Dead Ball Rule In Football

Rules play a significant part in any activity system. How we define an activity system is best described in the essay “Activity Theory” by Kain and Wardle. In this essay they define an activity system as “a group of people who share a common object and motive over time, as well as the wide range of tools they use together to act on that object and realize that motive.” (Kain and Wardle 275). They establish boundaries and limits to maintain order in a given system as an example the “Dead Ball” rule in football; In football the dead ball rule controls the flow of the game. When the ball is dead the clock stops and teams go back to their huddles to prepare for the next play. Without the dead ball rule the activity system would be significantly more chaotic, players would not know when to stop which could lead to injuries. Rules in …show more content…
The official definition of a dead ball in accordance to The National Football League 's rule book is “A Dead Ball is one that is not in play. The time period during which the ball is dead is Between Downs. This includes the interval during all timeouts, including intermission, and from the time the ball becomes dead until it is legally put in play. “ (Goodell 4). According to the rule book a dead ball can be declared for a number of reasons namely when the player is down, when a player 's forward progression is halted, on an incomplete pass, when the carrier is out of bounds or when a touchdown has been achieved. In this example the dead ball rule is crucial for the football activity system. Dead balls control the flow of the game and allow scoring to be possible. Without the dead ball rule a player couldn’t score a touchdown because the ball would still be considered in play and fair game. The game would start to more closely resemble rugby instead of football where downed players would be wrestled for control of the