Why can't you keep the football?

[Xema]

@Diddledog

True but irrelevant.

Is it just a coincidence that they re-use the balls returned by the net? Or is it part of the plan? If the latter, I think it can be said that the net has more than one purpose.

[Jeff_Lichtman]

@Xema

Is it just a coincidence that they re-use the balls returned by the net? Or is it part of the plan? If the latter, I think it can be said that the net has more than one purpose.

Where did you get the idea that they re-use these balls? I have never seen them returned to play. The ballboys collect them and take them off the field. They are probably used as practice balls, but they are certainly not returned to game use.

[BobT]

@DSYoungEsq

If I recall correctly, in the NFL Championship game where the Bears whalloped the Washington Redskins 73-0 (1940), the last two touchdowns the Bears were required to attempt to convert by other than kick, the prior 9 touchdowns having resulted in all the available balls being kicked into the stands. That may be an urban legend; they may have given up on kicks because the kicker missed converting three times out of 9, but I remember that story from a history of that game.

While there is no objective reason that NFL footballs cannot be allowed to be kept (they certainly cannot be worried about cost, etc.), I think they don’t do it mostly out of the tradition developed back when cost WAS an issue.

The history of NFL books said that the referee told Bears coach George Halas that the team had to run or pass for the PAT, but reviewing the game stories in papers of the time don’t indicate that was the situation.

With the game being such a rout, Halas had inserted all of his players in the game, which was just 33 players. It’s quite likely that Halas didn’t think any of the players on the field at the time could kick a PAT. The NYT article opined that Halas didn’t try to kick a PAT just to be merciful. Overall the Bears made 7 of 11 PATs and they were by six different players.

The game drew a crowd of a little over 36,000 to Griffith Stadium and DC and accounts describe the stadium as being half empty at the end of the game.

The Bears attempted just 8 passes in the game. Washington tried 49, but 8 of them were intercepted and three were returned for TDs. And Washington lost a fumble.

[Diddledog]

@Xema

Is it just a coincidence that they re-use the balls returned by the net? Or is it part of the plan? If the latter, I think it can be said that the net has more than one purpose.

Yes, it is just coincidence. And as pointed out already, they don’t just pull the ball back in play.

[DSYoungEsq]

@BobT

The history of NFL books said that the referee told Bears coach George Halas that the team had to run or pass for the PAT, but reviewing the game stories in papers of the time don’t indicate that was the situation.

With the game being such a rout, Halas had inserted all of his players in the game, which was just 33 players. It’s quite likely that Halas didn’t think any of the players on the field at the time could kick a PAT. The NYT article opined that Halas didn’t try to kick a PAT just to be merciful. Overall the Bears made 7 of 11 PATs and they were by six different players.

The game drew a crowd of a little over 36,000 to Griffith Stadium and DC and accounts describe the stadium as being half empty at the end of the game.

The Bears attempted just 8 passes in the game. Washington tried 49, but 8 of them were intercepted and three were returned for TDs. And Washington lost a fumble.

Thanks, BobT. I knew I had read that somewhere.

[looking_busy]

In Rugby, it used to be the case (not 100% sure it still is) that in certain instances play HAD to continue with the same ball that went into the stands.

This is when a “quick lineout” (or throw in) was taken, it had to be taken with the same ball that went out.

Typically if a ball went into the stands, by definition it wouldn’t be returned fast enough for a quick throw.

Cheers

[Malacandra]

@looking busy

In Rugby, it used to be the case (not 100% sure it still is) that in certain instances play HAD to continue with the same ball that went into the stands.

This is when a “quick lineout” (or throw in) was taken, it had to be taken with the same ball that went out.

Typically if a ball went into the stands, by definition it wouldn’t be returned fast enough for a quick throw.

Cheers

It’s still current that if you wish to take a quick throw-in - rather than wait for a formed line-out - you must use the same ball that went into touch, and no non-player must have handled the ball (players who aren’t part of the XV currently on the field are non-players by this definition).

Although the Ben Cohen incident in the England-Ireland match last season persuades me that there is an additional clause that reads “and the player taking the throw-in must not be English”. :rolleyes:

[BobT]

A final add about the 1940 NFL Championship game and the Bears running/passing for extra points. The story about the officials running out of balls has been widely reported, but it didn’t seem to be part of the “history” of the game until the late 1960s, which makes me skeptical about its truth.

In 1940, anyone kicking a PAT was not a given. One player said in the 1980s that the officials had only nine footballs, which seems low, given that there could be a combination of nine PATs and FGs not infrequently.