Editing Walter Camp (section)

==Father of American football==
[[File:Walter Camp - Project Gutenberg eText 18048.jpg|thumb|right|Camp as Yale's captain in 1878]]
Camp was on the various collegiate football rules committees that developed the American game from his time as a player at Yale until his death. English [[rugby football]] rules at the time required a tackled player, when the ball was "fairly held," to put the ball down immediately for scrummage. Camp proposed at the U.S. [[College Football]] 1880 rules convention that the contested [[Scrum (rugby)|scrum]] be replaced with a "[[line of scrimmage]]" where the team with the ball started with uncontested possession and with each team fielding eleven players. This change effectively created the evolution of the modern game of [[History of American football|American football]] from its rugby football origins, and was on display in the first game of football between two American colleges played with this format, [[Harvard]] and [[Tufts]] on June 4, 1875.

He is credited with innovations such as the [[Snap (gridiron football)|snap]]-back from [[Center (American football)|center]], the system of downs, and the points system as well as the introduction of what became a standard offensive arrangement of players—a seven-man [[Lineman (American football)|line]] and a four-man [[backfield]] consisting of a [[quarterback]], two halfbacks, and a [[Fullback (American football)|fullback]]. Camp was also responsible for introducing the "[[Safety (gridiron football score)|safety]]," the awarding of two points to the defensive side for tackling a ball carrier in his own end zone followed by a [[Free kick#American football|free kick]] by the offense from its own 20-yard line to restart play. This is significant as [[rugby union]] has no point value award for this action, but instead awards a scrum to the attacking side five meters from the goal line.

In 2011, reviewing Camp's role in the founding of the sport and of the [[National Collegiate Athletic Association]] (NCAA), [[Taylor Branch]] also credited Camp with cutting the number of players on a football team from 15 to 11 and adding measuring lines to the field. However, Branch noted that the revelation in a contemporaneous ''[[McClure's]]'' magazine story of "Camp's $100,000 slush fund," along with concern about the violence of the growing sport, helped lead to President [[Theodore Roosevelt]]'s [[History of American football#Violence and controversy (1905)|intervention in the sport]]. The NCAA emerged from the national talks, but worked to Yale's disadvantage relative to rival (and Roosevelt's alma mater) [[Harvard University]], according to Branch.<ref>Branch, Taylor, "[https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2011/10/the-shame-of-college-sports/8643/?single_page=true The Shame of College Sports]," ''The Atlantic'', September 14, 2011 (October 2011 issue). In 1905 in ''McClure's'', Henry Beach Needham published two stories, "The College Athlete: His Amateur Code: Its Evasion and Administration." (July; 25:3 p. 260) and "The College Athlete: How Commercialism Is Making Him a Professional" (June; 25:2) with Yale content per [http://drupaldev.commons.yale.edu/anth282/node/140 "The early history of football at Yale: Contemporary sources"] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120426040446/http://drupaldev.commons.yale.edu/anth282/node/140 |date=2012-04-26 }}, ''Critical Sport Studies''. Retrieved 2011-09-27.</ref>