Today’s Tidbit… 1876 IFA Rule #21: Touch-in Goal

“Touch-in goal” constitutes the four areas on football fields behind the goal line and beyond the sideline. They remain a part of rugby fields today but stopped having meaning for American football fields when the rule makers eliminated the puntout in 1920. 

Rule 21 tells us what happens when the ball goes into touch in goal:

Rule 21: Touch-in-goal. Immediately the ball, whether in the hands of a player (except for the purpose of a punt-out – see Rule 29) or not, goes into touch in goal, it is at ...