pass. The first legal forward pass in a game happened in 1906.
The National Football League (NFL) emerged in the early 1920s in America and was popularized by radio networks. By the 1970s football had overtaken baseball as America's favorite sport, thanks to TV programs such as Monday Night Football. Since that time NFL leaders have worked to make the game safer with stricter rules and penalties on tackling and “unnecessary roughness.”
Differences Between the NFL and World Rugby
- playing field: rugby (100 metres), NFL (100 yards)
- number of players on the field: rugby 15, football 11
- rugby uses 8 reserve players, NFL has 53-man rosters
- scoring: rugby (5 pts), NFL (6 pts)
- conversions: rugby (2-3 pts), NFL (1-2 pts)
- passing: only backward passing is legal in rugby
- kicking: occurs more often in rugby for ball control strategy
- game length: rugby is 80 minutes, football is 60 minutes
- tackling: NFL is more restictive of tackling and piling on
- plays: rugby is more continuous
- protective gear: unlike rugby, NFL requires helmets and pads
Rugby and US Football Similarities
One thing World Rugby and American fooball have in common is they are both very dangerous contact sports. Even though pro football in America requires helmets, it ironically has much more concussion injuries. By contrast, pro rugby has a bigger problem with spinal injuries.
Another similarity between the sports is they both attract heavy betting, particularly online. While sports and casinos have traditionally fueled global excitement over gambling, many people have gravitated toward a long list of video games as a remedy to gambling fever. This vast amount of alternatives online can be found at sites like www.videoslots.com with games like Monopoly Roulette Tycoom and Wonder Woman Gold.
Conclusion
American football owes a lot of its game elements to British rugby, which resembles a mix of contemporary football and international soccer (also called football). Soccer is much more popular globally, whereas NFL football is the most watched sport in the United States.
