Leisure Kicks - The essencial sport and leisure guide

Skill, speed, power - all attributes of the ultimate team sport - American football. In its home country, the game is one of the most popular sports. It’s certainly the most watched sport on television. The National Football League championships – called the Super Bowl – is considered a de facto American holiday characterised by feasting (the only time of the year Americans eat more is on Thanksgiving) and gathering around the television (it is frequently the most watched televised event of the year). The popularity on this side of the pond is not even a fraction of all that, but the sport does continue to grow more every year.

Football is played between two teams of 11 with the objective of scoring points by advancing the football into the opposing team's endzone. The game is just as much about gaining ground, inch-by-inch as it is about scoring touchdowns. Running with the ball or throwing it to a teammate can advance it down the field. Points can be scored by carrying the ball over the opponent's goal line into the endzone; catching a pass thrown into the endzone; kicking the ball through the opponent's posts or through tackling an opposing ball carrier in his own end zone.

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Growth of American Football in the UK
BBC News