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A comparison of American football and rugby league can be made due to their shared origins, resulting in similarities and shared concepts in terms of scoring and advancing the ball.

Contents 1 Origins 2 The field 2.1 Advancing the ball 3 Passing 4 Tackles and blocks 5 Scoring 6 Players 7 See also 8 External links

British colonists and the British military in Canada brought rugby to North America. It along with association football became popular in American and Canadian universities. At the time soccer and rugby were not as differentiated as they are now and teams would negotiate the rules before playing a game. The sport of American football evolved from these intercollegiate games.

Meanwhile in England a schism developed between those who favoured strict amateurism and those who felt that players should be compensated for time taken off work to play rugby. In 1895 this resulted in the formation of a break-away sport, rugby league, the rules of the two codes of rugby union and league would themselves diverge.

American football is played on a rectangular field 120 yards (110 meters) long by 53 1/3 yards (49 meters) wide. Near each end of the field is a goal line; they are 100 yards apart. A scoring area called an end zone extends 10 yards beyond each goal line. Yard lines cross the field every 5 yards, two rows of hash marks run parallel to the side lines near the middle of the field. At the back of each end zone, there are two goal posts that are 18.5 feet apart (24 feet in high school). The posts are connected by a crossbar 10 feet from the ground.

A rugby league field is very similar, it is 120 metres long and about half that in width, there is a line across the field every ten metres. An in-goal area extends six to twelve meters beyond each goal-line. At the goal line are a set of goal posts in the shape of the letter 'H', used for other forms of point scoring: field goal, penalty goal and conversion.

In American football, the team that's in possession of the ball (the offense) has four downs, to advance the ball 10 yards towards the end zone. When the offense gains 10 yards, it gets another set of four downs. If the offense fails to gain 10 yards after 4 downs, it loses possession of the ball.

The ball is put into play by a snap. All players line up facing each other at the line of scrimmage. One offensive player, the center, then passes (or "snaps") the ball between his legs to a teammate, usually the quarterback.

Players can then advance the ball in two ways:

• By running with the ball, also known as rushing. One ball-carrier can hand the ball to another; this is known as a handoff.
• By passing the ball forwards to a team-mate.

A down ends, and the ball becomes dead, after any of the following:

• The player with the ball is tackled.
• A forward pass goes out of bounds or touches the ground before it is caught. This is known as an incomplete pass. The ball is returned to the original line of scrimmage for the next down.
• The ball or the player with the ball goes out of bounds.
• The player either goes or is forced out of the field (out of bounds)
• A team scores.

This closely resembles the six-tackle rule in rugby league. The team in possession has a "set of six" tackles before having to hand over possession. The key difference is that there is no automatic way of earning a new set of tackles in rugby league. Play stops when the player in possession of the ball is tackled and play restarts on the next tackle.

Possession may change in different ways in both games:-

1. An automatic handover takes place when the team in possession runs out of downs / tackles.
2. When the ball is kicked to the opposing team. This can be done at any time but it is normal to punt on the last down / tackle.
3. Following an unsuccessful kick at goal.
4. When an opposing player intercepts a pass.
5. In rugby league the opposition are awarded a scrum if the player in possession drops the ball forwards or makes the ball go forwards with any part of his body other than his feet. This is called a knock-on.
6. When the player in possession drops the ball and it is recovered by an opposition player. This is called a fumble in American football and a knock-on in rugby league.
7. In rugby league if the ball goes out of play, the opposition are awarded a scrum the "loose head and feed" of the scrum. Penalties and 40/20 kicks are exceptions to this rule.
8. In American football possession changes hands following a successful score and the team scoring must now kick off to the opposition. In contrast, in rugby league the team who conceded the points must kick off to the team who scored.

In both codes, tactical kicking is an important aspect of play.

In American football, the offense can throw the ball forward once on a play from behind the line of scrimmage. The forward pass is a distinguishing feature of American and Canadian football as it is strictly forbidden in rugby league.

The ball can be thrown sideways or backwards without restriction in both games. In American football this is known as a lateral and is much less common than in rugby league.

In both codes, if the ball is caught by an opposition player this results in an interception and possession changes hands.

See also tackle (football move)

In both games it is permitted to bring down the player in possession of the ball and prevent them making forward progress. Play then restarts from the next down or tackle. In rugby league, it is common for the player in possession to 'off-load' the ball, passing out of the tackle (before forward progress is halted) in order not to use up a tackle and to keep the play alive.

In American football, players are allowed to 'block' players without the ball, this is not permitted in rugby league and would be considered 'obstruction'. Players not in posession of the ball may not interfere with each other.

A try is the rugby equivalent of a touchdown. Unlike American football, rugby league requires the ball to be grounded; in American football, it is sufficient for the player carrying the ball to cause the ball to enter the end zone (in-goal area) while still in bounds, by carrying it in or holding the ball in or through the imaginary plane of the goal line. In American football a touchdown scores 6 points; in rugby league it is worth 4 points.

In both games, following a try / touchdown, there is the opportunity to score additional points by kicking the ball between the posts and over the bar. In American football this is called an extra point (worth 1 point), in rugby league it is known as a conversion (worth 2 points). There are two key differences between an extra point and a conversion, conversions cannot be charged down like an extra point attempt but they must be taken from the same position as the try was scored. Hence it is important to score under the posts rather than in the corner which makes for a difficult kick.

In American football teams often opt to go for a field goal (worth 3 points) rather than attempt a touchdown. The rugby league, also called a field goal is worth only one point. The key difference between a field goal in the two sports is that an American football field goal attempt is normally kicked with a team-mate holding the ball, whereas in rugby league the field goal is attempted using a drop-kick.

A similar concept in rugby league is the penalty goal. Following the award of the penalty, the attacking team may opt to kick for goal rather than advance the ball by hand or punting. This scores 2 points in league. The penalty goal is similar to a field goal in American football in that the ball is kicked from the ground and may be held by a team-mate (although almost never is), but it cannot be charged down. There is no direct equivalent to a penalty goal in American football.

American football has one further method of scoring which does not exist in rugby league. If a ball carrier is tackled in their own endzone (in-goal area) with the ball, this results in a safety which scores 2 points. In rugby league this does not result in any points but causes the team in possession to kick the ball back to the opposition from under the posts.

See also American football positions, Rugby league positions

An American football team has 11 players on the field at a time. However, teams may substitute for any or all of their players, if time allows, during the break between plays. As a result, players have very specialized roles, and almost all of the 53 players on an NFL team will play in any given game. Thus, teams are divided into three separate units: the offense, the defense and the special teams.

In rugby league the same players have to both defend and attack. There are thirteen players and four replacements in a rugby league team, with only twelve interchanges of players allowed to be made throughout the game. If the interchanges are used up and a player becomes injured and cannot continue, the team simply have to play a man short. Unlike American football, all players must attack and defend and there is no equivalent of special teams.

Broadly speaking offensive and defensive linemen in American football correspond to forwards in rugby league and other players are somewhat similar to backs. Basically the job of the forwards in rugby league is to get the ball over the the advantage line and give the backs space and a chance to be creative and move the football around, which will hopefully result in points. However, rugby league players are far less specialised than American football players.

Many of the positions have similar names but in practice are very different. A fullback in American football is very different from a fullback in rugby league, some of the positions are fairly similar; the stand-off/five-eighth and halfback carries out a similar role to a quarterback in American football.

• Comparison of Canadian and American football
• Comparison of American football and rugby union
• Comparison of rugby league and rugby union
• American football
• Rugby league
• Players who have converted from one football code to another

• NFL Digest of Rules
• Laws of rugby league