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45-775: The Port Adelaide Spartans are a gridiron football club competing in the South Australian Gridiron Association league. The Spartans were one of four original clubs to form the Gridiron league of South Australia in 1985. Along with the Razorbacks , Breakers and Longhorns (now Oilers ) they competed in the first season of Gridiron in South Australia in 1986. The Spartans played the first ever game of gridiron football in South Australia on 11 January 1986, beating

90-416: A punt is when the ball is released from the punter's hand and kicked downfield as close to the opponent's end zone as possible without entering it; the kicking team loses possession of the ball after the kick and the receiving team can attempt to advance the ball or call a fair catch. The other scrimmage kick is a field goal attempt. This must be attempted by place kick or (more rarely) drop kick , and if

135-694: A ball goes out of bounds), the actual time it takes for a football game to be completed is typically over three hours in the NFL and slightly under three hours in the CFL. According to 2017 study on brains of deceased gridiron football players, 99% of tested brains of NFL players, 88% of CFL players, 64% of semi-professional players, 91% of college football players, and 21% of high school football players had various stages of chronic traumatic encephalopathy (CTE). Other common injuries include injuries of legs, arms and lower back. Playing field For most sports

180-506: A liking to McGill's rugby-style rules and adopted them. In turn, they were used when Harvard and Yale University played their first intercollegiate sports game in 1875, after which the rugby-style Canadian game was adopted by Yale players and spectators from Yale and Princeton University . This version of the game was subsequently played with several other U.S. colleges over the next several years. American football teams and organizations subsequently adopted new rules which distinguished

225-428: A pitch is most commonly composed of sod (grass) , but may also be artificial turf , sand , clay , gravel , concrete , or other materials. A playing field on ice may be referred to as a rink , for example an ice hockey rink , although rink may also refer to the entire building or, in the sport of curling , to either the building or a particular team. In the sport of cricket , the cricket pitch refers not to

270-409: A play in a huddle and freely substitute players to set into a formation , in which the offense must remain perfectly still for at least one second (the formation requirement does not apply to Canadian football). At least half of the players (seven in standard American and Canadian football, four in standard indoor ball) on the offense must line up on the line of scrimmage in this formation, including

315-407: A ten-yard penalty against offensive players and a five-yard penalty against defensive ones), and pass interference (when either a receiver or the defending player pushes or blocks the other to prevent them from catching the pass). A team on offense cannot score points as the direct result of a penalty; a defensive foul committed in the team's own end zone, if the penalty is assessed from the spot of

360-535: Is 60 timed minutes in length, split into four 15-minute quarters. (High school football uses 12-minute quarters, and the general rule is that the younger the players, the shorter the quarters typically are.) Because of the halftime, quarter breaks, time-outs, the minute warnings ( two minutes before the end of a half in the NFL , three minutes in Canadian football ), and frequent stoppages of the game clock (the clock stops, for example, after every incomplete pass and any time

405-541: Is a family of football team sports primarily played in the United States and Canada. American football , which uses 11 players, is the form played in the United States and the best known form of gridiron football worldwide, while Canadian football , which uses 12 players, predominates in Canada. Other derivative varieties include arena football , flag football and amateur games such as touch and street football . Football

450-496: Is an IFAF member. The sport is typically known as simply "football" in the countries where it originated, regardless of the specific variety. In Europe the sport is commonly known as "American football". Various sources use the term "North American football" when discussing the American and Canadian games together, but this term is quite rare. The two sports are also sometimes known as "gridiron football". The name originated with

495-427: Is awarded one single point . If the team in possession of the ball, at any time, advances (either by carrying or catching) the ball into the opponent's end zone, it is a touchdown , and the team scores six points and a free play known as a try . In a try, a team attempts to score one or two points (rules vary by each league, but under standard rules, a field goal on a try is worth one point while another touchdown

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540-411: Is one of the names for a multi-sport athletic space, typically constructed outdoors, where such games as basketball , volleyball , paddle tennis and other racquet sports, and up to a dozen more games and activities can be played. They are usually smaller than a regulation tennis (120' x 60')or basketball (84'x50')court, although there is no set dimensions or size for a game court. The game-court concept

585-474: Is played at professional , collegiate , high school , semi-professional, and amateur levels. These sports originated in the 19th century out of older games related to modern rugby football , more specifically rugby union football. Early on, American and Canadian football developed alongside (but independently from) each other; the root of the game known as "football" today originates with an 1874 game between Harvard and McGill Universities , following which

630-859: Is usually called " soccer " in Australian English . The governing body for American football in Australia is Gridiron Australia . Similarly, in the UK American football is known as American football, as "football" is used to refer to soccer . The sport developed from informal games played in North America during the 19th century. Early games had a variety of local rules and were generally similar to modern rugby union and soccer . The earliest recorded instance of gridiron football occurred at University of Toronto's University College in November 1861. Later in

675-404: Is worth two). At the college and professional levels, the defense can also score on a try, but only on the same scale (thus a botched try the defense returns for a touchdown scores only two points and not six). Kickoffs occur after every touchdown and field goal. If a team is in its own end zone and commits a foul, is tackled with the ball, or bats, fumbles, kicks or throws the ball backward out of

720-406: The western provinces , demanded changes to the game based on the innovations in American football. Over the years, the sport adopted more Americanized rules, though it retained some of its historical features, including a 110-yard (100 m) field, 12-player teams, and three downs instead of four. Around the same time Camp devised the rules for American football, the Canadian game would develop in

765-594: The 1860s, teams from universities were playing each other, leading to more standardized rules and the creation of college football . While several American schools adopted rules based on the soccer rules of the English Football Association , Harvard University held to its traditional "carrying game". Meanwhile, McGill University in Montreal used rules based on rugby union . In 1874, Harvard and McGill organized two games using each other's rules. Harvard took

810-551: The 1970s ), and a distinctive brown leather ball in the shape of a prolate spheroid with pointed ends. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF); although the organization plays all of its international competitions under American rules, it uses a definition of the game that is broad enough that it includes Canadian football under its umbrella, and Football Canada (the governing body for Canadian football)

855-461: The American school adopted the Canadian school's more rugby-like rules. Over time, Canadian teams adopted features of the American variant of the game and vice versa. Both varieties are distinguished from other football sports by their use of hard plastic helmets and shoulder pads , the forward pass , the system of downs , a number of unique rules and positions , measurement in customary units of yards (even in Canada, which largely metricated in

900-587: The Longhorns 13 - 0. The 2000–2001 season saw the Spartans win their most recent flag, capping off a great year for the club, becoming the first club to win Senior, Junior Contact and Flag Football premierships. The Spartans currently hold 3 Senior and 2 Junior Contact premiership flags. Over many years, the Spartans have forged themselves into one of the dominant teams in the league. Through many years of hard-fought matches,

945-486: The Spartans have formed a long-term rivalry with their cross-town counterparts, the Razorbacks . This rivalry has seen the majority of league Grand Finals contested between the two clubs. This American football team article is a stub . You can help Misplaced Pages by expanding it . Gridiron football Gridiron football ( / ˈ ɡ r ɪ d aɪ . ər n / GRID -eye-ərn ), also known as North American football, or in North America as simply football ,

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990-415: The ball carrier at any time the ball is in play, provided they do not grab the face mask of the helmet or make helmet-to-helmet contact when doing so. At any time, the player with the ball can attempt a backward, or lateral, pass to any other player in order to keep the ball in play; this is generally rare. Any player on defense can, at any time, attempt to intercept a forward pass in flight, at which point

1035-405: The ball carrier is tackled, or, if the ball is kicked out of bounds , let the ball go dead on its own (the last case usually happens when the ball is kicked all the way into or through the opponent's end zone, resulting in a touchback and the ball being brought several yards out of the end zone to begin play). A kicking team can, under special circumstances, attempt to recover its own kick , but

1080-500: The design. The surface of a game court—as opposed to simply playing on concrete or asphalt—is designed for safe play and to reduce injury. Many people have started to use suspended athletic courts to cover old athletic courts like tennis courts and basketball courts. The surface should provide appropriate traction for various types of sports and activities, as well as shock or force reduction to minimize overuse and stress injuries. Game courts are typically custom-designed to

1125-399: The end of a quarter.) After the halftime break, a new kickoff occurs. Whichever team has more points at the end of the game is declared the winner; in the event of a tie, each league has its own rules for overtime to break the tie. Because of the nature of the game, pure sudden-death overtimes have been abolished at all levels of the game as of 2012. At all adult levels of the game, a game

1170-498: The entire field of play , but to the section of the field on which batting and bowling take place in the centre of the field. The pitch is prepared differently from the rest of the field, to provide a harder surface for bowling. A pitch is often a regulation space, as in an association football pitch . The term level playing field is also used metaphorically to mean fairness in non-sporting human activities such as business where there are notional winners and losers. Game court

1215-433: The field of play through the same end zone, the defense scores a safety , worth two points. After a try, safety or field goal, the team that had possession of the ball goes back to the middle of the field and kicks the ball off to their opponent, and play continues as it did in the beginning of the game. Play continues until halftime . (Each team switches their side of the field with the other halfway through each half, at

1260-405: The foul, places the ball at the one-yard line. In contrast, a defensive team can score points as a direct result of a penalty; if the offense commits a foul under the same scenario, the defensive team receives two points and a free kick. In all other circumstances (except for the open-ended and extremely rare unfair act clause), a penalty cannot exceed more than half the distance to the end zone. If

1305-445: The game from rugby. Many of these early innovations were the work of Walter Camp , including the sport's line of scrimmage and the system of downs . Another consequential change was the adoption of the forward pass in 1906, which allowed the quarterback to throw the ball forward over the line of scrimmage to a receiver. Canadian football remained akin to rugby for decades, though a progressive faction of players, chiefly based in

1350-444: The interests of the family or organization, and are versatile in enabling a wide variety of sports to be played in a relatively small space. Some activities played on a game court are enjoyable modifications of other sports (such as short-court tennis) that allow for similar skills to be developed as the 'regulation' game, but on a reduced-scale court size. A typical game court of 50 by 30 feet (15.2 m × 9.1 m) might include

1395-405: The kicked ball passes through the goal set at the edge of the opponent's end zone, the team scores three points. (Four-point field goals have been offered in a few variations of the game under special rules, but the NFL, college and high school football only offer three-point field goals.) In Canada, any kick that goes into the end zone and is not returned, whether it be a punt or a missed field goal,

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1440-447: The line), who must catch the ball before it touches the ground. The play stops when a player with the ball touches any part of their body other than hand or foot to the ground, runs out of the boundaries of the field, is obstructed from making further forward progress, or a forward pass hits the ground without being caught (in the last case, the ball returns to the spot it was snapped). To stop play, players on defense are allowed to tackle

1485-478: The official term is field of play , although this is not regularly used by those outside refereeing/umpiring circles. The field of play generally includes out-of-bounds areas that a player is likely to enter while playing a match, such as the area beyond the touchlines in association football and rugby or the sidelines in American and Canadian football , or the " foul territory " in baseball . The surface of

1530-425: The opponent. Whether this yardage is measured from the original spot of the ball before the play, the spot of the illegal action, or the end of the play depends on the individual foul. The most common penalties include false start (when an offensive player jumps to begin the play before the ball is snapped, a five-yard penalty), holding (the grabbing of a player other than the ball carrier to obstruct their progress;

1575-464: The penalty would be less advantageous than the result of the actual play, then the team not committing the penalty can decline it. In order to keep play moving, the offense must make a certain amount of progress (10 yards in most leagues) within a certain number of plays (3 in Canada, 4 in the United States), called downs . If the offense does indeed make this progress, a first down is achieved, and

1620-472: The previous play, and a play clock is kept to enforce the measure.) Once the ball is snapped, the play has commenced, and the offense's goal is to continue advancing the ball toward their opponent's end zone . This can be done either by running with the ball or by a rule unique to football known as the forward pass . In a forward pass, a player from behind the line of scrimmage throws the ball to an eligible receiver (another back or one player on each end of

1665-407: The rules of the game make it very difficult to do so reliably, and so this tactic is usually only used as a surprise or desperation maneuver. At this point, play from scrimmage begins. The team in possession of the ball is on offense and the opponent is on defense . The offense is given a set amount of time (up to forty seconds, depending on the governing body), during which the teams can set up

1710-468: The same way (but separately) from the American game; the Burnside rules were instrumental in establishing many of the rules for the modern game. The best NFL players are among the highest paid athletes in the world. This is a minimal description of the game in general, with elements common to all or almost all variants of the game. For more specific rules, see each code's individual articles. Prior to

1755-414: The snapper, who handles the ball before play commences; the rest can (and almost always do) line up behind the line. Neither the offense nor the defense can cross the line of scrimmage before the play commences. Once the formation is set, the snapper snaps the ball to one of the players behind him. (A snapper must snap the ball within 20 to 25 seconds of the official setting the ball back into position after

1800-410: The sport's once-characteristic playing field : the original American football and Canadian football fields were marked by a series of parallel lines along both the width and length of the field, which produced a grid pattern resembling a cross-hatched cooking gridiron . The ball would be snapped in the grid in which it was downed on the previous play. By 1920, the grid system was abandoned in favor of

1845-405: The start of a game, a coin toss determines which team will decide if they want to kick off the ball to their opponent, or receive the ball from their opponent. Each team lines up on opposite halves of the field, with a minimum ten yards of space between them for the kickoff. The team receiving the ball can make a fair catch (which stops the play immediately), catch the ball and run it back until

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1890-446: The system of yard lines and hash marks used today. The International Federation of American Football (IFAF), uses "American football" inclusive of Canadian football and other varieties. In Australia, American football is often referred to as "gridiron" or (in more formal contexts) "American football", as " football " usually refers to Australian rules football , rugby league or rugby union , similar to how association football

1935-418: The team gains possession; they can also gain possession by recovering a fumble or stripping the ball away from the ball carrier (a "forced fumble"). A typical play can last between five and twenty seconds. If any illegal action happens during the play, then the results of the previous play are erased and a penalty is assessed, forcing the offending team to surrender between five and fifteen yards of field to

1980-456: The team gets 3 or 4 more plays to achieve another 10 yards. If not, the offense loses possession to their opponent at the spot where the ball is. More commonly, however, the team on offense will, if they have a minimal chance of gaining a first down and have only one play left to do it ( fourth down in the U.S., third down in Canada), attempt a scrimmage kick . There are two types of scrimmage kick:

2025-825: Was popularized by Sport Court in the 1970s, and some generic references are made to game courts as 'sport courts', although that is a trademark of Connor Sport Court International, LLC. Game courts are often found in residential backyards, giving families and children opportunities for healthy recreation close to home. Game courts are usually constructed using a rectangular sub-base made from concrete or asphalt, then covered with an open-grid modular polypropylene (or similar) sports surface to improve safety. Most feature athletic equipment such as basketball goals, net systems for racquet sports, volleyball and badminton, lights for nighttime play, fencing or ball containment netting, hockey/soccer goals, lines or markings for various sports, and practice or training components can also be incorporated into

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