Nine-man football is a type of

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

played by high schools that are too small to field teams for the usual 11-man game. In the United States, the Minnesota State High School League,

North Dakota High School Activities Association The North Dakota High School Activities Association (NDHSAA) is the governing body for the U.S. state of North Dakota's high-school athletics and fine arts. The current executive director of the NDHSAA is Matthew Fetsch and the headquarters are l ...

South Dakota High School Activities Association South Dakota High School Activities Association governs high school sports and other activities in the state of South Dakota. The SDHSAA was founded in 1905 and has been a member of the National Federation of State High School Associations The N ...

, and

Wyoming High School Activities Association The Wyoming High School Activities Association (WHSAA) is the organization that runs and regulates all interscholastic high school activities in the U.S. The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States ( ...

hold high-school state tournaments in nine-man football.

Overview

The size of the playing field is often smaller in nine-man football than in 11-man. Some states opt for a smaller, 80-

yard The yard (symbol: yd) is an English unit of length in both the British imperial and US customary systems of measurement equalling 3 feet or 36 inches. Since 1959 it has been by international agreement standardized as exactly ...

-long by 40-yard-wide field (which is also used in eight-man and six-man); other states keep the field of play at the standard 100 yards long while reducing the width to 40 yards, some even play on a full-sized playing field (with the 53 1/3 yard-wide field). In games played on 80-yard fields, kickoffs take place from the 20-yard line rather than from the 40-yard line. A similar nine-man modification of

Canadian football Canadian football () is a sport played in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete for territorial control of a field of play long and wide attempting to advance a pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposing team's scoring area ( ...

is played on the Canadian standard 110-yard field by small schools in the provinces of

Saskatchewan Saskatchewan ( ; ) is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province in Western Canada, western Canada, bordered on the west by Alberta, on the north by the Northwest Territories, on the east by Manitoba, to the northeast by Nunavut, and on t ...

and

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest T ...

and for small community associations in British Columbia. It is the standard format of play for eight- and nine-year-olds. The format is similar for five-, six-, and seven-year-old flag football, where the field is reduced to 50 yards by 50 yards.

Rules

The rules require that the offense align four players in the backfield and five on the line of scrimmage. A standard

I formation The I formation is one of the most common offensive formations in American football. The I formation draws its name from the vertical (as viewed from the opposing endzone) alignment of quarterback, fullback, and running back, particularly when ...

has a

quarterback The quarterback (commonly abbreviated "QB"), colloquially known as the "signal caller", is a position in gridiron football. Quarterbacks are members of the offensive platoon and mostly line up directly behind the offensive line. In modern Am ...

, a fullback, a tailback, and five linemen. Usually, the outside linemen are a

tight end The tight end (TE) is a position in American football, arena football, and Canadian football, on the offense. The tight end is often a hybrid position with the characteristics and roles of both an offensive lineman and a wide receiver. Lik ...

and a wide receiver, but the alignment varies by formation. The fourth player in the offensive backfield often plays as an additional wide receiver or tight end. A common defensive formation is the 3-3-3, with three

defensive linemen In gridiron football, a lineman is a player who specializes in play at the line of scrimmage. The linemen of the team currently in possession of the ball are the offensive line, while linemen on the opposing team are the defensive line. A num ...

, three

linebacker Linebacker (LB) is a playing position in gridiron football. Linebackers are members of the defensive team, and line up three to five yards behind the line of scrimmage and the defensive linemen. They are the "middle ground" of defenders, ...

s, and two

defensive back In gridiron football, defensive backs (DBs), also called the secondary, are the players on the defensive side of the ball who play farthest back from the line of scrimmage. They are distinguished from the other two sets of defensive players, the ...

s with one

safety Safety is the state of being "safe", the condition of being protected from harm or other danger. Safety can also refer to the control of recognized hazards in order to achieve an acceptable level of risk. Meanings There are two slightly di ...

Game play

The games are frequently high-scoring because the number of players is reduced by more than the size of the field; thus, fast players usually find more open space to run within the field of play. Some leagues, like the Sunday Football League in Grand Rapids, Michigan, have used nine-man football as a way of furthering their "Passion to Play". They play 16-game seasons and keep full statistics. Their format differs slightly in field size, but formations are similar with the exception of a "lurker" in the deep backfield. Typically, the lurker leads the team in interceptions and spies on the quarterback on deep passes.

Other countries

In France, most competitions are played nine-man: games and leagues involving 19-year-old players or younger, division 3 (''Le Casque d'Argent''), and regional leagues. Blocking under the belt is strictly forbidden under nine-man French rules, but the field size remains the same as in standard 11-man American football. The junior division (under 18s) of every state in

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands. With an area of , Australia is the largest country by ...

also play nine-man football. The game is played on a full-sized field, with modified timing rules (10-min quarters, running clock except the last 2 min of each half). In

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country in Northern Europe, the mainland territory of which comprises the western and northernmost portion of the Scandinavian Peninsula. The remote Arctic island of ...

, division 1 games are traditional 11-man games, while division 2 games are nine-man football. Italy, Poland and Argentina also have nine-man leagues. In Germany, some lower youth classes play in nine-man leagues. In

Israel Israel (; he, יִשְׂרָאֵל, ; ar, إِسْرَائِيل, ), officially the State of Israel ( he, מְדִינַת יִשְׂרָאֵל, label=none, translit=Medīnat Yīsrāʾēl; ), is a country in Western Asia. It is situated ...

, the Israel Football League is a nine-man league. In

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-ei ...

, the Second League play in nine-man leagues.

Overview

Rules

Game play

Other countries

See also