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Short History of FootballThe American foot ball started in 1879, it is kinda like Rugby. The rules were written by Walter Camp. The story football began when a person a soccer team decided to pick up the ball and run with it. The other members of the team found this appealing, and the sport of rugby started. When people got togeter to play rugby, that England , instead of playing with a round shaoed ball, they played with an " egg- shaped" ball. This is the short story of the history of football. AnswerIn the late 1800s, the game known as football in England was experiencing a split between those who preferred use of the hands in open play and those who didn't. There were other differences, but that was one of the key factors in the creation of the Football Association, which is still the governing body for what Americans call soccer. Teams that preferred a ball-handling game eventually organized under the auspices of the Rugby Football Union. So England ended up with two games called football: association football and rugby football -- known in most of the world as football and rugby, yet they are both "football" codes.

Meanwhile, American colleges were playing their own version of what they called football -- primarily a kicking game like soccer that allowed more robust hits, like rugby. Every school had its own set of rules, so it was difficult to organize intercollegiate matches. As a result, the first few schools to play "football" sat down and agreed to a standard set of rules, which were modeled after the English rugby code.

At that point, American football could easily have become known as American rugby, but since players and fans had already been calling the game football, the name stuck. The name, in any event, wasn't so peculiar as we might consider it today, since the game was much more kicking-oriented than it is now. Kicks were allowed from any point on the field (now they're limited to being taken from behind the line of scrimmage); field goals were initially worth more than touchdowns; and since there was no forward pass, teams would often resort to sacrificing possession by punting deep and going on defense, especially if their running game was getting bogged down.

So while it might seem odd to modern viewers to refer call a game "football" that doesn't primarily employ kicking, there is a legitimate historical reason for it. Also keep in mind that of the world's six major football codes -- association football, rugby union, rugby league, Gaelic football, Australian rules football, and American football -- all of them except association football permit use of the hands in open play, and all of them involve using the foot to a greater or lesser extent to propel the ball.

Most of the world refers to American football as "gridiron" football, because of all the line markers on the field. That's certainly a better and more inclusive term than "American football," since Canadians play a variety of the same game. "Gridiron" can also be used to encompass other variations on the game, such as arena football.

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13y ago
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8y ago

football got its name because people just kept kicking a ball with their foot so it became FOOTBALL
What type of football, the football in the Middle East or in america?

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15y ago

when they wrote the rules of the game they came up with...football because you kick the ball with your foot

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Q: Where did American football get its name?
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What was football called at first?

American football was first known as association football. The world knows soccer by the name "football," rather than American football.


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in America it says it in the name


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The real name for Soccer is Football. You use your foot, to move the ball. Football was invented before American Football, the rules were written before American Football's rules. American Football shouldn't be called Football because the foot is barely used.


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