[OmegaSupreme]

How old is American Football? When was the 1st bigA stadium built?

Australian Rules Football (NOT RUGBY!) was created in the 1850s, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (now the 10th largest stadium in the world) opened in 1853, though it was first used for Aussie rules in 1876

Capacity and attendance was a lot less back then. The biggest football attendance at the ground was 121,696 for the 1970 grand final. Now that's a crowd!

NFL viewership, on a per capita basis, is huge in Australia... I just wish we had the opportunity to play American Football when I was growing up. Beauty of that game is that there is a position for everyone

[ScoopLV]

Originally Posted by OmegaSupreme

How old is American Football? When was the 1st bigA stadium built?

Australian Rules Football (NOT RUGBY!) was created in the 1850s, and the Melbourne Cricket Ground (now the 10th largest stadium in the world) opened in 1853, though it was first used for Aussie rules in 1876

Capacity and attendance was a lot less back then. The biggest football attendance at the ground was 121,696 for the 1970 grand final. Now that's a crowd!

NFL viewership, on a per capita basis, is huge in Australia... I just wish we had the opportunity to play American Football when I was growing up. Beauty of that game is that there is a position for everyone

American football started in the years following the Civil War -- late 1860s. By the turn of the 20th century, it was America's most popular sport. Upwards of 100,000 people attended giant bowls to watch college football. The Yale/Harvard game was at the time the most-attended sporting event in the world.

Both footy and football predate soccer.

[Buzz123]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Actually, what they do across the pond is the poor imitation. We'd already been playing football for 30 years when soccer as we know it came into being. Europeans just assume their version of soccer is older because they assume EVERYTHING in Europe is older than the Americas.

We were building 90,000-seat college bowls by the time soccer leagues started organizing in Europe.

I did not know that. Interesting.

[newopty]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

American football started in the years following the Civil War -- late 1860s. By the turn of the 20th century, it was America's most popular sport. Upwards of 100,000 people attended giant bowls to watch college football. The Yale/Harvard game was at the time the most-attended sporting event in the world.

Both footy and football predate soccer.

I didn't know that. Maybe the rest of the world should rename football to soccer. We had football first.

[ScoopLV]

Actually the Australians were playing their version of football 10 years before us. And unlike America, where many people "don't follow football" or "don't care for football," I can't think of any Australian who isn't a die-hard fan of their local team. Their games are something to see -- the crowds can be immense. And AFL isn't going to be a boring 0-0 tie like most soccer games are.

[mijoro]

John Cleese rants - Soccer vs Football - YouTube

[mijoro]

Originally Posted by ScoopLV

Actually the Australians were playing their version of football 10 years before us. And unlike America, where many people "don't follow football" or "don't care for football," I can't think of any Australian who isn't a die-hard fan of their local team. Their games are something to see -- the crowds can be immense. And AFL isn't going to be a boring 0-0 tie like most soccer games are.

I am from queensland and Rugby League is followed more so than AFL which used to be known as VFL

[owelles]

This thread sure veered off from pizza and Italian beef sandwiches, didn't it?

[C_A_Braun]

I will always prefer Giordano's over Gino's but I like the cheese filled crust. I once drove all the way to Chicago (from So. Calif.) specifically for a pie from Giordano's.