A History of NFL

OK so here goes, if you don't already know me my names James and I live in the UK. I am a huge fan of American football and follow the Philadelphia Eagles. I have decided to create this blog about the sport I have grown to love so I can share some of my views and give you an incite in to the world that is the NFL.

As an introduction I am just going to let you in on the history of the NFL and how it has grown to become one of the most exciting and watched sports across the globe.

The national football league was founded in 1920 by 11 teams, only two of which are still around today. (Arizona and Chicago) The Green Bay Packers joined the league in 1921 and hold the record for the longest running team with an unchanged name and have always played their games in Wisconsin.

The first ever NFL championship game was in 1933 when the Chicago bears and the Portsmouth Spartans ended the year with the same record. The idea of a championship game at the end of the season proved to be lucrative and so the following season the league was split in two and the winners of each division would play for the Championship. throughout the 1930's the game grew stronger and in 1936 the NFL began to 'draft' players out of college.

During the 1940's the NFL struggled due to the second world war with dwindling numbers they were forced to shrink the league, but once the war was over the NFL started where it left off, with the introduction of televised games the league had national coverage and in 1958 a championship game between the Baltimore Colts and the New York Giants was shown live on the NBC network and was dubbed "the greatest game ever played."

1958 Championship Game

With all this Success came competition. In 1959 a rival league was created called the American Football League(AFL). it quickly became a viable alternative as they drew young talented players away from the NFL by offering bigger contracts and more money. In 1966 the NFL had no choice but to offer a merger to the AFL and a deal was struck. it wasnt until 1970 until the two leagues officially merged creating one League split in to two conferences. The National Football conference (NFC) was made up of teams from the original NFL and the American Football Conference (AFC) compromised of teams from the AFL. the winners of each conference would then meet in a Championship game which is known as the Super Bowl. That game is now second behind the UEFA champions league final as the most watched Sporting event in the world.

The winner of the Super bowl is presented with 'Vince Lombardi Trophy' it is named after the head coach of the Green Bay packers who won the first ever Super bowl in 1967 and again in 1968. he died in 1970 of cancer and from that point on it has been dedicated to him. The Super Bowl trophy is unlike any other as a new one is made every year by Tiffany & Co and is not passed on from winner to winner.

New York Giants Head Coach lifting the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl  XLVI

I hope this first entry wasn't to boring for you and you took something away from it, my next entry I will be breaking down the modern NFL looking at the conferences, divisions, teams and schedules. Once I've got the hang of this Blog writing I'll be posting about up to date news and topics from all over the NFL on a weekly basis, so thanks for reading and come back soon!