Here we are again with our sixth offering of our newsletter for 2005. This edition is dedicated to some of the typical situations we encounter with Varsity games. Mostly we’re going to concentrate on those issues that tend to arise at the start of the season.

 

The very first thing that comes to mind about early season games is the heat. In Georgia in August, it is practically inescapable that one or more of the first several games will be conducted in a scorcher. Even though you will have spent lots of time and effort getting your team in shape and acclimated to the heat, game situations are still potentially dangerous if frequent water breaks are not allowed. We will insist on getting water for the teams during any charged time-out taken by either team. Depending on the degree of heat and game situations, we may well call officials’ time-outs for water breaks. These will be done at the officials’ discretion. We will be balancing the degree of heat, the time since the last break, how both teams are holding up and whether a drive is in progress as we decide whether to take a break or not. Our primary consideration is safety. Because of this, we will make every effort to err on the side of caution though we will also make every effort we can not to interrupt either team’s drive.

 

The second thing that comes to mind in late summer games is also weather-related. Thunder storms are a fact of life for us. GHSA has guidelines for how to deal with lightning. These come to us courtesy of the NFHS rule book. While there is not a numbered rule that applies to lightning, the guidelines are both conservative and explicit. The key provisions of the guidelines are:

 

1.      If there is a 30-second or less flash-to-bang time (the time from lightning to its related thunder), the teams should be removed from the field.

2.      Once play has been suspended, play should be delayed until at least 30 minutes after the last flash of lightning is seen or the rumble of associated thunder is heard.

 

We further empower each of our officials to make this stop-the-game call; this is NOT the Referee’s call, alone. This is important because making the determination depends on being able to see both the flash of the lightning and to hear the bang of the associated thunder, and different officials are looking in overlapping directions before and during every play. When it comes time to decide when to resume play, we will consult representatives of each school before we restart the contest. The idea here is to have as wide an audience as possible to make sure when the last observed flash or rumble had been observed in order to properly follow the guidelines.

 

The curfew rule and whether to play overtime are other considerations, particularly in many early-season contests where teams are more likely to play games out of their own classification. In the case of Varsity games, there is an 11 PM curfew rule for games played by teams of different classifications. Also in such games the coaches must agree before the start of the game whether there will be overtime played in the case of a tie at end of regulation. Unless there is positive agreement between both teams’ head coaches AND this decision is communicated to the officials before the start of the game by both coaches, the default is that overtime will NOT be played in tie games between teams of different classifications.

 

Questions arise from time-to-time as to what to do in the case of a protest. As of last year (2004), GHSA decided to follow the NFHS rules (Rule 1-1-11) which states that “Protests of NFHS rules are not recognized.” This means, in effect, that there are no longer any grounds for protesting football games sanctioned by GHSA.

 

As discussed in an earlier newsletter, we expect our Wing and Deep officials to be a conduit to and from you for information about the game. When you have questions, feel free to ask them of these officials. Most times they will be able to give you an answer right away, especially when an explanation of a rule is what your question is. In the event that we need to relay information about the reason for a ruling, your Wing or Deep official may have to get that information from another official in the middle of or even across the field. In that case, it may take until after the next play to get that information. The point is that we’ll fulfill any reasonable request for information from you just as quickly as we can without disrupting the flow of the game. That is a big part of our job.

If you have a situation where you want to have a formal Coach-Referee conference, this is a situation for a time-out. If this is to discuss the possible misapplication of a rule (not a judgment call or no-call) before the next play has started, your charged time-out will be converted to an official’s time-out if the Referee agrees that a rule had been misapplied. In the case where the ruling stands as originally called, your only “cost” will be having used one of your 3 charged time-outs for that half (or the 1 time-out available to you for each overtime period if that is the situation in which you call this time-out).

 

Good sportsmanship dictates that neither team uses any tactics that are not a legal part of the game to interfere with the other team’s play. For example, the defense is explicitly prohibited from “using disconcerting words or acts” to disrupt the snap count of the offense (Rule 9-5-1-d). While this always applies to defensive players verbally simulating the other team’s snap signals, this can also include noise made by either team’s band while their opponent is on offense and is trying to get off the snap. In practice, bands playing are treated by the officiating crew as crowd noise, only, unless there is a complaint raised by the other team. Meaning unless one or the other team complains about noise from the band, we, as officials, will not hear a thing. Should such a complaint be raised, however, we will then warn both teams about band noise during the other team’s offensive possessions. In the case there is any further playing by the band of the team on defense during the attempt to snap the ball by the offensive team, we will have no choice but to assess an Unsportsmanlike penalty against the defensive team. This will include playing by the band of the school who originally raised the complaint. Only one warning is issued, and it applies to both teams. Obviously, we’d like to avoid these kinds of situations altogether. The best way to have this happen is to have a pre-game agreement between yourselves and your band director so that he/she will not let your band ever be this kind of culprit.

 

The next-to-last item for this newsletter is the subject of starting a period late. Last week’s newsletter covered how to avoid problems at the start of the game and at the half. There are also breaks between the 1^st and 2^nd and the 3^rd and 4^th quarters. These breaks are each one-minute long, much like a time-out. Timing for this break begins when the Referee raises the ball over his head to indicate the end of play in the preceding period. During this break, teams may visit with coaches at the sideline. Coaches could also hold a meeting out on the field, though this would be exceedingly rare. Regardless of the type of meeting held, both teams must also be ready to resume play within a minute of the previous quarter’s end. This includes the time it takes to move from one end of the field to the other. In effect, intermissions between periods offer most of the benefit of a called time-out when play ends somewhere near mid-field. It is a much shorter effective break for both teams when the line of scrimmage is nearer the goal line since each team also has to move most of the length of the field to get to the other end. In any case, we will give you a “15-seconds to ready” notice, just as in a charged time-out; but in the end, it is up to each team to be ready to play when the ball is so marked. Failure of either team to be ready for the start of either the 2^nd or 4^th quarters will result in a 5-yard Delay-of-game penalty against the offending team.

 

And finally, there is the last little thing about how we will administer the game when something happens not explicitly covered by the rules. Actually, there is coverage for this in Rule 1-1-6. That rule states: “The Referee has authority to rule promptly, and in the spirit of good sportsmanship, on any situation not covered by the rules. The referee’s decisions are final in all matters pertaining to the game.” For example, we had an incident a few years back where a forward pass was in flight when suddenly all the lights went out in the stadium. The rules do not address this situation head on. Nevertheless, the Referee ruled that the effect was much the same as if there had been an inadvertent whistle. If we’d had an inadvertent whistle on a loose ball play, we would have simply replayed the down. And in the “lights out” case, that is exactly what was done as soon as the stadium lights were restored. We’ll make every effort to rule as wisely as our Referee did in this case whenever we’re faced with similar strange cases in the future.