THE WEEKLY BULL – Sept. 14, 2016
Board Meeting at 5:30 on 9/14 – There will be a for the purpose of selecting appointed officers for the 2017 season. The full agenda is available on-line. This meeting will be held in Room S4 at Santana.
Crew Chief and Instructor’s Meeting – We will be meeting at 6:15 before the regular meeting at Santana in Room 804 to review video and to discuss recent game situations.
Optional Meeting Sites for Certified Officials – Santana or Cathedral Catholic – I ask that instructors meet at Santana with their regular classes (at least one of them) so that we can maintain our regular class structure. All certified officials have the option of attending this week’s class at either Santana or Cathedral Catholic. The agenda will be the same for both locations: Attendance, Bull, Video and Rules Test. All first and second year officials will attend class at Santana with their regular class.
Need a Make Up Test? – You can take both tests tonight (9/14) if you have the time and are a quick test-taker. Otherwise, you can make up either of the tests next week (9/21) at Santana starting at 6:30 in Room S4. There are no meetings that night but I will be at Santana to help officials who need to complete their test-taking responsibilities to be eligible for next year’s draft!
Injuries on the Field - If you are in the area of the injured player and an official’s time out has been taken, pause and stay with the athlete until help arrives. Just a nice thing to do for an athlete in pain. If you have information that may help the trainer determine the nature of the injury you should offer the info to him/her. It’s just common sense and helpful to the athlete and the trainer.
Showing IPad to Officials vs Officials Using IPads for Stats – We are not allowed, by rule, to view or use any video in regards to judgment calls for plays that occur. Coaches offering us the opportunity to view a play on an IPad should be respectfully declined. But, if we as officials are in a situation where we need to check game information such as the correct down, we may use any evidence available, including information on a team’s IPad, to make or confirm correct administration of the game.
Coaches Assisting with Difficult Situations – It is generally appreciated when the officials seek the coach’s assistance when working with one of his players who is losing his composure on the field. Coaches may ask that you watch a particular player on the other team, but they will still help with controlling their own player. It is important that we get information to coaches when we’ve warned a player so they can follow up with the player and understand that we’ve already warned him.
Unintentional Contact in the Restricted Area – Please review these enforcements. Unintentional contact in the restricted area calls for a 15 yard unsportsmanlike on the non-player involved. A second offense calls for another 15 yards plus the disqualification of the head coach. Important: This sequence does not couple with any other unsportsmanlike foul on head coach. So Head coach calls you a bad name and is flagged. Then there is contact with head coach. Head coach is not ejected (Case Book page 90) 9.8.1 Situation D. Treat Unintentional Contact as a separate event from all others when it comes to ejecting a head coach. It takes two in each separate case…not combined.
Contact with Coach or Nonplayer on the Field – This foul falls under rule 9-8-1i being on the field except as a substitute or replaced player. 15 yards charged to the offending coach or nonplayer. These are not charged to head coach – only to the person who commits the act. These unsportsmanlike fouls can couple with other unsportsmanlike fouls for cursing or arguing to cause the ejection of the offending coach or nonplayer. These do not go automatically to the head coach!
What Fouls Do Automatically Go to Head Coach? – Failure to comply with coin toss, being ready to start game or second half, failure to have his players legally equipped after verifying legality in pregame conference. Plus – Second unintentional contact between a nonplayer and a game official in the restricted areas while the ball is live is automatic ejection of head coach.
Catch in EZ vs Catch at Sideline – We know that to complete a catch the receiver must establish player possession of the live ball and contact the ground inbounds. So if the receiver establishes player possession of the live ball but is pushed (not carried) by the defender so that he contacts the ground out of bounds – the pass is incomplete. Now – The receiver establishes possession of the live ball clearly in the end zone then is pushed by the defender so that he contacts the ground at the 1 yard line – we have a catch and a TD (Case Book page 60 7.5.4 Situation G). Now – Same situation in EZ but receiver in possession of the live ball is pushed sideways from inside the EZ so that he contacts the ground out of bounds (not inside the field of play at the 1) – Incomplete Pass just like anywhere else on the field.
Equipment Time Outs - We do have equipment time-outs in high school (25 seconds). This should be enough time for a player to adjust pads, put his shoe back on, or repairing an ear pad in his helmet. This 25 second official’s time out can happen even as the ball is ready to be snapped. If we or the player discovers an equipment problem right before the snap we can/should stop the clock and provide time for the repair. If the repair takes more than 25 seconds then the player must go out and play continues.
Proper Use of the Whistle - A "toot" of the whistle (sometimes referred to as the “funny whistle” can be used to get the attention of other officials including the referee. This is a light, repeated whistle just loud enough to get the attention of others. When a penalty has been called we use a “staccato whistle” which is a loud repeating whistle. Blow immediately and loud for dead ball fouls, wait until the end of the play for live ball fouls. This is a loud whistle. Finally we have a whistle which signals that a play has ended. This also is a loud whistle. We are careful to make sure we see the ball in possession on the ground, out of bounds, progress stopped, an incomplete pass, or a kick has ended, etc. If we do not see the ball in possession but we assume the play has ended, or we have players combating each other at the end of a play, we don’t use our whistle – we use our voices to YELL that the play has ended or the pass is away, etc.
Observer Program – Our observers have now observed 19 of the 37 crews as of the end of week 3. By this weekend it will be 24 of 37 crews.
Make it Big – I know you’re sick of reading this philosophy but it continues to be true on a weekly basis. We continue to get more grief from incorrect calls that are made than by calls that are missed. I’ve definitely seen improvement in this area, but we must get better!
