The use of the helmet & spearing

Probably the most argued about rulings this year have been the illegal use of the helmet / spearing calls. I draw your attention to the relevant sections of the 2007 NCAA rulebook that discuss this:

• Points of Emphasis (Page 8, regarding the Football Code)

It is noted that the Code emphasizes the following unethical practices: “Using the helmet as a weapon. The helmet is for protection of the player...” and “players and coaches should emphasize the elimination of spearing.”

• Points of Emphasis (Page 10)

Intentional helmet-to-helmet contact is never legal, nor is any other blow directed toward an opponent’s head. Flagrant offenders shall be disqualified.
Additionally, the committee altered Rules 9-1-2-l and n slightly to encourage officials to penalize head-down contact and leading with the crown of the helmet when tackling.

• Football Code (Page 13, regarding Coaching Ethics)

The following are unethical practices:
...
b. Using the football helmet as a weapon. The helmet is for the protection of the player.

• Rule 2-24-1: Spearing (Page FR-52)
  

Spearing is the use of the helmet (including the face mask) in an attempt to punish an opponent.

• Rule 9-1-2-l, m & n (Page FR-118)

l. No player shall use his helmet (including the face mask) to butt or ram an opponent in an attempt to punish him (A.R. 9-1-2-XVI).

m. There shall be no spearing (A.R. 9-1-2-XVII).

n. No player shall strike a runner with the crown or the top of his helmet in an attempt to punish him.

One of the major drives in the past few years at both high-school and NCAA level, has been to remove the use of the helmet as a weapon and this desire is very clearly stated in the Points of Emphasis above. The actions of particular concern are those in which the crown of the helmet is involved as an impact point (i.e. collisions where a player drops his head). These place the highest strain on the spine and have a greatly increased risk of serious injury for both players involved.

Let me state quite clearly that I have never come across a coach of any renown who teaches players to use their helmet in such a manner. I have never read an article or book, watched a video, nor seen any other instructional material of any sort that advocates "head down" tackling, blocking or ball carrying.

Yet almost without fail on a weekly basis I hear complaints such as:

• "But my hands touched him first!"
• "But I wrapped him up!"
• "But he got lower than I expected!"
• "But I'm carrying the ball!"
  

None of these are relevant in the slightest. If you are observed making contact with another player with the helmet crown as a direct point of contact (you have "dropped your head"), you will be penalised for a personal foul. As with any such fouls, if it is deemed to be flagrant, you will be ejected.

The use of any other part of the helmet (generally the facemask) in a head-butting or ram movement is specifically outlawed as given above. This however occurs much less often in the local league at least, and is rarely argued about.

As always, I welcome any comments people may have.

Regards,

Simon

Helmet to Helmet

A while back I mentioned I had a PowerPoint presentation for avoiding the use of the helmet during a tackle. I have been on the search for a while now to find a video to help clubs learn and teach how to use the correct tackling technique. Please view the following You Tube videos as a resource.

Video 1 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KkBAiK7WEFA

Video 2 http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l87K6PoLD60

Please view and discuss but I would say that SAGOA has been pretty vigilant in this area but still some tidy up to do in continued enforcement for safety of people.

Grant Martin

Disputed Calls

During the course of this season a number of times officials have made decisions only to have players, assistant coaches and coaches call out or come up to an official to tell him something different or to justify their actions or to tell us our job.

Back in September 2007 Simon wrote about 'The Role of the Captain.' While this cut down on the number of people coming up to officials questioning something it has not cut back on the 'disputed call' factor.

Page 14 of the 2007 NCAA Rule Book states:
'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.'

I have bold the part 'as he sees it' as this appears to be the most contentious issue among many players and some coaching staff. It is the way an official judges the action he sees before him. While a player may appear over a goal line once a pile of players get off him it is when the whistle blew for forward progress that places the ball short of the goal line. Any amount of finger pointing and telling the official look where the ball is will make no change to a decision. Only another official will be able to sway some opinion of 'are you sure?'

I applaud the club who has worked out ways to approach officials in a non-confrontational manner, I applaud the captains who approach us with 'may I ask a question?' It is seeking clarification for something rather than telling us we missed something or called something wrong. Participants of the game must think clearly of who their audience is before approaching and speaking to someone and how this may then be interpreted by the person or people listening. Calling out something that can be heard by everyone makes the audience everyone and if the comment challenges a call then it will be penalised accordingly.

In reality watching D1 NCAA Football games may put the wrong slant on what truly is sportsmanship in the NCAA Rule Book. For example while those more 'professional leagues' allow personnel into the 2 yard zone closer to the sideline the end result can be chaos. Everyone standing on the sideline knows that the area should be clear for officials, yet these people shown clearly flout that rule and then complain when something happens. Sportsmanship and respect are interwoven throughout the rules in how to play the game legally. Participants in the game make a choice of how to approach a person or problem no matter how heated the contest has become.

I and other officials have been surrounded by players on some occassions challenging close calls. This is not good for the safety of the official nor for the image of the game nor following and understanding 'The Football Code' at the front of the NCAA Football Rule Book.

Remember we all have our roles to play in the game 'Players play the game, coaches coach the players, officials officiate and spectators cheer for their team.' It is hard enough doing one of these well let alone having people trying to do 2 or more of them at the same time.

Grant Martin

Sorry Not Here

Well I have been away for a week so no updates from SAGOA but during this month our web site and blog spot have hit all new time highs, so thanks for the support.
On the SAGOA web site we actually ran out of bandwidth for the month in 10 days so had to upgrade to a new package.
Although only a small number of people answer the polls there is a feeling that education of the rules in our league is something that must be continually done. Should this be left to the clubs themselves or should the league involve SAGOA in some way?
This would be worthy of a question and answer time at a GASA meeting so it would be interesting to see which club brings this discussion up as a worthy suggestion.
Anyhow all the best for this coming weekend of games.

Grant Martin