GHSA requires us to take charge of the field 30 minutes before the scheduled start of the game or as soon thereafter as conditions permit. Since we are also required by GHSA to be at the game site 90 minutes in advance of the opening kickoff, we seldom have any problems that delay us from taking charge at the prescribed 30-minute mark.

Almost always, we will emerge from our designated dressing area shortly before our “Take charge” time. We will come onto the field as a crew and all huddle briefly at the 50 yard line on the press-box side of the field. In the case where we pass right by the home team’s Head Coach as we move to this preliminary crew gathering spot, we will generally send the rest of the crew on while the Referee and Umpire start right into the pre-game meeting with the Head Coach of the home team.

Regardless of whether we begin the talk early or after the crew meets at the sideline, we will always conduct our pre-game meeting with the home team’s Head Coach, first. We will never conduct our initial meeting with either Head Coach while anyone from the other team is present. In certain rare cases, we may have the need to get both coaches together after we’ve had our individual pre-game meetings with each. For example, if there is a question of whether to play overtime between teams in different classifications, we must get that settled before the start of the game; and we may have to get both coaches together in order to determine which way we will do this.

We generally want to conduct our pre-game meetings on the field, but far away from earshot of the opposing team and coaches. The meeting with the Head Coach and the Referee and Umpire are best held between those three, alone, unless there is some special reason to call others into the meeting.

One of the major purposes of the pre-game meeting is for you to be able to talk to us in advance about anything that you think may be pertinent to this game. We are out there to hear from you. We especially want to know about any trick or unusual plays you may intend to run. To the extent we understand what you intend to run, we can better be on the lookout for the play. We can also tell you about any potential rule violations that you might encounter in running the play you describe. In cases where you are deliberately going to put the ball on the ground (the so-called “fumble-rooskie”), we’ll need to have a pre-arranged notification from you in order to even make the play legal. This all gets covered in a properly conducted pre-game meeting. Having said this, all of it is optional to you. Only you can tell us what we need to know about the way you’re planning to play the game. From our point of view the more you want to share with us the better. At the same time we will not require you to share any more than dictated by the rules and what you feel comfortable with beyond that.

While you’re not required to tell us much of anything about your game plan, we are required to ask you some standard questions. You can and should expect to be quizzed each and every game about the same set of issues. This should be true whether you’re playing at home or away using an MCFOA crew or not. While other associations may place different emphasis on these standard questions than we do, all associations are required to cover them. To the extent you have ready answers for the question you know we’ll be asking, the pre-game meetings will either go smoothly or have bumps in the road. Here is what we’ll be talking about with you every pre-game:

1. We’ll start with a handshake and introductions of the Referee and Umpire to you. The Umpire will have a written list of all our officials that he will hand to you at this meeting. We will be particularly glad to point out the official or officials that will be working on your sideline for this game.
2. Are all you players legally equipped? We won’t play unless the answer is “yes.” And if we later find one or more players illegally equipped, the penalty is on the head coach for unsportsmanlike conduct. For obvious reasons, we don’t want to have to call such a penalty. Please be sure all your players are legally equipped at the start of the game and remain legally equipped all game long.
3. Do you have any trick or unusual plays? If you answer “yes,” we’ll ask you to describe the play to us. If you answer “no,” please be sure you don’t run a trick play during the game. We will always do our best to call every play correctly; but if you surprise not only your opponent, but also the officiating crew, you stand to be called for a penalty that might easily have been avoided by a good pre-game conversation with us about it.
4. Do you have any players who are being allowed to play with injuries that require a doctor’s permission? This is to protect your players. It is also to protect both you and we from legal problems in the case of additional injuries. Players who are wearing any kind of cast are required to have written, dated and signed permission from a licensed medical doctor (M.D. or D.O.) for the player to participate in this game. The date of allowed play must be explicitly covered in the note of permission. In addition to the permission, any casts or braces used by any players must be appropriately covered by closed cell foam padding base on the current year’s rule book.
5. Who are your captains? In this case we’ll want to know their names and jersey numbers. We will also want to know which of the captains is to be your speaker at the coin toss ceremony. Many Referees will also ask you what you want to do depending on the outcome of the coin toss. Knowing what you want in advance helps us to hear your captain’s choices better. Once we understand a captain’s selected option at coin toss time, that is the option we’re going to use at the kick-off. Making sure your captains have the same information you give us during pre-game will go a long way toward making sure we hear the options you want us to hear.
6. We will discuss any mandated items placed upon us by one of the sanctioning bodies, NFHS or GHSA. Typically, this will involve yearly points of emphasis in the rules. And we now have a rule in place, Rule 1.1.5, that requires us to remind you “that everyone is expected to exhibit good sportsmanship throughout the game.”
7. We will want to see and approve your game ball or game balls. At this time we will also want to identify your ball boy or ball girl and give them a quick briefing on how we want the balls relayed on and off the field.
8. We will ask you about your chain crew (unless our contract includes providing MCFOA officials to work the chains).
9. We will ask you about any special ceremonies or other potentially game-delaying events that you might know about in advance. The goal here is to get them done and out of the way so that we’ll not be forced into calling you for an avoidable delay-of-game penalty to start the game or the half.
10. We will talk to you briefly about when we’ll need to have your captains ready to come out for the coin toss, and we’ll verify with you where you will go following pre-game warm-ups – so we’ll know where to come to escort the captains onto the field for the coin toss.
11. We will discuss with you our plan to use “preventive officiating” wherever we can. No one wants to see a lot of penalties called. We will afford both teams opportunities available to us in the rules to not call trivial penalties as well as to do what we can to defuse situations we think could easily escalate to the level of a major penalty. We may have many opportunities such as this or none in any given game. But we will do as much of this as we can without giving an advantage to either team in order to have as penalty-free a game as possible within the bounds of good sportsmanship.
12. We will ask you if there is anything you would like to bring to our attention that might be pertinent to this game. We’ll discuss anything you have in mind; but we expect to discuss matters pertinent to this game, only.
13. We will ask you if you have any questions of us. We will answer your questions to the best of our ability.
14. The final thing you should expect from us is a parting handshake and a sincere “good luck” in the game.

Once we’ve finished the pre-game with the home team’s Head Coach, we will move right on to do the same thing all over again with the visiting team. It is about the same meeting with the visitors, except there are no home-field questions or concerns for them.