Football team

A football team is the collective name given to a group of players selected together in the various team sports known as football.

Such teams could be selected to play in a match against an opposing team, to represent a football club, group, state or nation, an All-star team or even selected as a hypothetical team (such as a Dream Team or Team of the Century) and never play an actual match.

There are several varieties of football, notably Association football, Gridiron football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby league, and rugby union. The number of players selected for each team within these varieties and their associated codes can vary substantially. In some, use of the word "team" is sometimes limited to those who play on the field in a match and does not always include other players who may take part as replacements or emergency players. "Football squad" may be used to be inclusive of these support and reserve players.

The term football club is the most commonly used for a sports club which is an organised or incorporated body with a president, committee and a set of rules responsible for ensuring the continued playing existence of one or more teams which are selected for regular competition play (and which may participate in several different divisions or leagues). The oldest football clubs date back to the early 19th century. The words team and club are sometimes used interchangeably by supporters, although they typically refer to the team within the club playing in the highest division or competition.

Football club (GDR)

Football club (short: FC) was a designation for the elite football teams in the GDR (German Democratic Republic, commonly East Germany). They were formed in the mid-1960s as centers of high-level football.

After World War II and the occupation of Germany by Allied forces, a separate football competition emerged in the Soviet-held eastern half of the country. The term "FC" continued to be used in its traditional sense in West Germany, but eventually became a specialized designation in the east.

Since the introduction of the Sportclub system in the mid-1950s their football departments had dominated play in the DDR-Oberliga. In late 1965 football was granted a special status in the East German elite sports, when the footballing departments were dissociated from the Sportclubs and - under the new designation of football club - were given the same rights as sport clubs.

This special status of the sports clubs and football clubs as the only centers of elite sports led to an establishment of a two-class society in the DDR-Oberliga: The heavily supported and largely professionalized clubs dominated play in every respect, the best Betriebssportgemeinschaften (BSG) were used as a talent pool. Their players were delegated to the big football clubs. After 1954, when the sportclubs were first established, there is just one instance when a BSG won the DDR-Oberliga: BSG Chemie Leipzig were crowned champions in 1964, however, the team had been formed from two dissolved sportclubs the year before. From 1968 to 1991 only football clubs finished in the top 3 of the DDR-Oberliga.

Football

Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word football is understood to refer to whichever form of football is the most popular in the regional context in which the word appears. Sports commonly called 'football' in certain places include: association football (known as soccer in some countries); gridiron football (specifically American football or Canadian football); Australian rules football; rugby football (either rugby league or rugby union); and Gaelic football. These different variations of football are known as football codes.

Various forms of football can be identified in history, often as popular peasant games. Contemporary codes of football can be traced back to the codification of these games at English public schools during the nineteenth century. The expanse of the British Empire allowed these rules of football to spread to areas of British influence outside of the directly controlled Empire, though by the end of the nineteenth century, distinct regional codes were already developing: Gaelic football, for example, deliberately incorporated the rules of local traditional football games in order to maintain their heritage. In 1888, The Football League was founded in England, becoming the first of many professional football competitions. During the twentieth century, several of the various kinds of football grew to become some of the most popular team sports in the world.

Football (video game)

Football (released as NFL Football) is a multiplayer sports video game produced by Mattel and released for its Intellivision video game system in 1979. The players each control a football team competing in a standard four-quarter game. Like Mattel's other sports video games, NFL Football did not use any official National Football League team names or player names, even though Mattel obtained a license from the NFL and used the league's logo in its box art.

Gameplay

The player controls a five-man football team, actively controlling one team member at a time, with the computer controlling the rest. As in traditional American football, the player's team must score more points than the opponent's team within the time limit of the game. The game consists of four quarters, each a simulated 15 minutes in length, and takes place on a horizontally scrolling 100-yard simulated football field.

Player 1 always starts the game on offense and receives the opening kick-off from Player 2; at the start of the second half, Player 2 will receive the kick-off from Player 1. NFL Football is played in the same basic manner as a regulation game of football, with the offense being given four downs to advance the ball a minimum of ten yards before losing possession of the football to the opposing team. At the start of each down, the players use their controller's keypad to input a formation and a play for that down; descriptions and diagrams of the plays were printed in the game's instruction manual and not visible on-screen. When both players have entered their formations, play resumes.

Ball (association football)

A football, soccer ball, or association football ball is the ball used in the sport of association football. The name of the ball varies according to whether the sport is called "football", "soccer", or "association football". The ball's spherical shape, as well as its size, weight, and material composition, are specified by Law 2 of the Laws of the Game maintained by the International Football Association Board. Additional, more stringent, standards are specified by FIFA and subordinate governing bodies for the balls used in the competitions they sanction.

Early footballs began as animal bladders or stomachs that would easily fall apart if kicked too much. Improvements became possible in the 19th century with the introduction of rubber and discoveries of Vulcanization by Charles Goodyear. The modern 32-panel ball design was developed in 1962 by Eigil Nielsen, and technological research continues today to develop footballs with improved performance.

History

In 1863, the first specifications for footballs were laid down by the Football Association. Previous to this, footballs were made out of inflated leather, with later leather coverings to help footballs maintain their shapes. In 1872 the specifications were revised, and these rules have been left essentially unchanged as defined by the International Football Association Board. Differences in footballs created since this rule came into effect have been to do with the material used in their creation.

Swinburne (surname)

Swinburne is an English surname. Notable people with the surname include the following:

Swinburne (disambiguation)

Algernon Charles Swinburne (1837 – 1909) was an English poet and writer.

Swinburne may also refer to:

See also