DISCIPLINARY CASES

GAME MANAGEMENT REPORTS

GB BULLDOGS INTERNATIONAL TOURNAMENT

BCAFL have informed us that both the US and Canada teams have withdrawn from the planned GB Bulldogs tournament in July/August, so there will be no tournament.

Jim Briggs
presiden@bafra.org

CHAINS (THIS IS IMPORTANT!)

There have been reports on the BAFL discussion forum that some BAFRA officiating crews have been running the chains on the sideline.
A reminder that rule 1-2-7 states:
"The official line-to-gain and down indicators shall be operated approximately six feet outside the sideline opposite the press box, except in stadiums where the total playing enclosure does not permit."
The mechanics manual in paragraph 22.1.7d states:
"In order to keep the sideline clear for the safety of players, officials and the chain crew, it is crucial that the chain is then moved to a position six feet out of bounds. The chain clip should be positioned on the chain clip reference mark (if there is one). This must be stressed to the chain crew."
These principles are there for the safety of the players, officials and chain-crew members, and should never be compromised. Linesmen (and the rest of the crew) please note! I sincerely hope it never happens but, as a last resort, BAFRA would have to stop assigning games to officials who disregarded safety issues.
The tricky issue of which side of the field to run the chains on has also raised its ugly head again. Please remind teams gently that a BAFL league policy does not overrule a BAFA playing rule. As the rule above states, the chains are run opposite the press box (except where there isn't room). Since the rules don't define the press box side, there is a way to get the chains on the home team side by designating the away team side as the press box side. However, the mechanics manual says to designate the side with most spectators (or the TV cameras!) as the press box side. Since this is usually the home team sideline, BAFL's decision is often in conflict with the rules/mechanics.
Let's continue to use common sense here, but please for the remainder of this season report as an incident cases where the chains have to be run on the "wrong" sideline and the reason why. The same applies to cases where the home team insists that the away team should have to supply a ball person. Hopefully, we will gather enough information from this to allow us to make a sensible decision at the next BAFA Rules Committee meeting.

Jim
(with both President and Rules Committee hats on)

COMING YOUR WAY: HEAD COACHES REPORT CARDS

At the convention in March, a few people mentioned that they rarely get the opportunity to see returned Head Coaches Report Cards. In fact, unless you attend the convention, then you would probably never get to see any cards.
I have been looking at various ways of resolving this issue and they have all been far to time consuming to put into practice. However, I have recently acquired a new printer/scanner which comes with software that allows a card to be scanned and then sent straight out via email without all the hassle of saving the file into a folder and then attaching it to an email. It only takes around 1 minute per card.
As such, for the next 4 weeks I will trial sending Coaches Cards out by email to everyone on the crew. If anyone has any difficulties viewing the cards, please come back to me with details of the problem and I may be able to save the scans under a different format.
If you don't receive any cards by email, that will indicate the Coach has probably not put it in the post.

Davie Parsons
training@bafra.org

SITUATION VACANT

A careful reading of the BAFRA constitution will reveal that we need to have someone who is designated as the Deputy General Secretary. We don't currently have one. If you'd be interested in the post, please email me with a few reasons why you think you would be suitable for the role.

Jim Briggs
presiden@bafra.org

UNIFORM

In case anyone is wondering, stirrup socks ARE still allowed as part of the official BAFRA uniform (see http://www.bafra.org/info/handbook/uniform.htm), though I propose we change paragraph 3 simply to read "Black socks with a North-Western stripe pattern." Evidently, at least one member is still a big fan of stirrups!
Anyone want to propose a referendum on going back to 2-inch stripes? . (very old joke!)

Davie Parsons
training@bafra.org

FORTHCOMING MEETINGS

The BAFRA Executive Board (i.e. Directors) will be meeting on 8th July. The BAFA Board of Directors meets next on 29th July. If you have any issues that could be raised at these meetings, please let us know.

PLAY OF THE DAY

In a recent game, a player complained to the Referee about a call. While he was talking to the Referee, his teammates huddled, called the play and lined up. As the player turned away from the Referee (who by this time was in his normal position for the start of the play) to return to his position, the ball was snapped. The crew quite naturally penalised the player for being in motion forward when the ball was snapped!