How can American Football be called a sport?

Question

I have watched American Football and i cant see how its a sport. Someone throws a ball and everyone chases it untill it goes outside the pitch or someone falls over, then they restart and go all over again. thats not sport

Answer 1

Well, they call cricket a sport, and thats just an excuse for gay men to hang out.

Answer 2

The reason why it is a sport is because it takes so many factors that need to be focus on in every single play. Unlike the joke of a sport called 'soccer' football is more entertaining, physical, stategic, and more fun to actually play. You do so much more than kick a ball on a massive field with one huge net that people hardly get too and fake injuries to get a penalty called. The only thing i respect about soccer is that you have to be in absolute physical condition and to that I applaud them because they endure more than I can imagine, but American football, once understood is very, very, very entertaining. It may also be difficult to follow it if you are not from America because you don't get that feeling of being apart of a team that you are close to as far as geographically wise, and I assume its the same way for americans with Soccer. I really shouldnt say its not a sport, i personally dont care for it and I dont represent everyone else.

Answer 3

I'm not sure what you were watching, but it doesn't sound like American Football. First of all, no one throws a ball to be chased. There is a plan strategically picked. Sometimes the ball is thrown in accordance to this plan, sometimes the ball is ran, sometimes the ball is kicked. No one chases the ball. The point is to try and intercept and receive this ball. If that fails, then you try to either block to help your teammate, tackle the person who has the ball, etc. EIther way, you have to be ready to change your strategy according to what happens during that play. And, for the record - rarely does anyone "fall over." It's called a tackle. And no, I don't believe anything is restarted or done all over again. I've never seen the game where either team ever repeats the same play or actions right after each other. I'm not that educated on the sport, but it's quite complicated, interesting, and challenging. Now, I feel I've confused you because it's obvious from your question you don't know what you were watching. So, let me answer this in a simpler way (apparently you like to see things simply) - it's a tough man's sport.

Answer 4

Of course American Football is a sport. It has clear rules (they take a few matches to get used to, but they're not so complicated that you can't follow 95% of plays pretty quickly), requires extreme athleticism and teamwork, and can be elevated to a strange kind of beauty by its greatest exponents - just like (Association) Football, Cricket, Rugby and so on.

The only so-called sports which aren't are those with marks for "style" or "artistic merit" like ice dance, synchronised swimming or freestyle snowboarding. It's a sport if the referee is restricted to deciding if you broke the rules (stepped out of bounds, tripped a player intentionally etc); it's not if (s)he can give you marks for wearing a nice outfit. Those fake sports may be physically demanding and require power and grace - but then so does ballet.

Answer 5

What do you consider to be a sport then? Dominos? A huge number of sports involve people chasing a ball of some description!

I admit that I would love to see an American "Football" team invited over to the UK to play a decent Rugby League side, eg. Bath or Leicester. It'd be fun to watch them try and play without all that protective clothing!

Answer 6

a sport is anything where there are two teams going against eachother for something there has to be an offense and a defense as long as their are those two things it is a sport

american football, baseball, basketball, hockey, soccer, boxing are some sports
golf, fishing, swimming, running, and winter sports are not sports but are called sports

Answer 7

Football isnt only a Sport is also the Smartest sport currently play in the planet. Compare to other Sports that dont require you to be So Smart and physical, like Soccer(running around With a ball pass to pass EASY) While football is Complex that's why People from other countries that dont live in a complex Society like "ours" find the sport an unsport, its way beyond their comprehension.

Answer 8

Sport is something that involves exercise so surely snooker and darts dont count as sports, and you run about in american football, it is also very tactical, lots more than soccer or whatever.

Answer 9

Alright wrong football in America it's soccer here. Football here isn't played on a pitch but a field

Answer 10

I don't know how people can stereotype the whole of America, the sport is one of the most popular in the country, i knew very little about it before i came to university (in England) and as a joke i joined my team and the more i learnt the rules the more i enjoyed it. Its a very complicated sport admittedly but the more you understand the rules the more you enjoy it.
though it stops it requires a great amount of athleticism, skill and endurance from the entire team, and as said before its very team driven.

I don't think people should make such judgements about something without knowing a little more about it.

Answer 11

It is the most complete team sport there is. Unlike most sports one man cannot dominate without everyone working together. If that is all you think the sport is then you obviously don't understand the sport. Because you don't understand the game does not make it not a sport. There is alot of strategy to the game. It can be like a physical kind of chess.