Today’s Tidbit… 1876 IFA Rule #13 Dead Ball

1874 Harvard-McGill rugby game (McGill Athletics)

This is #13 in a series covering football’s original 61 rules adopted by the Intercollegiate Football Association in 1876. We review one rule each Friday.

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To understand Rule 13, readers need to consider Rules 8 and 12. Rule 8 says, "The ball is dead when it rests absolutely motionless on the ground," while Rule 12 indicates, "A player may take up the ball whenever it is rolling or bounding except in a scrimmage." So, the ball is dead when motionless, and players can pick up the ball when rolling or bounding,

Rule 13 provides two exceptions to the combination of Rules 8 and 12.

Rule 13: It is not lawful to take up the ball when dead (except in order to bring it out after it has been touched down in touch or in goal) for any purpose whatsoever. Whenever the ball shall have been so unlawfully taken up it shall at once be brought back to where it was taken up and there put down.