AH Challenge: American Football is played all over the world.

[Alternatehistorybuff5341]

How is it possible for American Football to be an international sport? And not just played in other countries but a bit popular. Like with an World Superbowl Tournament, or American Football teams in the Olympics.

How is this possible?
How will it affect culture and society?
How will it affect sports?
What will the sport be called? (I am assuming that it could no longer be known as American Football or Football.)

 

[Wolfhound]

I imagine it'd be called Gridiron football.

To get it to spread, well

It spread in the US through the College Football system, so get Universities around the world playing each other in the same manner as the NCAA in the US, and you have a result.

 

[Valdemar II]

I imagine it'd be called Gridiron football.

To get it to spread, well

It spread in the US through the College Football system, so get Universities around the world playing each other in the same manner as the NCAA in the US, and you have a result.

Wouldn't work, in most countries Universities don't work that way, we don't have semi-proffesionel teams.

 

[Deleted member 5719]

Difficult. Football is the world's game for a reason. It's fast, fluid, easy to play and permits the possibility that a really bad but well-organised and determined team can beat a brilliant team if they have a good day (making every game worth watching). Crucially it requires no special equipment to play, and fit people of any body shape can play on a more or less equal level.

It was also played professionally world-wide before American Football was even played professionally in America.

I just don't see American football gaining much popularity if introduced outside of its original area, maybe rule changes to open it up to players of more body types, and make less equipment necessary.

 

[Wolfhound]

Wouldn't work, in most countries Universities don't work that way, we don't have semi-proffesionel teams.

Exactly, that's what needs to change. College sports only developed the in the early 2oth Century in America in their present form, so having that get exported in the 30s, perhaps by some European graduates of American schools, isn't too hard.

 

[Valdemar II]

Exactly, that's what needs to change. College sports only developed the in the early 2oth Century in America in their present form, so having that get exported in the 30s, perhaps by some European graduates of American schools, isn't too hard.

That's incredible hard, educationwise American universities was a backwater until after WWII, that isn't a attack on quality of education, but of it international recognisation, France and Uk was where people from Asia and Africa studied abroad, while people from the rest of Europe studied in Germany. Beside that USA universities function as the do because they're fundemental private corporation, while a lot of Universities in contignental Europe is state-run and/or -funded, private Universities isn't the norm. The primary exception on contignental Europe is the French "Grandes écoles", but those would see College Football as stupid (wasting resources) and destructive for their image. The only place I could see adopting Gridiron this way would be Anglo-Saxon Universities, and in UK I don't see it spreading to the lowerclasses, whom would see it as rich man sport, which would keep it from turning to a proffesionel sport.

 

[alslammerz]

The best way might be for it to not develop in America at all. Just take the story of American football and move it to say, England. Rugby just needs to develop along a similar path as OTL. Rugby league, with rule of six. Some prominent team builds an expensive (and the first) permanent concrete rugby stadium, while at the same time, some fatalities cause the Prime Minister to consider banning the sport. Rugby league organizers want to widen the field to open the game up. Because of the concrete stadium, this is deemed impossible, and TTL's version of Pop Warner suggests that forward passing be allowed. To make the game harder, the rule of six becomes the rule of four, and the number of players is dropped from 13 to 11. Now this rugby develops like OTL American football. Passing and running become emphasized over kicking, the rule of four becomes four downs, etc. etc. while the game spreads to first English possessions- Canada, Austrailia, New Zealand, and then around the world.

ASBs? Maybe. But then again, it's the reason American football is the way it is. American football got to dangerous, Walter Camp wanted to widen the field, but a brand new concrete Harvard Stadium meant there was opposition to that, so someone (I think Warner) suggested the forward pass instead. Voila, American football.

The other option is more limited, but it involves the US using football, rather than baseball, for diplomacy. So teaching football in the Caribbean, star football players traveling to Japan after WWII, etc. etc.