Sunday, August 28, 2011

Officials need to understand rules better too.

Last night, I was discussing rules with a youth football coach regarding an incident that occurred during his game earlier in the day. It should come as no surprise that the rule in question is on illegal helmet contact. The coach was upset when a running back lowered his shoulders so low to the ground while carrying the ball that there was no chance that he could initiate contact with anything except his head. The contact was made with the face mask like a battering ram and the defender was basically run over. When the coach asked for an explanation as to why no foul was called, he was told there was no "helmet to helmet" rule in high school and below by the official.
 

This is consistent with a discussion that I had a couple of weeks ago with a high school coach who was very concerned over what he was being taught at a recent clinic. He was told by a college running backs coach that the ball carrier should lower his shoulders as low as he could to initiate the head-on contact against a potential tackler. This is nothing new, but the coach was told that if the running back could get so low that his back was parallel to the ground while holding the ball with two hands, then obliviously, the head would be the part that hits first in many situations. "That is how we get around the rule. Many officials won't call the penalty against the running back. It's very clever." was how the collegiate coach explained it to the high school coach.

"Clever" is hardly the word I would choose the describe it. What ever happened to the stiff arm or trying to juke or dance around the tackle? Why do we feel the need to turn a running back into a battering ram?  I agree that most officials will not have the guts to call this, especially if contact is made with the face mask and not the crown of the helmet, but do the biomechanics of the head and neck injury change simply because the person is carrying a football in his arms?  I wouldn't expect many people to think that to be the case.

The cold reality is that this hit IS defined in the high school rule book as a butt block. This rule can be found on page 31 of the 2011 National Federation of High Schools Rule book for football.  This rule is clear as to its intention to eliminate contact using the head first.


Rule 2 (Definitions), Section 20 (Helmet Contact - Illegal) states:
"Article 1...Illegal helmet contact is an act of initiating contact with the helmet against an opponent.  There are several types of illegal helmet contact:
    a. Butt Blocking is an act by an offensive or defensive player who initiates contact against an opponent who is not a runner with the front of his helmet. [face mask makes contact first]
    b. Face tackling is an act by a defensive player who initiates contact with a runner with the front of his helmet. [face mask makes contact first]
    c. Spearing is an act by an offensive or defensive player who initiates contact against any opponent with the top of his helmet."

The definition of illegal helmet contact is actually more inclusive in high school than just "helmet to helmet."  This rule includes initiating contact with the helmet to ANY part of the opponent.  While the official was technically right that the phrase "helmet to helmet" does not appear in this part of the rule book, it is a perversion of the high school rule by omission to make this statement.  However, the "helmet to helmet" clause DOES appear later in the rule book.

The NFHS rule book further defines the penalties associated with these definitions in Rule 9 (Conduct of Players and Others.) In Section 4, Article 3, part i, the definitions of illegal helmet contact are defined as fouls.  This rule states:

"i. [No player or nonplayer shall] initiate illegal helmet contact. (butt block, face tackle, or spear.)
NOTE: Illegal helmet contact may be considered a flagrant act.  Acts considered to be flagrant include, but are not limited to:
    1. illegal helmet contact against an opponent lying on the ground,
    2. illegal helmet contact against an opponent being held up by other players, and/or
    3. illegal helmet to helmet contact against a defenseless opponent." (pg. 69)

The penalties associated with the foul are defined as being a 15 yard penalty for illegal helmet contact AND "Disqualification also if any foul is flagrant." (pg. 70)

In this case (any many like it) not only has the official completely disregarded the definition of the helmet contact rule as defined in rules 2 and 9, but he also ignores the definition of the flagrant foul in rule 9 and the necessitated ejection for committing that foul.  This HAS TO STOP!  The rules clearly state that the this is illegal and it must be penalized.  Officials are there to enforce the rules.  They are not there to pick and choose which rules they choose to enforce.  There are serious safety concerns for the players when they choose to not enforce the rules.

For those of you who would like to see the rule book first hand, here is a pdf file that I have compiled that will allow you to share this rule with others and promote the safety of our youth.  The file contains has the rule quoted from the book first so that it is easier to read, then the scanned excerpts of the rule are included.  (I cropped out rules that did not apply to the illegal head contact from the pages to make it easier to understand.)

And of course,  a few videos that show the dangers of what can happen.
Brutal Football Hit - Helmet to Helmet
RB Helmet Hit
Pee-Wee Football Player gets Leveled

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