Not the athlete, I had no interest in backyard, or street, (American) football. Recently, it hit me how many of the key rules of professional football cannot be carried out by any practical means in a neighborhood game. As such, I am curious how kids play without a clock and lacking measured distances. So, what are the (typical) rules to backyard football?
a) How do children decide a 1st down? Does one team possess the ball until that team either scores or the other team takes possession of the ball?
b) As for time, do kids simply play until they’re tired of the game? …or, until Mom calls them in for supper?
Growing up, we would play what we called “Carolina Football.” One team would get six downs to score. There was no first down. If after six downs the team had not scored, there would be a turnover. Sometimes we would add that 3 consecutive complete passes would result in a first down.
The game would last until we had to go home for dinner.
The rules depend on what the kids agree upon. Usually, it’s touch football, where putting a hand (or two in the case of two-hand touch football) on the player counts as a tackle. There’s also flag football, where a piece of cloth is hung from the belt; grabbing that counts as a tackle (the better equipped use belts with a couple of plastic strips that are attached by a snap).
Often it’s touchdown only (a back yard may only be 30 yards or less). Lots of passing; not much rushing. Four down, and then you turn over the ball if you haven’t scored. Teams consist of half the number of players who show up.
But the rules are primarily an attempt to play something resembling football given the space and equipment constraints. They vary greatly from game to game, even in games in the same location.
Actual tackle football is generaly left up to schools and organized leagues. The need for equipment and other logisitics makes it rare that it’s done in the back yard.
That was pretty much how we did it. On a field of 80 feet or less the only first was the 50. Up to about 120 or so each third was a new first. Over that we had three first down line, always marked by backpacks or coats or logs or something.A couple times we did manage to sneak onto a regulation marked field, and we just had every 20 yards be a first. With 6 people a side or so, going both ways, no time outs, and passing every down,a full field is just too damn exhausting though.
Also, unless you had at least 8 guys per side,(which and you only did about 2 percent of the time) there were no lineman. One quarterback, all the rest were recievers on offense. The the defense match up man to man according to ability, with one linebacker on the quarterback. The linebacker had to count 3 or 5 mississippi before he could rush, and only if he rushed could the QB run.
We usually just played till dark, or until a enough people had to leave that it wasn’t worth continuing, or until serious injury. Most games we lost track of the score, around 100 to 100, so at the end you just play “Next score for glory, loser buys the beer”
This was prett standard in our area:
Tackle generally, nobody ever seemed to get hurt
2 complete passes = a first down
Count of 5 “mississippi”, or “banana” before you could “rush” the quarterback
1 blitz every 4 downs, meaning no count is required before “rushing” the quarterback
Offense can only run the ball if you are “rushing” them, otherwise must pass
I can’t imagine how many non officiated games I participated in. The rules always changed but as I recall, the first down objective was usually dispensed with. You had a certain number of tries to make a touchdown, and the passing game was way more often employed. Occasionally we tried tackle football, but without pads, we always went back to touch. In those days we weren’t aware of flag football.
Really ,I lamented the days of old when us kids established our own rules in order to meet the needs of our game. We didn’t need adults or refs. Disputes were maybe not settled, but set aside and victories though desirable didn’t demand acknowledgement of the opposing team. We all looked forward to playing to the best of our abilities and displaying or confirming that we were a damn good quarterback or receiver. Everyone was a legitimate recieiver. In 24 hours it didn’t mean a damn thing as to who lost or won. If games were clearly uneven, we would even trade players. At the end of the game, when enough players had to go home due to parental imperatives, there were usually two different scores on everyone’s mind.
I believe the official rules for backyard touch football were established by the Kennedy family in 1962 and approved by the American Federation of Impromptu Sporting Contests.
As you can see, there are many variations. I believe that if you put 20 American kids and a ball into a big backyard, they will be arguing about the rules in less than 15 minutes.
Another addition or two, at least in my experience:
The fairly small numbers (often about 7 man football if not less) meant not only no linemen but that the QB just holds the ball and yells “hike.” I think just about every play was done from shotgun.
I remember debates on whether to use a real leather football (whether or not it was ever actually a regulation-sized football I don’t remember) or a Nerf football. Nerf was preferred, as it was easier to get a decent spiral on a throw (the shape of the ball helped there and the link goes to the type I remember being preferred) and easier to catch, plus it was cheaper and easier to get Mom and Dad to buy. But if you had one of those whistling ones, those things could hurt if you caught a bit of the hard plastic that makes the whistle.
Also, there was no kicking game. Generally a team went for it on fourth down, and on punting or kickoffs the team had the choice of actually kicking it (which doesn’t work that well with Nerf balls) or just throwing it as far downfield as possible. Also, there were no conversions, and every touchdown was 7 points.
It was touch in our games, mostly because you’d get yelled at (and possibly more) if you were caught tackling on the playground. We did try tackle a few times, mostly when it was really cold out and thus “football weather.”
I always figured it’s because people tend to think that a TD is an automatic 7. Of course it’s not, but probably 99% of the time a team just kicks the extra point right through.
I’m in Dallas right now, and my students play pick-up football whenever there is too much wind for Ultimate Frisbee. I emailed one and asked if the rules have changed, and this is what he said:
So apparently there is quite a bit of continuity there.
I don’t know why people keep acting amazed that pick-up sports continue. My students play pick up basketball, frisbee, football, tennis . . . Dallas has a nice rec center system that they take advantage of. This isn’t to say they don’t play videogames, as well, but boys are every bit as restless and competitive as they ever were, and they like to get out there and do things. And it’s nice that in this day and age, the girls are often welcome to play, as well.
Another pick-up football related tradition we have is a completely unofficial powderpuff (all girls) football game each December. It’s pick up, insofar as it’s totally student organized, but it’s suprisingly well planned–they put together t-shirts and have (a couple-few) practices. The actual game tends to be a drunken debacle, which is why it remains strictly student-organized and attended. Did/Does anyone else do this?
Another rules variant–if an adult played, they were often QB for both teams. We played tackle football, sometimes in helmets and shoulderpads, up until age 12-13 or so…
But if you can only score a TD and there are no other plays with other scoring totals, why not just count 1, 2, 3, 4, etc. When people play one-on-one basketball, they almost always count each basket as one.
Because as a kid, it is much more fun to go by 7’s like the pros do. It sounds much more realistic to say “We’re still ahead, 42 to 28!” than “We’re still ahead 4 to 6!” that sounds like a baseball score.
I remember playing intense brothers vs. brothers matchups with only 4 players total, with the most common formation being the quarterback hiking it to himself and the other brother lined up wide. The street was used for the field with the concrete gutters being the out of bounds and the left and the right corners of the driveways being the endzones. Occassionally, a trusted older kid could be all time quarterback and the nerf football was always used (so little kids could catch and endzone bombs could always be a threat). We would have a mutually agreed upon halftime in which endzones were switched so that one team did not have the wind/sun advantage the whole game. We would have a gentlemanly “taking turns” on controversial calls (“Alright, enough arguing, we will give you this one, but we get the next one”).
It its amazing looking back on it how we avoided injury playing backyard football. The “field” we played at had two of those big metal/concrete electrical transformers, and one storm drain within the playing field.
FLAG football?! TOUCH football?! Christ, that’s the crap we played in gym class!
On the playground (or an adequately-sized backyard), anyone who even suggested such a travesty would be laughed off the field.
Yeah, we hit, and we hit hard. Once, after intercepting a very important pass, my reward from the opposing quarterback was a fist that caused a bloody lip after the play.
It could get pretty rough out there, but woe be it to the unfortunate soul who pointed that out.
There was only one defensive lineman, and no offensive linemen. The defensive lineman would count Mississippis before he could rush the quarterback.
Everyone wanted to be the star QB or WR. Sometimes we’d run the ball, but it was so rare that it was pretty much considered to be a trick play.
During some games, we’d keep score. Others, we wouldn’t. It varied, and I assume it, and everything else in my post, still varies throughout the country.
