Harpaston: The History Of American Football

The History of American Football

Football, as well as rugby and soccer, is believed to have originated from an ancient Greek game known as Harpaston. Harpaston is mentioned quite frequently throughout classical literature, in which it is referred to as a “very rough and brutal” game. The rules of this ancient sport were simple: a team would be awarded points when a player would move the ball across the opposing team’s goal line by either kicking the ball, running with it across the goal line, or throwing it across the line to another player. The only objective of the other team was to stop the ball from crossing their line, by whatever means possible. There was no specific field length, no side line boundaries, no specified number of
Knowing that this could not continue the direction it was heading, football players grudgingly accepted the wearing of protective equipment. Step-by-step, players braved being called sissies to wear pads of various types that in just a few years would be considered essential. The first of this protective gear was the hip, thigh, knee and shoulder pads, which were just thin layers of pliable foam. The final installment, and without a doubt the most important, was the helmet. George Barclay is the man credited for the invention of the first football helmet. He designed a headgear which had three thick leather straps forming a close fit around his head, made by a harness maker. It became known as a head harness. It slowly began to take more of the appearance we recognize today when around 1915 more padding and flaps were added, along with ear holes for better on-field
The Super Bowl was created as part of the merger agreement between the National Football League and its rival, the American Football League. The agreement was to combine the two leagues into one. One of the conditions of the AFL-NFL Merger was that the winners of each league would meet in a contest to determine the "world champion of football". At first, NFL Commissioner Pete Rozelle wanted to call the game "The Big One". However, during a discussion to figure out the details, AFL founder and Kansas City Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt jokingly referred to game as a Super Bowl. Hunt thought of this name after seeing his children playing with a toy called a Super Ball. So it turns out, the name stuck, and that very ball that he saw his kids playing with is on display at the National Football Hall of Fame in Canton,