football is the most followed sport in the United States and every year it grows in popularity around the world.
This sport evolved from others such as rugby or soccer. In 1875, two athletes from Princenton watched a Harvard-Yale game held with rugby rules and were impressed. Several universities agreed to play matches among themselves, modifying some points of the original regulations such as the score.
Walter Camp is considered the father of football. In 1880 he defined the rules by changing aspects of the game such as reducing the number of players per team to 11 and introducing snaps to replace melés. In 1882 he established the downs system, which indicates that each of the teams has three attempts to advance a minimum distance of five yards.
The universities of New Jersey and Rutgers made history on November 6, 1896. The two met in the first season of the collegiate competition. The match was played following the rules of the English Football Federation and with a circular ball. Therefore, the 100 spectators present saw something more similar to that sport than to football. The final score was 4-6.
The field is rectangular in shape and measures 110 meters long by 48.8 meters wide. The goal lines are placed 9.1 meters from the end of the field. The posts are located in the center of these marks. The ball has an oval shape.
The NFL is the main football competition in the world. The champion of each season is decided in the Super Bowl. This event, together with the Champions League final, is the most watched sporting event on television on the planet. The 2015 edition, broadcast on NBC, had an audience of 114.4 million viewers in the United States.
