Today's Tidbit… 1876 IFA Rule #9: Touchdown

This is #9 in a series covering football’s original 61 rules adopted by the Intercollegiate Football Association in 1876. We review one rule each Friday.

The American college boys making the rules in 1876 thought they had a few better ideas than their English counterparts, and one of those ideas involved the try versus the touchdown.

Rule 9: A touchdown is when a player, putting his hand upon the ball on the ground in touch or in goal stops it so it remains dead or fairly so.

Rugby Rule 6: A try is...