Some sports are formed out of necessity. James Naismith needed an indoor sport for his students to keep in shape. He is known for nailing peach baskets to the wall and basketball was born. I doubt Mr. Naismith imagined the likes of George Mikan, "Magic" Johnson, Red Auerbach, Larry Bird, Shaq O'Neal, Phil Jackson, Michael Jordan, or even the "Rumble at Palace Hills" involving the Detroit Pistons, the Indiana Pacers, and selected fans in the vicinity of a cup thrower in the stands. But I digress.
Arena football is different. Yes, it can trace a lineage to football in some rudimentary senses. There is an oblong ball, there is kicking and passing, there is a "grid" field and goal posts, and there is even some semblance of a rushing game.
But Arena football found inspiration in, of all things, an indoor soccer game! It was designed on the back of an envelope and the rules drawn up before anyone thought of playing Arena ball. Jim Foster enjoyed the fast pace of the soccer match and sought to replicate it in indoor arenas. A Spring/Summer schedule was employed because arenas were usually empty then. That game on 11 February 1981 at Madison Square Garden would launch a revolution in American sports. Only the NFL has played more seasons in the United States of all the leagues that have formed in American history. (This coming season will be the 19th; no other league lasted ten years.)
For the uninitiated, Arena football differs from its outdoor counterpart in several areas: size of the field, number of players, width of the goal post, nets alongside the goalpost, defensive rules, and offensive rules. They are summed up in the following sections.
Size of Field: The Arena field is only fifty yards long, which is half the length of the standard 100 yard outdoor field. The width is likewise half the width of an outdoor field. The total area is one-fourth the area of an outdoor field. This makes for a tighter field, thus fewer players on the field at a time.
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