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.