FBRULES

My gut tells me that all the folks on here wanting more fouls called and fouls every time a violation happens would be the same folks to complain that there were too many flags thrown in a football game. The truth is the more your throw the lower you go, period. Thankfully, it's far easier to have and employ common sense on the field than it is in an online forum where the technical, thinking technically, and looking for technicalities rule.

If he abruptly moves forward, as if he has false started, it's a false start. If it looks like a false start it is; I'm not sure how else to explain it.

Anything abrupt from any offensive player that simulates a snap should be called a false start including wide receivers and running backs.

Congrats to Joe Frank, Northern Kentucky official who has given 25 years of service to the NKYFL and still doing it.

It's about two time outs too many.

I recently saw Randy and his family about a week or so ago at his mother's funeral in Hebron. They are all fine people.

If it were only that simple. Agree, there are a lot of situations that we can all be exactly the same, but there are areas that we will never exactly be the same. Take, pass interference for example, the rule in high school says the defensive players are prohibited from interfering with the receivers (again, that undefined term for you all keeping score at home) ability to move towards, catch or bat the ball. Does all contact constitute interference? Of course not. Thus, the amount of contact is going to vary to some degree on the judgment the official has to make on whether or not the actions actually interfered with his ability to move towards, catch or bat the ball. And, we've not even touched "receiver's ability." I understand everyone's desire for consistency (though I have to admit they are snickering a bit when they say that's really ALL they want, come now, be honest), that it all be the same, but as long as human beings are involved in the game making judgments there will be some sort of variation. Thus, even we exactly agree on the rule, there's still going some gray area on whether or not something actually is a foul and should be called. A good rule of thumb to me is that if I have to rewind the film three or four times to find the foul or even if it really is a foul, then it should not have been called. And, you want it to be this way. After all, how many major college bowl games did you see stopped because a mouthpiece was out? Or, regular season games? What's easier? Tell him to put the mouthpiece in or call a 5 yards foul (in high school)? You can win the battle, but lose the war. Could you imagine, "Sorry coach, the lineman was .25 yards past the line and therefore downfield illegally." "Coach, the quarterback looked to be barely in the neutral zone when he threw the ball." "Coach, part of his hand was in the neutral zone, encroachment, five yards." What we need to be consistent on the most is letting the minor stuff go--always---and not interjecting ourselves into the game without really good reason. The longest Friday night on the field are when you are working with someone who has to call something because he saw it. And, that's coming from someone who when he first started learned the hard way.

I'm not going to go on and on about it. I disagree agree with the case book just because A1 could still potentially block for the runner like I illustrated above. What matters is the rule book though, not what I think, and how it has been interpreted in Kentucky. I know what the case book says. I've read it 100 times, too. All I can tell you is check in with the state on this one. The rule book always supersedes the case book. Any time we are calling something "technically" we are on thin ice.

I think that as long as we have 12 regions of officials and probably 500+ officials this will always be a challenge especially in regular season games. I think it would be helpful if we had more statewide interpretations, communications, and an embrace of technology to illustrate those points. My understanding is that it should be coming, hopefully sooner than later. I can only speak of how the training in our own region is based. The is we are working, the very best we can, on information supplied by the federation and the state high school athletic association. Even then, there are no guarantees. I can promise you I call the game much different in the 17th year of officiating than the 3rd year. Thankfully! But, here's the rub. All of the training stuff is a freebie. If you want to do it right, it takes countless hours of putting together film, writing up rules helps for folks, and hashing out mechanics. Plus, you must make room for people to learn from their mistakes. That's hard in a business where you are expected to be perfect and then get better. Are all the areas doing it? Should they? Is this valuable enough to raise pay? Pay the trainers? Train the trainers? Right now, it's work for free, altruistically, and hope for the best. It's not like there is a line of people waiting to get to varsity football or that assigners have a list of 40 qualified people ready to take the place of those who aren't cutting it. And, that leads to some complacency as well. The game is always going to have interpretation and judgement, hopefully more judgement than interpretation. Hopefully, officials have a keen sense of what illegally gains and advantage and what doesn't. And, sometimes fouls have to called (I hate to say that) even when a team doesn't get an advantage. For example, I think there should be a rule change that if an offensive unit only have 10 players on the field and only 6 on the line (the rule requires 7), then that should not be a foul. How does that make any difference? It would not bother me if we happened to miss that one. The better we can call what really matters and let the other stuff go the better off we are. Or, as I like to say, let's don't major in the minors. Of course, there are going to be some times when we say we disagree on what's major and what's minor. It would be easy to say call everything if it violates the rule. Where should we start? 5 yards any time a mouthpiece is out, 15 yards for the 3rd and subsequent time more than three, and I mean three coaches, are in the coach's box? Automatic unsportsmanlike conduct whenever a coach steps on the field illegally (that would be anytime, by the way, except for an injury time out or a charged team time out)?

I have a feeling that they say that at every level including the NFL, don't you?

Actually, with all respect to my fellow officials and respected coaches, the rule does not say "no longer a blocker." It says a "potential blocker." There's a big difference. A blocker is one who is blocking and a potential blocker is one who has the chance to block. An offensive player going across the middle surely has the potential to block should the runner decide to run the ball instead of pass it. This is a very rare call because it's hard to get it by rule. Unless the contact is made by a defender who is on the same yard line as the would be receiver bascially looking him in the eye, he is a potential blocker, and legal to be contacted. Offenses do not have a right to run a pass pattern in high school football. Officials read too much into this rule when they call a foul because a would be receiver has made a cut and is running what could possibly, may or may not be, a potential, could be or not, pass pattern. See what I mean? Officials should not act like mind readers and say a would be receiver was running a pattern. It's good defense to legally keep receivers from running routes. For you rules gurus out there, notice in rule 2 that we have a definition for just about every kind of player and situation. But, we do not have a definition of a receiver. And, it just may be hard to define. For example, a passer is not a passer until he passes the ball. A kicker is not a kicker until he kicks the ball. But, you cannot say a receiver is a receiver until he catches the ball, can you? The rule book in other portions of the book apart from the definitions talks about receivers in several places yet fails to define just what one is. On that matter, the book is silent. This is important actually in this rule referenced above because just when is a receiver a receiver? By the way, there is a definition for blocker. At least CoachJ and I have one thing in common---we've both been called idiots by the other group but never by each other.

An elbow is down.

My perception of the rule is exactly what the rule books says. The rule says a replaced player must leave the field immediately. Thus, you have to know the definition of a player, a replaced player, a substitute, and what constitutes immediately. The rule book does not say it is a foul to break a huddle with 12 players. The NCAA rule book does, but the NFHS rule book does not. Thus, if the 12th player reaches the huddle, the huddle breaks, and the new 12th (the replaced player) leaves the field, it is not a foul.

Not sure what happened in that situation, but if you were told breaking the huddle with 12 is not in the rule book for high school then you were told correctly. Do you know what the rule is? Most bgp guys do because we have talked about it yearly on this site.

This is a thread that should be shut down.

This award was established two seasons ago and with the award is a check to the school's general scholarship fund to be used as school sees fit. This year's award was $600. Last year's winner was Ludlow High School. At the annual business meeting of the football officials' association, each active official may vote for the one school out of the plus or minus 25 serviced by the NKOA which displayed best examples of consistent sportsmanship. All schools are listed on the ballot. The money is raised by the officials themselves through various opportunities during the year. The NKOA desires to make positive contributions to the schools we service and believes that this is an area where a valuable statement can be made. FBRULES

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A player must be eligible by position and by number. Thus, if the ineligible number (say 70 for example) lines up as a running back and then goes beyond the neutral zone AND THE FORWARD PASS CROSSES THE LINE then he is guilty of ineligible receiver downfield (5 yards, previous spot, repeat the down). 70 (and any other ineligible) would be allowed to go downfield once the pass that crosses the line has been released from the passer's hand. High schools rules for at least 18 years has never had a rule where a player could report eligibility with a ineligible number. I suspect it's never been allowed. Good question.

I sound like a broken record, but here's another one making up the rules when they don't know them---obviously.

I'll stand by my post (gently, of course, but firm).

Another example of rules information that is not true or made up.

This is bad information again. All players have to be inside the numbers between the period of the ready for play signal and the snap. This applies to every player on ever single play. The words above "he does not have to re-enter the inside of the numbers before every play" is another example of something that is not in the high school rule book and just made up. I'm begging people. Only post rules information that you have studied to be true.

HHS... Sorry you are wrong. You can only have pass interference on a legal forward pass. The only foul on this play is illegal forward pass, 5 yards from the spot of the foul, and a loss of down. You can have as many backward passes in a down as any team in possession of the ball wants. However, there can only be one legal forward pass during a down.

"Technically a lateral." Again, the word lateral never appears in the high school rule book. I remind folks to be very careful of getting rules information on BGP. Most of the ones going on and on are not only technically wrong, but outright wrong.