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When the child kicked the ball over the bounds he was breaking an arbitrary rule; it did not really matter where they put the boundaries. However it is not allowable to simply run around breaking rules just because they are bad rules. If you agree to play by the rules then regardless of the worth of the rule you have a responsibility to follow them.
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Now see that isn't the message that your analogy shows me. It shows me that the boy was smart to break the arbitrary rule. He saw that there was no "spirit" behind the rule but to contain them to a smaller part of the field. In breaking it, his peers also noticed that the law was unnecesary and quickly modified their behavior. He was not punished for breaking the rule, and he shouldn't have. If no one broke rules, we wouldn't have women or black people voting. Rules and laws are meant to be challenged -- if they can be defended and justified, they are a binding social contract. Otherwise, they are worthless "because I said so" rules.