In my travels, whenever I mention that my favorite sport is American football, I often get asked, “Why do you call it football when feet have very little to do with the game? Why don’t you call it ‘handball’? That would make far more sense! ” I never had an answer. So I decided to do some research, and the answer was far more interesting than I had expected!
In This Post
Once Upon a Time …
In a kingdom far, far away, the landed gentry lived in castles, manor houses, and great country estates, which were often surrounded by fields, pastures, and woodlands.
Horses were central to their lives. They traveled on horseback, hunted on horseback, and traveled in horse-drawn carriages.
When it came to leisure activities, they engaged in equestrian sports such as polo, jousting, and fox hunts. These sports — which were the pastimes of landowners, aristocrats, and cavalrymen — required balance, precision, and skill.
But they had one thing in common: they required a high level of horsemanship, discipline, and technique.
Village People
Meanwhile, the commoners in the villages lived very different lives, and their games were anything but disciplined. In fact, they were chaotic, improvised, and unregulated
Rather than riding on horseback, they ran, pushed, kicked, carried, and scrambled a ball in whatever way local custom allowed. No horses. No saddles. Just neighbors on their feet, playing the games that had evolved naturally out of everyday life.
Over time, these village ball games started to take on more structure. Different towns had different customs, and gradually two distinct styles emerged.
One style kept the ball mostly on the ground and emphasized kicking. This became known as association football, the game the game that Americans call soccer.
The other style allowed players to carry the ball, run with it, and tackle opponents. This became known as rugby football, the handling‑heavy game that took shape at Rugby School, a prestigious boarding school in Rugby, Warwickshire, England.
Even though these two games looked very different, both were still considered “football,” because both descended from the same on‑foot village games that had once been contrasted with the horseback sports of the wealthy.
Crossing the Atlantic
By the mid-1800s, American colleges were experimenting with English-style sports as extracurricular activities to foster camaraderie, school spirit, and serve as a welcome break from the rigors of academic life.
Early matches were a blend of soccer and rugby, depending on which rules the teams agreed to use on a given day. Over time, American schools favored the rugby‑style version, the one with running, carrying, and tackling.
Because rugby was officially called “rugby football,” Americans simply kept the second half of the name: football. The name wasn’t about kicking. It was about ancestry — a game played on foot rather than on horseback.
In the late 1800s and early 1900s, American colleges began modifying the rugby rules. They introduced the line of scrimmage, the system of downs, the concept of yardage, more structured blocking, and specialized positions. These changes gradually transformed rugby football into a uniquely American sport.
As the decades passed, the game continued to evolve, adding the forward pass, protective equipment, new formations, and increasingly complex strategies. College football grew rapidly, and professional leagues shaped the modern version of the sport.
The result is the game Americans play today — a direct descendant of rugby football, which itself descended from the old on‑foot village games of England, the same games once distinguished from the aristocrats’ sports on horseback.
Final Thoughts on Why American Football Is Called Football
So there you have it. A sport that was born in England migrated to America, took root, and evolved into what we now call American football. So the “foot” in football doesn’t have much to do with feet.
Rather, it is a nostalgic — if nearly forgotten — way to distinguish the sport from the equestrian sports played by the upper classes in England.
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