The place kick is a type of
kicking play commonly used in
American football
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 American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
,
association football (soccer),
Canadian football
Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...
,
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
, and
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
. It was historically used in
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, but it was phased out of the game more than 100 years ago.
Gridiron football
Place kicks are used in
American football
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 American football field, field with goalposts at e ...
and
Canadian football
Canadian football, or simply football, is a Sports in Canada, sport in Canada in which two teams of 12 players each compete on a field long and wide, attempting to advance a Ball (gridiron football), pointed oval-shaped ball into the opposi ...
for
kickoffs,
extra point
Extra, Xtra, or The Extra may refer to:
Arts, entertainment and media Film
* The Extra (1962 film), ''The Extra'' (1962 film), a Mexican film
* The Extra (2005 film), ''The Extra'' (2005 film), an Australian film
Literature
* Extra (newspaper), ...
s, and
field goals
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. Consequently, a ...
. 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
Arena football is a variety of gridiron football designed to be played indoors. The game is played on a smaller field than American or Canadian football, designed to fit in the same surface area as a standard North American ice hockey rink, an ...
League (AFL); punting was not legal in AFL play. A specialist player named the
placekicker
In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...
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
The National Football League (NFL) is a Professional gridiron football, professional American football league in the United States. Composed of 32 teams, it is divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National ...
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
A ball is a round object (usually spherical, but sometimes ovoid) with several uses. It is used in ball games, where the play of the game follows the state of the ball as it is hit, kicked or thrown by players. Balls can also be used for s ...
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).
In most forms of
, 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
''Peanuts'' (briefly subtitled ''featuring Good ol' Charlie Brown'') is a print syndication, syndicated daily strip, daily and Sunday strip, Sunday American comic strip written and illustrated by Charles M. Schulz. The strip's original run ext ...
'',
Lucy
Lucy is an English language, English feminine given name derived from the Latin masculine given name Lucius with the meaning ''as of light'' (''born at dawn or daylight'', maybe also ''shiny'', or ''of light complexion''). Alternative spellings ar ...
frequently holds the football to allow
Charlie Brown
Charles "Charlie" Brown is the Protagonist, principal character of the comic strip ''Peanuts'', syndicated in daily newspaper, daily and Sunday newspapers in numerous countries all over the world. Depicted as a "lovable loser", Charlie Brown ...
to place kick but invariably pulls it away at the last second, causing Charlie to fall on his back.
Association football
Place kicks in
association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...
are the
corner kick,
free kick,
goal kick
A goal kick is a method of restarting the play in a game of association football. Its procedure is dictated by Law 16 of the Laws of the Game (association football), Laws of the Game.
Award
A goal kick is awarded to the defending team when the ...
,
kick-off and
penalty kick.
Rugby league

The place kick is commonly used in
rugby league
Rugby league football, commonly known as rugby league in English-speaking countries and rugby 13/XIII in non-Anglophone Europe, is a contact sport, full-contact sport played by two teams of thirteen players on a rectangular Rugby league playin ...
for kick offs
and most kicks at goal (
penalty goals and
conversions).
The lack of a consistently successful place kicker in a team can be detrimental to a team.
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.
Place of kick
Kick offs are taken from the centre of the halfway line.
[ RLIF, 2004: 18] 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.
Conversion attempts may be taken at any point along an imaginary line parallel to the touchline from where the try was scored.
[ RLIF, 2004: 14]
Placing the ball
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
Sand is a granular material composed of finely divided mineral particles. Sand has various compositions but is usually defined by its grain size. Sand grains are smaller than gravel and coarser than silt. Sand can also refer to a textural ...
on which to place the ball.
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.
Kickers attempt to position the ball in a way that allows them to kick the ball's "sweet spot".
Kicking the sweet spot will result in the ball travelling further and is located about a third of the way up the ball.
Kick
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.
This begins with the kicker standing over the ball with their feet in kicking positions.
They then measure out a run up.
When the ball is kicked, usually with the instep of the foot, the kicker will follow through with their swing.
Most of the top kickers can kick a goal from approximately 55m, or just inside their own half.
Rugby union
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
John Anthony Eales (born 27 June 1970) is an Australian former rugby union player and the most successful captain in the history of Australian rugby. In 1999, he became one of the first players to win multiple Rugby World Cups.
Early life
E ...
.
Australian rules football
In the early decades of the sport of
Australian rules football
Australian football, also called Australian rules football or Aussie rules, or more simply football or footy, is a contact sport played between two teams of 18 players on an Australian rules football playing field, oval field, often a modified ...
, 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. 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.
Place kicking was considered the longest and most accurate type of kick for a skilled practitioner, but more erratic than a punt for a player who was less adept.
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.
The use of place kicking declined rapidly from as early as the late 1910s, and it was considered a lost art by the late 1920s, partly due to the increased speed of the game and stoppages of the game to execute one.
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. 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, 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; 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.
See also
*
Placekicker
In gridiron football, the placekicker (PK), or simply kicker (K), is the player responsible for attempts at scoring Field goal (football), field goals and extra points. In most cases, the placekicker also serves as the team's kickoff specialist ...
, a position in American football.
*
Drop kick
A drop kick is a type of kick in various codes of football. It involves a player intentionally dropping the ball onto the ground and then kicking it either (different sports have different definitions) 'as it rises from the first bounce' ( rugby ...
*
punt (American and Canadian football)
Notes
References
*
How To Goal and Place Kick*
External links
BBC: Rugby league - Skills - Kicking skills - Place kick(Includes animation)
{{Gridiron football plays
Australian rules football terminology
Australian Rules footballers: place kick exponents
Rugby league terminology
Rugby union terminology
American football plays
Canadian football terminology