The Detroit WolfeTones are based in Southeastern Michigan whose mission is the promotion, development and continuation of one of the oldest most exciting sports in the world: Gaelic Football.
GAA National Stadium in Dublin: Croke Park
Gaelic Football has been described as a cross between soccer, basketball and rugby. One of the two national sports of Ireland it has been played for centuries in the towns, villages and parishes throughout the country. The game is played by teams of 13-15 aside on a rectangular grass pitch with H-shaped goals at each end. The primary object is to score by kicking the ball or striking the ball with your hand ultimately getting it in the goal net for 3 points or above the goal and through the uprights for 1 point. The team with the highest score at the end of the match wins. The modern day sport in Ireland, while amateur in status, is played at a professional like level. The annual national championship game, The All-Ireland Football Final, is played every September in Dublin at the national Gaelic stadium, Croke Park, before over 80,000 fans.
Like all the clubs in the Unites States the WolfeTones are part of the international governing body of Gaelic Football, The Gaelic Athletic Association (GAA) which was officially formed in 1884. Annually, clubs from throughout the United States compete with the ultimate goal of reaching the North American County Board Championships which are held every Labor Day weekend in a different city each year.
The WolfeTones, since forming in 1982, have represented the USA in Ireland, captured three (3) North American Men’s Football Championships and one (1) one Youth Championship. The club competes in the Mid-West Division of which includes clubs from Cleveland, Pittsburgh, and Buffalo.
The Rules Of Gridine
Gridine, more commonly known as American Football, or just plain football in The United States, is a game with many rules and regulations. This article will comprehensively illustrate all aspects of American football, from player positions and roles, game play rules, offensive and defensive strategy, and different variations on the game.
Too begin with, Football is a game that rarely involves contact of the foot with the ball. As opposed to the game of soccer (which the rest of the world calls football), American football is almost exclusively a game of the hands. Unlike soccer, in which the game play is constant except for a fifteen minute halftime, American Football has many interludes in play. American football has its origins in the English game of rugby. It is a little bit less free flowing than rugby, and the player’s wear much more body padding, which is required due to the games bone crushing physicality.
The field is one hundred yards long and one hundred sixty yards wide. with two ten yard zones at each end called the ”end zones”. In the middle of the field is the fifty yard line, with numbered yard lines every ten years in each direction, thus, there is one fifty yard line, two forty yard lines, and no sixty yard line. The field is also divided in the other direction by 3 hash marks extending vertically, left, right and centre. Generally, the ball will start the next play at the nearest hash mark where the last play ended. However, if the play ends at the extreme left of the field, the next play starts at the left hash mark so that the plays never start at the extreme edges of the field. Why this is will be apparent later when we discuss player roles and positions. The game is split up into four fifteen minute quarters, with a twelve minute halftime. In the event of a tie, the game continues into a fifteen minute ”sudden death” overtime. This means that the first team to score wins and the game ends once they score the winning point. Each team is allowed three time outs per quarter. In addition to time outs, which the coach my call for any reason, coach can challenge the referee’s call as much as he pleases. This is an alien concept to soccer fans, for in that game the ref’s decisions are always final. The coach must issue his challenge before the start of the next play. However, if the ref’s decision is not overturned, the challenge counts as a time out against the team that called it. It is for this reason as well as the stop-and-go nature of American Football, that football games can typically go on for well over 3 hours.
The other reason for this stretch out of time is the fundamental nature of American football game play, which revolvedaround ‘downs’. The clock is stopped temporarily every first down and whenever the ball goes out of bounds.
Each time a team gets possession of the ball, the have four chances, or downs to advance the ball ten yards. At the beginning of the game, there is a coin toss, the winner of the coin toss gets to choose whether to receive the ball or kick it off to the other team. It is very rare for a team to elect not to receive the ball. If they receive the ball, the team that lost the kickoff receives the ball at the beginning of the second half. The teams switch end zones after the first and third quarters. The receiving team acquires the ball via a kickoff. In a kickoff, the defending team’s defensive players will kick the ball from their end zone to the other team’s. When the receiving team has gets the ball, they may either run it up the field as far as they can before the other team secures a tackle, or they may ”kneel” the ball within their own end zone. If the receiving team kneels the ball, they start at their twenty yard line for the next play. If the team successfully advances the ball ten yards, they achieve a ”first down”, which gives the team another four chances to advance the ball ten yards. Every time the advancing team successfully passes or runs the ball the gain yardage, the play is called a completion. If the advancing team fails to advance 10 yards within four downs, the ball isturned over on downs to the other team at the yard line the advancing team stopped. It is rare for a team to attempt to advance the ball unless they are deep within the defending teams territory.
If they are still within their half of the field, or near the fifty yard line, they are more likely to punt the ball or kick a field goal on the 4th down. Two other ways to turn over possession are the fumble and the interception. A fumble is when an offensive player had the ball in his possession, but drops is due to error or a defensive hit. If a defender secures possession of the ball, possession is turnedover to the other teams offensive squad for the next play. An interception is when a defensive player catches a pass meant for an offensive player. The difference is that after an interception, the defensive squad then plays offence for the rest of the play. All plays except for kick offs are known as scrimmage plays. The line on the field from which they begin is called the line of scrimmage.
When punting, the teams offensive line up kicks the ball to the teams defensive lineup, which distinguishes it from a kick off. Another option a team has on fourth down is to attempt a field goal, which is one of two ways to earn points in American Football. A field goal is when the advancing team tries to kick the ball between the goalposts behind the end zone. The goal post has a crossbar, post, and two uprights. The lower post holding the uprights is 10 feet tall. The crossbar is 18 feet, 6 inches in length, extends horizontally atop the post. The upright posts extend 30 feet above the crossbar. Since the goal posts are behind the ten yard end zone, it gives the kicker an extra ten yards to kick the ball, which must clear the 10 foot goal post. If the kicker can place the ball within those bounds, the advancing team is awarded three points, and they then kick off the ball to the team that surrendered the points. The other method of scoring is the touch down. This is when a player either catches a passwithin the end zone, or runs the ball into the end zone.
A touch down gives the advancingteam six points. After scoring a touch down, the advancing team has 2 options. The first and safest is to kick the ball through the goal posts for an extra point. More than twice as difficult is the two point conversion, which requires the advancing team topass or run the ball into the end zone. There is another, much rarer method to put points on the board as well. If an offensive player is tackled or otherwise stopped with his own end zone, the defending team scores a safety. This most often happens when a supposedly advancing team is pushed back and the quarterback is tackled, as the quarterbackoften positions himself wellbehind his defensive linesmen.
American football has eleven players of the field for each team, just like soccer. That is where the similarity ends,
A key difference is that there are two squads for each team, each geared for offence anddefence respectively. The offensive squad positions are Quarterback, Centre, Full back, Tail back, Flanker, Tight End, Left Tackle, Left Guard, Right Guard, Right Tackle, and Split End.
The defensive positions are Right Corner Back, Right Line Backer, Right End, Nose Tackle, Middle Line Backer, Tackle, Left End, Left Line Backer, Left Corner Back, Strong Safety, and Free Safety.
The quarter back is the only player who throws the ball. Unlike rugby, in which passing and kicking the ball from player to player is common, it is extremely rare for any player to risk a fumble by passing the ball to a team mate. The quarterback is the captain of the offence. He usually calls plays (unless directed from thecoach, in professional football coaches are equipped with radios, enabling them to micro manage the game if they choose) and decides whether to run or pass the ball. The tackle’s and the guards (along with other positions, depending on the play) constitute the offensive line. Their job is to prevent the defenders from breaking their line and tackling the Quarter Back, or sack him, in football terms. Which would entailloss of yardage, and usually results in damage to the quarter back who is typically of a smaller build than the Goliaths who make up offensive and defensive lines. The players in the centre of both teams will thus try to defend or bring down the quarter back. On the Defensive side, the corner backs and the safeties provide defence from deep penetration. On the offensive side, the players on the wings, the tight end, and the tail back or the full back are typically the players the quarter back will pass the ball too.
There are two basic offensivestrategies, passing plays and running plays. Before the beginning of any play, all the offensive linesmen must have one hand on the ground except for the centre, who needs to keep both hands on the ball. The quarter back stands closely behind the centre and calls out a series of codes (this is the ”Blue forty-two! and other such calls heard during the game). The codes change around each play, the idea is that the offensive players get a slight advance notice on when play begins. Theoffensive side has a maximum of 25 seconds to restart the game between plays.
In a pass play, the quarter back steps back a few yards and looks for an open player. The time for him to do this is typically short, as most of the defensive line will be putting on pressure of either sack him or otherwise pressure him to throw the ball early. The offensive linesmen are at a disadvantage as they are not allowed to use their hands to block the defensive linesmen. While the defensive line goes after the quarter back, the backs and safeties cover theother offensive players to deprive the quarter back of a clean shot, giving the offensive linesmen extra time to bring him down. If the quarter back is under pressure and the offensive receivers are well covered, the quarter back may be forced to throw hastily, resulting in an incomplete pass, which counts as a lost down and play restarts at the last line of scrimmage, a complete pass, which gains the offensive team yardage, or an interception or a fumble, discussed above. The defence has the option whether to cover the offensive players man for man, or by zone.
The defensive side can blitz the quarterback by sending one or more of their backs after the quarter back. This puts morepressure on the offensive line men, but will leave more players open. If thequarter back spies an opening, he can perform a quarter back sneak, in which the quarter back himself will run the ball out in order to gain yardage. Passing plays offer the potential to gain first down in a single play, but do offer the risks of interception and sacks, which cost the team possessionand yardage, respectively. Running plays involve the quarter back passing the ball to the tail back or the full back, and the offensive linesmen try to punch a hole through the defence. The running back has the advantage of a few yards to build up speed and momentum to exploit any gap in the defensive line. Most running plays earn only a few yards per play.
There is an elaborate list of fouls and penalties in American football. Unlike soccer, or hockey, in which only the offending player is penalised, most penalties in the NFL are weighed against the whole team, usually in loss of yardage.
Delay of game is a commonfoul, it carries a penalty of five yards and is imposed when the offensive side take more than 25 seconds to restart play between downs. Off sides carries a five yard penalty when a defensive player moves over the line of scrimmage before the quarter back startsplay. Holding carries a ten yard penalty and is imposed when an offensive linesman uses his hands during a play. Pass interference carries a fifteen yard penalty. The face mask penalty is equally severe and is imposed when a defensive player grabs an offensive player by the facemask during a tackle. It carries a fifteen yard penalty as well.
This covers the basics of football rules and terms, but does not in any way cover all the strategies or nuances of the game. Bear in mind the NFL rulebook is nearly 100 pages long. However, with this knowledge, you can now get a neighbourhood game going, or atleast know what’s going on while you watch.