Football
History
19th
Century rugby is the parent of NFL, Rugby League, and Rugby Union
Have
you ever thought how the terminology of Football Positions and scoring
used in the football codes came about? In the world's major footy
games - American NFL, Rugby League and Rugby Union - the names of
football postions and many other rules are common to all. This is
because all of these sports came from rugby in the 1800s in England.
Let's
have a look back at football history and how some of the terms were
derived.
As
in soccer, early point scoring was limited to the kicking of goals.
These could only be kicked from the field in normal play or from gaining
a free kick at goal after a 'touchdown' behind the opponent's goal-line.
Touching
the ball down behind the opponents line did not itself earn a team any
points. All it entitled the attacking side to do was attempt (try) to
kick a goal from in line with they touched down. The spectators, in
their enthusiasm, would take up the shout ‘‘Try, Try'', meaning an attempt
should be made at kicking the goal.
The
act of putting the ball down behind the goal-line came to be called
a 'try' in rugby (union and league) and a 'touchdown' in American football.
Points were introduced in the later part of the 1800s for scoring a
try or touchdown - which changed the objective these games away from
just scoring goals.
A
try/touchdown is now worth twice as much as a goal from general play
in both gridiron (6 points touchdown / 3 points field goal) and rugby
league (4 points try / 2 points penalty goal). In both these games,
it is rare for a team to win scoring more goals than tries/touchdowns.
In
rugby union, the goal is worth slightly more in comparison to the try
(5 points a try / 3 points a goal). There is a lot more 'football' (kicking
of the ball) in this code than American football or rugby league. In
rugby union matches where two teams are relatively even in skill, it
is more common to see many more goals than tries being scored.
Can
you see then how the above descriptions display attributes of gridiron,
rugby union and rugby league?
It
also shows that rugby shared many of its rules with early soccer - perhaps
rugby and soccer had a shared football parent as well in the very early
1800s in England. Many of the football positions in all the related
games are the same or variations.
In
American football the scrum was replaced by a 'line of scrimmage'. The
ball is placed in the centre and 'snapped back' by the centre. The opposing
side can't strike for the ball until it has been snapped. In rugby league
a similar principle has been adopted, though only one player from each
team is involved. Rugby union has continued to use the original method
of allowing players from either side to strike for the ball on the ground
- although in recent seasons players have been allowed to place the
ball behind themselves and thus shield the ball from their opponents.
The
method used to continue with play once a player has been tackled has
challenged rule makers in all three games since the 1890s. Each has
their advantages and disadvantages.
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Excercise:
Discuss the methods used by American football, rugby league
and rugby union to restart play once a player is tackled:
American
football - line of scrimmage / snap-back
Rugby league - play-the-ball
Rugby union - ruck / maul ('breakdown')
Write
down the differences in the speed, clarity, dangers, problems,
advantages of each. How might they change in the future?
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