Why is American Football called Football?

It's a rather common question and sometimes a point of mockery. The modern version of American Football is primarily played on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball without very much kicking or anything of the like, kickers are more viewed as a specialist position, in fact; there's not very much kicking at all beyond the three point field goal, point after touchdown, punt and kickoffs. Only of two of these plays result in points.. Regardless, kicking and the general usage of the "foot" isn't as common in today's game as the name may lead a layman to believe. Special Teams still has it's place however, and it's of much more importance than the casual fan realizes for a team to have a great special teams unit. Look no further than the 2006 Bears for a more modern example of the importance of a great special teams unit, and the 2010 Chargers of the significance of a poor one. Regarding the game's title though, it's a pretty understandable confusion. I myself wondered this when I was younger.

The Earliest Days

The short answer is kinda simple; the game has simply evolved. The long answer is considerably more complex. You see, the first college football game ever (of which the NCAA still recognizes) was played in 1869 between Princeton (at the time, the University of New Jersey) and Rutgers. This game though was... not really American football. In fact, it was a soccer/european football game for the most part. It was played using a slightly modified version of the London Football Association's 1863 rules. Players couldn't carry or throw the ball, and it was played with a soccer ball. This game really only counts as American Football in the record books not so much the actual sport being played. This continued up until 1872, in which there were more slight changes. The game began to intertwine with Rugby at this point in a minor way though it still predominantly resembled Soccer, there were just more pileups because the games were played with 20-man sides. It was in 1874 when we experienced a breakthrough. McGill College introduced to Harvard Rugby! The first game of this two game series between the two was played under Harvard's 'Boston' rules; a mixture of Soccer and Rugby, while the second was played under McGill's rules which resembled Rugby much closer. It's fair to assume neither team understood what ramifications the second game, a 0-0 scoreless tie, would end up having on the game and arguably the rest of the nation considering the eventual butterfly effect. The first game was a route in favor of Havard who went up 3-0 only 22 minutes into the contest. It was quickly called off. It was said that after the game, the McGill players shouted "Just wait until tomorrow when we play Rugby!". The Harvard players erupted into laughter; after the McGill players walked off of the field, some of the team members squeaked: "What's a Rugby?". The second game was played afterwards. Harvard all things considered played a good game given they had no prior experience; the result was a tie. The most important revelation that came of it however was that Harvard had fallen in love with the game and near immediately resoluted to play Rugby next college sports season. The game received little national attention; a small, one paragraph summary in the Boston Post attributed to May 16th 1874 remarked; "FOOT BALL -- The last of the games of foot ball between Hardvard and McGill University were played yesterday afternoon on Jarvis field. As the first day's of playing had been by the Harvard rules, yesterday those of McGill's were adopted, time being called at the expiration of each, without either club have been able to force the ball over the opposite goal. There was a large crowd and much enthusiasm." This would mark the beginning of the Rugby era and the earliest roots of what would become what we know as football. In the late 1870s after this point, it was for all intents and purposes a modified version of Rugby that was being played.

The Rugby Era & Earliest Roots of Modern Gridiron Football

Around this point in time is when the earliest seeds to the eventual behemoth modern Gridiron Football would become were planted. Harvard went 4-0 in 1875 en route to a National Championship. From this point until 1880, the game was essentially Rugby. An early event of note was the Massasoit Convention in 1876, a meeting between three ivy league schools (Harvard, Princeton, and Columbia; Yale was also invited but didn't attend over an early disagreement over player count on each team) was held where the rules of Rugby first shown to Harvard by McGill were ratified and became the standard.

***WORK IN PROGRESS***