Weekly Bull 8/30/06

SAN DIEGO COUNTY FOOTBALL OFFICIALS ASSOCIATION, INC.

A Federal Non Profit Tax Exempt Corporation

The Weekly Bull – 8/30/06

Tonight:

  1. Attendance

  2. Announcements

  3. Food For Thought

  4. Rules Test – Passing Score will be 80 correct!

  5. Adjourn 8:30

 

Announcements:

  1. Rosters are available for you to print on the Arbiter. Look under List-Officials. Then go to Reports-Roster.  You have many options for format and software.  Please keep your information on the Arbiter current!!!!

  2. Jim Sibbet has announced his intentions to step down as the assignment secretary at the end of this season. He (thankfully) fully intends to stay with us as an official, serve a role in the instructional program, and be the butt of all our jokes at the banquet!  We want to thank Jim for all of his quality work as the assignment secretary and congratulations to his wife (Norma) who can now plan a real vacation!  As a reminder, any member who wishes to apply for assignment secretary, instructional chair, treasurer, or secretary, may do so in writing or email to the current secretary Dick Brockett by October 14, 2006.

  3. We must report the sad news that Ken Flaherty’s health has taken a turn for the worst. Ken is a long-time college and high school official who is know nationally as one of the best there’s ever been.  He is currently our instructor for the first year class as Ken wanted to give back to the association now that he has the time (retired from refereeing Mountain West and stepping down to do replay officiating for the same conference).  Ken has been a mentor to ALL of our crew chiefs and senior members and his positive influence can be seen in every single area of our association.  His battle with cancer is in its final stages and we will continue to keep all informed of his status as you keep him in your prayers.

  4. Fellow officials! As you may or may not be aware, there are a few officials in our association that are dealing with medical issues.  As with any fraternity, we want to help wherever possible but are often at a loss as to what we can do to help.  The best thing we can do to help our fellow officials, and the community at large, is to donate blood.  We have established an account with the San Diego Blood Bank and our group code is “FOA”.  Please consider donating a pint to our group.  If, in the future, a fellow official needs blood, they can be assisted through our group donations.  Consider donating before September 12th and then you will also be eligible to donate at the Charger’s Blood Drive on November 21st.  Donating blood saves lives, one of which could be from within our association.  If you have any questions or need additional information, please contact Jeff Phillips or Sean Ciemiewicz.

  5. Ratings: All certified officials (not 1st and 2nd year officials) will do ratings through the Arbiter.  You will be rating after each game/set of games.  If you have one game with the official(s) then rate, if you have a set of two or three games then rate once as an average of the games worked.  High School crews will also only rate once near the end of the season.  Please remember the criteria ranges from 1-7 with 1 being the top 1% of the association.  If you rate too highly, your ratings will be deleted as “not statistically significant”.  Last year we had some who rated all officials as a 1.

Directions:

  1. Go to your "Start Page" in Arbiter.

  2. Click on "Evaluate Officials".

  3. Click on "Football Officials Evaluation Report." This displays games from the past seven days only.  If you need to go further back than seven days, change the "Date Range" to what you need.  Please note Arbiter will allow you to do an evaluation only after the game. 

  4. Click on the A+ for each official to get to that person's evaluation page.

  5. Rate the official in the seven areas based on the criteria by clicking on the down arrow in the Score column. The scores can range from 1 to 7, with 1 being the highest and 7 being the lowest.  If you score anyone 5, 6, 7 in any category, you MUST include comments in the box on the right.   REMEMBER, THE BEST RATING IS A ONE.

  6. In order to read the Standard for each Criteria, click the name of each Criteria to read its description. Example:  Pre-Game/Time Management is the first Criteria. 

  7. You may make general comments in the "Summary Comment" box at the bottom of the page.

  8. When you are finished with each official's evaluation, click on "Submit". DO NOT click "Save" or "Cancel".  Save will enable you to come back later to change the evaluation to change or finish the report.  It will NOT submit the data the official's file.   If you click Cancel, nothing will be saved. 

  9. Once you completed the evaluation on one official a green A+ will appear to the right of the official's name.

The Arbiter Evaluation system will allow officials to receive comments and feedback on their work.  An official will be able to view the evaluations after three reports have been submitted.  When that official reads the report, he will only be able to see scores and comments.  The official will not be able to see who submitted the report, or what game or date the report was written for.  All evaluations are anonymous.  Thanks for your help in this endeavor.  This is still a work in progress.  I'm sure there will be more refinements as time goes on.  Please send me comments or suggestions to make the system better.  Several suggestions from last year were incorporated into this year's program.

In addition, to these directions, you should review the criteria and weighting used to evaluate officials, including yourself!  The criteria and weighting are copied on the last page of this bulletin. Thanks – Bob Duggan & Steve Coover

Food For Thought:

  1. Fair catch Interference ? Punt is coming down just short of deep receiver who is moving up slowly to make a fair catch (legal signal).  The covering K1 player moves to a position just in front of the receiver who stops his progress toward the ball (interference?)  But wait, the receiver then moves away from the ball obviously giving up on making a fair catch.  The ball hits the ground approximately 5 yards away from the receiver and even to the side, away from the K1 player who has not moved.  Ruling: It cannot be determined if the receiver was interfered with or gave up on making the fair catch. When in doubt, no call.  No penalty.

  2. What is the ruling on hip pads that extend above the top of the pants and are not covered by the jersey? These are the old type of hip pads that are held into place by the player’s belt that weaves through the hip pad. La Jolla HS uses them and they are legal.  Why?  Let’s stay consistent – rule 1-5-3g states specifically “rib pads and back protectors unless fully covered by a jersey.”  Nothing about hip pads…..

  3. What about white mouth protectors? Ruling: Illegal.  How about half white and half red? Ruling: Legal

  4. Rule 6-2-1 “A1 may punt, drop kick or place kick from in or behind the neutral zone before team possession has changed.” Does that mean that A1 may place kick on 4th down rather than punt?  Ruling: Of course.  Several teams have done this in the past when they don’t have a punter who can successfully punt to the coffin corner or down the ball inside the 10 yard line.  The team chooses to use a place kick to more accurately kick it out of bounds or give them a better chance of downing the ball close to the goal line.  Can R1 catch the place kick in the field of play and return it?  What if the place kick is blocked and the kickers recover the loose ball behind the line of scrimmage and advance it beyond the line to gain?  Why is this different from a PAT? – (see rule 6-2-2 and 6-2-3)

 Flanks

  1. Know down and distance.

  2. The snap is job #1.

  3. Read run/pass.

  4. If run, pick up back.

  5. Who has the ball carrier, who has action around the ball carrier, who has the wide look?

  6. If pass, pick up receivers.

  7. Get the Spot! Be accurate and work well with your opposite flank. 

  8. Officiate the dead ball period.

 Penalties

  1. Take your time

  2. See the whole foul

  3. If you pick it up late, don’t call it. You may have missed something beforehand.

  4. Was it at point of attack?

  5. Was it an advantage/disadvantage? (BIGGER THAN SHOOT!)

  6. Resulted in a gain of yardage (advantage)

  7. Was it a personal foul (safety) must be called!

  8. Know whether the ball is loose or in player possession (status of the ball)

  9. Know whether the ball was in the endzone or not.

  10. GET THE NUMBER.

  11. Continue to officiate.

  12. If you have the spot, wait to give it up to another official.

  13. Someone pick up the spot, retrieve the ball, cover the flag if it is a spot foul, while the crew member reports the foul.

  14. Get the ball back to end of run or umpire accordingly. Umpire and HL march off penalty, LJ at old spot for reference.

This all takes discipline, organization, and communication.  Work on it as a crew!!!!

Bull 8 30 06
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