American Youth Football

Homepage: http://www.americanyouthfootball.com/index.cfm

History:

American Youth Football, Inc., established in 1996, is an international youth football organization established to promote the wholesome development of youth through their association with adult leaders in the sport of American football. Rules and regulations are established to ensure that players play in an atmosphere of safety with a competitive balance between teams. American Youth Football is on a mission to GIVE BACK to the community. The NFL recognizes this firm commitment and AYF has been made a national youth partner of the National Football League.

Pop Warner Football (Youth)

Homepage: /pop.asp
Rules and regulations: /admin/rules.asp

History:

Pop Warner was founded in 1929, continues to grow and serves as the only youth football, cheerleading & dance organization that requires its participants to maintain academic standards in order to participate. Pop Warner’s commitment to academics is what separates the program from other youth sports around the world.

As the only national youth sports organization that requires scholastic aptitude to participate, Pop Warner is committed to developing America’s young people on the field and off. Each year Pop Warner continues to expand its efforts in team and activity participation, as well as visibility and outreach in the community.

Since 1929, the Pop Warner Programs Philosophy has been that athletics and scholastics go hand in hand. At every level, Pop Warner programs seek to develop well-rounded young men and women who learn not only the fundamentals of football, cheerleading, and dance but also the importance of education in an atmosphere conducive to developing sound character while having a good time

National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) Football

Homepage: http://naia.cstv.com/sports/m-footbl/naia-m-footbl-body.html

History:
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) started off as the National Association of Intercollegiate Basketball (NAIB) founded in 1940. It was only in 1952 when NAIB restructured to become the NAIA, which began to sponsor more sports.

NAIA started sponsoring football championships in 1956, and continued supporting championship games annually since then. In 1970, NAIA instituted plan in two divisions – Divisions I and II, with a championship played in each division. However, in 1997, NAIA, thought it best to consolidate the two teams into one division.

Through the years, the NAIA championship games has been known for a number of names: Aluminum Bowl (1956), Apple Bowl (1977, Division I game only), Champion Bowl (1964-1976 and 1980-1996, Division I games only), Holiday Bowl (1957-1960, not to be confused with the NCAA Division I bowl of the same name), and Palm Bowl (1978-1979, Division I games only).

National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) Football

Homepage: http://www.ncaafootball.net/
Rules and regulations: /wps/

History:
Established in 1997 to promote and advance college football, the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) football represents a coalition among the following: National Association of Collegiate Directors of Athletics (NACDA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Collegiate Commissioners Association (CCA), and the NCAA.

The NCAA’s Division I-A was formally named as such in 1978 – its former champions were formerly known the “major college champions.” Moreover, it was not until 1998 when the NCAA conducted an official national title game for its Division I-A football. NCAA’s Divisions II and III, on the other hand, both started holding championships in 1973.

Arena Football League (AFL)

Homepage: http://www.arenafootball.com/

Rules and regulations: http://www.arenafootball.com/

History:
In 1987, Jim Foster, a former NFL and USFL executive, founded the Arena Football League (AFL) – America’s indoor football league. AFL has gone a long way since – now with extensive promotions and coverage, AFL averages about 12,000 spectators per game. AFL’s championship game, the ArenaBowl, also received considerable media coverage. These were made possible by a deal with the NBC television network in 2003 to televise league games.

Sometime in September 2004, AFL management announced a tentative league realignment and the elimination of three teams due to some of their players’ participation in a dispersal draft.

AFL is currently working to further promote their league, and has recently announced that the ArenaBowl championship will be held in Las Vegas for at least the next three years.

National Football League Europe

Homepage: /

History:

NFL Europe League started in 1991 when former Denver Broncos coach John Ralston was charged with finding European talent to fill out the new league. The league now consists of both International and American ball players.

Six teams now make up the NFL Europe league including: Berlin Thunder, Frankfurt Galaxy, Amsterdam Admirals, Cologne Centurions, Rhein Fire, Scotland Sea Devils.

The NFLEL games are played according to the rules set down by the NFL. Exceptions to those rules include:

• The defense can score two points for returning a ball over the opponents goal line on an offense conversion attempt.
• Overtime is 10 minutes, with each team having at least one offensive possession. The team scoring the most points after the overtime period is the winner.

The World Bowl is the leagues “Super Bowl” with eleven championships played. The champions are as follows:

1991 – London
1992 – Sacramento
1995 – Frankfurt
1996 – Scottish
1997 – Barcelona
1998 – Rhein
1999 – Frankfurt
2000 – Rhein
2001 – Berlin
2002 – Berlin
2003 – Frankfurt
2004 – Berlin

NFL Europe has been an excellent training ground for players to catapult into the NFL. At the date of this writing, more than 200 players were listed on NFL rosters having come from the NFL Europe experience.

Canadian Football League

Homepage: /
Rules and regulations: /page/game_rule_rule1

History:

The Canadian Football League (CFL) and it’s Championship, The Gray Cup has roots back to the 1800’s and the Canadian Rugby Union. In 1909 the Governor-General of, Lord Albert-Henry Earl Grey, donated a trophy to be awarded to the championship amateur football team of Canada, now better known as the Grey Cup. The trophy has been the height of accomplishment for Canadian Football for nearly 100 years.

The current name, Canadian Football League was selected in 1958 when G. Sydney Halter was appointed the first Commissioner of the league.

For a few years in the mid 1990’s the league expanded to include teams in the United States. In 1995, the Baltimore expansion team even went on to win the Grey Cup.

Currently the league features nine teams, four in the Eastern Division; Montreal, Toronto, Hamilton and Ottawa) and five in the Western Division including: British Columbia, Edmonton, Saskatchewan, Winnipeg and Calgary.

The CFL is the only professional sports organization to operate wholly within Canada. Fan support has been growing and the annual Grey Cup championship has attracted in excess of 60,000 fans and over 5 million television viewers.

National Football League

Homepage: /
Rules and regulations: /rulebook

History:
Now consisting of 32 teams from various American cities, the National Football League (NFL) has risen to national and international prestige after more than 80 years of existence. Founded in 1920 as the American Professional Football Association, the organization changed its name to NFL in 1922, and since then went on to be rise and be considered as the premier American football league in the world. NFL’s biggest break came about in the 1960s-1970s when intense competition with then rival American Football League (AFL) set in. In the 1970 season, however, a merger with the AFL set in, greatly influencing NFL’s current makeup and geographic expanse, style of play, media coverage, playoffs and championship games. The Super Bowl, the sport’s premier championship game, is perhaps one of AFL’s greatest influence in NFL.

Aside from the Super Bowl, NFL currently administers the American Football Conference, the National Football Conference, and the all-star Pro Bowl held in Hawaii.

Below you will find some of the prominent Football rules organizations and governing bodies. Click on the links to see more information regarding the listed organizations.

• National Football League (NFL)
• Canadian Football League (CFL)
• National Football League Europe (NFLEL)
• Arena Football League (AFL)
• National Collegiate Athletic Association Football (NCAA)
• National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)
• Pop Warner Football
• American Youth Football
• Women’s Professional Football League (WPFL)
• National Women’s Football Association (NWFA)
• Independent Women’s Football League (IWFL)
• Women’s Football League (WFL)
• United States Flag & Touch Football League (USFTL)

Basic Rules of Football
American football is considered as one of the more physically demanding sports today. Each player (some weighing over 300 pounds) stands to experience a huge deal of physical contact each game as they run, throw a ball, block, tackle, and out run each other in an effort to force the ball further into their opponent’s territory and into the end zone. Football is played by two opposing teams, each fielding 11 players. A football game consists of four quarters, each with 15 minutes.

A football game is played on a rectangular field, 100 yd (91.4 m) long and 53.5 yd (48.9 m) wide. At both ends of the 100-yard dimension, white lines called goal lines mark off the entrances to the end zones. Each team defends one end zone. A team must carry, pass, or kick the ball into the 10-yd (9-m) end zone on the opponents’ half of the field to score. Each play must begin on or between the hash marks. The hash marks are 53 ft 4 in (16.3 m) from each sideline in college and high school football, and 70 ft 9 in (21.6 m) from each sideline in the National Football League (NFL). Before each play, the officials place the ball either between the hash marks or on the hash mark closest to the end of the previous play. 

Sources:
/wiki/American_football