In football rules of the 1920s, if a player was tackled by the sidelines, was the ball left there for the next play or was it brought back to the center of the field?
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ANSWERS: 1
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Until the early 30s the ball was snapped at the spot of the tackle. There were no inbounds hash marks as we know them today. This made for some interesting sideline formations, and for some difficult, acute-angled field goal attempts. I believe the first use of inbounds hash marks occured in the 1933 NFL championship game which was held indoors due to very bad weather, and was played on a reduced size field, with several rule modifications due to the smaller size of the playing field. One of those modifications that everyone seemed to like was the inbounds hash marks. These new-fangled little stripes just a little ways in from the sideline got rid of those pesky sideline snaps. The NFL adopted the inbounds hashes first, then the colleges (and Canadian Football). They've been moving steadily closer (by rule changes) to the middle of the field ever since. Hope that helps answer your question.
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