Onside Kick?

[Robert Goodman]

It's a term that's never appeared in the rule book, with two exceptions noted below, but was coaching shorthand to refer to the recovery of the ball by an onside player as explained by MD Longhorn upthread. The usage makes no sense when applied to free kicks as today, because if there are offside players of team K, the play's not going to stand up anyway. The term was most useful as applied to recovery by onside players of kicks during general play, as is still legal in Canadian football. In Canadian football rule books, there is one use of the phrase regarding responsibility of officials in "`onside kick' situations", recognizing it as a kind of coaching shorthand that officials would be expected to understand, even though not defined in the rule book.

Similarly, when, fairly recently, the NFL adopted different penalties for free kicks out of bounds under different circumstances, they differentiated between other kicks and an "onside kick", which appears to be implicitly defined (though I'm not sure it is) as one that doesn't go at any time more than 20 yards beyond the previous spot.

[Steven Tyler]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

It's a term that's never appeared in the rule book, with two exceptions noted below, but was coaching shorthand to refer to the recovery of the ball by an onside player as explained by MD Longhorn upthread. The usage makes no sense when applied to free kicks as today, because if there are offside players of team K, the play's not going to stand up anyway. The term was most useful as applied to recovery by onside players of kicks during general play, as is still legal in Canadian football. In Canadian football rule books, there is one use of the phrase regarding responsibility of officials in "`onside kick' situations", recognizing it as a kind of coaching shorthand that officials would be expected to understand, even though not defined in the rule book.

Similarly, when, fairly recently, the NFL adopted different penalties for free kicks out of bounds under different circumstances, they differentiated between other kicks and an "onside kick", which appears to be implicitly defined (though I'm not sure it is) as one that doesn't go at any time more than 20 yards beyond the previous spot.

How 'bout dem Argonauts. Justin Bieber halftime was the best ever.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Steven Tyler

How 'bout dem Argonauts. Justin Bieber halftime was the best ever.

Gordon Lightfoot did not disappoint. Living legend.

[HLin NC]

Yeah but they didn't book Rush!

[Robert Goodman]

Recent examples of "onside kick" in the original sense:

amateur

pro

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

Recent examples of "onside kick" in the original sense:

amateur

This is now called a return kick. The punter and players behind him are onside and can legally recover + advance.

Originally Posted by Robert Goodman

pro

Just called a fake field goal. But the kicker and players behind him can recover + advance. In amateur ball, "downs continue" for Team A at Point Ball Dead because Team A was the first to legally touch the ball. In the CFL, they have a quirky rule that Team A gets a first down to matter what. Even though they were 2 yards short of the line to gain, their rule says 1D for Team A.

Notice the Referee properly read the play and move from his spot to watch roughing the kicker/holder to a spot to be in line with the kicker to judge on the legality of the 2 in-motion players' onside status. Great job by R#22!

LJ #29 throws the Restraining Zone flag as he does not know if those two players are onside. Once the crew shares all information, they pick up the flag and award Team A a new series.

[Robert Goodman]

Originally Posted by JugglingReferee

In amateur ball, "downs continue" for Team A at Point Ball Dead because Team A was the first to legally touch the ball. In the CFL, they have a quirky rule that Team A gets a first down to matter what.

The CFL's rule is older. CAFA changed it several years after a CIAU provincial championship in which, to get a 1st down, someone threw a swing pass to a WR who caught and tap-punted the ball across the neutral zone and fell on it. In effect, the old rule made everyone cover the wideouts closely enough to prevent that, regardless of the distance to the line-to-gain. But you'll notice that CAFA didn't change it immediately after that prominent use of the "quirky rule", but a long time later when they must've finally decided that was too cheap a way to get a 1st down.

The even older rule (American & Canadian) was that the continuity of downs was interrupted when the ball was kicked in such a way as to give the other team "fair and equal chance" to recover it.

[JugglingReferee]

Originally Posted by HLin NC

Yeah but they didn't book Rush!

They'll be back...