Today's Tidbit… IFA Rule #31 Into Touch

This is #31 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 #31 is straightforward but prepares us for Rule #31, which is among the longest and most complicated of the 61 IFA rules.

Rule 31: Touch. If a ball goes into touch, the first player on his side who touches it down must bring it to the spot where it crossed the touch-line; or if a player when running with the ball cross or put any part of either foot across the touch-line, he must return with the ball to the spot where the line was so crossed and thence return into the field of play in one of the modes provided by the following rule.