Quote:
Originally Posted by maven
The rule is the same at all levels: a free kick must be a place kick or drop kick, as BBR states. A special exception is made for free kicks after a safety, where a punt is an additional option.
The rationale for the exception is surely the fact that a free kick following a safety is made from the 20 rather than the usual free kick spot.
|
No, that's not the rationale. Originally in American football it was from behind the 25 and had to be a drop kick. Before that in rugby, it was from behind the goal line and had to be a punt. But later for a long time in the various American codes, it was not allowed to be a punt.
There really was never a rationale. These were completely arbitrary distinctions. There was a movement during approximately the 2nd half of the 20th Century to conform all the free kick rules to each other; previously the kickoff hadn't even been
called a free kick. That movement receded and the rules partly diverged from each other again.