fly*ing wedge for*ma*tion
What Is The Definition Of Flying Wedge In Football?
1. In football, the flying wedge is an offensive formation. It is typically used on short–yardage plays close to the goal line when a team looks to gain an advantage in size and numbers. The wedge formation consists of teammates that lock themselves together along with the ball carrier, rushing forward into the defense. The origins of this play have deep historical and military roots where troops would move together in a v-shape formation, using force to wedge and smash themselves into enemy lines. Today, it is still a tactic used by riot police to disperse and break up crowds.
Who Invented The Flying Wedge Formation?
The flying wedge arrived in American football in 1892 and was invented by Lorin F. Deland, a head coach of the Harvard Crimson football team. The formation was originally scripted as a way to draw rival Yale offsides. That penalty never came, but the unique formation would have a profound and dangerous impact on football for almost a century.
Because the formation used brute force and momentum to smash through an opponent, the play often resulted in serious injuries and even deaths. Players locking arms together became a penalty — assisting the runner, which is still enforced, although rarely. Almost immediately, rules against the use of the wedge formation began in 1894. President Theodore Roosevelt, a massive football fan, called on football to ban the play and shed it’s gruseom violence in 1905. In an era prior to the forward pass, the game was often described as a indescribable tangle of bodies, each trying to gain the upper hand of the opponent in a bid to win the game.
Despite the ban, alternative formations based on the wedge became popular in football for decades. One of the plays where the wedge was most noticeable was the kickoff return in the National Football League. However, after an injury to a New York Giants player resulted in an NFL ban on the wedge during any phase of the game in 2009. In 2010, the NCAA followed suit with a similar rule — both primarily trying to cut down on the number of injuries resulting during the kick-offs.
Example Of How The Flying Wedge Formation Is Used In Commentary
1. In the early days of football, before the forward pass revolutionized the game, the flying wedge was the play symbolic of the game’s inherent and unchecked violence — a gaggle of players, arms linked, surging forward in a mass of humanity attempting to gain leverage and yardage.
Sport The Term Is Used
1. Football
