GASA Season Week 1

Welcome to updates on rules and interpretations and possible corrections on rulings and penalties for GASA Senior games 2007/08. Where people ask for consistency on rulings throughout a season SAGOA always reviews many of its interpretations and passes this information onto clubs via this blog site. Sometimes some interpretations need refining as we wouldn't want to continue with an incorrect ruling just to stay with consistency.
Feedback to this is welcome if you believe something is still incorrect but please state your position and qualification so that we know who we are actually learning from. Even if you are a player, coach or fan your input is most welcome and we will certainly do our best to look into your questions and concerns from GASA games. Please take the time to fill in the poll.
I hope you all enjoyed the games and that you look forward to an entertaining season.

Now while this post is a long one I hope I have covered what I need to and that the information is as correct as possible.

Chop Blocks
Players come up to an official and say that they are being chop blocked. This is legal but then there are aspects that are illegal. Here is the rule about Chop Blocks:
Rule 2-3-3-a, b, c: A chop block is:
a. An obviously delayed block at the thigh or below against an opponent (except the runner)
who is in contact with a teammate of the blocker, is in the act of disengaging from the first
blocker or has just disengaged from the first blocker but is still confronting him. When in
question, the contact is at the thigh or below
b. A high-low, low-high or low-low combination block by two nonadjacent linemen with or
without a delay between contacts occurring in the neutral zone.
c. A high-low, low-high or low-low combination block by any two offensive players with or
without a delay between contacts when the initial contact clearly occurs beyond the neutral zone
Rule 9-1-2-e-1: Offensive linemen at the snap positioned more than seven yards from
the middle lineman of the offensive formation are prohibited from blocking below the
waist toward the original position of the ball in or behind the neutral zone and within 10
yards beyond the neutral zone.
See the link below for a detailed chart on this:
http://www.sagoa.info/training/2007/Chop_block_table.doc
We had in the first game a team mention this type of block a number of times but when viewed by officials before and after the fact the blocks were high/low blocks by adjacent linemen without delay. In viewing the chart from the document this is not a foul.

Kick off
New to NCAA rules is having a 25 secs clock for kick offs. The Referee will blow the ready for play as if it is any other regular play. This means that the kicking team no longer have to wait for a whistle just prior to kickoff. The way this works is that when the umpire hands the ball to the kicker or when the ball is placed at the kicking spot the officials will check off that the field is clear and ready for play. The teams need to make sure they have the correct number of players and be in a position to be ready for a kickoff. If the receiving team is slow in getting organised they too can be penalised for a delay of game. The umpire should stand over the ball until the receiving team is in position ready.
Procedural fouls on a kickoff can be penalised on the end of the run. The officials encourage captains to take this option. In game 1 a captain yelled out his choice to the referee before the referee had the chance to formally ask. It would be better to actually wait for the options from the referee and to look at what best advantages the team and the safety of players. The second kickoff actually travelled further than the first one which went out of bounds, it would be a risky choice if the player who returns the ball then muffs or fumbles the kickoff. A sure choice would be to take the ball out of bounds, add 5 yards from where the ball went out up to the 35 or the 35 yard line which ever is the better option.

Fair Catch and Kick Catch Interference
Last night we had a player call for a fair catch. Not often we have one of those. Fair catch or not the person trying to get to the fall of the ball to make the catch from a kick needs an unimpeded opportunity to catch a kick. If a fair catch is called the player needs every opportunity to complete the catch before the ball hits the ground even if it has bounced off his hands.
We had a fair catch, a player making contact with the receiver, a muff and then the ball bouncing on the ground where the player then ran off with the ball.
There was a flag for kick catch interference and one where he advanced after the muff or the ball striking the ground. At this point as soon as any of the receivers recovered the ball the play should have stopped right then.
The enforcement spot of the kick catch interference should have occurred at the spot of the foul and not where eventually recovered. This is where a coach can call a conference to challenge the enforcement of the penalty.
So one for us to now get right in the future if it ever happens again.

Handing the ball to an official
The officials try hard to keep the balls dry during the game but each time the player drops the ball onto the ground it does get wet and at times soaking wet. If a player does this and it is in the centre of the field the officials can decline a request for a dry ball. They may consider a request close to a sideline but it is not guaranteed. It is up to the team to keep the ball dry. The officials will try to get a dry ball in when rotating balls according to the play situation. The basics of this are if a ball finishes between the numbers then use the same ball. If the ball finishes outside the numbers or out of bounds then a new ball from the ball person will be put into play. A ball that is thrown short but is wet from an incomplete pass may be changed depending on how wet it became. So please ensure your team mates do the right thing leave it on the ground where the play ended or hand it to the nearest official that you can see.

Drink Breaks
Having a drink during a series of downs has been something that the officials have managed on the field with the players, especially hot days. We have observed that the squads are large in size and having a drink will need to be something that the team needs to manage while players can substitute on and off the field. If the squad reduces to a size where players are forced to play both ways the officials will manage it as they have done so on the field previously. There won't be a magic cut off number but rather the officials will monitor it on the day. The Head Coach may wish to bring it up during the pregame conference if the team is getting low on numbers.

Personal Fouls
We had 2 dead ball personal fouls administered at the end of one play. There was some pushing and shoving and stepping into the altercation by both players rather than one or both of them walking away.
The play stood and the penalties administered back to where the play ended. The penalties do not offset but are marched off. When defense commit a personal foul they also give the offense an automatic first down. On the weekend the offense were not given the automatic first down. Again something to call a coaches conference on how to enforce something and if successful no team time out will be charged.

Talking to an Official
We had an unfortunate incident where a player/captain moved towards an official and pointed his finger towards him and yelling at him about missing a penalty on a particular play. Under the football code players/captains and coaches accept certain responsibilities. Players, coaches and captains do not have a right to speak to officials in a manner that intimidates or causes undue stress while officiating on the field of play. SAGOA has a Safe Sports Policy and one of the aims is to provide a safe work environment for officials. Although sports involve heated emotions it is the choice of the participant which behaviours they display on the ground. It is not the fault of the official that made you display a certain behaviour, whether good or bad. I cannot recall any teams coming up and showing jubilation to an official and thanking them for the TD they just scored?

At the beginning of the rule book is the Football Code. A sub section of this is outlined below:
Talking to Officials
When an official imposes a penalty or makes a decision, he simply is doing his duty as he sees it. He is on the field to uphold the integrity of the game of football, and his decisions are final and conclusive and should be accepted by players and coaches.

This was not the only time a player/captain questioned a call but once an official has answered the particular question then the matter is closed and the same question should not be asked a second or third time as his decision is final. In fact the rule book mentions communication between officials and captains for time outs, penalties, options for coin toss and as a communicator between officials and his head coach. Captains do not have the right to come in and question everything and in fact continued opposition to call/no calls may result in unsportsmanlike conduct.

Please remember that SAGOA has 2 new officials this year and that they should have a little more latitude to deciding what is a penalty or not. They have to develop judgment of and decide which rule has been broken in a matter of seconds. This is not an easy task for new officials to do. Coaches were informed of the fact that new officials were in the second game, their positions and captains should have had the information passed onto them.

Please remember what each of our roles are out there on the field and that is coaches coach, players play, officials officiate and spectators get entertained. It is hard enough to do one of these well let alone 2 or more.

Until next post or next game (2 weeks.)

Regards
Grant Martin