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Although there are references to Native Americans playing ball games, modern American football has its origins in traditional ball games played in villages and schools in Europe for many centuries before America was settled by Europeans.

There are stories of early settlers at Jamestown, Virginia playing games with inflated balls in the the first part of the 17th century.

Early games appear to have had a lot in common with the traditional “mob football” played in England, especially on Shrove Tuesday. The games were pretty much unorganized until the 19th century, when a lot of colleges took up the sport.

In those days, each school played its own kind of football. Princeton students played a game called “ballown” as early as 1820. A Harvard tradition known as “Bloody Monday” began in 1827, which consisted of a mass ballgame between the freshman and sophomore classes.

Dartmouth played its own version called “Old Division Football”, the rules of which were first published in 1871, although the game dates to at least the 1830s. All of these games, and others, shared certain rules.

They remained largely “mob” type games, with huge numbers of players attempting to get the ball into a goal area, often by any means necessary. The rules were simple and violence and injury were common .

The violence of these mob-style games led to widespread protests and a decision to abandon them. Yale, under pressure from the city of New Haven, proscribed the play of all forms of football in 1860, while Harvard did the same in 1861

Two basic types of football had evolved by this time: “kicking” games and “running” (or “carrying”) games. A cross of the two, known as the “Boston game”, was played by a group known as the Oneida Football Club.

The club, considered by some historians as the first real football club in the United States, was formed in 1862 by schoolboys who played the “Boston game” on Boston Common.

Walter Camp is widely considered to be the most important character in the advancement of American football. He developed many of the rule changes and playing strategies which made American Football the inimitable sport that it has evolved into today.

His first proposal was to reduce the number of players from 15 to 11. The impact of this was to open up the game and put more emphasis on speed rather than strength.

Camp’s most well-known change, the establishment of the line of scrimmage, was also designed to speed up play although many teams used it to slow down the play.

Camp therefore proposed that a team be required to progress the ball a minimum of five yards within three downs. These down-and-distance rules, combined with the establishment of the line of scrimmage, transformed the game from a variation of rugby or soccer into the distinct sport of American football.

While it has had a long history as a college sport, professional football is a relatively modern institution . The first wholly professional game was not played until 1895 and the first known professional league, the National Football League was not formed until 1902

At the end of the 1932 season, the Chicago Bears and the Portsmouth Spartans tied with the best regular-season records. To determine the champion, the league chose to hold its first playoff game.

Chicago won, 9-0. The playoff proved so popular that the league was reorganized into two divisions for the 1933 season, with the two winners advancing to a scheduled championship game.

Owen Jones, the author of this piece, writes on several topics, but is currently involved with London Olympics 2012 venues. Click a link if you are interested in 2012 London Olympics Volunteers.

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