The place kick is a type of kicking play commonly used in American football, association football (soccer), Canadian football, rugby league, and rugby union. It was historically used in Australian rules football, but it was phased out of the game more than 100 years ago.
Place kicks are used in American football and Canadian football for kickoffs, extra points, and field goals. The place kick is one of the two most common forms of kick in gridiron-based football codes, along with the punt. The punt, however, cannot score points (except in Canadian football where it counts as a single). The place kick is the most common kick used in most indoor football games, including the former North American Arena Football League (AFL); punting was not legal in AFL play. A specialist player named the placekicker is generally the only member of the team who attempts place kicks, and is generally not used for any other role on the team. In the USA's National Football League teams, placekickers are generally able to successfully kick a field goal from at least 50 yards away, although kicks from 60 yards or beyond are rarely attempted or successful.
Place kicking typically involves placing the ball either directly on the turf, a mound of sand, a hole in the turf, or a plastic tee is sometimes used to keep the ball in position. A player called a holder is required to hold a ball upright during field goal and extra point attempts, as the ball is placed directly on the turf. When weather conditions prevent the ball from standing on its tee by itself, a holder can be used during kickoffs (although this is uncommon). [1]
In most forms of gridiron football, a place kick during timed play that travels through the uprights is a field goal worth three points; on a free play following a touchdown, it is worth one point; most leagues (including the NFL) require the ball to be placed directly on the turf with a holder.
In a few indoor football leagues, a kickoff that travels through the uprights results in an award of one point, although this practice is becoming less common with the collapse of the AFL (formerly the largest indoor gridiron football league in the world).
In the comic strip Peanuts , Lucy frequently holds the football to allow Charlie Brown to place kick but invariably pulls it away at the last second, causing Charlie to fall on his back.
Place kicks in association football are the corner kick, free kick, goal kick, kick-off and penalty kick.
The place kick is commonly used in rugby league for kick offs [2] and most kicks at goal (penalty goals and conversions). [2]
The lack of a consistently successful place kicker in a team can be detrimental to a team. [2] Anybody on the team can take a penalty or conversion kick although there is often a regular kicker. Sometimes teams will use different players to kick depending on what side of the field the kick is to be taken from.
Kick offs are taken from the centre of the halfway line. [3] A kick at goal from a penalty kick can be taken at any point along an imaginary line parallel to the touchline between the place the offence was marked by the referee and the kicker's goal line. [4] Conversion attempts may be taken at any point along an imaginary line parallel to the touchline from where the try was scored. [4]
Most kickers use some form of aid to allow them to strike a preferred part of the ball. Popular aids used include kicking tees and mounds of sand on which to place the ball. [2] Players might also use their boot to mould the ground where the ball will be placed, making a divot behind the ball to allow greater access to the kicking foot. [2]
Kickers attempt to position the ball in a way that allows them to kick the ball's "sweet spot". [2] Kicking the sweet spot will result in the ball travelling further and is located about a third of the way up the ball. [2]
The most common kicking style is the round-the-corner kick, which tends to hook the ball to the left for a right footed kicker.
Kickers usually pace out their kick before taking it. [2] This begins with the kicker standing over the ball with their feet in kicking positions. [2] They then measure out a run up. [2] When the ball is kicked, usually with the instep of the foot, the kicker will follow through with their swing. [2]
Most of the top kickers can kick a goal from approximately 55m, or just inside their own half.
In rugby union, the most common position for a goal kicker to play is fly-half as that position requires good kicking skills from hand. Slightly less commonly, the fullback will kick (another position which requires kicking from hand). If the goal kicker is neither of those two positions, the remaining three-quarter backs and scrum-half might kick. Goal kicking forwards are extremely rare, but not unknown, the most notable in recent years having been the Australian second row John Eales.
In the early decades of the sport of Australian rules football, place kicks were regularly used for taking set shots for goal after a mark or free kick, and occasionally for the purposes of kicking off after a behind. [5] The use of a place kick in these circumstances was not required by the laws of the game, nor was it used universally, and many players preferred punts or drop kicks.
To execute with the oval ball, a divot would be created with the heel in the direction of the goal; the ball would be placed at a slight upward angle in the divot with its long axis pointed at the goal. [6]
Place kicking was considered the longest and most accurate type of kick for a skilled practitioner, [7] but more erratic than a punt for a player who was less adept. [8] The laws allowed a player to place the ball for a place kick, take a run-up, and then regather the ball and play on instead of kicking it, in order to catch defenders off guard. [9]
The use of place kicking declined rapidly from as early as the late 1910s, [10] and it was considered a lost art by the late 1920s, [11] partly due to the increased speed of the game and stoppages of the game to execute one. [8] Aside from any of these time issues, another considerable factor in the eventual disappearance of the place kick was that the changes to the football's shape, design, and constituent materials — and, especially, according to ex-Melbourne player Les Rainey in the late 1930s, to a very significant reduction in the weight, the thickness of the soles, and robustness of the standard football boot. [12] Rainey surmised that it had made the once-standard place kick, especially over longer distances, a far more difficult kick to execute.
Rarely, some players continued to use place kicks until as late as the 1950s, [13] [14] but the skill is entirely obsolete in serious modern football. There have been a couple of televised exceptions, but such uses were for comedic effect and are not attempted in professional football. For example, in the 1996 Centenary Legends Match, AFL Hall of Famer Don Scott performed a place kick in the general course of play; [15] and, Patrick Cripps, playing in the pre-season 2019 AFLX Grand Final, performed a place kick from a set shot (with a holder in the gridiron football style), successfully making the goal. [16] [17] [18]
A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player intentionally dropping the ball and then kicking it either 'as it rises from the first bounce' (rugby) or 'as, or immediately after, it touches the ground'.
A touchdown is a scoring play in gridiron football. Scoring a touchdown grants the team that scored it 6 points. Whether running, passing, returning a kickoff or punt, or recovering a turnover, a team scores a touchdown by advancing the football into the opponent's end zone. More specifically, a touchdown is when a player is in possession of the ball, any part of the ball is in the end zone they are attacking, and the player is not down.
In gridiron football, an onside kick is a kickoff deliberately kicked short in an attempt by the kicking team to regain possession of the ball. This is in contrast with a typical kickoff, in which the kicking team kicks the ball far downfield in order to maximize the distance the receiving team has to advance the ball in order to score. The risk to the team attempting an onside kick is that if it is unsuccessful the receiving team gets the ball and usually has a much better field position than with a normal kickoff.
In American football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player who is responsible for the kicking duties of field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist and occasionally in youth football, also acts as the punter.
American and Canadian football are gridiron codes of football that are very similar; both have their origins partly in rugby football, but some key differences exist between the two codes.
A punter (P) in gridiron football is a special teams player who receives the snapped ball directly from the line of scrimmage and then punts (kicks) the football to the opposing team so as to limit any field position advantage. This generally happens on a fourth down in American football and a third down in Canadian football. Punters may also occasionally take part in fake punts in those same situations, when they throw or run the football instead of punting.
A kickoff is a method of starting a drive in gridiron football. Additionally, it may refer to a kickoff time, the scheduled time of the first kickoff of a game. Typically, a kickoff consists of one team – the "kicking team" – kicking the ball to the opposing team – the "receiving team". The receiving team is then entitled to return the ball, i.e., attempt to advance it towards the kicking team's end zone, until the player with the ball is tackled by the kicking team, goes out of bounds, scores a touchdown, or the play is otherwise ruled dead. Kickoffs take place at the start of each half of play, the beginning of overtime in some overtime formats, and after scoring plays.
In gridiron football, the holder is the player who receives the snap from the long snapper during field goal or extra point attempts made by the placekicker. The holder is set on one knee seven yards behind the line-of-scrimmage. Before the play begins, the holder places the hand which is closest to the placekicker on the ground in a location designated by the kicker's foot, with their forward hand ready to receive the snap. After receiving the snap, the holder will place the football on the turf, or block, ideally with the laces facing the uprights and the ball accurately placed where the backhand was initially, then balancing the ball with one or two fingers until the ball is kicked.
A comparison of American football and rugby union is possible because of the games' shared origins, despite their dissimilarities.
A field goal (FG) is a means of scoring in gridiron football. To score a field goal, the team in possession of the ball must place kick, or drop kick, the ball through the goal, i.e., between the uprights and over the crossbar. The entire ball must pass through the vertical plane of the goal, which is the area above the crossbar and between the uprights or, if above the uprights, between their outside edges. American football requires that a field goal must only come during a play from scrimmage while Canadian football retains open field kicks and thus field goals may be scored at any time from anywhere on the field and by any player. The vast majority of field goals, in both codes, are placekicked. Drop-kicked field goals were common in the early days of gridiron football but are almost never attempted in modern times. A field goal may also be scored through a fair catch kick, but this is also extremely rare. In most leagues, a successful field goal awards three points.
Rugby league football has accrued considerable jargon to describe aspects of the game. Many terms originate in the Laws of the Game. Some aspects of the game have more than one term referring to them. Different terms have become popularly used to describe an aspect of the game in different places, with notable differences between the Northern and Southern Hemispheres.
A kickoff specialist is a special teams position in gridiron football. They are responsible for kicking the ball in the kickoff. These players tend to have a strong leg, often capable of making touchbacks, and capable of keeping a ball in the bounds of the field of play but do not have the accuracy or technique required to be a full-time placekicker or punter. For most teams, the placekicker is the kickoff specialist.
American football, referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada and also known as gridiron football, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team with possession of the oval-shaped football, attempts to advance down the field by running with the ball or throwing it, while the defense, the team without possession of the ball, aims to stop the offense's advance and to take control of the ball for themselves. The offense must advance at least ten yards in four downs or plays; if they fail, they turn over the football to the defense, but if they succeed, they are given a new set of four downs to continue the drive. Points are scored primarily by advancing the ball into the opposing team's end zone for a touchdown or kicking the ball through the opponent's goalposts for a field goal. The team with the most points at the end of the game wins.
Field goal range is the part of the field in American football where there is a good chance that a field goal attempt will be successful.
In gridiron football, a punt is a kick performed by dropping the ball from the hands and then kicking the ball before it hits the ground. The most common use of this tactic is to punt the ball downfield to the opposing team, usually on the final down, with the hope of giving the receiving team a field position that is more advantageous to the kicking team when possession changes. The result of a typical punt, barring any penalties or extraordinary circumstances, is a first down for the receiving team. A punt is not to be confused with a drop kick, a kick after the ball hits the ground, now rare in both American and Canadian football.
A kicking specialist or kick specialist, sometimes referred to as a kicker, especially when referring to a placekicker, is a player on gridiron football special teams who performs punts, kickoffs, field goals and/or point after touchdowns. The special teams counterpart of a kicking specialist is a return specialist.
A toe punt is a method of kicking the ball in association football and occasionally in Australian rules football. Unlike other methods of kicking, the toe punt uses the toe end of the boot rather than the instep or laces.
Chris Sailer is an American football trainer of kicking specialists. He works with high school placekickers and punters and evaluates them for college football programs. Sailer was named an All-American as both a kicker and a punter while playing college football for the UCLA Bruins. He played professionally in the Arena Football League (AFL).
The 2019 AFL X tournament was the second and latter of the Australian Football League (AFL) pre-season series of matches played under the laws of AFLX, a variation of Australian rules football. The tournament took place on 22 February 2019 at Marvel Stadium.