Instruct: Given a question, retrieve documents that can help answer the question.
Query: How many players does each team have on the field in an American football game?
A football game is played between two teams of 11 players each.[32][33][34] Playing with more on the field is punishable by a penalty.[32][35][36] Teams may substitute any number of their players between downs;[37][38][39] this "platoon" system replaced the original system, which featured limited substitution rules, and has resulted in teams utilizing specialized offensive, defensive and special teams squads.[40]
The player controls a five-man football team, actively controlling one team member at a time, with the computer controlling the rest. As in traditional American football, the player's team must score more points than the opponent's team within the time limit of the game. The game consists of four quarters, each a simulated 15 minutes in length, and takes place on a horizontally scrolling 100-yard simulated football field.
Strategy forms a major part of the game of American football, and both teams plan many aspects of their plays (offense) and response to plays (defense), such as what formations they take, who they put on the field, and the roles and instructions each player are given. Throughout a game, each team adapts to the apparent strengths and weaknesses of the other team, trying various approaches to outmaneuver or overpower their opponent to score more points in order to win the game.
Traditionally, the onside kick had its own formation, in which the other ten players of the kicking team would line up on one side (left or right) of the kicker, in an effort to get as many people as possible into one area of the field. This is still popular in high school football; however, the NCAA (and later the NFL) now require that at least four players line up on each side of the kicker. To combat this, some teams (including the Buffalo Bills, who pioneered this strategy) developed a "cluster formation" in which all of the players line up behind and immediately next to the kicker in what is effectively a moving huddle. The NFL eventually banned this, too, with a 2009 rule change that states that "the kicking team cannot have more than five players bunched together"; the rule change has been considered a gratuitous targeting of Bills special teams coach Bobby April, as the ostensible reason for the ban (injury risk) had negligible evidence to support it. Effective with the 2018 season, the NFL requires that the kicking team line up with five players on each side of the ball.
An onside kick is usually a desperation technique used when the kicking team trails in the score with little time left in the game, in order to regain the ball and score again. The trade-off is that, in the usual case that the receiving team does get possession of the ball, it will have better field position and will need to advance the ball fewer yards in order to score. However, in the desperation situation, initial field position becomes less relevant, as the receiving team may focus on running the clock out and ending the game. If the kicking team succeeds in retaining possession, then the clock does not automatically stop as it would if the ball were transferred between teams (though it may stop for other reasons).
Camping was a Medieval football game popular in parts of East Anglia. Of all the traditional forms of football played in Europe, it appears to have been one of the toughest and most dangerous. Matches were often between rival parishes and stirred local passions particularly when a prize was played for. The game was very rough and injuries many, as teams could field as many players as they wished. The neighbouring parishes of Hawstead and Cockfield each had their own Camp "(football ground)". Lawshall's Camping field was located south of The Street.
The basic choice of teams span from the 1966 Green Bay Packers (the winners of Super Bowl I) to the 1982 Washington Redskins (the winners of Super Bowl XVII - the most recent Super Bowl as of the game's release). The game uses a top-down perspective in order to properly simulate the football field. The game shows the football field as a small, thin strip divided into ten-yard lines. Four basic graphics (the blue players playing the role as the defense and the black players playing the role as the offense) are considered to be "simulated American football players." A notable criticism of the game is that having X's and O's would have been more realistic (because coaches use these in real-life football to write playbooks for the team players).
What is considered to be the first American football game was played on November 6, 1869, between Rutgers and Princeton, two college teams. The game was played between two teams of 25 players each and used a round ball that could not be picked up or carried. It could, however, be kicked or batted with the feet, hands, head or sides, with the ultimate goal being to advance it into the opponent's goal. Rutgers won the game 6 goals to 4.[9][10] Collegiate play continued for several years in which matches were played using the rules of the host school. Representatives of Yale, Columbia, Princeton and Rutgers met on October 19, 1873 to create a standard set of rules for all schools to adhere to. Teams were set at 20 players each, and fields of 400 by 250 feet (122m ×76m) were specified. Harvard abstained from the conference, as they favored a rugby-style game that allowed running with the ball.[10] After playing McGill University using both Canadian and American rules, the Harvard players preferred the Canadian style having only 11 men on the field, running the ball without having to be chased by an opponent, the forward pass, tackling, and using an oblong instead of a round ball.[11][12]
Up to four interchange (reserve) players may be swapped for those on the field at any time during the game. In Australian rules terminology, these players wait for substitution "on the bench"—an area with a row of seats on the sideline. Players must interchange through a designated interchange "gate" with strict penalties for too many players from one team on the field. In addition, some leagues have each team designate one player as a substitute who can be used to make a single permanent exchange of players during a game.
Depending on the skill of the players, the available playing field, and the purpose of the game, the rules other than the tackling aspect may remain mostly the same or vary considerably from traditional American football. Touch football can be played by teams as few as two or as many as eleven on each side; usually, games consist of teams of four to seven.
As a team in the WSFL, Xplosion is considered a semi-professional Women's American football team. While most teams in the WSFL are 11 player, there is also a division consisting of 8 player teams. Three Rivers Xplosion participates in the later division, having 8 players on the field during their games. They play the full-contact, tackle version of American football with rules similar to those in the NFL. Xplosion practices and plays their games at local South Side schools and stadiums, with one their frequently utilized facilities being Quarry Field.
The 12th man or 12th player is a term for fans of teams in eleven-a-side sports games, particularly association football (soccer) or American football. As most football leagues allow a maximum of eleven players per team on the playing field at a time, referring to a team's fans as the 12th man implies that they have a potentially helpful role in the game. Infrequently, the term has referred to individuals having a notable connection to their football team. In Canadian football, 12 players are usually on the field at one time and the term 13th man is often used to refer to fans. Similarly, in Australian rules football, 18 players are on the field and the fans are often referred to as the 19th man. The term has a different meaning in cricket, referring instead to the first substitute player who fields when a member of the fielding side is injured (the term 6th man has a similar connotation in basketball).
In American football since the 1950s, most upper level teams use a three-platoon system, each with its own starting lineup. The starting lineups for offense and defense, each with eleven players, typically get the most attention. The starting lineups are defined as the eleven players who take the first offensive or defensive play from scrimmage of a given game. (An offensive player does not have to be on the team that gets possession first to be considered a starter, nor does a defensive player have to be on the team that does not; the first play from scrimmage after the first change of possession counts as well.) The third platoon, special teams, in modern times is composed mostly of backup and reserve players from the offensive or defensive platoons, with the exception of the placekicker or punter; the players who, for instance, take part in the opening kickoff are typically not considered starters.
Each team must have four players (a goalie and three defenders typically), on their defensive side of the field at all times. They must also have three players (usually three attackmen) on their offensive side of the ball at all times. The remaining three players (usually midfielders or middies) are free to roam the field as they please during the game. There are ten players on the field at a time. Still each team is allowed a maximum of seven players on their half of the field at a team and six players on their opponents’ side of the field at a time with the goalie being the extra man. Like hockey, substitutions are considered “on the fly” meaning that the players may enter and exit the field during gameplay assuming each team has a maximum of ten players on the field at the time. The game essentially has the same rules as hockey and is played both indoor (box lacrosse) and outdoor (full field).
Depending on the skill of the players, the available playing field, and the purpose of the game, the rules other than the tackling aspect may remain mostly the same or vary considerably from traditional American football. Touch football can be played by teams as few as two or as many as eleven on each side; usually, games consist of teams of four to seven.
Game play in American football consists of a series of "downs", individual plays of short duration, outside of which the ball is "dead" or not in play. These can be plays from scrimmage – passes, runs, punts, or field goal attempts (from either a place kick or a drop kick) – or free kicks such as kickoffs and fair catch kicks. Substitutions can be made between downs, which allows for a great deal of specialization as coaches choose the players best suited for each particular situation. During a play, each team should have no more than 11 players on the field, and each of them has specific tasks assigned for that specific play.
Bandy is a team winter sport played on ice, in which skaters use sticks to direct a ball into the opposing team's goal. The rules of the game have many similarities to those of association football. The game is played on a rectangle of ice, the same size as a football field. Each team has eleven players, one of whom is the goalkeeper. A standard bandy match consists of two halves of 45 minutes each. The offside rule is also similar to that observed in football.
The NFL preseason begins with the Pro Football Hall of Fame Game, played at Fawcett Stadium in Canton.[65] Each NFL team is required to schedule four preseason games, two of which must be at its home stadium, but the teams involved in the Hall of Fame game, as well as any teams playing in an American Bowl game, play five preseason games.[66] Preseason games are exhibition matches and do not count towards regular-season totals.[67] Because the preseason does not count towards standings, teams generally do not focus on winning games; instead, they are used by coaches to evaluate their teams and by players to show their performance, both to their current team and to other teams if they get cut.[29] The quality of preseason games has been criticized by some fans, who dislike having to pay full price for exhibition games,[68] as well as by some players and coaches, who dislike the risk of injury the games have, while others have felt the preseason is a necessary part of the NFL season.[29][68]
In American football each team has 11 players on the field at one time. The specific role that a player takes on the field is called their "position". Under the modern rules of American football, teams are allowed unlimited substitutions; that is, teams may change any number of players after any play. This has resulted in the development of three "platoons" of players: the offense (the team with the ball, which is trying to score), the defense (the team trying to prevent the other team from scoring, and to take the ball from them), and the special teams (who play in kicking situations). Within those platoons, various specific positions exist depending on what each player's main job is.
The first international American football game played by Israel was played 17 May 2012 in Baptist village near Petah Tikva, when the Israeli national team met Maranatha Baptist Bible College. For Israeli players it was first ever game on 100 yards field in 11 players team. In the IFL American football is played on 60 yard fields by 9 player teams (in 2012, the IFL played with 8 player teams). The game finished with a 49 - 6 Maranatha win.
Speculation as to why the Alabama–Auburn series was discontinued was originally thought to have been done as a safety precaution due violence both on the field and amongst the fans in the 1907 game. Instead, the game was canceled due to a disagreement between the schools on how much per diem to allow players for the trip to Birmingham, how many players each school should bring and where to find officials, and by the time all these matters were resolved, it was too late to play in 1908. For forty years the two teams failed to play each other, even though they were in the same state and members of the same conferences. Finally, pressure from the state legislature resulted in the renewal of the rivalry in 1948.
Many variations of the game exist, but generally paper football games vaguely emulate American football. The two opposing teams (usually two opposing players) sit facing each other over the play area. A coin (or, a specially-marked football) is flipped to see who kicks off to start the game. After the kickoff the teams advance the Ball by flicking it across the field. Each flick represents a drive in American football, with the goal being to score a touchdown. Games may be as simple as flicking the ball back and forth in a fashion similar to "field goals," or as involved as including simulations of events from "touchbacks" to "penalties" to "first downs".
American teams use eleven players, while Canadian teams have twelve players on the field per side. Both games have the same number of offensive players required at the line of scrimmage, so the twelfth player in the Canadian game plays a backfield position on offence, whereas this is usually a defensive back on defence.
Although the number of players participating in the game is somewhat unimportant, the number of players from each team on the field must be equal and is normally about thirty from each team. In many games the players are split into three groups on the field. One group or the "pole men" guard their own goal to prevent the other team from scoring. The second group is placed in the middle of the field and is responsible for moving the ball down the field towards the goal to score points, and the third group or "returners" are gathered around the opponent's pole to help their team score points on the opposing team's pole. Due to the nature of the game and the number of players trying to retrieve one ball, injuries are unavoidable.
On each game day, the roster must be reduced to 45 players who will actually participate in the game. This number must include no more than 3 "American" players. In EFAF rules an "American" is defined as a player with an American, Canadian, Mexican, or Japanese passport. There is no restriction on how many of these 3 can be on the field at the same time.
There are a number of references to traditional, ancient, or prehistoric ball games, played by indigenous peoples in many different parts of the world. For example, in 1586, men from a ship commanded by an English explorer named John Davis, went ashore to play a form of football with Inuit (Eskimo) people in Greenland. There are later accounts of an Inuit game played on ice, called "Aqsaqtuk". Each match began with two teams facing each other in parallel lines, before attempting to kick the ball through each other team's line and then at a goal. In 1610, William Strachey, a colonist at Jamestown, Virginia recorded a game played by Native Americans, called "Pahsaheman". On the Australian continent several tribes of indigenous people played kicking and catching games with stuffed balls which have been generalised by historians as "Marn Grook" (Djab Wurrung for "game ball"). The earliest historical account is an anecdote from the 1878 book by Robert Brough-Smyth, "The Aborigines of Victoria", in which a man called Richard Thomas is quoted as saying, in about 1841 in Victoria, Australia, that he had witnessed Aboriginal people playing the game: "Mr Thomas describes how the foremost player will drop kick a ball made from the skin of a possum and how other players leap into the air in order to catch it." Some historians have theorised that "Marn Grook" was one of the origins of Australian rules football.