1896 Football Rules and Widow Jones Suits for Boys

Retail advertising premiums have been the primary topic of a few Tidbits recently, and I have shown others over the last several years. Here’s another one that lacks the graphics many possess, but it is pretty sweet due to its football-shaped cover. The other fun aspect is its contents which are the college football rules for 1896.

Given the limited graphics, we can focus on the game rules. The rules committee in 1896 was a bunch of Easterners. Their annual meetings and proposed rule changes generated media coverage, like today. However, football was still young and diverging from rugby, so the rule makers were making fundamental changes that are less common today. Some 1896 rules endured, others were discarded, and a few were modified more than once.

So, if you've never read a pre-1900 football rule book, here's your opportunity. There are only 31 rules, so it’s a relatively quick read.

Rules 1 to 2d

Rule 1 defines the football field. It was 110 yards long and did not include end zones. The sidelines extended beyond the goal line to define the "touch in goal" area. Rules 2a to 2d define several of the game's kicks. (Click image to enlarge.)

Rules 2e to 11b

Rule 5 defines the touchdown, safety, and touchback, while Rule 9 defines a goal, now called a field goal or kicked extra point. Rule 6 makes little sense to modern readers. The puntout was a rugby leftover that is among the most interesting elements of old-time football. It's explained here. Rule 10 defines charging and seems unnecessary, but most rules from 1896 focus on the offense, so they may have felt the need to even things out.

Rule 11a covers "offside" as we understand it today, while 11b reflects its traditional rugby meaning. Rugby doesn't allow teammates to advance beyond the ball carrier. Football violated rugby's offside rule by accepting blocking in the early 1880s and even more by adopting the forward pass in 1906.

Rules 11c to 14a

Rule 12d details how the punt returner signaled a fair catch by marking the spot with a heel after catching the ball. The raised arm or arm wave did not yet exist. (Canadian football, which never adopted the fair catch, already had their 5-yard perimeter around the punt returner.)

Rule 13 defines the roles of the three officials, with 13d noting that "the Referee shall see that the ball is put in play properly," not that he is responsible for doing so. The offensive center took care of that duty.

Rule 14 tells us the games were 70 minutes long, with a 10-minute intermission between halves.

Rules 14b to 21c

Rule 15 prohibits gutta percha and other hard materials from being used as part of player gear, and sticky and slippery substances were also banned.

Rule 18 tells us that all members of teams executing free kicks must be behind the ball at the kick, such as when executing an extra point. Rule 20 disallows the forward pass.

Rule 21a has some fun elements since the ball carrier could still end the play by yelling "Down," while Rule 21b was relatively new and prohibited the defense from jostling the center before the snap.

Rules 21d to 24

Rule 21e reminds us that teams surrendered possession of the ball if they could not gain five yards in three downs, rather than today's ten yards in four downs. Back then, the offense also kept the ball after losing twenty yards in three downs.

Rule 22 was part of an attempt to limit mass play. Rule 22a limited the number of men in motion at the snap to one. Rule 22b required five men on the line of scrimmage at the snap, while Rule 22c was a more complicated rule that proved ineffective and was later dropped.

Rule 23 is fun. Football had dropped three methods of bringing the ball back into play after going out of bounds. The idea behind the modern hash mark is apparent in Rule 23 II.

Rules 25 to 29

Rule 25 describes how extra points can be scored either by free kick or puntout, and Rule 26 goes into further detail on the puntout.

Rule 27 covers the kickout following a touchback or safety. The fundamental process remains the same for safeties, while the team taking a touchback now gets to keep the ball and begin play at the 20-yard line.

Rule 28 provides the scoring rule. A touchdown with a converted goal kick counted for 6 points, a field goal was worth 5, a touchdown with a missed conversion was worth 4 points, and safeties were worth 2.

Rules 30 and 31

Rules 30 and 31 address penalties and their enforcement, though primarily focused on unnecessary roughness. (Hacking is kicking an opponent in the shins.) Notably, most penalties on the offense resulted in a turnover. Also, the half-the-distance concept for penalty enforcement was already in place by 1896.

Hopefully, the 1896 Widow Jones rule book provided easy access to the rules of a bygone era. Many of today's game rules were in place by 1896, but fundamental changes were to come, and rule books have become far more detailed documents since then.

If you want to compare the 1896 rule book to today's, PDFs of the 2024 rules are available at the following links: NCAA, NFL, and CFL

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