The one-platoon system, also known as "iron man football", is a rule-driven substitution pattern in American football whereby players played continuously on both offense and defense. Players removed for a substitute were lost to their teams for the duration of the half (until 1932) or quarter (until 1941).
Existing alternatively is the two-platoon system (or simply the "platoon system"), which makes use of separate offensive and defensive units. (In the contemporary game a third platoon of special teams players are also used).
Each system has been used at different times in American college football and in the National Football League. In the college game, the major rules switch allowing two platoons came ahead of the 1941 season — a change first emulated by the NFL in 1943.
Due to budgetary pressures associated with expanded scholarship and travel costs, member schools of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) returned to the one-platoon system for 1953, gradually liberalizing substitution rules until a full return to two-platoon football was made in 1964.
One-platoon football is seen currently mostly on lower-end and smaller teams at the high school and semi-pro levels, where player shortages and talent disparities necessitate it. Current teams with sufficient numbers of talented players no longer use the one-platoon system.
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