Superbowl 36

Superbowl 36 takes place on February 3rd 2002 in New Orleans. It hosts one surprise team in the form of the New England Patriots who are being cast as serious underdogs to their opponents the highly favoured St Louis Rams.

The Superbowl is arguably the biggest event in the American sports calendar. It surpasses the NBA and Baseball finals in audience appeal and is a huge generator of income. New Orleans, for example is expected to gain in the region of $400 million from hosting the event this year. Last years TV audience for the superbowl was calculated at 131,200,000 viewers. American Football is incredibly popular across America but has this always been the case? How has American Football historically developed?

The Superbowl has been in existence since 1966 and brings together the champions of the National Football Conference (NFC) and the champions of the American Football Conference (AFC) in a playoff to determine the best side in America. However american football stems back a long time before the development of the Superbowl. Originally it evolved from the English imported rugby in the 19th century at the Northeastern US colleges. In 1876, a meeting between Harvard and Yale Universities took place whereby the rules of americanized rugby, to be known as football, were decided. The IFA, the Intercollegiate Football Association was created.

In 1880, Walter Camp, a player from Yale university persuaded the IFA to make a number of rule changes and this in effect changed the game from americanized rugby to what is american football today. In 1906 the forward pass was introduced and by 1920 there were over 10 professional football teams who formed the American Professional Football Association (APFA) and undertook further rule changes. The APFA stands as the foundation of today's National Football League (NFL).

Many leagues were created to compete with the NFL but only the American Football League (AFL) was capable of contesting the NFL's dominance. In the late sixties these leagues were amalgamated, keeping the NFL name and creating the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC) whose champions would play off against each other in the Superbowl Finals.

Since its onset, the Superbowl and American football have been very well supported in America. An interesting article from the University of Leicester's Centre for Research into Sport and Society attempts to explain why American football became the preferred sport in America. They assert that both soccer and rugby were introduced to the north eastern colleges at the same time but that rugby became the sport of choice which then developed further into American football.

This was thought to be due to the fact that rugby and later American football allowed more violent play and therefore players had to demonstrate a higher degree of masculinity and aggressiveness. These tendencies were thought to parallel American society at the time which particularly for new immigrants was a society where the 'strongest' could achieve a way of life that they desired. Back in the early 20th century, american football was more violent than today's slightly pacified game and in 1905 after a brutal game, President Roosevelt threatened to ban the game. Today with amended rules and uniforms to help prevent accident and injury, american football does not hold such a danger to its participants, but it is still argued that it is a sport associated with a test of masculinity and this contributes to its popularity.

Many of the rule changes adopted by the early game were thought to be due to ambiguity in interpretation of the English rules of rugby and thus rule changes were necessary to clarify the rules for American participation. Alongside this were the cultural needs of a more action-filled game, hence the yardage stipulations. Following independence from Britain, America had the strong requirement to create its own identity. This was fostered in all aspects of society including sports. In conjunction with this theory, it is interesting to note that the USA's two most popular games, american football & baseball are not popular throughout the rest of the world and are in the majority unique to America and its culture.

To turn to the present and the upcoming Superbowl 36; the finalists this year are expected to produce and absorbing game despite the fact that St Louis are strong favourites to win. New England have demonstrated throughout their campaign this season, a dogged determination and a refusal to give up. They have shown unwavering belief in their ability to win and this has brought them through some tough games against arguably more talented lineups. New England have been to the superbowl on 2 previous occasions; 1986 where they lost to the Chicago Bears 46 - 10, and more recently in 1997 where they were also the losing side this time defeated by the Green Bay Packers 35 - 21. In 1997s finals, Drew Bledsoe was the starting quarterback. This year, Drew is likely to play only if Tom Brady's ankle injury does not hold firm. New England's greatest strengths lie in their attitude and in the ability of their special teams who have shown outstanding form on the run up to the finals.

St Louis Rams, their opponents are brimming with talent, no more notable than Marshall Faulk, Ram's distinguished running back who received the Miller Lite NFL Player of the Year award for the second year running. The Rams are further loaded especially in the form of their quarterback Kurt Warner who has gained equally distinctive honours as the NFL most valuable player in 1999 and 2001. Although St Louis have only been to the Superbowl once before, it was just 2 years ago in 2000 and they won, defeating Tennessee 23 - 16. Both Faulk and Warner were members of that winning side.

February 3rd will be, as is the tradition for the Superbowl, a beguiling spectacle of entertainment from Mariah Carey's national anthem, to U2's half-time concert. The contest itself will undoubtedly be a passionate fight with the best performers on the day taking home the trophy.