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A fair catch is a play in American football.
If a kick receiver sees that, in his judgement, he is unlikely to be able to advance the ball successfully after catching it, he is allowed to signal for a "fair catch" by putting an arm in the air before the ball begins its descent. After this point, if he is hit after catching the ball, the team covering the kick will be penalized fifteen yards for a "personal foul". However, if the receiver changes his mind and attempts to advance the ball after signalling for a fair catch, his team will be penalized (usually five yards for "delay of game").
If the receiver "muffs" the ball (touches it but then fails to field it cleanly), then the ball can be recovered by the kicking team. The fair catch signal can be used as a legal form of deception in the following instance: If the receiver has no intention of actually fielding the ball but wishes it to roll in the end zone for a touchback, he can signal for a fair catch to delay the approach of the covering team, making them less likely to be able to cover the ball prior to its arrival in the end zone. Some fans see this as an abuse of the fair catch rule, and think that it should be amended to allow the kicking team to recover the ball at any point after it has touched the ground if a fair catch has been called for, which would force an end to this practice, but so far no rules committee has actually made this change.
Only outdoor American football has this rule as of 2004. It is not a part of Canadian football nor Arena football. However those sports strictly enforce a rule which forbids defenders from approaching the receiver closely prior to the arrival of the ball (a five-yard zone, or "belt", which is enforced on every kick in Arena, and all but kickoffs in Canadian football).
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