Post by Coach Campbell on Sept 27, 2005 17:50:52 GMT
The League game
In 1945, Michigan started using entire teams for offensive and defensive lines, but this was stopped in 1953, when only one player at a time was allowed to be substituted. In 1965, large scale substitutions were legalised, which is where the special teams are utilised.
The college football teams are watched by the professional teams, and eligible players are selected by the professional teams. This is called the draft. The weaker teams have first pick of the players.
The first recorded professional game in the United States was on 31 August, 1895, when teams from Jeanette and Latrobe met at Latrobe, Pennsylvania. However, it was not until 1920 when a professional league system was created.
Before then, the college game was the most popular, and players mainly turned professional to play the game further, as the financial incentives were not so significant.
The APFA (American Professional Football Association) was formed at Canton, and was presided over by Tom Thorpe. In 1921 it was restructured after a poor first year with Joseph Carr of Columbus, Ohio as president.
The first league season in 1921 had thirteen teams involved. The teams were: Akron Pros, Buffalo All-Americans, Canton Bulldogs, Chicago Cardinals, Cincinatti Celts, Cleveland Indians, Columbia Panhandles, Dayton Triangles, Detroit Heralds, Green Bay Packers, and Rock Island Independents.
In 1922, the APFA was renamed the NFL (National Football League). In 1933 the NFL was split into two leagues, the Eastern and Western Divisions, with the winners from each division meeting each other at the end of the season for the World Championship.
The first Championships was between the Chicago Bears and the New York Giants. The Bears won 23-21.
In 1946, another league was formed, the All-American Conference. At the end of 1949 the two leagues merged and for the next three seasons, they were known as American and National Conferences.
The two Conferences became known as the Eastern and Western Conferences in 1953. In 1960, another league was formed, the American Football League (AFL) with eight teams.
The NFL was extended to thirteen teams in 1960, and the two leagues each had two divisons/conferences. The winners of each division/conference met to decide the champions of the AFL and the NFL, but the two champions did not meet until...