The original laws of 1863 specified that the initial kick-off should be taken by the side losing the toss. In 1873, the team winning the toss was given the option of whether to choose ends or to take the initial kick-off. In 1997, the law was changed back, so that the initial kick-off was once again taken by the team losing the toss. The law was changed once again so beginning on June 1, 2019, the side winning the toss once again has the choice between kicking-off and choosing ends. The justification for this rule-change was that "ecent law changes have made the kick-off more dynamic (e.g. a goal can be scored directly from the kick-off) so captains winning the toss often ask to take the kick-off."