Field Goal (American and Canadian Football) - History

History

In the early days of football, kicking was highly emphasized.

• In 1883 the scoring system was devised and field goals counted 5 points while touchdowns and conversions counted 4 each.
• In 1897 the touchdown was raised to 5 points while the conversion was lowered to 1 point.
• The field goal was changed to 4 points in 1904 and then to the modern 3 points in 1909.
• The touchdown was changed to 6 points in 1912 (in American football; the Canadian game did not change this until 1956).
• In 1924 the conversion was spotted at the 3-yard line.
• In 1925–1928 it was moved to the 5-yard line.
• In 1929 it was moved to the 2-yard line.
• Finally, in 1968 it was moved back to the 3-yard line.
• The goalposts were originally located on the goal line; this led to many injuries and sometimes interfered with play, and the NCAA moved the goal posts to the rear of the end zone in 1927. The NFL (still following NCAA rules at the time) followed suit, but moved the posts back to the goal line in 1932, where they remained until 1974. The Canadian game still has posts on the goal line.
• In 1959 the NCAA goalposts were widened to 23 feet 4 inches (7.11 m), the standard width for high school posts today.
• The "slingshot" goalpost, with a single post curving to support the crossbar, was invented by Joel Rottman in Montreal, Canada. The first set were built by Alcan and displayed at Expo 67. The NFL adopted the "slingshot" for the 1967 season. The NCAA later adopted the same rule, but later allowed the use of "offset" goalposts, with two posts rather than one. Three schools in Division I FBS currently use two posts instead of one for goalposts in their stadiums: Florida State, LSU, and Washington State. A special exemption was allowed by the NFL for the New Orleans Saints to use the offset goalposts during their 2005 season, when they used LSU's stadium for home games in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
• In 1989 the NCAA banned the kicking tee, requiring kicks from the ground.
• In 1991 the college goalposts were reduced in width to 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m), the width of NFL goal posts. In 1991 and 1992, this meant severe angles for short field goal attempts, since the hashmarks were still located 53 feet 4 inches (16.26 m) apart. In 1993, the NCAA narrowed the distance between the hashmarks to 40 feet (12.2 m) (which was the width of hashmarks in the NFL until 1972, when they were narrowed to 18 feet 6 inches (5.64 m)).
• Like the collegiate goalposts, the NFL goal posts were located on the goal line. They were moved to the rear of the end zone in 1974, as a result of the narrowed hashmark distance of 1972, which had made for easier field-goal angles.
• During the 2011 NFL season, a record 90 field goals of 50 yards or longer were made. During the 2012 NFL season, this record was increased to 92 field goals of 50 yards or longer.