Why CAPTAINS ?

[Moose]

I know this is a odd question, I'm in my 70's, been a Steeler fan forever and football is my sport of choice. Good times and bad times, the sport to me is the most,entertaining although some of the 'sissy, pansy' rules is getting ridiculous. Give me the 'knock your dick in the dirt' days anytime. When football was football. But now to the question at hand, what exactly is the purpose of the 'CAPTAIN" ? i served in the U.S. Army and damn sure knew what the Captain did there, but I see no purpose of having one on a sport team. ALL the player's are equal, all player's should know their job, all player's should be responsible for their screw-ups as their coaches should be the ones to point out. So what is it a captain does ? I'm sure there is a easy answer that I'm not aware of, and I'm sure it was developed to help the game flow easily and more organized. It was just a question that popped in my head one day while I was having a cold brown bottle wondering how Biden was going to F;;K up the next thought I had. LOL

[Born2Steel]

It is an odd question. There are many roles the captain can have depending on the team and how they do things/trust the captain. Accept/decline a penalty is sometimes the captain's role as an example. Who can approach refs or call the coin toss are other examples. It's not really a chain of command type thing so much as designating a player representative rather than having 11 guys all talking at once.

[86WARD]

It's basically a leadership thing and the designated player for communications on field.

Rule 18 Guidelines for Captains Article 1 * One hour and thirty minutes prior to kickoff: Respective coaches designate the captain(s) a maximum of six per team.
Article 2 Coin toss:
(a) Up to six captains per team can participate in the coin toss ceremony; only one captain from the visiting team (or captain designated by Referee if there is no home team) can declare the choice of coin toss.
(b) The team that won the toss may then have only one captain declare its option.
(c) The team that lost the coin toss may then have only one captain declare its option.
Article 3 Choice on Penalty Option: Only one captain is permitted to indicate the team’s penalty option.
Article 4 Change of Captains:
(a) The coach has prerogative of informing Referee when he wishes to make a change in team captains; or
(b) A captain who is leaving can inform the Referee which player will act as captain in his place when he is substituted for; or
(c) When a captain leaves the game, the incoming substitute is permitted to inform the Referee which player the respective coach has designated as captain.

Note: A captain on the field has no authority to request a change of fellow team captain when that captain remains on the field

[Mojouw]

All this time watching the NFL and I never knew there were formal rules for penalty communication.

[teegre]

It all started in 1976 with the NFL’s maniacal fascination with Captain Stubing from The Love Boat.

The “Gopher” designation didn’t last past the 1978 NFL season.

[Mojouw]

It all started in 1976 with the NFL’s maniacal fascination with Captain Stubing from The Love Boat.

The “Gopher” designation didn’t last past the 1978 NFL season.

If I was a clever man, I’m sure I could make some hay with this. But, alas, I’m not.

[Hawkman]

It all started in 1976 with the NFL’s maniacal fascination with Captain Stubing from The Love Boat.

The “Gopher” designation didn’t last past the 1978 NFL season.

Gavin MacLeod, he was in the business for a long time. Great character actor.