The Old Kickoff Rule

Back to 1883

The Old Kickoff Rule

Back we go to the 1883 Wright & Ditson Foot-Ball Guide for today’s post.

The kickoff is not unique to American football, of course. Even in the early days, though, it was a bit different than its equivalent in other versions of football. For example, you couldn’t score a goal straight off a kickoff:

Interestingly, there isn’t a whole bunch in the guide about kickoff. For example, it’s not clear to me whether kickoff meant kicking the ball to the other team at the time.

There’s this bit:

But, of course, that’s not much different from soccer.

And then there are these two rules as well:

And, well, that’s it. I haven’t been able to find any additional references to the kickoff in that book.