Today's Tidbit… IFA Rule #24 Return to Onside

This is #24 in a series covering football's original 61 rules adopted by the Intercollegiate Football Association in 1876. Normally, we review one rule each Friday but are reviewing this week’s rule on Thursday to allow another Tidbit to be published tomorrow.

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Some elements of the original onside and offside rules remain in football today, but they eliminated the last vestige of Rule 24 from football more than one century ago. Nevertheless, the rule played a part in the early game, so it merits examination. 

Rule 24: A player being off side is put on side when the ball has been kicked by, or has touched the dress or person of, any player of the opposite side, or when one of his own side has run in front of him, either with the ball or having kicked it when behind him.

Previous rules told us that players had to remain behind a teammate possessing the ball to be onside. As a result, offside players could not legally participate in the play, though that changed as football accepted interference or blocking. But Rule 24 tells us three ways offside players can return to being onside: