A political football is a political topic or issue that is continually debated but left unresolved. The term is used often during a political election campaign

Political campaign

A political campaign is an organized effort which seeks to influence the decision making process within a specific group. In democracies, political campaigns often refer to electoral campaigns, wherein representatives are chosen or referendums are decided...

 to highlight issues that have not been completely addressed, such as the natural environment

Natural environment

The natural environment encompasses all living and non-living things occurring naturally on Earth or some region thereof. It is an environment that encompasses the interaction of all living species....

 and abortion

Abortion

Abortion is defined as the termination of pregnancy by the removal or expulsion from the uterus of a fetus or embryo prior to viability. An abortion can occur spontaneously, in which case it is usually called a miscarriage, or it can be purposely induced...

.

There are many reasons that an issue may be left unresolved. Examples are:

• The issue may be highly controversial with the populace rather evenly split on both sides. In this case, a government has no clear positive action to take.
• A government may want the opposite of what the majority of the people want. By not making a decision, the government creates time to attempt to convert the public opinion.
• Government may be split on a decision and neither side is willing to give in to the other.
• A minority group in government may be opposed to a decision and will use a method to delay a decision, such as a filibuster
  Filibuster
  A filibuster is a type of parliamentary procedure. Specifically, it is the right of an individual to extend debate, allowing a lone member to delay or entirely prevent a vote on a given proposal...
  
  .
• Politicians may be attempting to draw the issue into public debate in order to gain their own popularity at the polls.

With the use of the word football, many other football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 terms are in common use. Once a topic or issue has presented itself, the opposition will take the issue and "run with it" and "try to score points". There may be many parties in opposition to take up the topic, and sometimes run it into the ground, which at times can "backfire" and end up hurting the opposing faction. This can happen to the point of that party being seen as "fumbling" the issue. When a party or candidate ends up ignoring or putting off the issue, they are said to be "punting" it. In addition to the opponents of the politician or party using the subject as political fuel, the media

Mass media

Mass media refers collectively to all media technologies which are intended to reach a large audience via mass communication. Broadcast media transmit their information electronically and comprise of television, film and radio, movies, CDs, DVDs and some other gadgets like cameras or video consoles...

 may also "run with it". Sometimes these matters become larger, like during an election, than anyone would have thought possible during the event itself.

The phrase in modern usage is most likely derived from American football

American football

American football is a sport played between two teams of eleven with the objective of scoring points by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone. Known in the United States simply as football, it may also be referred to informally as gridiron football. The ball can be advanced by...

 rather than association football

Football (soccer)

Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...

 ("football" to most of the world). However, the Oxford English Dictionary

Oxford English Dictionary

The Oxford English Dictionary , published by the Oxford University Press, is the self-styled premier dictionary of the English language. Two fully bound print editions of the OED have been published under its current name, in 1928 and 1989. The first edition was published in twelve volumes , and...

has examples of use as early as the 17th century (long before the creation of American Football). All early examples from the OED originated in the United States. It is possible that the term originated from one definition of football and evolved later to be strongly tied to the modern definition of American football.

The term is now being used around the world including even places where most people do not know much about American football or the relation to the term.