Comparison of American football and rugby league
The field
American football is played on a rectangular field 120 yards (110 m) long by 53 1⁄3 yards (48.8 m) wide. Near each end of the field is a goal line, which are 100 yards (91 m) apart. A scoring area called an end zone extends 10 yards (9.1 m) beyond each goal line. Yard lines cross the field every 5 yards (4.6 m), two rows of hash marks run parallel to the side lines near the middle of the field. At the back of each of the end zones, there are a set of goalposts. American football goalposts were formerly H-shaped and were located on the goal line, but; in 1967, the NFL adopted the current modern offset-fork design, made from extruded steel pipes. The goalposts currently consist of two vertical posts 18.5 feet (5.6 m) apart (24 feet (7.3 m) in high school football) rising from a horizontal crossbar, which is mounted on a single central support post that raises the crossbar to a height of 10 feet (3.0 m), resulting in a two-tined fork shape. The central vertical post is offset from the crossbar toward the rear, placing it as far as possible from the field of play; it is also usually padded to minimize collision-related injuries. In 1974, in the effort to create a safer, unimpeded field of play in the end zone, calculated to produce more passing touchdowns, the NFL relocated the goalposts from the goal line to the end line.
Comparison of American football and rugby league-6