Today's Tidbit... 1876 IFA Rule #38: Change Goals

This is #38 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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(Robinson, Rugby Football, 1896)

The IFA's original rules had teams switch directions following each made goal, though they could ignore the rule based on the prior agreement of the captains.

Rule 38: The sides shall change goals as often as and whenever a goal is obtained, unless it has otherwise been agreed by the captains before the commencement of the match.

This rule went away by 1883, after which teams switched goals only for the second half. Interestingly, the original IFA rules did not specify the length of games, though teams played two forty-five-minute innings or halves by tradition. The halves were reduced to thirty-five minutes in 1894, to thirty minutes in 1906, before shifting to four fifteen-minute quarters in 1910.