Today's Tidbit... 1876 IFA Rule #47: Try At Goal Spot

This is #47 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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Rule 47 is among those that best reminds us of football's rugby origins because the rule lives on largely untouched in rugby today, while it is long gone in football. Back in 1876, neither rugby nor football awarded points for a try; that is, touching the ball down behind the opponent's goal line. (Rule 9 renamed the try and called it a touchdown, but the "try" lingers on Rule 47.) Despite the name change, the team earning the try gained an opportunity for a free kick at goal. Here's how it worked:

Rule 47: If a try at goal be made by a place kick, a player of the side which has touched the ball down shall bring it up to the goal-line (subject to Rule 48) in a straight line from, and opposite to, the spot where the ball was touched down, and there make a mark on the goal-line and thence walk straight out with it at right angles to the goal-line, to such distance as he thinks proper, and there place it for another of his side to kick. The kicker's side must be behind the ball when it is kicked and the opposite side must remain behind their goal-line until the ball has been placed on the ground. (See Rules 54 and 55.)