Today's Tidbit... 1876 IFA Rule #42: Kickout Procedure

This is #42 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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Last week we reviewed Rule 41, which defined the kickout and when it applied, and football’s later decision to distinguish safeties from touchbacks. We also covered how touchbacks evolved over time. This article addresses the kickout procedure in more detail and then covers the evolution of the safety.

Rule 42: Kick-out must be a drop kick and from not more than twenty-five yards outside the kicker's goal; if the ball when kicked-out pitch in touch, it must be taken back and kicked out again. The kicker's side must be behind the ball when it is kicked.

So, the rule tells us that kickouts occurred by a dropkick from the 25-yard line, and while teams could have kicked from closer to the goal line, it is unclear why anyone would have done so. Further, the kickout had to be kicked again when the ball went out of bounds, and the kicking team members had to be onside at the time of the kick.

With the elimination of the 55-yard line in 1912, the kick or scrimmage play following touchbacks and safeties shifted from the 25-yard line to the 20-yard line. By 1921, however, the rules makers recognized that spectators, scoreboard operators, and the press were often confused about whether the officials had called particular plays safeties or touchbacks. (The use of referee signals was in its infancy then.) Under a new rule, following safeties, they put the ball in play from the 30-yard line rather than the 20.