Out of bounds

For other uses, see Out of bounds (disambiguation).
In gridiron football, a player who steps onto the sidelines during play is considered to be out of bounds. The horizontal white stripe near the bottom of this picture denotes the boundary, with legal play occurring above it.

In sports, out of bounds (or out-of-bounds) refers to being outside the playing boundaries of the field. The legality of going out of bounds (intentionally or not), and the ease of prevention, vary by sport. Sports that use this term include American football, Canadian football, field lacrosse, basketball, rugby union, rugby league, and association football.

The boundary may be associated with the sidelines or touch-lines, lines which mark the outer boundaries of a sports field, running parallel to each other and perpendicular to the goal lines.[1] The foul lines in baseball and boundary lines in cricket are similar concepts.

  1. ^ "Sidelines Definition - Sporting Charts". Archived from the original on 2022-08-04. Retrieved 2023-03-09.