In several forms of football a forward pass is when the ball is thrown in the direction of the opponent's end line. Football is the word given to a number of similar Team sports all of which involve (to varying degrees kicking a Ball with the foot in an attempt to score a

American and Canadian Football

An American football quarterback in the "pocket" and preparing to pass.

In American and Canadian football, a forward pass — usually called simply a pass — is a throwing of the football towards the opponent's end line. American football, known in the United States and Canada simply as football, is a competitive Team sport known for mixing strategy with In accordance with the Manual of Style (see) Canadian English is used throughout this article (see Canadian_English#Spelling) This is permitted only once during a scrimmage down by the offensive team before team possession has changed, provided the pass is thrown from in or behind the neutral zone. In American and Canadian football a line of scrimmage is an imaginary transverse line crossing the football field across its narrower dimension beyond First Down redirects here For the Prison Break episode see First Down (Prison Break episode. An illegal forward pass incurs a 5 yard penalty and the loss of a down.

If an eligible receiver on the passing team legally catches the ball it is a complete pass and the receiver may attempt to advance the ball. In American football and Canadian football, not all players on offense are entitled to receive a forward pass If an opposing player legally catches the ball (all defensive players are eligible receivers) it is an interception. That player's team immediately gains possession of the ball and he may attempt to advance the ball toward his opponent's goal. If no player is able to legally catch the ball it is an incomplete pass and the ball becomes dead the moment it touches the ground. An incomplete pass is a term in American football which means that a legal Forward pass hits the ground before a player on either team gains possession A dead ball in American football is a condition that occurs between Football plays after the player with the football has run out of bounds or after he is Down It will then be returned to the original line of scrimmage for the next down. First Down redirects here For the Prison Break episode see First Down (Prison Break episode. If any player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability to catch the ball it is pass interference which is a foul. In American and Canadian Gridiron football, pass interference is a penalty that occurs when a player interferes with an eligible receiver's ability

The person passing the ball must be a member of the offensive team, and the recipient of the forward pass must be an eligible receiver and must touch the passed ball before any ineligible player. In American football, each team has 11 players on the field at one time In American football and Canadian football, not all players on offense are entitled to receive a forward pass

The moment that a forward pass begins is important to the game. The pass begins the moment the passer's arm begins to move forward. If the passer drops the ball before this moment it is a fumble and therefore a loose ball. Fumblespng|300px|right|thumb|The rate of fumbles by running backs in the NFL has decreased steadily since the AFL-NFL merger. The following terms are used in American football and Canadian football, but see also the Glossary of Canadian football. In this case anybody can gain possession of the ball before or after it touches the ground. In Canadian football, if the passer drops the ball while his arm is moving forward it is an incomplete pass (unless someone catches the ball before it hits the ground in which case it is a completed pass or an interception). Under American football's tuck rule, if the quarterback is attempting to bring the ball back to his body after starting a passing motion, a lost ball may be considered an incomplete pass even if the quarterback's arm is moving backward at the time. The tuck rule is a rule in American football, currently used only by the National Football League (NFL

The quarterback generally either starts a few paces behind the line of scrimmage or drops back a few paces as the ball is snapped. This places him (or her) in an area called the "pocket" which is a protective region formed by the offensive blockers up front and between the tackles on each side. A quarterback who runs out of this pocket is said to be scrambling. Under NFL and NCAA rules, once the quarterback moves out of the pocket, and there is no good option for a forward pass, the ball may be legally thrown away to prevent a sack. NFHS (High School) rules do not allow for a passer to intentionally throw an incomplete forward pass to save loss of yardage or conserve time, except for a spike to conserve time after a hand to hand snap. If he throws the ball away while still in the pocket then a foul called "grounding" is assessed.

If a forward pass is caught near a sideline or endline it is only a complete pass (or an interception) if a receiver catches the ball in bounds. For a pass to be ruled in bounds, the receiver's feet must be in contact with the in bounds portion of the playing field, or, if the ball is caught in the air, either one or two feet must touch the ground within the field boundaries, after the ball is caught. In the NFL the receiver must touch the ground with both feet, but in most other codes—CFL, NCAA and high school—one foot in bounds is enough. The National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. The Canadian Football League (CFL ( Ligue canadienne de football (LCF in The National Collegiate Athletic Association ( NCAA, often pronounced "N-C-Double-A" is a voluntary association of about 1200 institutions conferences organizations

Common to all gridiron codes is the notion of control - a receiver must demonstrate control of the ball in order to be ruled in possession of it, while still in bounds, as defined by his code. Gridiron football is an umbrella term used in some countries outside North America to refer to several codes of Football played primarily in Northern America If the receiver catches the ball but the official determines that he was still "bobbling" it prior to the end of the play, then the pass will be ruled incomplete.

History

The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill claims to be the first college team to use the forward pass in an 1895 game against the University of Georgia. The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill ( UNC, North Carolina, or simply Carolina) is a public, Coeducational Research The University of Georgia ( UGA) is a public research University located in Athens, Georgia, the oldest and largest of the However, the play was illegal at the time. Bob Quincy notes in his 1973 book They Made the Bell Tower Chime:

John Heisman, a noted historian, wrote 30 years later that, indeed, the Tar Heels had given birth to the forward pass against the Bulldogs (UGA). John William Heisman ( October 23, 1869 &ndash October 3, 1936) was a prominent American football player and College football Tar Heel (or Tarheel) is a Nickname applied to the state and inhabitants of North Carolina. It was conceived to break a scoreless deadlock and give UNC a 6-0 win. The Carolinians were in a punting situation and a Georgia rush seemed destined to block the ball. The punter, with an impromptu dash to his right, tossed the ball and it was caught by George Stephens, who ran 70 yards for a touchdown.

The play was not legalized until 1906 in a move to make the game safer.

Eddie Cochems, the Saint Louis University coach, was the first to use the legal forward pass on September 5, 1906 with Bradbury Robinson passing to Jack Schneider in a game at Carroll College (Wisconsin). Edward B "Eddie" Cochems ( February 4, 1877 in Sturgeon Bay Wisconsin – April 9, 1953 in Madison Wisconsin Saint Louis University (also known as SLU) is a private co-educational Jesuit University in the United States of America located in Events 1590 - Alexander Farnese 's army forces Henry IV of France to raise the siege of Paris. Year 1906 ( MCMVI) was a Common year starting on Monday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar (or a Common year starting Bradbury Norton Robinson Jr ( February 1, 1884 in Bellevue Ohio – March 7, 1949 in Pinellas County, Florida Under the leadership of Coach Cochems and with his employment of the forward pass as a central feature of his revolutionary offensive scheme, the "Blue and White" completed a perfect 11-0 season in which they outscored opponents 407-11. The highlight of the season was St. Louis' shocking 31-0 thrashing of Iowa. The University of Iowa, is a major teaching service and Research university located on a campus in Iowa City Iowa, on the banks of the Iowa River

Writing in his book The Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, which was published posthumously in 1994, College Football Hall of Fame coach David M. Nelson (1920-1991) reports that "eight passes were completed in ten attempts for four touchdowns" in the Iowa game. David Moir Nelson ( April 29, 1920 - November 30, 1991) was an innovative and successful College football coach an authority on college "The average flight distance of the passes was twenty yards. "

Nelson continues, "the last play demonstrated the dramatic effect that the forward pass was having on football. St. Louis was on Iowa's thirty-five-yard line with a few seconds to play. Timekeeper Walter McCormack walked onto the field to end the game when the ball was thrown twenty-five yards and caught on the dead run for a touchdown. "

"Cochems said that the poor Iowa showing resulted from its use of the old style play and its failure to effectively use the forward pass", Nelson writes. "Iowa did attempt two basketball-style forward passes. "

"During the 1906 season [Robinson] threw a sixty-seven yard pass . . . and . . . Schneider tossed a sixty-five yarder. Considering the size, shape and weight of the ball, these were extraordinary passes. "

Because St. Louis was geographically isolated from both the dominating teams and the major sports media (newspapers) of the era . . . all centered in and focused on the East . . . Cochems' groundbreaking offensive stategy was not picked up by other teams. Pass-oriented offenses would not be adopted by the major football powers until the next decade.

But that does not mean that other teams in the midwest did not pick it up. Arthur Schabinger, quarterback for the College of Emporia was reported to regularly use the forward pass as early as 1910 under coach Homer Woodson Hargiss in a 17-0 victory over Washburn University. Arthur August Schabinger ( August 6, 1889 in Sabetha, Kansas, USA – October 13, 1972) was an American Homer Woodson "Bill" Hargiss ( September 1, 1887 – October 15, 1978) was a College football, Basketball, Washburn University ( WU) is a co-educational Public, institution of higher learning located in Topeka, Kansas USA. ^[1] The "Presbies" used the forward pass to defeat Pittsburg State University that year by a score of 107-0. Pittsburg State University, also called Pitt State or PSU, is a Public university with approximately 7100 students (5900 undergraduates and 1200 graduate

Knute Rockne and Gus Dorais further refined the pass while lifeguarding on a Lake Erie beach at Cedar Point in Sandusky, Ohio during the summer of 1913. Knute (pronounced "kah-noot" ("noot" is the anglicized nickname Kenneth Rockne ( March 4, 1888 &ndash March 31, Charles Emile "Gus" Dorais ( July 2, 1891 in Chippewa Falls WI – January 3, 1954 in Birmingham MI) was Lake Erie (ˈɪəriː is the fourth largest Lake (by surface area of the five Great Lakes, and the tenth largest globally Cedar Point is a 364 acre (15 km² Amusement park located in Sandusky, Ohio, U Sandusky is a city in the US state of Ohio and the County seat of Erie County. ^[2] That year, Jesse Harper, Notre Dame head coach, also showed how the pass could be used by a smaller team to beat a bigger one, first utilizing it to defeat rival Army. Jesse C Harper ( December 10, 1883 &ndash July 1, 1961) was a head football, Basketball, and Baseball coach The University of Notre Dame du Lac (or simply Notre Dame) (ˌnoʊtɚˈdeɪm is a private Roman Catholic Research university located in "USMA" redirects here For other uses see USMA (disambiguation The United States Military Academy (also known as USMA, After it was used against a major school on a national stage in this game, the forward pass rapidly gained popularity.

According to National Football League history,^[3] it legalized the forward pass from anywhere behind the line of scrimmage on February 25, 1933. The National Football League ( NFL) is the largest professional American football league. Events 138 - The Emperor Hadrian adopts Antoninus Pius, effectively making him his successor Year 1933 ( MCMXXXIII) was a Common year starting on Sunday (link will display full calendar of the Gregorian calendar. Before that rule change, a forward pass had to be made from 5 or more yards behind the line of scrimmage.

Forward passes were first permitted in Canadian football in 1929,^[4] but the tactic remained a minor part of the game for several years. Jack Jacobs of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers is recognized, not for inventing the forward pass, but for popularizing it in the Western Interprovincial Football Union, thus changing the Canadian game from a more run-dominated game to the passing game as seen today. "Indian" Jack Jacobs ( August 7, 1919 &ndash January 12, 1974) was a Canadian Football League Quarterback The Winnipeg Blue Bombers are a Canadian Football League team based in Winnipeg Manitoba. The West Division is one of the two regional divisions of the Canadian Football League.

Rugby league and union

In the two codes of rugby (union and league) a forward pass is against the rules. Overview See also Playing rugby union A rugby union match lasts for 80 minutes (plus stoppage time with a short History See also History of rugby league The grass roots of rugby league can be traced to early football history, through the playing of ball games If the referee deems it accidental (as it nearly always is), this results in a scrum to the opposing team; however, deliberate forward passes result in the award of a penalty. Scrum (an abbreviated form of scrummage, which is now rarely used in the sports of Rugby union and Rugby league, is a way of restarting the game either In Rugby football, the penalty is the main disciplinary sanction available to the referee to penalise players who commit deliberate infringements

The team in possession must get behind the ball carrier or be offside. In Rugby football, the offside rule prohibits players from gaining an advantage from being too far forward Offside players will not be penalised as long as they remain inactive but if the ball is thrown to them then they become active and thus a scrum or penalty is awarded. To minimise the chances of this happening and to support the ball carrier, team-mates try to stay behind the player with the ball.

However, a forward pass is defined in terms of whether the ball leaves the hand of the thrower in a forwards direction or not. Players may not even drop the ball forwards which would also result in a scrum.

See also

• Glossary of American football
• Lateral pass
• Pass interference
• Rugby union
• Rugby league

References

• Boyles, Bob & Guido, Paul, 50 Years of College Football, 2007
• Nelson, David M. , Anatomy of a Game: Football, the Rules, and the Men Who Made the Game, 1994

External links

• NFL Digest of Rules
• Football Plays, Drills and Fundamentals - Resource for coaches & players.
• NFL History of the 30's