Why Do We Call It Football?

Why Do We Call It Football? Many people wonder why American football has copied the name of the popular sport in the European countries. The big argument is that you do not use your feet very much in American football like you do for soccer (A.K.A European football.) But once you understand and grasp the facts. It is very easy to understand. It is called American Football because of the origin of which it came. It is traced back to when rugby was really popular. In rugby you kick the ball through posts for point or use your feet to cross a goal line. As time has moved on the rules have been modified greatly. They have now added…. A certain amount of downs, the concept of the line of scrimmage, having to get so many yards with in a certain amount of downs, and the forward pass, not legal in rugby. In the earlier times of football history there was virtually no rules, tracing all the way back to the 1600’s. Now-a-days there is a new name for American Football known as the Gridiron. This specific pattern of the field made it easier to referee. It is one word used to differentiate American football from the other two terms in the 19th century. Before forward passing was introduced in 1906, the new Gridiron or American football rules allowed a punting team to recover its own punt, hence it was an often used tactic to gain ground, as it is today in rugby. Also drop kick goals were more successful and scored much more compared to "touchdowns". Field goals and drop kicks were five points, same as touchdowns, until 1904. They were also easier because the ball was shaped with rounded ends similar to the current rugby ball. Both of these playing types generated a lot more use of the foot and kicking to score. I believe that we should use the term gridiron instead of football. If you think about it not only does it sound a lot more intense but also the concept behind the name is easier to see. If Europe wants to have their own sport called football, let’s create our own sport and let’s make up OUR own name for it. We don’t need to take some other countries lame sport’s lame name. This is America, lets stop depending on other countries to provide for us.