Shifts,Motions and Illegal touching

[ajmc]

Both fouls, Illegal shift and illegal motion are considered fouls that occur simultaneously with the snap, and are therefore live ball fouls which do NOT kill the play.

The logic is that we have no way of knowing which shift is the last shift, or if there will be another legal shift made before the snap. With illegal motion, the foul only relates to "motion at the snap", so that a player who does move in an improper direction can change direction before the ball is snapped correcting his problem.

A free kick touched by K before it has gone the required 10 yards (or is touched by R) is "First Touching" which is considered a "Violation" rather than a foul. The spot of First Touching should be marked with a bean bag, rather than a flag.