Quote:
Originally Posted by bisonlj
That's OK. Many officials don't either. It's an odd rule that i had someone explain to me one time but it never happens so it's never been brought up to the rules committee.
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Going back to before Fed existed, it used to be the norm for teams to choose to kick off. That choice became rarer over time, especially as the spot of the kickoff was moved backward from midfield to the 40. Go back far enough and there was no choice -- the team that was scored on had to kick off.
About 30 years ago the NFL eliminated the choice of kickoff after a TD & try, and 2 yrs. later eliminated the choice after a FG. I think the reason for NFL, and now NCAA, to eliminate the choice was to eliminate one conversation with the team captain that might've resulted in a misunderstanding, when nobody had asked to kick off in a while anyway. I used to see the referee point to the team that was scored on as their defense squad was running off, and I could only imagine he was muttering, "Kick or receive?" and pretending to pay att'n to the answer.
The only time during my life that I saw the scored-on team to choose to kick off was a televised CFL game during an NFL strike in the 1980s. The team that was behind had scored a TD, recovered their own kickoff, and driven to score another. After that one, the team protecting their lead chose to kick off (deep) to prevent another onside recovery. It's more of a threat in Canadian football because the team kicking off doesn't have to allow opp'ty for team R to catch the ball -- a rugby style chip to the side was what the team that was behind had used -- and the ball stays live after K recovery. That game was before they moved the spot of the kickoff back from the 45 to the 35.
In standard Rugby Union it's still the scored-on team that must kick off. However, in 7-a-side Hong Kong rules their opponents kick off. And of course in soccer, where the dynamics are very different, the scored-on team kicks off.