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Down and Distance Measuring Device Honest Head Linesman

Football Fun Facts | Down and Distance Measuring Device Honest Head Linesman
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Football Fun Facts

Here we cover those instances and odditities of Gridiron lore that are both unique and interesting, and help tell the story of the game's vast history.


Down and Distance Measuring Device Honest Head Linesman

If one aspect of football has attracted the brainpower of tinkerers more than any other, it is the down box and chains. Down boxes, especially, are the backdoor light of tinkerers who are unwilling to give an inch. Eyeballing where to place the down box and the sticks with ten yards of chain passing between them has always been a bit backward. Still, dozens of inventors, many of whom received patents, have found a way to improve football’s measurement process, only to be ignored by officiating — www.footballarchaeology.com

Football Archaeology takes an in-depth look at a unique down and distance measuring device from the late 1930s called the Honest Headlinesman.

The concept was said to be more accurate on the poorly lined grass fields of the era and would allow for a more "fair and level playing field " for the participants and an easier discernment by officials if the line to gain had been reached.

Football Archaeology has excellent details on the concept and some images of it and its use. Timothy Brown has a nose for the unique stories from football antiquity and can tell a tale to enlighten us of what those in the gridiron past were doing.
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