How to Play Football

By: Jason Petrina



Have you ever watched a football game where the referee made a call that had the crowd booing? The crowd may not have liked the call, but the referee is simply stating the facts as he knows them, in accordance with the rules of football. This doesn’t mean that his call was good or right – he just calls them as he sees them so to speak….although many will ask him if he is blind. The rules of football are really quite simple, and if you want to learn how to play football, you have to start by understanding the rules.

Each team is allowed to have eleven players on the field at all times. There should never be more than eleven and never less than eleven. This makes a total of 22 players on the field during game play. Before the game starts there is a coin toss to determine which team will kick, and which team will receive. The team captain that wins the coin toss gets to choose whether his team will be kicking or receiving to start the game.

The game starts with the kickoff. The ball is placed on a plastic tee thirty yards from the defenses end zone. The kicker kicks the ball to the opposing team. An opposing team member will attempt to catch the ball and start running towards their goal line with it, or the ball will go out of bounds. The ball may even be missed by the opposing team – or dropped. If the ball goes out of bounds, the receiving team can choose to start the ball where it first went out of bounds, or choose to start it thirty yards from the point of the kick. If the receiving team catches the ball, and chooses not to run with it, the player who caught the ball simply kneels. This is called a touchback. Play is stopped, and the next play is started 20 yards from the offense’s end zone.

After the kick off, each play starts with the twenty two players on the line. The line is where the ball is placed, and one team is lined up on one side of that line, and the other team is lined up on the other side. This is called the line of scrimmage. The quarterback calls the play, and the ball is snapped to him from the player who is playing the center position. He then either hands the ball off to another team member, or he throws it to a team member. While he is doing this, the other team is trying to tackle him, to prevent him from handing the ball off or throwing it. The offensive team (the team with the ball) should be trying to get the ball to their goal line. The defensive team (the team without the ball) should be trying to stop them. Football is a rough sport. The defensive team may tackle, trip, or push opposing team members. The offensive team may do the same to the defense in order to get through with the ball – but there are certain things you cannot do. You cannot grab the face mask of an opposing player. You cannot kick the other player, clip them, or do anything else that would be considered unsportsmanlike.

After the snap, play ends when the person who has the ball falls on the ground, when the ball carrier cannot advance further because there are too many defense opponents holding him back, if the ball or the ball carrier goes out of bounds, when a pass attempt is incomplete, when there is a foul called by the referee, or when a score is made. When a play is over, as described above, the balls location determines where the new line of scrimmage will be for the next play. The offense only has four plays to advance the football, or to advance it four enough to gain another four plays. During this time, that team keeps possession of the ball. Each of these four chances is called a down: 1st down, 2nd down, 3rd down, and 4th down. If it is not possible to score a touchdown, which occurs when your team runs the ball past your goal line, the next objective would be to move the ball at least ten yards towards your goal line.

If you move the ball ten yards, you get another first down, if you don’t you are at the 2nd down. During the 2nd down if you move the ball ten yards, you get another 1st down. Once you reach the fourth down, if you fail to score or move the ball ten yards, your team loses possession of the ball, and the opposing team now has it – and they have four downs. The opposing team can also take possession of the ball by making an interception, which occurs when an opposing player catches a ball that is being thrown. They can also take possession by recovering a fumbled – or dropped – ball. The game is divided into quarters. The quarters last for different lengths of time for professional football, college ball, and high school football. At the end of the fourth quarter, the team with the most points wins the game.



Jason Petrina is the Editor and Publisher of Article Click. For more FREE articles for your ezine and websites visit - www.articleclick.com