Fairfax County Flag Football League

MESSAGEBOARD

subject: "Stealing the ball"

Long time vet

Oct 09, 2007
12:36 PM

;

Tom, Rob, or Old Ref. can you confirm that the rule about taking the ball is still valid. If you take the ball without impeding the runner it`s a turnover correct? For example: guy catches a kick-off runs short of the 20, stops, and holds out the ball with arm extended. The defender grabs the ball with out touching the runner and runs the other way for a TD. It`s a TD right?

I`ve been playing in this league for too many years to admit, and I know we have gone over this before on this message board. I`ve even had this happened to me before (big dummy).

Please let the refs. know that were at Wakefield last night.

No big deal, didn`t change the outcome of the game.

Steele

Yeah

Oct 09, 2007
1:39 PM


;	The Wakefield refs need clarification on some of the rules. They also don`t know that whomever has the ball is down right away if they lose their flag i.e. it falls down on its own. Can you please talk to all refs and have them read their rules books b/c we do pay their wages and the least they could do is get the call right? And their responses with attitude are not needed. Just do their job or quit!

Agreed

Oct 09, 2007
1:51 PM


;	The Wakefield refs are really poor, and also have very quick game clocks. It`s a shame because the other refs in the league are generally very good.

last week..

Oct 09, 2007
1:59 PM


;	there was a youth game @ Wakefield that pushed back the starting times our League games. Instead of starting at 8:00, The first game started at almost 9, pushing the 2nd game to start past 10. Thats fine, but it one of the games seemed a lot shorter than the other.

Another Agreed

Oct 09, 2007
2:17 PM


;	According to one of our players, he said that he was held really bad directly in front of the Ref. and while the Ref. was looking right at him. Afterwards, our player asked the Ref. "That`s not holding" and he was told "I`ll call it next time."

Long time vet

Oct 09, 2007
3:00 PM


;	hold on now, I didn`t mean to start a bashing the refs. thread. I just wanted to clear up an obscure rule. Every ref misses some calls but overall they do a pretty good job. Steele

Short time vet

Oct 09, 2007
3:21 PM


;	I have another rule in question. Twice this year we`ve received different rulings from different refs. Never had an impact on the score, but did have some major yardage taken away. What happens if you have possession of the ball and one of your flags falls out without being touched by a defender? Are you automatically down? I`ve been told yes and no. What`s the deal?

u

Oct 09, 2007
4:42 PM


;	should be down where the flag fell out.

hmmm

Oct 09, 2007
5:51 PM


;	i always thought that you just had to be touched with 1 hand

tackle

Oct 09, 2007
7:41 PM


;	It becomes TACKLE football for teh rest of the game as soon as someone loses their flag. At least, thats the way it should be.

Rules Guy

Oct 09, 2007
9:47 PM


;	To Long Time Vet: Here is the official rule book information: Under Rules, Part 10, Under "Playing Rules," Rule 7- The scrimmage, snapping, handling and passing of the ball, #19 (this is on page 48) An opponent snatches ("steals") the ball from the ball carrier. RULING: The ball continues in play. To Short Time Vet: Here is the official rule book information: Under Rules, Part 7, Section 4, Article 8 (this is on page 35 of the rule book). If a ball carrier inadvertantly loses a flag, play shall be stopped at the spot where the flag is dropped. If any player loses a flag, he is still eligble to catch a forward pass, but may not advance the ball, and the play is dead where ball is caught. Also, here is the link to the rulebook: http://fairfax.vffa.com/?1= Hope this helps both of you.

Rules Guy

Oct 09, 2007
10:17 PM


;	Actually, here is the link that goes directly to the rules book: http://www.usffa.org/rulebook.htm

would it help

Oct 10, 2007
9:39 AM


;	Anyone think it would help to print a copy of the rule book and bring it with you to the games? I`m tempted to do that, because... in fact ... the rule about the lost flag did change the outcome of a game.

SURE

Oct 10, 2007
11:20 AM


;	Bring a copy to the game. The Ref`s won`t care, but it might make you feel better.

Rules Guy

Oct 10, 2007
11:27 AM


;	I`m sure the refs would feel that you are showing them up. Some of the fields have MUCH better refs, that is a given. The rules that are discussed in this thread are rules that the refs really should know. When a player has a flag fall off, they are down, period....there is no reason a ref should NOT know this. The ball being `snatched` can be a little subjective, since the person who steals the ball CANNOT touch the other player, and the ref can say that the players arm or body was touched. If it`s obvious (as mentioned above, where the ball is stuck out at arms length), the refs really need to know the rules. One or two bad refs really make a negative impact on the entire league.

Another Option

Oct 10, 2007
11:33 AM


;	Tell them about it BEFORE the game, so everyone`s on the same page. If you, the Ref`s, & the other captains all have a quick discussion of this info prior to the game, it won`t be a big deal when it comes up in the middle of the game. The ball snatching (haha) rarely comes up, but the flag falling off thing happens quite often and gets called different ways by different ref`s.

Rules Guy

Oct 10, 2007
11:39 AM


;	Agreed. There are only a couple of refs who might not know these rules. If you bring the rule issues up to the refs when coaches are called before kickoff, these should hopefully become non-issues....and the refs will make the right calls!

Long time vet

Oct 10, 2007
4:28 PM


;	Thanks Rules Guy, see yall Steele was right! Even my own team thought I was crazy.

visitor

Oct 11, 2007
5:15 AM


;	Nah I think the refs will say OK then when there is a rule in question they will say its a league rule not in the book. The bad thing is these guys (some refs) remember faces and hold grudges.

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