Kickoff question

[SC Ump]

Originally Posted by BktBallRef

For argument's sake, why does this phrase appear in the case play?

"...when he reaches through the plane of the sideline."

He has one foot inbounds and one foot OOB, which means the player is OOB. Why does it matter whether he touches the ball on the inbounds side of the sideline plane or reaches through the plane of the sideline and touches the ball?

I just returned from one of our local associations pre-season meeting where this exact question was asked. Some believed that this was an old reference to the "plane" of the side line that is no longer relavent. Others, believe that if R is OOB but reaches into the field of play, they have caused the ball to go OOB and thus they get the ball at that spot, i.e. no foul.

Even though I'm not knowledgeable enough to argue with these guys, I did play devil's advocate, saying, "But doesn't touching always proceed possession, and isn't it still a kick until possessed, and those the status was still "a kick" and it was touch by a player OOB, thus a Free Kick OOB?"

We did not come away with a consensus.