# What Sport Uses a Snapper-Back? **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [September 27, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779 "2011-09-27T17:55:02Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 11\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 5:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/1 "2011-09-27T17:55:02Z")
I was in my hand driven elevator and I heard two people talking about a snapperback. Judging from the short conversation I heard, it is some kind of ball game. I looked it up in Google and found this snapper–back: football center But I’ve never heard of a football center referred to like this. Since the people were talking with an English accent, or it could’ve been Australian or something similar, I can’t tell the difference, but it was definitely in that line of accents. So I thought maybe rugby? I googled this and came up with a book from 1878 that uses the term snapperback. But this old books indicates it’s a term from America football for center. But again, it seems odd that if two English accented people were talking about a American football they’d use such an archaic term Any clues of what they might’ve been talking about? ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 5:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/2 "2011-09-27T17:58:01Z")
You sure they weren’t talking about a long snapper? ---
**Author:** ![AndyLee](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/898d66/32.png) [@AndyLee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/AndyLee)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/3 "2011-09-27T18:02:47Z")
> [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](#): > > You sure they weren’t talking about a long snapper? I don’t know but they specifically used the term “snapper-back” at least three times. Such as the snapper-back had the ball." and “He took the ball from the snapper-back.” ---
**Author:** ![medicated](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/7ab992/32.png) [@medicated](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/medicated)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/4 "2011-09-27T18:15:08Z")
I don’t know anything about American football, but here’s a reference from [a book written in 1921](http://www.freefictionbooks.org/books/f/22097-the-forward-pass-in-football-by-elmer-berry?start=3). ---
**Author:** ![awldune](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/c77e96/32.png) [@awldune](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/awldune)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:25pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/5 "2011-09-27T18:25:49Z")
At first glance, it does not appear to be a term from rugby or Australian rules football. Also, for what it’s worth: > **[Snap (gridiron football)](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Snap_(gridiron_football))** > > A snap (also called a "hike", "snapback", or "pass from center") is the backward passing of the ball in gridiron football at the start of play from scrimmage. > The ball begins on the ground with its long axis parallel to the sidelines of the field, its ends marking each team's line of scrimmage in American football; in Canadian football, the line of scrimmage of the team without the ball is 1 yard past their side of the ball. The player snapping the ball (known officially as the "snapper" in rul... > [@](#): > > A snap (colloquially called a “hike”, “ **snapback** ”, or “pass from center”) starts each American football and Canadian football play from scrimmage. The center is the snapper, in the sense that he performs the snap, so I can certainly see how a regional colloquialism might produce “snapper back”. I also learned that “snapback” is a name for those cheap baseball caps with the plastic snaps in back to adjust the size. ---
**Author:** ![Colibri](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/colibri/32/1841_2.png) [@Colibri](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Colibri)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 6:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/6 "2011-09-27T18:53:59Z")
Moving to the Game Room. Colibri General Questions Moderator ---
**Author:** ![Enginerd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/bcef8e/32.png) [@Enginerd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Enginerd)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 7:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/7 "2011-09-27T19:33:54Z")
Were they talking about repeated errors by the “snapperback?” In last night’s American football game, the Cowboys’ center (as **awldune** noted, the player who performs the snap) botched it 4 or 5 times - there’s at least a reason to talk about him. ---
**Author:** ![Laggard](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/9de053/32.png) [@Laggard](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Laggard)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/8 "2011-09-27T21:30:10Z")
Watched American football for 45 years and have never heard that term. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 27, 2011, 9:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/9 "2011-09-27T21:34:24Z")
> [@Laggard](#): > > Watched American football for 45 years and have never heard that term. Agreed. I suppose that someone not familiar with American football _might_ use the term to refer to a center (or long snapper), but it’s not a term I’ve ever heard before. Since the center isn’t actually a “back” (a term which is reserved for players who don’t start the play on the line of scrimmage; a center is a lineman), it’s a term which doesn’t really make sense in the context of the game. ---
**Author:** ![Death\_of\_Rats](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/a6a055/32.png) [@Death\_of\_Rats](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Death_of_Rats)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 6:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/10 "2011-09-28T18:56:40Z")
It might make sense in a way. The Center does snap the ball backward to the QB. They could have been using the term ‘snapper-back’ to describe the action that the Center does rather then using ‘back’ in the sense of someone who plays off the line. Especially if they were not a follower of the game and did not know the proper terms. ---
**Author:** ![kenobi\_65](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kenobi_65/32/13178_2.png) [@kenobi\_65](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kenobi_65)\ **Post date:** [September 28, 2011, 8:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-sport-uses-a-snapper-back/597779/11 "2011-09-28T20:11:46Z")
> [@Death\_of\_Rats](#): > > They could have been using the term ‘snapper-back’ to describe the action that the Center does rather then using ‘back’ in the sense of someone who plays off the line. Especially if they were not a follower of the game and did not know the proper terms. Yeah, that seems possible. “He’s the guy who snaps 'er back to the quarterback.” 😃